short stories

The Ethnomusicology of the Last Dreadnought


It is not true that space is silent.

The darkness between stars is full of threnodies and threadbare laments, concertos and cantatas, the names of the dead and the wars that they’ve fed. Few people are unmoved by the strenuous harmonies and the strange hymns. Fewer people still understand their significance, the decayed etymologies and deprecated tongues.

A short story about ethnomusicology, strict construction, and imperialism.

Special thanks to Sonya Taaffe, Eller, and David Gillon.