Winner of the 2020 Hugo Award for Best Novelette.

Audible narration by Jason Isaacs (Star Trek: Discovery)
What will become of our self-destructed planet? The answer shatters all expectations in this subversive speculation from the Hugo Award–winning author of the Broken Earth trilogy.

An explorer returns to gather information from a climate-ravaged Earth that his ancestors, and others among the planet’s finest, fled centuries ago. The mission comes with a warning: a graveyard world awaits him. But so do those left behind—hopeless and unbeautiful wastes of humanity who should have died out ages ago. After all this time, there’s no telling how they’ve devolved. Steel yourself, soldier. Get in. Get out. And try not to stare.

N. K. Jemisin’s Emergency Skin is part of Forward, a collection of six stories of the near and far future from out-of-this-world authors. Each piece can be read or listened to in a single thought-provoking sitting.

'UTTERLY ENTHRALLING' Trudi Canavan

'The most celebrated science fiction and fantasy writer of her generation . . . Jemisin seems able to do just about everything' NEW YORK TIMES

'Jemisin is now a pillar of speculative fiction, breathtakingly imaginative and narratively bold' ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY

From the multi award-winning N. K. Jemisin comes a captivating fantasy series of dreams, intrigue and forbidden magic.

In the ancient city-state of Gujaareh, peace is the only law. Upon its rooftops and amongst the shadows of its cobbled streets wait the Gatherers - the keepers of this peace. Priests of the dream-goddess, their duty is to harvest the magic of the sleeping mind and use it to heal, soothe . . . and kill those judged corrupt.

But when a conspiracy blooms within Gujaareh's great temple, Ehiru - the most famous of the city's Gatherers - must question everything he knows. Someone, or something, is murdering innocent dreamers in the goddess' name, stalking its prey both in Gujaareh's alleys and the realm of dreams. Ehiru must now protect the woman he was sent to kill - or watch the city be devoured by war and forbidden magic.

Also by N. K. Jemisin:
The Inheritance trilogy
The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms
The Broken Kingdoms
The Kingdom of Gods

The Broken Earth trilogy
The Fifth Season
The Obelisk Gate
The Stone Sky

The Great Cities trilogy
The City We Became

'UTTERLY ENTHRALLING' Trudi Canavan

'The most celebrated science fiction and fantasy writer of her generation . . . Jemisin seems able to do just about everything' NEW YORK TIMES

'Jemisin is now a pillar of speculative fiction, breathtakingly imaginative and narratively bold' ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY

From the multi award-winning N. K. Jemisin comes a captivating fantasy series of dreams, intrigue and forbidden magic.

Gujaareh, the city of dreams, suffers under the imperial rule of the Kisuati Protectorate. A city where the only law was peace now knows violence and oppression. And nightmares: a mysterious and deadly plague haunts the citizens of Gujaareh, dooming the infected to die screaming in their sleep. Trapped between dark dreams and cruel overlords, the people yearn to rise up - but Gujaareh has known peace for too long.

Someone must show them the way.

Hope lies with two outcasts: the first woman ever allowed to join the dream goddess' priesthood, and an exiled prince who longs to reclaim his birthright. Together, they must resist the Kisuati occupation and uncover the source of the killing dreams . . . before Gujaareh is lost forever.

Also by N. K. Jemisin:
The Inheritance trilogy
The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms
The Broken Kingdoms
The Kingdom of Gods

The Broken Earth trilogy
The Fifth Season
The Obelisk Gate
The Stone Sky

The Great Cities trilogy
The City We Became

Hugo award-winning and New York Times bestselling author N. K. Jemisin sharply examines modern society in her first short story collection.

'The most celebrated science fiction and fantasy writer of her generation... Jemisin seems able to do just about everything'
NEW YORK TIMES

'Smart, sharp and very, very timely'
I NEWSPAPER

'An important collection by a rising star'
GUARDIAN

'Jemisin is now a pillar of speculative fiction, breathtakingly imaginative and narratively bold'
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY

'The most critically acclaimed author in contemporary science fiction and fantasy'
GQ

'One line from [Jemisin's introduction] has tattooed itself on my mind, a sort of manifesto for her ongoing work and all the fiction I love: 'Now I am bolder, and angrier, and more joyful.' I felt, after reading these stories, that I was too'
NPR BOOKS

'N. K. Jemisin is a powerhouse of speculative fiction. So, obviously, you need to read this new short story collection'
BUSTLE

N. K. Jemisin is one of the most powerful and acclaimed speculative fiction authors of our time. In the first collection of her evocative short fiction, Jemisin equally challenges and delights readers with thought-provoking narratives of destruction, rebirth, and redemption.

In these stories, Jemisin sharply examines modern society, infusing magic into the mundane, and drawing deft parallels in the fantasy realms of her imagination. Dragons and hateful spirits haunt the flooded streets of New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. In a parallel universe, a utopian society watches our world, trying to learn from our mistakes. A black mother in the Jim Crow South must save her daughter from a fey offering impossible promises. And in the Hugo award-nominated short story "The City Born Great," a young street kid fights to give birth to an old metropolis's soul.

For more from N. K. Jemisin, check out:

The Inheritance Trilogy
The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms
The Broken Kingdoms
The Kingdom of Gods

Dreamblood Duology
The Killing Moon
The Shadowed Sun

The Broken Earth
The Fifth Season
The Obelisk Gate
The Stone Sky

In this standalone short story by N. K. Jemisin, author of The Fifth Season, winner of the Hugo Award for Best Novel, New York City is about to go through a few changes.

Like all great metropolises before it, when a city gets big enough, old enough, it must be born; but there are ancient enemies who cannot tolerate new life. Thus New York will live or die by the efforts of a reluctant midwife...and how well he can learn to sing the city's mighty song.

The City Born Great is a Tor.com Original.

At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.