Andrew Sayre
Filmmaker/ Editor
The Last Days of Good People
Available at:
On a small corner of a doomed world, where the capricious laws of nature can't be reversed, a civilization arrives at the end of its days.
Warin is one of a small team charting the demise of the last few inhabitants of Retti 4, a distant planet in the throes of an extinction-level virus. It's not Warin's job to intervene in natural evolution or to question the whims of a cruel universe. He is only to observe and report. Until Warin actually steps foot on Retti 4.
Not the primitive species Warin believed them to be, the rettys are an industrious and ethical lot working together in a close-knit farming village. Lacking the human traits of fear, suspicion, and aggression, they are welcoming, curious, and eager to share their traditions—even in the shadow of a tragedy that they, and Warin, are powerless to stop.
As they embrace Warin into their fold, his compassion grows. So does his own self-discovery. For Warin, far away from Earth, comes a deeper understanding of friendship, civilization, and the true meaning of humanity. And above all, the peace and profound strength it takes to accept the inevitable.
Praise for
The Last Days of Good People
“Sayre does a nice job exploring weighty questions such as whether it’s possible to be an impartial observer, whether conflict is a necessary driver of evolution, and whether cultural ‘stagnation’ must always be a bad thing.”
- A.C. Wise, Locus Magazine
“Sad, bittersweet tale with interesting characters ... This was an excellent story and will be on my [Hugos] shortlist.”
- SF Revue
“Very Good. ... The way that [the protagonist] forms his connection to the natives is truly heartwarming.”
- SF Book Review
“A wonderfully written novel full of Le Guin vibes!”
- Yaroslav Barsukov, author of Tower of Mud and Straw and Sleeping Worlds Have No Memory
“Sayre imagines rebellion against convention to serve overlooked and vulnerable life, no matter what it costs.”
- John Wiswell, author of Someone You Can Build a Nest In
“A.T. Sayre knocked this one out of the park.”
- Jonathan Brazee, author of Sentenced to War and the Federation Marines Series
“An engaging tale that harkens back to a classic style of space travel science fiction – a wondrous other world, alien contact, real science, multifaceted characters, and a moral dilemma that hits home for today’s reader. The writing is smooth and renders the unfamiliar with great imagination and clarity.”
- Jeffrey Ford, author of Ahab’s Return and A Natural History of Hell
“I had to pause several times as the consequences grew, but found the payoff worth the delay.”
- Gordon Linzner, founder of Space and Time Magazine
“...a fascinating book that is more in line with the thought-provoking, erebral meditations on society and more importantly what society could be that was synonymous with a different age of speculative fiction.”
- Jonathan Ficke, author of At the Ravenstone
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