Becky Chambers - As You Wake, Break the Shell

Do not fear, the ticket sales will resume ASAP! We are briefly putting purchases on hold as we move to a larger venue to accommodate more people!

Join Becky Chambers for a powerful discussion on thriving in scary times, and finding hope in imperfect, imagined futures. Legendarium, Under the Umbrella, and the Queer Student Union celebrate the release of her new book, As You Wake, Break the Shell - a queer hopepunk novel about surviving through hope and community amidst environmental collapse. Join for an incredible evening with one of the most prominent science fiction authors of our time as she visits Salt Lake for the first time. 
In collaboration with the Queer Student Union and the University of Utah Gender Studies program, Legendarium and Under the Umbrella are sponsoring discounted admission to as many students as possible. 

Oct. 15, 7 PM

SIGNING PREFERENCES

• Up to three books signed and personalized.

• No photos or videos, except for selfies if they ask her directly for permission. No coming behind the signing table.

Masks required at the event, thank you!

There will be ASL interpreters at the event.

Not only is Becky Chambers the number one bestseller at our bookstores, she is the bestselling author of the Wayfarers series (which includes Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet), the Monk and Robot duology (Psalm for the Wild-Built, & Prayer for the Crown-Shy), and other works of science fiction. She is a two-time Hugo Award winner, a Locus Award winner, and has been nominated for the Nebula Award, the Arthur C. Clarke Award, and the Women's Prize for Fiction, among others. Her latest work is the upcoming novel As You Wake, Break the Shell, the first in a new duology.

AS YOU WAKE, BREAK THE SHELL:

A space story. A love story. A new pair of worlds to explore.

Life on Fortune is hard. The atmosphere is poisonous, the planet hardly fit for life. But for its inhabitants, it’s home.

Pilot Cora suffers from a rare and dangerous condition, brought about by her bond with Colibri, the alien animal she pilots to quarry vital water for the colony. If Cora seeks treatment, she risks losing her license, and her connection to Colibri forever.

Then she meets Signy, a brilliant but reclusive botanist, whose bio-printed medicine is the only thing that can save her. But to do so, Signy must break the rules that govern their lives, risking her livelihood and the other colonists who rely on her for survival.

As Cora and Signy navigate their balance of risk and trust, they are forced to confront what they owe to each other and to their community, and begin to question whether survival is enough.

Told in alternating timelines, As You Wake, Break the Shell is a heartfelt and hopeful story of what it means to be human, and what it means to come together.

Coming to the UK and the US in October 2026.

About Becky Chambers:

Becky has a background in performing arts, and grew up in a family heavily involved in space science. She spends her free time playing video games, hanging out in the woods, and learning about the universe. She still hopes to see Earth from orbit one day, though she’s gotten picky about who she’d take a ride from. Prone to hopping around, Becky can be found either in her home state of California or her wife’s home country of Iceland.