Heat is the venerable enemy. Hope is what endures.
There Is Hope: A climate fiction mosaic novel
Access update: June 30
A message from the directors of the Museum Of Life
Welcome to There Is Hope,
a fully immersive Museum of Life experience: ✧ A curated exhibition of memory logs from the Dust Road. ✧
It’s the year 2550. After 400 years of the Data War—where data moguls battled over the last natural resources—Europe lies ravaged by climate change and human greed: a post-apocalyptic wasteland.
The North Colonies Alliance clings to the cool north, segregated from the Dust Tribes—climate refugees surviving in the dust bowl of Central Europe—and the Japanese Seaweed Colonies scattered across the largely uninhabitable south. The Siberian Cooperatives, stewards of the Taiga—the last standing forest—hold a monopoly on natural resources, desperately trying to save the planet’s fragile ecosystem.
All is connected by the underground trading route known as the Dust Road, controlled by the elusive Dust Pirates.
This collection follows the miraculous journey of Shia Santos, founder of the Museum of Life and the first—and only builder—to be transferred to our archive of preserved human minds, forever crossing in and out of existence.
✧ We hope you’ll enjoy this curated collection of lives! ✧
Your curators,
Deya & Sayuri Santos
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â—‰ Select Your Experience
Begin your journey along the Dust Road with five sensory immersive stories and five rare memory logs from prominent historical figures.
This mosaic story collection gives you the freedom to choose any story you like and follow the thread through the archive.
If you're ready—
step into the Dust Road.
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HUMAN ISLAND
While filming a documentary about a human sacrifice, a mother must face her buried grief.
1. a documentary
2. a sacrifice
Highlight: Witness a Human Island sacrifice in the Japanese Seaweed Colonies.
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THE DAY I LEARNED I WOULD DIE
A memory log from Shia Santos, the founder of the Museum.
1. the day i learned i would die
Experience: The heartbreaking beauty of being human.
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THE SEED GROWERS
A farmer must risk everything to deliver her illegal seeds of resistance.
1. the delivery
2. the ghost
3. the escape
Highlight: Experience a Midsummer Festival at the historical Seed Keepers Colony.
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SEEDS OF RESISTANCE
A memory log from Fanny Yaar, a seed grower and leading figure of the Seeds Of Resistance movement.
1. seeds of resistance
Experience: The hunger of the seed keepers.
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THE DUST PIRATES
A girl’s secret mission pulls a young boy onto a dangerous path.
1. trapper
2. secrets
3. betrayal
4. children
Highlight: Join the serpent dance at the Rainmaking Festival and meet the zombie children.
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HOPE AT THE END OF THE WORLD
The second and last memory log from Shia Santos.
1. hope at the end of the world
Experience: Join a caravan of smugglers into the Siberian Cooperatives.
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THE COOPERATIVES
What begins as a routine mission to check a mysterious fungus threatening the last forest, soon takes a dangerous and unexpected turn.
1. the last forest
2. the scream
3. the struggle
4. the fortune teller
Highlight: Take a train trip across the Siberian Cooperatives with the Ghost.
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WILDFIRE
A collection of memory logs from the Ghost and a glimpse into the Data War.
1. wildfire
Experience: The historical Wildfire Masacre.
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THERE IS HOPE
As the last forest dies, a young girl encounters an unexpected glimmer of hope but saving it and herself won’t be easy.
1. a glowing light
2. a deep dive
3. a dark night
Highlight: Meet our mythical makers.
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THE IMMORTAL
The only personal memory logs of Sanse Ahuic.
1. the immortal
Experience: The memories of a 1000-year-old human maker.
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Curator’s Notes
This entry log is currently being revised and will be made available on June 22.
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â—‰ Limited Access Note
The full There Is Hope experience is available free of charge to all museum guests until June 30. Starting July 1, continued access will require a paid museum subscription (via Substack).
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â—‰ Related Stories
If you enjoyed this collection, we recommend you continue with more stories from the Dust Road:
smuggler—they call us the zombie children.
ice—two homeless siblings are going on a dream vacation with ice
ladybug—the memories we leave behind
Whichever story you pick next, we hope you’ll enjoy it.
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â—‰ Patron Offer
If you wish to become a patron of the Museum, we are preparing a limited ebook edition of There Is Hope, featuring an original illustration by a New York–based artist. This edition will be sent to all paid subscribers in early September.
Nice to see it all laid out in one place. What a beautiful oeuvre 💚
This is a great way to lay everything out and have an index of your work. And when you put it all together like this, it's also an amazing way to see your output! Really great, Claudia!