Sequoia Nagamatsu
1. THE DISPATCHExcerpt from How High We Go in the Dark
Earth II: It’s strange how a graveyard the size of a planet could instill hope in us all, help us to understand that our ship was more than a ship and whatever we found would be home not only because of oxygen and water and soil chemistry, but because of us. We stopped at two more planets before embarking on the big sleep to the Kepler systems that would see us add not decades or centuries to our Earth ages, but millennia. We had been out in deep space for well over five hundred years, though most of us had been together outside of our stasis chambers for only a little over one year. Some of us chose to remain awake longer this time, stitching together the bonds of a community—the commander became Frank, the lead botanist Cheryl, the chief engineer Hiro. Nurse Pratchett fell in love with Lieutenant Sanchez. Val, the girlfriend of Bryan Yamato’s brother, moved on and was seen holding hands with a probe mechanic on the observation deck. We celebrated the birthdays of our children outside their stasis chambers—Happy 507. You’re such a big boy now. You don’t even know! Whenever Dorrie and I found a new corridor to paint, members of the crew would come to share their stories— how they’d petitioned to be here, who they’d left behind, the last moments they remembered before our lives were upturned by virus or fire or hurricane. One day, the two of us on our backs in a service tube, Dorrie and I painted what we liked to call our miniature version of the Sistine Chapel.
2. BUREAU INVENTORYA Jomon Dogu figurine replica: The Jomon period is the earliest period in Japanese history. The Dogu are bulbous clay figurines often featuring very large eyes and carved patterns. The exact purposes of figures are not known, but some theories suggest that they were used to absorb illness or misfortune.
Models of the Starship Discovery and Starship Enterprise
A Mars snow globe
A 3-D printed skeleton of a Rokurokubi, a person of Japanese folklore with a long, retractable neck.
A tiny Kappa figurine—an amphibious imp-like creature of Japanese folklore with a cavity on the top of their head that contains water.
Stones for Creativity and Focus: Carnelian, Citrine, Lapis Lazuli, Tiger’s Eye
An Egg Timer (for Pomodoro method writing/productivity sessions in increments of 25 minutes)
Two Mold-A-Rama Animal Figurines: A grizzly bear and a Kangaroo
A brass compass
A couple of custom-made pens made by a friend.
3. BIOGRAPHYSequoia Nagamatsu (@SequoiaN) is the author of the novel, How High We Go in the Dark (William Morrow and Bloomsbury) and the story collection, Where We Go When All We Were Is Gone (Black Lawrence Press). His work has appeared in publications such as Conjunctions, Tin House, Iowa Review, and Zyzzyva. He is an associate professor of creative writing at St. Olaf College and resides in Minneapolis.
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