Yet You Cry When It Hurts

Susan Kaye Quinn

Mar 2023 · Nothing is Promised Book 4 · Susan Kaye Quinn

About this eBook

When the world is drowning, diplomacy is more than handshakes and headlines.

Nitara Desai has spent her life negotiating international agreements, easing points of conflict, and averting disasters. Worst-case scenarios belong in her nightmares, not the IEC’s daily reports. On a calm day, being a director at the International Energy Consortium only requires fixing CarbonCon translators for flustered Brazilian delegates. A thankless job, but the world is still drowning in CO2—there’s no choice but to keep treading.

On a bad day, it’s not just the Brazilians acting up, but the Americans walking out, and now the Governor of Southern California insisting on a clandestine meeting. Then a text comes from Matti, her solid rock in the stormy seas: Guess what? We’re getting married!

Suddenly, an earthquake is slow-rolling through her personal life as well.

She waited too long: to tell Matti how she feels, to quit the unwinnable race to net zero, to grab hold of the things that make life worth living, not just trying to stay afloat. When the governor reveals an impossible technology that could save the planet, but it’s in the hands of a murderously ambitious man, it’s a catastrophe she can’t turn away from. And it’s almost enough to distract her from everything falling apart. Work first, always. 

And maybe that’s been the problem all along.

Yet You Cry When It Hurts is the fourth of four tightly-connected hopepunk novels in a near-future climate-fiction series. It’s about our future, how the forces of greed are ever-present, how the fight for a just world never ends, and how it’s not strongmen who will save us but the bright cords of connection that hold the world together.

If you enjoyed the optimistic climate solutions in Kim Stanley Robinson’s Ministry for the Future or the cozy cooperative future in Becky Chambers’ Monk and Robot series, you will enjoy Nothing is Promised. 

Keywords: hopepunk, climate fiction, Puerto Rico, Puerto Rican, Latino, Hispanic, solarpunk, climate change, climate crisis, solar energy, green energy, clean energy, global warming, pandemic, plague, underwater adventure, kelp farming, fusion engineering, wind energy, literary science fiction, mystery, suspense, hard science fiction, dystopian, heroine's journey

Ratings and reviews

3.5 stars--YET YOU CRY WHEN IT HURTS is the fourth and final instalment in Susan Kaye Quinn’s adult, near future NOTHING IS PROMISED post apocalyptic, speculative fiction, Hopepunk, climate fiction series of interconnected story lines set in the year 2050.). The premise is well written, edgy and dramatic but often confusing and complicated; the characters are numerous, energetic and determined. The NOTHING IS PROMISED series is a cautionary tale of what ifs and whys.

Nitara Desai stars in the next book in this futuristic story. Begins as she does her usual things then everything goes sideways in her life and the real fun begins. And Nitara Desai must figure out what is really going on and how she plays into stopping the bad. What will she face and what can she solve are the big questions of the story. Enjoyed returning to this world and all the trouble it has. Enjoyed the characters and story.

About the author

Susan Kaye Quinn is a rocket scientist turned speculative fiction author who now uses her PhD to invent cool stuff in books. Currently writing hopepunk, but her works include SciFi, YA, gritty future-noir, steampunk romance, and that one middle grade fantasy. Her bestselling novels and short stories have been optioned for Virtual Reality, translated into German and French, and featured in several anthologies.