Published by Tordotcom on February 17, 2026
The Rainseekers is a lovely novella about the first humans to feel rain on Mars. Humanity has survived “the Great Insect Collapse and the Climate Wars that followed.” Mars has been colonized and is in the process of being terraformed. Some places have pockets of breathable air. Weather scientists have predicted the first rainfall will occur in one such pocket. A group of colonists want to be there when it happens.
The story is narrated by Sakunja Salazar. Sakunja gained a social media following by sharing her grievances against her mother in the way that Eminem became famous by griping about his parents. Sakunja’s mother discouraged her social media efforts until she started to make money, then flipped out when Sakunja read On the Road and decided to abandon her fanbase to tour the solar system. For the last seven years, Sakunja has resided on Mars, where she indulges in “unhealthy binge drinking, drug abuse, periods of depression, and self-inflicted sleep deprivation.”
Sakunja works as a photographer but has taken an assignment from Ares magazine to tell the stories of the Martian colonists who hope to feel the first rainfall on Mars. Sakunja describes the novella’s theme in its early pages: “every soul has a story worth telling. All we have to do is just shut up and listen.” A related theme lies in Sakunja’s realization that, despite her “all-pervading sense of my unimportance,” her “life isn’t worthless. There is meaning, however small, to my existence.”
The novella is short and the interviews that Sakunja conducts are few, but the subjects tell compelling stories that share certain elements, including the importance of education and how our choices shape our future. Ghleanna Watanabe is the great-great-granddaughter of a Nigerian whose family discouraged his curiosity, urging him to work harder in the fields and to set aside his dreams. A kind man realized the potential of Gleanna’s ancestor and made it possible for him to pursue an education, allowing him to make discoveries that are vital to the Mars colony. The lesson Ghleanna draws from her ancestor’s life is that “we’re a fraught species. We murder and kill and lie and cheat and eat babies for breakfast. But every so often, despite our immeasurable stupidity, we do beautiful things.”
Jivanta Tanaka-Halevi was born on Mars. Her brittle bones would make it impossible for her to survive in Earth’s gravity. Her mother was a Japanese molecular bioscientist. Her father “was raised inside the Satmar sect of Hasidism” and sheltered from the outside world until a fire literally burned down the walls that surrounded him. Like Ghleanna’s ancestor, Jivanta’s father discovered the wonders of an education that freed him from the confining beliefs of his parents.
Two other characters view Mars as offering a second chance. Douglas Charles Baxter Jr. is the child of meth addicts. “He, like all of us thrust confused and alone into the world, has been swept along the brisk currents of life, grasping for handholds, for connection, while constantly being torn from everything he’s ever loved.” Shabnan Naderi was born in Iran, grew up in France, dropped out of school at the urging of a disastrous boyfriend-turned-husband, and served seventeen years in prison before venturing to Mars. Both characters confront misfortune but strive to be better people.
The individual stories are each inspiring in their own ways. The journey to find rain is dangerous and not all the travelers will survive. While the journey thus provides the elements of a science fiction adventure story, the plot primarily serves as a framework for the stories that Sakunja gathers. The novella’s larger point is the commonality of existence. Each of the disparate characters has overcome hardships; each is willing to endure more of them to experience the joy of being among the first humans to see rain on Mars.
The pleasure of reading Matthew Kressel’s graceful prose made me wish Sakunja had told the stories of each of her fellow travelers. Leaving the reader wanting more is the sign of a good storyteller. The novella might not appeal to science fiction fans who think sf should only be about clever humans defeating warrior aliens, but it might appeal to readers who don’t usually turn to sf but appreciate life-affirming stories about people who gain the courage to take risks and make choices that will change their destinies.
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