{"id":21005,"date":"2024-03-02T12:00:07","date_gmt":"2024-03-02T20:00:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.kith.org\/jed\/?page_id=21005"},"modified":"2025-08-05T15:02:15","modified_gmt":"2025-08-05T22:02:15","slug":"some-responses-to-omelas","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.kith.org\/jed\/hodgepodge\/nonfiction\/some-responses-to-omelas\/","title":{"rendered":"Some responses to Omelas"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n<style>\r\ndt {\r\n  margin-top: 1.5em;\r\n}\r\n<\/style>\r\n\r\n<blockquote>\r\n<p>\u201cone does not simply walk away from Omelas\u201d (\u2014Frumiosa, in a comment at <cite>The Toast<\/cite>)<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n<p>There\u2019ve been many many nonfiction articles about Ursula K. Le&nbsp;Guin\u2019s 1973 story \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/The_Ones_Who_Walk_Away_from_Omelas\">The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas<\/a>,\u201d but the pieces that I\u2019m linking to here are all presented as fiction. This is not a complete list; I know of at least three stories inspired by Omelas that I\u2019ve left off of this list, for various reasons (such as, imo, not being especially relevant to the ideas in the original Omelas story).<\/p>\r\n<p>Even for the works that are included on the list below, I don\u2019t endorse everything that they say.<\/p>\r\n<p>Content warnings for many horrible things being done to kids and adults. (Even one of the story titles listed below includes violent imagery.)<\/p>\r\n\r\n<hr width=\"25%\" \/>\r\n\r\n<dl>\r\n  <dt>\u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ursulakleguin.com\/the-ones-who-walk-away-from-omelas\">The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas<\/a>,\u201d by Ursula K. Le&nbsp;Guin<\/dt>\r\n  <dd>The original story, first published in <cite>New Dimensions 3<\/cite> in 1973.<\/dd>\r\n  <dt>\u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/drive.google.com\/file\/d\/1dBDKDVO0Wtxd_2YAXKttcd3cCfAw6gPv\/view\">The Ones Who Pickaback Away from Omelets<\/a>,\u201d by Ruth Berman<\/dt>\r\n  <dd>A parody. Includes lines like \u201cI apologize for the uncertainty, but it\u2019s a perfectly good literary technique, and if you don\u2019t think so you haven\u2019t been reading enough Kafka and Borges.\u201d Published in <cite><a href=\"http:\/\/spaceandtime.net\/\">Space and Time<\/a><\/cite> #63 in 1982; link is to a digitized version of that issue.<\/dd>\r\n  <dt>\u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.beneath-ceaseless-skies.com\/stories\/laws-of-night-and-silk\/\">Laws of Night and Silk<\/a>,\u201d by Seth Dickinson<\/dt>\r\n  <dd>Children are grown in total darkness and isolation in order to make them into powerful wizards. I don\u2019t know whether the author intended this as a response to Omelas or not, and it\u2019s definitely not a direct or exact response. But I feel like there are strong Omelas resonances here, and a commenter on the story also noted the connection. Published in <cite>Beneath Ceaseless Skies<\/cite> in May, 2016.<\/dd>\r\n  <dt>\u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/reactormag.com\/lullaby-for-a-lost-world\/\">Lullaby for a Lost World<\/a>,\u201d by Aliette de Bodard<\/dt>\r\n  <dd>The author notes that the story was \u201cnot consciously intended as [a response to \u2018Omelas\u2019], but after I wrote it I realised that yes, it was in direct conversation with that story (which I utterly, utterly love).\u201d Published by tor.com in June, 2016.<\/dd>\r\n  <dt>\u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/apex-magazine.com\/short-fiction\/after-we-walked-away\/\">After We Walked Away<\/a>,\u201d by Erica L Satifka<\/dt>\r\n  <dd>Two of the people who walked away try to live in the mundane world. Published in <cite>Apex<\/cite> in November, 2016.<\/dd>\r\n  <dt>\u201cThe Ones Who Know Where They Are Going,\u201d by Sarah Pinsker<\/dt>\r\n  <dd>The child notices that someone has left the door to the room unlocked. Published in <cite>Asimov\u2019s<\/cite> in March, 2017. (You can purchase an ebook version of this back issue in the <cite>Asimov\u2019s<\/cite> iOS app; I\u2019m not sure whether you can get it elsewhere.)<\/dd>\r\n  <dt><a href=\"https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20200227173125\/https:\/\/shedoesnotcomprehend.tumblr.com\/post\/169244532951\/once-upon-a-time-there-was-a-city-called-omelas\">Variations on Omelas<\/a>, by Moriwen<\/dt>\r\n  <dd>About twenty brief but thought-provoking variants on the Omelas scenario. (\u201cVariations on Omelas\u201d is my description; the piece doesn\u2019t appear to have a title as such.) Posted in January, 2018. (No longer available in its original location; link is to a Wayback Machine archived version.)<\/dd>\r\n  <dt>\u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.lightspeedmagazine.com\/fiction\/the-court-magician\/\">The Court Magician<\/a>,\u201d by Sarah Pinsker<\/dt>\r\n  <dd>I hear that the author considers this story to be a response to Omelas. Published in <cite>Lightspeed<\/cite> in January, 2018.<\/dd>\r\n  <dt>\u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/uncannymagazine.com\/article\/a-house-by-the-sea\/\">A House by the Sea<\/a>,\u201d by P H Lee<\/dt>\r\n  <dd>What happens to the child when they get older? \u201cWould you believe me if I told you that they all live together in a house by the sea?\u201d Published in <cite>Uncanny<\/cite>\u2019s <cite>Disabled People Destroy Science Fiction<\/cite> issue, in September, 2018.<\/dd>\r\n  <dt>\u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.lightspeedmagazine.com\/fiction\/the-ones-who-stay-and-fight\/\">The Ones Who Stay and Fight<\/a>,\u201d by N. K. Jemisin<\/dt>\r\n  <dd>Originally published in <cite>How Long \u2019Til Black Future Month?<\/cite>, in November, 2018. (\u2026This story is not to be confused with the similarly titled \u201cThe Ones Who Stay and Fight in Omelas,\u201d by W.S., which I\u2019m not including in this list.)<\/dd>\r\n  <dt>\u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20240221013404\/https:\/\/dailysciencefiction.com\/science-fiction\/future-societies\/sedeer-el-showk\/the-ones-who-made-the-cage\">The Ones Who Made The Cage<\/a>,\u201d by Sedeer el-Showk<\/dt>\r\n  <dd>How Omelas began. Published in <cite>Daily Science Fiction<\/cite>, in December, 2018. (No longer available in its original location; link is to a Wayback Machine archived version.)<\/dd>\r\n  <dt>\u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20201129142525\/https:\/\/dailysciencefiction.com\/hither-and-yon\/slipstream\/sean-vivier\/the-ones-who-dont-walk-away\">The Ones Who Don\u2019t Walk Away<\/a>,\u201d by Sean Vivier<\/dt>\r\n  <dd>About some of the people who stay. Published in <cite>Daily Science Fiction<\/cite> in August, 2020. (No longer available in its original location; link is to a Wayback Machine archived version.)<\/dd>\r\n  <dt>\u201c<a href=\"http:\/\/www.beneath-ceaseless-skies.com\/stories\/and-the-ones-who-walk-in\/\">And the Ones Who Walk In<\/a>,\u201d by Sarah Avery<\/dt>\r\n  <dd>Some people might want to go toward Omelas instead of away from it. Published in <cite>Beneath Ceaseless Skies<\/cite> in December, 2020.<\/dd>\r\n  <dt>\u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/prismaticapress.com\/prismatica\/2021-2-6\/my-first-and-last-proclamation-as-the-child-freed-and-crowned-queen-of-omelas\">My First and Last Proclamation as the Child Freed and Crowned Queen of Omelas<\/a>,\u201d by Palimrya<\/dt>\r\n  <dd>A poem, published in <cite>Prismatica<\/cite> in February, 2021.<\/dd>\r\n  <dt>\u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.goodreads.com\/book\/show\/56699944-omelas-revisited\">Omelas Revisited: A Dystopian Fantasy Novella<\/a>,\u201d by C. S. Johnson<\/dt>\r\n  <dd>I haven\u2019t read this one. It was originally published in three installments (with titles like \u201cThe Ones Who See\u201d and \u201cThe Ones Who Fight\u201d) in a trilogy of anthologies in 2020, then reprinted as a full novella in June, 2021.<\/dd>\r\n  <dt>\u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.onbeyondzarathustra.com\/traintoomelas\">The Ones Who Take The Train To Omelas<\/a>,\u201d by John Holbo<\/dt>\r\n  <dd>Two people argue about whether to visit Omelas as tourists. \u201cFuck Covid. We deserve to get out. Let\u2019s take the train to Omelas.\u201d Also includes Omelas travel posters. (Holbo also links to a page of notes talking about the underpinnings of what he was trying to do with this piece.) Posted in November, 2021 (I think).<\/dd>\r\n  <dt>\u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.patreon.com\/posts\/friday-story-who-94231463\">The Ones Who Walk Away from the Ones Who Walk Away<\/a>,\u201d by David Gerrold<\/dt>\r\n  <dd>An expedition sets out for the fabled ruined city. Published in <cite>Asimov\u2019s<\/cite> in November, 2021. Linked-to version is paywalled.<\/dd>\r\n  <dt>\u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/memory-alpha.fandom.com\/wiki\/Lift_Us_Where_Suffering_Cannot_Reach_(episode)\">Lift Us Where Suffering Cannot Reach<\/a>,\u201d <cite>Star Trek: Strange New Worlds<\/cite>, season 1, episode 6<\/dt>\r\n  <dd>A <cite>Trek<\/cite> adaptation of Omelas. Aired in June, 2022.<\/dd>\r\n  <dt>\u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/clarkesworldmagazine.com\/willrich_06_22\/\">The Odyssey Problem<\/a>,\u201d by Chris Willrich<\/dt>\r\n  <dd>What happens when a starship from the Federated Cultural Republic rescues the child from the Room. Published in <cite>Clarkesworld<\/cite> in June, 2022.<\/dd>\r\n  <dt>\u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/bn-songbook.dreamwidth.org\/69807.html\">Walkin\u2019 Away from Omelas<\/a>,\u201d lyrics by Benjamin Newman<\/dt>\r\n  <dd>A song to the tune of Dave Carter\u2019s \u201cWalkin\u2019 Away from Caroline.\u201d Posted in May, 2023.<\/dd>\r\n  <dt>\u201c<a href=\"http:\/\/strangehorizons.com\/fiction\/the-ones-who-come-back-to-heal\/\">The Ones Who Come Back to Heal<\/a>,\u201d by Cynthia G\u00f3mez<\/dt>\r\n  <dd>After Omelas changes, healers attempt to heal the child. Published in <cite>Strange Horizons<\/cite> in July, 2023.<\/dd>\r\n  <dt>\u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/clarkesworldmagazine.com\/kim_02_24\/\">Why Don\u2019t We Just Kill the Kid in the Omelas Hole<\/a>,\u201d by Isabel J. Kim<\/dt>\r\n  <dd>\u201cSo they broke into the hole in the ground, and they killed the kid, and all the lights went out in Omelas: click, click, click.\u201d Published in <cite>Clarkesworld<\/cite> in February, 2024.<\/dd>\r\n  <dt>\u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.tumblr.com\/artbyblastweave\/742632638952636416\/no-yeah-that-too-now-that-the-kid-is-free-the\">Okay, so, uh, bad, uh, bad news<\/a>,\u201d by artbyblastweave<\/dt>\r\n  <dd>\u201cit was actually secretly one of those Aesop's about how utopia will inevitably be dependent on our ability to accept and accommodate lifestyle choices we don't understand.\u201d Posted on Tumblr in February, 2024.<\/dd>\r\n  <dt>\u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.lightspeedmagazine.com\/fiction\/salemo\/\">Salemo<\/a>,\u201d by David Marino<\/dt>\r\n  <dd>Short-short commentary. Published in <cite>Lightspeed<\/cite> in April, 2024.<\/dd>\r\n  <dt>\u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/chaumas-deactivated20240115.tumblr.com\/post\/752834369490747392\/really-funny-also-if-everyone-crowds-around-him-at\">new dnd character: the former omelas kid<\/a>,\u201d by chaumas-deactivated20240115<\/dt>\r\n  <dd>\u201cthe omelas kid background doesn\u2019t give you any special bonuses apart from being able to shut down a lot of arguments by bringing up the fact that you used to be the omelas kid.\u201d Posted on Tumblr in June and July, 2024.<\/dd>\r\n  <dt>\u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.tumblr.com\/bramblepatch\/757561897305440256\/the-thing-about-omelas-is-you-know-they-really\">The thing about Omelas is, you know, they really want you to think there's only one kid in a hole<\/a>,\u201d by bramblepatch<\/dt>\r\n  <dd>\u201cIt's a shared shame that you're not supposed to talk about.\u201d Posted on Tumblr in July, 2024.<\/dd>\r\n  <dt>\"The Ones Who Refuse to Walk Away,\" by Andrea Kriz<\/dt>\r\n  <dd>The author says this is about \u201can AI drone network taking exactly the wrong lesson from Omelas and trying to convince You that You live in a terrorist state.\u201d Published in <cite>Analog<\/cite> in September\/October, 2024.<\/dd>\r\n  <dt>\u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/bethkinderman.bandcamp.com\/track\/the-ones-who-walked-away\">The Ones Who Walked Away<\/a>,\u201d by Beth Kinderman<\/dt>\r\n  <dd>A song. \u201cI will not cede this city to the ones who look the other way \/ by walking with the ones who walked away.\u201d (For lyrics, scroll down on the Bandcamp page.) Released in October, 2024.<\/dd>\r\n  <dt>\u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.lightspeedmagazine.com\/fiction\/the-ones-who-come-at-last\/\">The Ones Who Come At Last<\/a>,\u201d by P H Lee<\/dt>\r\n  <dd>Refugees are welcomed in the City. Published in <cite>Lightspeed<\/cite> in November, 2024.<\/dd>\r\n  <dt>\u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.lightspeedmagazine.com\/fiction\/tell-them-a-story-to-teach-them-kindness\/\">Tell Them a Story to Teach Them Kindness<\/a>,\u201d by B. Pladek<\/dt>\r\n  <dd>Not a direct response to Omelas, but includes some near-explicit connections. Published in <cite>Lightspeed<\/cite> in January, 2025.<\/dd>\r\n  <dt>\u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/bsky.app\/profile\/hugobookclub.bsky.social\/post\/3lkbkrbdiuc2e\">My Omelas, Right Or Wrong<\/a>,\u201d by Olav Rokne<\/dt>\r\n  <dd>A Bluesky thread (visible without a Bluesky account) about Omelas, in a voice inspired by a certain prominent American politician. Posted on Bluesky in March, 2025.<\/dd>\r\n  <dt>\u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.lightspeedmagazine.com\/fiction\/what-else-what-else-in-the-joyous-city\/\">What Else, What Else, in the Joyous City?<\/a>\u201d by Sadoeuphemist<\/dt>\r\n  <dd>Half a dozen variations on Omelas. Published in <cite>Lightspeed<\/cite> in July, 2025.<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n\r\n<hr width=\"25%\" \/>\r\n\r\n<h3>BTS and fanfic<\/h3>\r\n<p>An <a href=\"https:\/\/archiveofourown.org\/works\/search?work_search%5Bquery%5D=omelas\">AO3 search for <i>omelas<\/i><\/a> returns 235 search results. It looks like most of those are BTS fic, because the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=xEeFrLSkMm8\">video for the 2017 BTS song \u201cSpring Day\u201d<\/a> was <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Spring_Day_(song)\">inspired in part by \u201cThe Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas.\u201d<\/a> I\u2019ve waffled about whether to include the BTS video on the above list; so far, I feel like the Omelas connection is kinda tenuous, but <a href=\"https:\/\/armysalon.wordpress.com\/2018\/01\/08\/june-26th-2017-sigonsa-blog-post-translation-regarding-to-omelas-and-bts-spring-day\/\">some people consider it to be pretty strong<\/a>.<\/p>\r\n<p>Anyway, point being, there is lots of Omelas fic on AO3, so much that if I listed it all on this page, it would overwhelm everything else. Of the stories I\u2019ve read there, most seem to be taking characters from a given fandom and putting them in Omelas or an Omelas-like place; they seem to me to fit the criteria for my list, but there are too many of them. So for now, I\u2019m just linking to that AO3 search-results page. I may do something different at some point.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<hr width=\"25%\" \/>\r\n\r\n<h3>History of this page<\/h3>\r\n<p>In 2021, I posted a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kith.org\/jed\/2021\/11\/24\/several-responses-to-omelas\/\">blog post<\/a> linking to a few stories related to Omelas. Over time, I encountered more such stories; eventually I decided to turn the list into a page that I can update over time.<\/p>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"parent":5482,"menu_order":320,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-21005","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kith.org\/jed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/21005","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kith.org\/jed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kith.org\/jed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kith.org\/jed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kith.org\/jed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21005"}],"version-history":[{"count":88,"href":"https:\/\/www.kith.org\/jed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/21005\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21524,"href":"https:\/\/www.kith.org\/jed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/21005\/revisions\/21524"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kith.org\/jed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/5482"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kith.org\/jed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21005"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}