I wanted to include this eBook-only novella in my Top 5 of 2014, not only because it’s a great story, but because I like the idea of authors finding homes for their less-lengthy work.
Sleep Donation is set in the near future when an epidemic of fatal insomnia plagues America. A company called Slumber Corps collects “healthy sleep” from donors and uses it to cure the sleepless. For years, Trish Edgewater has worked for the company and telling the tale of her sister, Dori, who was one of the first people to die from the outbreak. During her work with the universal donor “Baby A,” she starts to question her work, and then a new strain of the insomnia throws everyone into crisis mode.
Russell has a lot going on here, and it’s extra surreal to read Sleep Donation before bed. The concept is science fiction, but the way in which it is written feels like this outbreak could be just around the corner. It’s like a dream you just can’t shake off — How much does your subconscious know? What is in our future?