What do you think?
Rate this book
Prosperity #4
Cloudy Climes and Starless Skies
My dearest Dil,
I fear our lifestyle does not lend itself well to the marking of dates or rites of passage, but I cherish the night on which I first told you my story. Of my birth in Canton and my life in England, and how—at last—I escaped from it to the skies. Of my father’s attempts to make me his, and my struggle to make myself my own. Of airship and auroras, the flying pirate city of Liberty, and how I became who I am.
I’ve tried to write it all down for you as best I can, so you may share it with me again whenever you wish.
Happy anniversary.
Love forever,
BK
I fear our lifestyle does not lend itself well to the marking of dates or rites of passage, but I cherish the night on which I first told you my story. Of my birth in Canton and my life in England, and how—at last—I escaped from it to the skies. Of my father’s attempts to make me his, and my struggle to make myself my own. Of airship and auroras, the flying pirate city of Liberty, and how I became who I am.
I’ve tried to write it all down for you as best I can, so you may share it with me again whenever you wish.
Happy anniversary.
Love forever,
BK
81 pages, ebook
First published January 3, 2015
About the author
Alexis Hall
50 books10.1k followersGenrequeer writer of kissing books.
Please note: I don’t read / reply to DMs. If you would like to get in touch, the best way is via email which you can find in the contact section on my website <3
Please note: I don’t read / reply to DMs. If you would like to get in touch, the best way is via email which you can find in the contact section on my website <3
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews
February 21, 2016
The Prosperity-verse is going to ruin me for other fantasy. I was a bad girl and skipped right to Byron Kae's story. I had to. I was weak. I read it first.
Now I'm in a Victorian swoon, one hand on the forehead, damp hankywedged in clutched to my bosom. I am all a-flutter.
Now I'm in a Victorian swoon, one hand on the forehead, damp hanky
August 17, 2019
byron kae is the light of my life
June 12, 2016
This story makes me so incredibly happy. A natural follow up to Prosperity.
***
Wonder! at the journey of the dashing skycaptain Byron Kae across sapphire oceans, through smog-choked streets, and to the depths of the sky itself.
Okay first:
I KNEW IT!!! I KNEW IT!!! I KNEW IT!!!
And no! I won’t tell you what :-D :-))))) I so knew it. Also: makes me soooooooo, so happy.
Welcome to Byron Kae’s story, of how they became an aethermancer.
I was too desperate to be embarrassed. And Edward simply gathered me up and carried me aboard. Wrapped me in a blanket, and held me with impossible patience, until I remembered how it felt to be safe, and seen, and known.
Cloudy is in parts a really heartbreaking story, because Byron Kae had not an easy life, before they could escape to the skies and be free. It made me so angry and sad for them. They had been different even before they got changed by the universe and they had a hard time because of that.
Infinity. I beheld infinity.
Nowhere and everywhere, the beginning and the end of all things, boundless and impossible vast.
And beautiful.
It was beautiful.
[...]
And the universe took me and claimed me, and when I came back, I was changed.
Cloudy is a story full of wonder and love and tenderness. Reading about Byron Kae makes me incredibly happy. They is such an intriguing character. When they talk, when they are near, I feel like an amazed child.
Byron Kae is just so fascinating. They is so innocent but so powerful, too.
I want a Byron Kae in my life, because as much as I adore Milord, it’d be too dangerous to have someone like him ;-)
I really loved how 'Cloudy' was told. The framework to Byron Kae telling their story was just lovely. The small banter in between with Dil made me smile so much.
Again I am awed by another piece that I could discover and explore in the Prosperityverse. I could read nothing else for the rest of my life and die happy .
January 12, 2015
Cloudy Climes and Starless Skies is my favourite story in the collection.
Because Byron Kae. I’ll steal Andrea’s words because I can’t say this better - If anyone deserves to be able to fly, it's Byron.
“There’s little value in an unread book.”
“Before you, there was only ever unread books.”
It is possible that I’m being biased here because I adore Byron Kae since I met them in Prosperity. Here, they finally tell their story while Dil teases them lovingly and I just fell in love even more.
Forced to endure their father’s resentment, claim of ownership and attempts to change them, Byron Kae not only refuses to put their head down but becomes a person who can find beauty in a world full of ugly, they are affectionate and fair and brave.
And just because I loved what they say about Dil, I’ll quote it here:
The truth is, Dil is full of hungers. Greedy for words and skin and the open sky.
Also, Ros and Ruben make memorable appearances in Cloudy.
Ros is the first light Byron Kae sees in months and despite all the horrible things she says to them, I could not see her as a negative character only. I’m so glad she got her love story in There Will Be Phlogiston.
I’d say Byron Kae’s encounter with Ruben is the event that strengthened their resolve to chase their dreams. Ruben’s words not only moved Byron Kae but made me appreciate their friendship much more.
“I don’t know what I am,” I finished, breathless and half-sick on confession, like the burn of a freshly lanced wound.
“You’re you.” He made it sound so very simple.
Beautiful and touching story that I’ll definitely be reading again.
October 20, 2022
Is this my favourite thing that AJH has ever written? I think so. It makes me cry every time I read it, it’s so gorgeously written. I don’t even know what to say about it; it leaves me sad and happy and wanting more of Byron Kae’s stories.
It also has some of my favourite quotes.
It also has some of my favourite quotes.
November 3, 2020
It’s not usually in me to write a lengthy review for a short story. But I gots lots to say.
Ya might say this touched a nerve.
You know that ticklish little tingle you get in the bridge of your nose when there’s the distinct possibility you might cry? Your eyes haven’t quite caught on yet, so the tear ducts are clueless. Your throat is equally unaware. It’s just that weird tingle.
The only thing keeping it at bay is a little grin because there’s something happy there too.
Yeah.
Byron Kae…lovely.
This is their story.
And it is wondrous.
Their story is painful.
There is beauty that comes from their pain and it’s woven in with delicate strands of a sparkling sky. It has a powerful grace and boundless love.
This story is so full of moments of wonder that I could only smile a little smile while my nose tingled its threat of tears.
Byron Kae has the purest heart, an inherent wisdom, and sweet, shy innocence.
We also get a bit more of our dear Piccadilly. We get to see that he’s growing into his own and becoming even more lovely, hilarious, and adorable.
Everything, everything, everything about this was more than I could have hoped.
And here’s where I step off the rails for a bit…
My very first favorite poem was Lord Byron’s “She Walks in Beauty.” It was the first non-nursery rhyme poem I ever worked to commit to memory. I was around eleven when I discovered it. There aren’t many poems or literary quotes I carry around in my noggin…but this is one of them.
I hated studying this poem in high school—and again in college. Teachers, professors, and textbooks want to dictate what literature and art are supposed to mean. I have a hard time with that. Sure, point us in a general direction, teach us what other scholars thought, but then…then let us give it a whirl.
I failed a paper in high school because I dared to whirl and write about what this poem meant to me at a time when I was most awkward and didn't fit in. My paper came back ravaged and bloodied from the teacher’s pen. I challenged her. She rolled her goddamn eyes at me and said, “No. You’re wrong.”
Fuck her. I’m pretty sure I muttered that in my head as I stood, cowed and deflated more than I thought possible, on the other side of her desk.
She was a feckless bitch two years from retirement sneering at me in sadistic glee, wielding her scepter disguised as a chewed up red BIC pen, and ruling my fate and GPA from the other side of that ugly, uneven institutional desk.
God, how I hated her in that moment.
It had only been the year before when the best English teacher I’d ever had taught us to question everything without fear. Dissect, dig deeper, tear words apart—line by line, letter by letter if you must. Sometimes a rose is just a rose, sometimes it's not. He taught us e.e. cummings, Thoreau, and Walt Whitman that way, among others. Meaning to one person can be entirely different to another—but you’ll never know unless you ask questions of yourself and the world around you. He said there’s nothing real about symbolism. It’s all made up, all subjective, and all changing—according to the “all is flux” philosophy of Heraclitus.
But none of that mattered anymore. New teacher, new classroom, new rules. Lesson fucking learned. I played her classroom games to pass exams, and I kept my mouth shut because clearly the opinions of a seventeen-year-old girl didn’t matter.
In college, I took the cowards way out when I had to write a similar paper for the same poem—and for every other piece of literature I studied in those four years. It was all a game. Winning meant writing what they wanted to read, which was a regurgitation of their lectures using bigger words, maybe throw in a lil’ somthin’ extra to impress—but only if it’s a quote by someone impressive.
That’s what $45,000 a year in tuition taught me.
Oh, and parallel parking.
I’m sad to admit, but that’s a lesson I carried with me for a long, long time. My opinions didn’t matter. Only tell people what they want to hear. Twenty-five years later and I’m still working on breaking free.
By the way, I aced that paper in college.
“All is flux” sometimes sucks, though.
The poem was tarnished for me. I still know it. It still means what it means—even if I was wrong.
Yet it was never, could never ever, be the same. Because being told what you think or feel is wrong...that shit sticks.
But then, all these years later, Alexis Hall comes along. He has this short little story that’s part of a series, a small part of a greater whole. It’s nestled in somewhere around the middle of all these other weird stories. The cover is fanciful. The title is catchy.
That title…it makes my nose tingle.
It’s not the same. But it kind of is.
Kind of..maybe, a little bit close to a poem I love.
Then the story.
Twists and turns, lightness and dark, stars and clouds, whirls and twirls, unimaginable and unassumed beauty and courage found in unlikely ways.
Good Lord Byron Kae!
Alexis Hall gave me back my favorite poem.
Also posted on BackPorchReader.com.
Ya might say this touched a nerve.
You know that ticklish little tingle you get in the bridge of your nose when there’s the distinct possibility you might cry? Your eyes haven’t quite caught on yet, so the tear ducts are clueless. Your throat is equally unaware. It’s just that weird tingle.
The only thing keeping it at bay is a little grin because there’s something happy there too.
Yeah.
Byron Kae…lovely.
This is their story.
And it is wondrous.
Their story is painful.
There is beauty that comes from their pain and it’s woven in with delicate strands of a sparkling sky. It has a powerful grace and boundless love.
This story is so full of moments of wonder that I could only smile a little smile while my nose tingled its threat of tears.
Byron Kae has the purest heart, an inherent wisdom, and sweet, shy innocence.
We also get a bit more of our dear Piccadilly. We get to see that he’s growing into his own and becoming even more lovely, hilarious, and adorable.
Everything, everything, everything about this was more than I could have hoped.
And here’s where I step off the rails for a bit…
My very first favorite poem was Lord Byron’s “She Walks in Beauty.” It was the first non-nursery rhyme poem I ever worked to commit to memory. I was around eleven when I discovered it. There aren’t many poems or literary quotes I carry around in my noggin…but this is one of them.
I hated studying this poem in high school—and again in college. Teachers, professors, and textbooks want to dictate what literature and art are supposed to mean. I have a hard time with that. Sure, point us in a general direction, teach us what other scholars thought, but then…then let us give it a whirl.
I failed a paper in high school because I dared to whirl and write about what this poem meant to me at a time when I was most awkward and didn't fit in. My paper came back ravaged and bloodied from the teacher’s pen. I challenged her. She rolled her goddamn eyes at me and said, “No. You’re wrong.”
Fuck her. I’m pretty sure I muttered that in my head as I stood, cowed and deflated more than I thought possible, on the other side of her desk.
She was a feckless bitch two years from retirement sneering at me in sadistic glee, wielding her scepter disguised as a chewed up red BIC pen, and ruling my fate and GPA from the other side of that ugly, uneven institutional desk.
God, how I hated her in that moment.
It had only been the year before when the best English teacher I’d ever had taught us to question everything without fear. Dissect, dig deeper, tear words apart—line by line, letter by letter if you must. Sometimes a rose is just a rose, sometimes it's not. He taught us e.e. cummings, Thoreau, and Walt Whitman that way, among others. Meaning to one person can be entirely different to another—but you’ll never know unless you ask questions of yourself and the world around you. He said there’s nothing real about symbolism. It’s all made up, all subjective, and all changing—according to the “all is flux” philosophy of Heraclitus.
But none of that mattered anymore. New teacher, new classroom, new rules. Lesson fucking learned. I played her classroom games to pass exams, and I kept my mouth shut because clearly the opinions of a seventeen-year-old girl didn’t matter.
In college, I took the cowards way out when I had to write a similar paper for the same poem—and for every other piece of literature I studied in those four years. It was all a game. Winning meant writing what they wanted to read, which was a regurgitation of their lectures using bigger words, maybe throw in a lil’ somthin’ extra to impress—but only if it’s a quote by someone impressive.
That’s what $45,000 a year in tuition taught me.
Oh, and parallel parking.
I’m sad to admit, but that’s a lesson I carried with me for a long, long time. My opinions didn’t matter. Only tell people what they want to hear. Twenty-five years later and I’m still working on breaking free.
By the way, I aced that paper in college.
“All is flux” sometimes sucks, though.
The poem was tarnished for me. I still know it. It still means what it means—even if I was wrong.
Yet it was never, could never ever, be the same. Because being told what you think or feel is wrong...that shit sticks.
But then, all these years later, Alexis Hall comes along. He has this short little story that’s part of a series, a small part of a greater whole. It’s nestled in somewhere around the middle of all these other weird stories. The cover is fanciful. The title is catchy.
That title…it makes my nose tingle.
It’s not the same. But it kind of is.
Kind of..maybe, a little bit close to a poem I love.
Then the story.
Twists and turns, lightness and dark, stars and clouds, whirls and twirls, unimaginable and unassumed beauty and courage found in unlikely ways.
Good Lord Byron Kae!
Alexis Hall gave me back my favorite poem.
Also posted on BackPorchReader.com.
May 20, 2015
3.5 stars
I almost skipped this one. I'm really glad that I didn't!
'Cloudy Climes at Starless Skies' is both a prequel and sequel to Prosperity. Readers will learn how Byron Kae became who they are (yes, 'they', as Byron Kae is neither man nor woman), and how the 'Shadowless' began its journey. Readers will also get some answers regarding Byron Kae and Piccadilly's relationship.
This is a fun and quick read, which follows Byron Kae from their life as a child in Canton, China, through to how they became the captain of the 'Shadowless'. There's some angst, family drama, fantasy, and even an adventure.
Overall, this is an enjoyable short which fans of Byron Kae will enjoy.
I almost skipped this one. I'm really glad that I didn't!
'Cloudy Climes at Starless Skies' is both a prequel and sequel to Prosperity. Readers will learn how Byron Kae became who they are (yes, 'they', as Byron Kae is neither man nor woman), and how the 'Shadowless' began its journey. Readers will also get some answers regarding Byron Kae and Piccadilly's relationship.
This is a fun and quick read, which follows Byron Kae from their life as a child in Canton, China, through to how they became the captain of the 'Shadowless'. There's some angst, family drama, fantasy, and even an adventure.
Overall, this is an enjoyable short which fans of Byron Kae will enjoy.
February 23, 2016
Byron Kae. ❤️
February 7, 2016
*~* breath hitches *~*
*~* quill point scratches across paper *~*
My Dearest Byron,
My heart cracks and splits and crumbles in learning of your history, but then you heal it all, putting me back together again with your endless kindness, strength and love. I hate for you, my heartbeat increasing and my anger rising against those who failed to see you, who simply failed you, and hurt you. I hate that you hurt.
For all of your strength and knowledge and experience, you still recognize the precious nature of life, of Dil. What he is, he’s the sky you can now see, the life that travels beside you, with you, instead of only glimpsing it over the wall and beyond the railing. He’s everything you don’t yet know.
That makes Ruben the one who helped you see the you that was already there, waiting to start the real ride in that sky.
Oh, and before I forget, thank Dil for me. He makes me giggle, especially when he teases you, for it’s usually based on truth. Which is the other thing, he sees the true you. He sees you and embraces you, knowing what you want and why. Precious.
I wish for you the life you’ve dreamed and more.
Yours in gratitude,
~Andrea
BJ and I did buddy reviews of all of the stories contained within Liberty and Other Stories over on PBA
ETA: Recommended Read on PBA for January 2015
*~* quill point scratches across paper *~*
My Dearest Byron,
My heart cracks and splits and crumbles in learning of your history, but then you heal it all, putting me back together again with your endless kindness, strength and love. I hate for you, my heartbeat increasing and my anger rising against those who failed to see you, who simply failed you, and hurt you. I hate that you hurt.
For all of your strength and knowledge and experience, you still recognize the precious nature of life, of Dil. What he is, he’s the sky you can now see, the life that travels beside you, with you, instead of only glimpsing it over the wall and beyond the railing. He’s everything you don’t yet know.
That makes Ruben the one who helped you see the you that was already there, waiting to start the real ride in that sky.
Oh, and before I forget, thank Dil for me. He makes me giggle, especially when he teases you, for it’s usually based on truth. Which is the other thing, he sees the true you. He sees you and embraces you, knowing what you want and why. Precious.
I wish for you the life you’ve dreamed and more.
Yours in gratitude,
~Andrea
BJ and I did buddy reviews of all of the stories contained within Liberty and Other Stories over on PBA
ETA: Recommended Read on PBA for January 2015
March 29, 2016
At last we come to a story that moves us forward from Prosperity... slightly. For the most part, this is again the backstory of one of the MCs, this time the aethermancer and captain, Byron Kae.
Byron Kae is a fascinating character, intelligent, yet socially bewildered, alone for much of their life, kind, now-powerful, genderqueer. Dil coaxes them to tell the story of how they were taken from the only home they knew for most of their childhood, in Canton, after their mother's death. Their father finally took notice of Byron, brought them back to England, and set a servant to make a proper English gentleman out of them. But they are ill suited to the life, and pleasing their father is a near-impossible task. They remember with nostalgic wistfulness the week spent travelling on an airship, and the kindness of the ship's captain. And then they meet another kindly stranger, an ex-clergyman, who sets their life off on another path...
This installment showcases the worldbuilding of this universe, and gives us insight into the gentle wistfulness of Byron Kae. It's a fascinating tale, sad in places, and the frame of the story gives the reader just a taste of Byron Kae and Dil together. Not as much as I'd have wanted, but what is there moves them forward together, giving us Dil's loyalty and caring, and Byron's vulnerability and wistfulness. There is a strain of sadness running through the story, but the ending is sweet.
Byron Kae is a fascinating character, intelligent, yet socially bewildered, alone for much of their life, kind, now-powerful, genderqueer. Dil coaxes them to tell the story of how they were taken from the only home they knew for most of their childhood, in Canton, after their mother's death. Their father finally took notice of Byron, brought them back to England, and set a servant to make a proper English gentleman out of them. But they are ill suited to the life, and pleasing their father is a near-impossible task. They remember with nostalgic wistfulness the week spent travelling on an airship, and the kindness of the ship's captain. And then they meet another kindly stranger, an ex-clergyman, who sets their life off on another path...
This installment showcases the worldbuilding of this universe, and gives us insight into the gentle wistfulness of Byron Kae. It's a fascinating tale, sad in places, and the frame of the story gives the reader just a taste of Byron Kae and Dil together. Not as much as I'd have wanted, but what is there moves them forward together, giving us Dil's loyalty and caring, and Byron's vulnerability and wistfulness. There is a strain of sadness running through the story, but the ending is sweet.
March 15, 2015
Masterful storytelling. Byron Kae tells Dil their story. Beautiful, interspersed with Dil's loveliness and humor, it's a story about learning to be true to oneself, about kindness. It makes one's heart sing.
August 20, 2019
Actually read this as part of Liberty and Other Stories, but it's so great it deserves its own review. Like many people, Byron Kae is my favorite character from Prosperity and I was thrilled to get their own story. (BK is the first non-binary character I read of, and it took me several readings to understand that "they" and "their" referred to only one person.)
I bow down to the awesomeness that is Alexis Hall's mind and creativity. Not only has he created a unique universe with intriguing characters, but his writing is absolutely superb. And it's all on display here. From Dil's quite funny interruptions:
I bow down to the awesomeness that is Alexis Hall's mind and creativity. Not only has he created a unique universe with intriguing characters, but his writing is absolutely superb. And it's all on display here. From Dil's quite funny interruptions:
Dil: "I ain’t got no words bad enough.To Reuben Crowe's views on God and theology:
BK: "I don’t believe that for a moment. Your command of bad words is exceptional."
BK: Are you . . . you . . . flirting with me?
Dil: I’m trying to flirt with you. Ain’t the same thing, believe me.
"Well, our understanding of anything is shaped by its context: to draw literalities from a text that—however divine its inspiration—is ultimately historical, is not just foolish but harmful.”To universal truths:
"A god who exists to condemn and control, who debases love, rather than exalts it?” His smile was back, and the crinkles, and the deep brackets around his mouth. “Why would I worship him?”
... gifts are not the gift, but the giving.To the absolutely most beautiful prose:
I gave myself to the spaces between the stars, to the colours that lay beyond the edge of the world, to endless eternity. Like a bride, like a lover, like a child. And the universe took me and claimed me, and when I came back, I was changed.Yeah, I know, this review contains more of the author's words than my own. Why shouldn't it? Alexis Hall's words are so much better than anything I could write.
April 5, 2021
Yes! Yesss!! Byron Kae's story! It was perfect. It was ideal, it tied in effortlessly to everything that's come before, to their feelings for Dil, for Dil's love of stories, to everything that's come before and after, it just... made the knot that pulled all these backstories tight and gave them their context. It was beautiful and painful and very Byron Kae and just... ugh, I'm so happy to have read it. This world makes me happy, the joy in these stories makes me happy.
July 26, 2017
"But I opened my eyes, and I saw stars -a sea of stars- not like you see them from Earth or the deck of an airship, with their light already dimmed and their distance unbreachable, but naked in their incalculable multitudes, spread across the universe in a thick, silvery crust."
Although I'm a Jane Grey girl at heart, I feel like my love for Byron Kae has trebled -and I didn't even know there was enough space in the universe for it to be possible.
I've basically highlighted 20% of the book. If not more.
Also, it has one of the most beautiful last lines I've ever read.
Although I'm a Jane Grey girl at heart, I feel like my love for Byron Kae has trebled -and I didn't even know there was enough space in the universe for it to be possible.
I've basically highlighted 20% of the book. If not more.
Also, it has one of the most beautiful last lines I've ever read.
August 21, 2020
Byron Kae is quite possibly one of my favorite fictional characters. As a trans masculine person who sometimes drifts between and throughout the many genders, I absolutely loved the representation!
I also wanted Dil and Byron to be a thing since BK was first introduced. I just had a feeling. And gods, I am so glad it came to be. Because this was super satisfying in a way I can’t fully describe.
It’s just so good. ❤️
I also wanted Dil and Byron to be a thing since BK was first introduced. I just had a feeling. And gods, I am so glad it came to be. Because this was super satisfying in a way I can’t fully describe.
It’s just so good. ❤️
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 3, 2022
Reread Sept 2022 for, uhm, research (and shamelessly rating separately). A lovely if slightly bittersweet reminder that these unique, mad, gorgeous stories are everything I'm missing from Alexis Hall's recent books, and more. Will probably reread the rest of the whole series now, lol.
July 16, 2017
Beautiful.
November 3, 2015
This is lovely, with sweet Byron Kae and Dil <3
August 19, 2015
Lovely to read more about one (actually of two) of my favourite characters from the Prosperity universe!
January 16, 2016
Simply beautiful.
February 19, 2016
That epilogue is a damn tease, but oh how I love this book anyhow.
June 2, 2016
BK <3 <3 <3
Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews