The Hungry Mouth at the Edge of Space and the Goddess Knitting at Home

by Renan Bernardo

To celebrate her grandmother, all the captain of the Sopinha de Feijão wanted was to build a street market on a distant moon. But now the captain is dead and trying to figure out what kind of god might have killed her—and what kind of pact her grandmother made with it.

At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Genres: Science Fiction, Short Stories, Adult

27 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 27, 2025

About the author

Renan Bernardo is a Nebula and Ignyte finalist author of science fiction and fantasy from Brazil. His short fiction appeared in Reactor/Tor.com, Clarkesworld, Apex Magazine, Podcastle, Escape Pod, Daily Science Fiction, and others.

He writes from secondary world fantasy to dark science fiction, and he enjoys the intersection of climate narratives with science, technology, and the human relations inherent to it.

His solarpunk/clifi short fiction collection, Different Kinds of Defiance, was published in 2024. His dark space opera novella, Disgraced Return of the Kap’s Needle, was released in 2025.

Reviews

[Radwa · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is heartbreaking.

A space traveller attempts to solve their death, amid flashbacks of the sweetest grandmother ever. fabulos writing and story telling.

[Netanella · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read it free here: https://reactormag.com/the-hungry-mou...

A free Tor short story about a ghost working to fulfill a promise. The story really made me miss my yiayia.

[Thia Reads A Lot]

3*
- I liked what is happening as a general concept, some sentences tripped me up though

Summary: Dedê was raised by her grandmother Vovó after the deaths of her parents. They prayed together to ward off hunger, and a goddess answered with bananas every Tuesday. Now Dedê is a space traveler wanting to create a street market on a distant planet to honor Vovó, but another god tries to stop them (their crew is killed, but Dedê somehow comes back to life). Vovó becomes a leafless tree on the distant planet at the end, which was sweet.

[Barbara · Rating 4 out of 5]

A crew of four is dead on their ship, and the captain awakens to find that she's a ghost. She must figure out what happened and fight an evil god to be able to finish the mission she had embarked on, which would honor her grandmother, who raised her. This short story was all about faith, gods, love, family and determination, and I enjoyed it.

[a little off center JOAT · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fascinating short story about hunger, faith, family, and love.

[Per · Rating 4 out of 5]

https://reactormag.com/the-hungry-mou...

[Katherine · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was pretty good. I liked the overall premise, and the execution was done pretty well. I think we got a sense of the universe this was in.

[Rhi · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.75 stars