It Could Happen Here CZM Book Club: The Cloud Weaver's Song, by Saul Tanpepper
Mar 29, 2026
A narrated tale about climate refugees, ancestral memory, and an Eritrean-rooted setting. Giant spider robots and molten-glass threads that harvest clouds feature heavily. Tensions over shifting weather patterns and rules of sky people drive conflict. The story follows risky acts of care, banishment, and the creation of a new garden below the towers.
AI Snips
Chapters
Books
Transcript
Episode notes
Cloud Weavers Harvesting Mist With Glass Threads
- Margaret Kiljoy reads a fable-like story about cloud weavers harvesting mist with glass threads to sustain a sky-dwelling community.
- The tale follows Simhar, a young weaver, and introduces towers, molten-glass threads, and the cultural history of the Afar people in the Danakil.
Glass Threads Turn Mist Into A Measurable Resource
- The community adapts to climate collapse by inventing glass-thread harvesting to catch nightly mists and condense water for survival.
- The wires sing different notes indicating how laden they are, turning moisture into an audible communal metric.
Ali The Termite-Climber Who Risked Everything
- The story personalizes risk through Ali, an orphan who climbs towers in termite skin and nearly dies gathering sand to support Simhar's experiment.
- Ali's parents died climbing; his labor and near-falls highlight the human cost of adaptation.
