Excellent story from an author new to me. It’s online on the Clarkesworld Magazine website to read, or to listen to, so hie ye over there to do one of those thing.s
It’s a cleverly framed post-First Contact story, with the nature of that contact something out of the usual. SETI has proved successful, and humanity is able to listen in to transmissions from a far distant race. In fact, more than listen in.
On a micro-level Ronald looks at the impact this has had on a researcher, and her two adult children, and she also looks at a macro-level at how society has coped (or the various means by which elements of society have coped).
Because of it’s structure, mix of human and societal analysis, and an altogether different type of First Contact, I’m putting this forward for consideration for the Best SF Short Story Award 2016
Award-quality story. Thanks for the review!