In a future world where the weather is controlled, vineyard owner Bharat Mundari is unable to pay his weather bill after spending too much on his daughter’s wedding. The grapes are suffering in the resulting drought, and he is afraid to tell his wife about the trouble they are in; she knows, however, that he is keeping a secret from her and imagines the worse.

Although it gets a bit sappy towards the end, this one is enhanced by the viniculture neep, and the wine-review epigraphs opening each section are a nice touch:
Mundari Vineyard 2045, Nashik (India), Shiraz

Black cherry, plum, and currant flavors mingle with aromas of sweet tobacco and sage in this dependable offering from India.

I have to give credit to Rob for the wine-review epigraphs. He wrote them. I cut them down to manageable lengths.

via IRoSF: Short Fiction, January 2009.

I just ran across this article that I clipped as part of the research that I was doing for “Waiting for Rain” about how China planned to halt rain for Olympics and it occurred to me that you might be interested in some of the other research behind the story.

Wines
Sula Vineyard “India’s leading producer of premium New World-style wines.”
The Wine Story of India
Grover Vineyard – at the foot of the Nandi Hills
Wines of India
Sommelier India
The Indian Wine Industry
Amarone
Wine…from India?
Also, I should probably admit that Rob wrote the initial wine descriptions for me.

Social
Indian Proverbs
Hindu Wedding ceremony
Notes on Hindu Wedding
Indian Student Slang (Pretty sure these are outdated by now.)
British Military Slang in India (Not used in this story, but maybe someday.)
Glossary of colloquialisms
Glossary of “Inglish” slang

Weather control
India Daily
Weather control Warfare
I also read a number of books on weather control, but I don’t have that bibliography anymore. Most of the weather control websites also came with instructions on how to build tinfoil hats.

In the interview that I did with Alethea Kontis for Subterranean Press, she asks me about the funny story that goes with “Waiting for Rain.”

The short form of my answer is that I initially sent the wrong file. After we had a good laugh (thank God) he suggested that when he ran the story on his site, that I might run the original version of it on mine.

So here’s what I accidentally sent in. The original flash fiction version of “Waiting for Rain,” written in an hour and a half in one of the Liberty Hall flash fiction contests.

Waiting for Rain – 1400 words

by Mary Robinette Kowal

In the other room, Bharat could hear his wife clucking happily over their oldest daughter’s wedding holos. He stared at the screen on his ancient quarto-core processor and held his head in his hands. The weather forecast said the next week was supposed to be sunny again. Continue reading Waiting for Rain, the original flash version

I love, love, love Subterranean Press and am so delighted to have finally landed a sale there. This actually happened a couple of weeks ago, right before Launchpad, but I was sitting on the news until I finished revisions. Which I just did and had accepted today. Hurrah!

Here’s the opening bit as a teaser. I’ll let you know when the story is up.

Mundari Vineyard 2045, Nashik (India), Shiraz
Black cherry, plum, and currant flavors mingle with aromas of sweet tobacco and sage in this dependable offering from India.

The sun peeking through the grapevines felt hotter on Bharat Mundari’s neck than twenty-four degrees. Another perfect day. Bharat scowled and worked his way down the row of vines, thinning the grapes so the remaining Shiraz crop would become fuller and riper.

Not that there was a point in having healthy vines when he couldn’t pay his weather bill. Without rain, the grapevines would weaken under the stress, and stressed grapes made poor wine. No one bought flawed wine.

Just to keep things in balance though, I should tell you that the night I got home from the Campbells, I had a rejection note waiting in my inbox. Doesn’t matter. My life is very, very good right now.