Gleanings

***Gleanings*** is a story anthology on the *Arc of a Scythe* series by Neal Shusterman. The story collection was published on November 8, 2022.

## Blurb

**The *New York Times* bestselling Arc of the Scythe series continues with thrilling stories that span the timeline. Storylines continue. Origin stories are revealed. And new Scythes emerge!**

There are still countless tales of the Scythedom to tell. Centuries passed between the Thunderhead cradling humanity and Scythe Goddard trying to turn it upside down. For years humans lived in a world without hunger, disease, or death with Scythes as the living instruments of population control.

Neal Shusterman—along with collaborators David Yoon, Jarrod Shusterman, Sofía Lapuente, Michael H. Payne, Michelle Knowlden, and Joelle Shusterman—returns to the world throughout the timeline of the Arc of a Scythe series. Discover secrets and histories of characters you’ve followed for three volumes and meet new heroes, new foes, and some figures in between.

*Gleanings* shows just how expansive, terrifying, and thrilling the world that began with the Printz Honor–winning *Scythe* truly is.

Return to the world of the *New York Times* bestselling, award-winning Arc of a Scythe young adult trilogy with this action-packed short story collection.

## Short Stories

The book contains 12 stories and 1 poem about being a scythe titled The First Swing. Listed below are the stories in order and a brief description on the subject of each. Each of the pages for the stories contains more details than the shortened summaries.

1. Formidable - Scythe Curie's backstory of her gleaning the last president and his cabinet.
2. Never Work with Animals - The story of Scythe Fields and his struggle with his new dog.
3. A Death of Many Colors - The story of a Halloween party in a town where many don't believe in Scythes.
4. Unsavory Row - Kila Whitlock's life as an unsavory after the gleaning of her brother.
5. A Martian Minute - The origin of Scythe Goddard before his apprenticeship.
6. The Mortal Canvas - Some art students in the first generation of immortality make art as a contest for a Scythe.
7. Cirri - This story shows how some of the ships were destroyed after The Toll, and how more were almost killed.
8. Anastasia's Shadow - Ben becomes a scythe apprentice, but everything about it is different from his sister's apprenticeship.
9. The Persistence of Memory - The rivalry of two Scythes and their different thoughts on how gleaning should be done catches someone in the middle.
10. Meet Cute and Die - A girl named Marni meets a man at a revival center and likes him, but her aunt, Scythe Boudica, doesn't agree.
11. Perchance to Glean - In the RossShelf region, some strange things happen to Dayne and Alex in communal dreams.
12. A Dark Curtain Rises - Jessica Wildblood wakes up after being implanted with the mind of Scythe Curie, and she must piece herself together.

### Special content

* The **B&N Exclusive Edition** includes an additional story from the *Arc of the Scythe* universe that cannot be found in the normal edition, titled Black Knights' Tango and a deluxe foil jacket.
* The **German Edition** includes two additional stories not present in the regular English editions: Black Knights' Tango which was published in the B&N Edition and an exclusive short story titled *Nicht schöner als ich* (No More Beautiful Than Me in English.)

## Characters

* Scythe Curie
* Scythe Faraday
* Scythe Lucifer
* Scythe Goddard
* Thunderhead
* Scythe Xenocrates
* Scythe Constantine
* Benjamin Terranova
* Jenny Terranova
* Mr. Terranova
* Cirrus
* Loriana

more...

## Trivia

* So far this is set to be the last book in the series, but Neal says he might be inspired to do a full prequel one day.
* Neal started writing these stories right after he finished writing *The Toll*.
* There were a few stories that had been announced prior to the publication to possibly be included in the short story collection but did not appear in the published book:
	+ There was a statement that there was to be a short story about the founding scythes.
	+ He considered a short story about Scythe Chomsky since a lot of fans were asking for one.
	+ He thought about revisiting Scythe Rand so we can learn more about her in a short story.
	+ There was an idea for stories about the 2 unknown charter regions.
	+ He thought of including Post-*The Toll* stories, of Sister Astrid, Rowan and Citra since a lot of fans were asking for those.
* There are new characters in the anthology that did not appear in the trilogy.

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Simon & Schuster: Gleanings
2. ↑ Goodreads: Gleanings
3. ↑ "I think that will be the last SCYTHE book, but who knows? I might be inspired to do a full prequel one day!" Neal Shusterman 2021 Reddit AMA
4. ↑ "...I started writing short stories right after completing THE TOLL!" Neal Shusterman 2021 Reddit AMA
5. ↑ "Yes." Neal Shusterman's response on his 2020 Reddit AMA when asked by a fan if we could have a story about the founding scythes.
6. ↑ "Although all you Chomsky-ites are giving me an idea for a Chomsky story in the upcoming Scythe story collection…" Neal Shusterman 2020 Reddit AMA
7. ↑ "I think I’ll revisit Rand and learn more about her in the Scythe story collection." Neal Shusterman 2020 Reddit AMA
8. ↑ "I haven’t decided what the unique aspect of those two regions would be. But I do know that I’ll have stories about them in the Scythe story collection..." Neal Shusterman 2020 Reddit AMA
9. ↑ "...the story collection might include post-Toll stories." Neal Shusterman 2020 Reddit AMA
10. ↑ " But fans have a big say in that—and multiple people have asked for those two specific stories." Neal Shusterman 2020 Reddit AMA
11. ↑ "I love that you’re thinking about that. There’s more to these characters’ lives than the slice of it we see! I might visit that in the Scythe story collection." Neal Shusterman's response on his 2020 Reddit AMA when asked by a fan how the future of Rowan and Citra would be affected by their now century-long mental gap.
12. ↑ "...some stories with new characters in the world, and other familiar characters!" Neal Shusterman 2021 Reddit AMA