Words That Sustain Me: The Space Between Worlds by Micaiah Johnson

The book “The Space Between Worlds” is a fantastic tale that is based upon the idea of parallel-universes existing, and multiverse travel is now possible. And on each one of these earths our doppelgängers are living a version of our lives..

I think because I am a Texas Death Row prisoner the idea of a different version of me being free is very attractive to me. The idea of my doppelgänger never experiencing twenty three years of life on death row and instead living the life I might have had if I had not been sent here appeals to me greatly. This is why I love this book and think it is one of the best books I have read in 2022.

What is interesting about “The Space Between Worlds” is that I had not ever spent time considering multiverse existence, and that was not why I read it. This book was suggested by Ali in our visit in August 2022. My response was, “Is it a great book?”  She replied Yes, so I agreed to read it so we could discuss it.

Time is flat. We process it linearly, but everything is happening at once, always. Right now I am kissing Nik Nik. I am leaving him. I am killing him, because surely I’ve done that before or will somewhere in the infinite. I am at home with Dell. We are happy. We are not. We used to be happy and now she resents my lower status and I resent her resentment and we stay together because we’ve given up too much to do anything else.

I have read “The Space Between Worlds” 5 or 6 times in the last three months. And I vividly remember the first time I read that paragraph and the idea of my circle of friends and loved one were living out the grand drama that is our interrelated lives. And how I felt like I had been struck by lightening at the thought of our roles being reversed on parallel-universes. That on somewhere in the infinite, Gretchen is on death row and I am her attorney trying to move heaven and earth to prove her innocence! That Ali is married to Charles (Abby’s husband) and Abby is married to Andrew (Ali’s husband)! That all of our roles were reversed on these multiverses. That idea made me sit up, put the book down and explore that thought in detail.

Now, “The Space Between Worlds” is one of my all time favorite books and one that I pick up at random times and just start reading. And I agree with Ali, it is a great book and I am so thankful I read it.