Tetley was born with a nuchal cord; her parents did not believe she would survive and neglected her in favor of her twin brother.

She recounts leaving home at the age of ten to receive her name, which is a ritual common to all children of Garbagetown.

After finding a tea bag stuck to her, she receives the name Tetley; her twin brother becomes Maruchan.

She falls in love with a boy named Goodnight Moon, who lives in Electric City, the richest neighborhood in Garbagetown.

Goodnight Moon tells Tetley that Electric City has been building an engine in preparation for the news that dry land still exists.

Olivia's father refuses to help the humans remaining on Earth and destroys their communication link.

The Future is Blue was originally published in the 2016 anthology Drowned Worlds by Jonathan Strahan.

[3] Writing for Tor.com, Martin Cahill called the novel "a joy to read" despite the dystopian setting, and "a gift for readers of science fiction".

[4] Publishers Weekly praised Valente's "characteristic vivid prose" and called the work entertaining, but noted that it sometimes "raises more questions than it answers".