As They Slip Away

Selene is a "non-essential" crew member on a generational spaceship that classifies artists as insane. She and her fellow non-essential artists are given a rather unique assignment: create art they find beautiful, with no angle of making it essential for life on board the ship. As they hone their art skills, Selene teams up with a troubled sculptor and learns just how dangerous art--and being non-essential--can be. This novella takes place on the spaceship Godspeed and deals with characters seen in the Across the Universe series. You can read it without reading the novels, although it might be more fitting to read it after A Million Suns.