This was actually the story I was looking for originally. Many years back, Rick Griffin was making these pictures based on ideas he had. He would eventually write books or draw comics about most of them. The one called "Life in the Stacks" was probably my favorite and even inspired a short story that I wrote called "Blue Skies" which was a part of my published "Labby the Rat" book. I didn't know anything about his universe though, other than it seemed to be about intelligent mice who were being subjected to experiments.
I did eventually look into what this whole "Life in the Stacks" thing was all about, and that's when I realized that "Hayven Celestia" was a thing. I was going to just read this story only, but I soon realized that this was an entire scifi universe, and I might not understand the context unless I explored it a bit. So this one story is the reason why I chose to read the entirety of "Tales of Hayven Celestia."
"Life in the Stacks" introduces his smallest and cutest alien race called the mysa. They are very tiny, but they are every bit as intelligent a race as the mighty krakun. That said, their size kind of acts to their advantage. The krakun do not even seem to notice them. The lio, however, do. The lio have been allowing the mysa to take part in scientific research at their own peril to assist in their war against the krakun. In exchange, the mysa are given good pay. Apparently the mysa live in poverty most of the time, so this would be to their advantage.
In this story, one particular female mysa, designated as 059, goes through one hell of a mind trip when she gets stuck in a time loop after attempting one of the lio's puzzles. From there, she realizes that no matter what she does, she will always revert back to the beginning of that day, and nobody believes her.
Making matters more complicated, she is actually in love with the male lio that is tasked with watching over her group of mysa. This was particularly fun since she could fit in the palm of his hand.
From there, 059 goes through an absolutely emotionally jarring journey as she tries to figure out what to do. Even death cannot save her from the time loops, but if she can find a way out of it, things might end up being better than they've ever been. Other than that, I can say no more.
"Life in the Stacks" is a great story, and I do recommend it. It was great to finally read a story within "Hayven Celestia" that was written by its creator. It reminded me of just how good Rick Griffin is as a writer. I'll say it again: he is one of the great modern writers of our time, and only a select people will ever know that. This story proves it.
This blog was written on January 26, 2026.
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