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How Long 'til Black Future Month: Stories
4/5. Short fiction collection ranging from hard SF to dark fairy tales and back again. Jemisin's introduction is about how she taught herself to write short fiction; it made me think about how I might need to teach myself more about reading it, since I'm not very good at that. And since my ability to finish things remains spotty (siiigh), now seems as good a time as any. A few notes (links go to online versions):
"The Evaluators": A deeply creepy epistolary hard SF story about predation and loneliness and population control. Reminded me of Tiptree in the way it uses blank space to fill in the horror. Lingered in my mind.
"The Effluent Engine": This is not the most cutting or most weird or most inventive story in the collection, but it's the most fun for my money. I knew Jemisin was working on a new novel based off a short story in this collection but didn't know which one; I was sad to discover it wasn't this. Steampunk lesbian Haiti freedom fighters in historical New Orleans! Come on!
"The City Born Great": This one is apparently the basis of the new book. I went from 'okay, I'll read it obviously,' to 'ugh, really?' when I found out it has roots in Lovecraft because really? More? Must we? But reporting on where she plans to go does sound enjoyable. Anyway, this is one of several stories in the collection that deal with cities being or coming to life; I can see how rich this soil might be for a novel or a trilogy about New York.
There are many other stories here, most of them barbed or clever or thought-provoking, most about brown people of various sorts, most about power and who has it and who doesn't. It's all great stuff, unsurprisingly.
4/5. Short fiction collection ranging from hard SF to dark fairy tales and back again. Jemisin's introduction is about how she taught herself to write short fiction; it made me think about how I might need to teach myself more about reading it, since I'm not very good at that. And since my ability to finish things remains spotty (siiigh), now seems as good a time as any. A few notes (links go to online versions):
"The Evaluators": A deeply creepy epistolary hard SF story about predation and loneliness and population control. Reminded me of Tiptree in the way it uses blank space to fill in the horror. Lingered in my mind.
"The Effluent Engine": This is not the most cutting or most weird or most inventive story in the collection, but it's the most fun for my money. I knew Jemisin was working on a new novel based off a short story in this collection but didn't know which one; I was sad to discover it wasn't this. Steampunk lesbian Haiti freedom fighters in historical New Orleans! Come on!
"The City Born Great": This one is apparently the basis of the new book. I went from 'okay, I'll read it obviously,' to 'ugh, really?' when I found out it has roots in Lovecraft because really? More? Must we? But reporting on where she plans to go does sound enjoyable. Anyway, this is one of several stories in the collection that deal with cities being or coming to life; I can see how rich this soil might be for a novel or a trilogy about New York.
There are many other stories here, most of them barbed or clever or thought-provoking, most about brown people of various sorts, most about power and who has it and who doesn't. It's all great stuff, unsurprisingly.