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speculativebecky
From the very first page of their 2019 memoir, Cyrus Grace Dunham asserts that their story won’t be neat and tidy, that they will prioritize truth over a clean narrative with a concrete end. With that they set the tone for the entirety of this short complicated memoir, detailing mainly a single year in their life in which they wrestle with questions of name, identity, and transition.
Reading this memoir is intentionally uncomfortable, as you sit alongside Dunham in their discomfort, their fraught relationship with girlhood, a life spent feeling their body was not their own and without a steadying sense of grounding in a defined correct path forward to alleviate that feeling. They delve deeply into their romantic relationships, deftly exploring a pattern of extreme devotion to another and how it serves as a coping mechanism, and skim the surface of depression and their experiences with dissociation induced panic attacks. Their self awareness is notable, even as this book consists so much of questions without answers, and existing in a middle space of not knowing.
With this book, Dunham is doing exactly their own thing. I respect that, and quite enjoyed reading. After getting past a little difficulty with the flourishes of their writing style, I finished this memoir in two fully immersed sittings. Would recommend, particularly to fans of queer writing or untidy memoirs.
Reading this memoir is intentionally uncomfortable, as you sit alongside Dunham in their discomfort, their fraught relationship with girlhood, a life spent feeling their body was not their own and without a steadying sense of grounding in a defined correct path forward to alleviate that feeling. They delve deeply into their romantic relationships, deftly exploring a pattern of extreme devotion to another and how it serves as a coping mechanism, and skim the surface of depression and their experiences with dissociation induced panic attacks. Their self awareness is notable, even as this book consists so much of questions without answers, and existing in a middle space of not knowing.
With this book, Dunham is doing exactly their own thing. I respect that, and quite enjoyed reading. After getting past a little difficulty with the flourishes of their writing style, I finished this memoir in two fully immersed sittings. Would recommend, particularly to fans of queer writing or untidy memoirs.
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Stylistically yes! The Descent of Monsters is such a fantastic novella, further developing this frightening and magical world and its beloved cast of characters. I’m dreading being finished with this series so hard.
Told in collected letters, journal entries, and official reports, the story unfolds of a devastation at an experimental institute. Investigator Chuwan Sariman arrives on the scene but is stymied at every turn by the very Protectorate who’s sent her to look into the disaster. Unrelenting in her pursuit of justice, Sariman fits right in even as she grates against the existing cast, and the world unfolds more finely under new eyes.
Intense but a joy to read, I’m all in on this series!
Told in collected letters, journal entries, and official reports, the story unfolds of a devastation at an experimental institute. Investigator Chuwan Sariman arrives on the scene but is stymied at every turn by the very Protectorate who’s sent her to look into the disaster. Unrelenting in her pursuit of justice, Sariman fits right in even as she grates against the existing cast, and the world unfolds more finely under new eyes.
Intense but a joy to read, I’m all in on this series!
This YA graphic novel (coming out in July 2020) is the first of a series following twins Al and Pete, and their stepsister Charlie, amateur detectives who are just getting acquainted with their ability to practice Magic, set in a small New England town in 1969. I was immediately charmed by their family, and enjoyed the Hardy Boys-esque vibe of their mystery adventure. The beginnings of their Magic lessons were especially fun, and leave me very interested for more. Just overall a really delightful read with characters I look forward to seeing again!
Iraq + 100: stories from a century after the invasion
Diaa Jubaili, Ra Page, Hassan Abdulrazzak, Anoud, Ibrahim Al-Marashi, Khalid Kaki, Mortada Gzar, Ali Bader, Zhraa Alhaboby, Jalal Hasan, زهراء أزهر الحبوبي, Hassan Blasim
One of the things I found immediately interesting in the introduction to this volume, is Blasim’s description about their efforts to realize this idea. He explains that there is not a large tradition of science fiction writing in Iraq, and asserts an overarching trend of Arab writers’ avoiding works addressing the future. In this light, the claim on the cover that this book is “the first anthology of science fiction to have emerged from Iraq” becomes perhaps less grandiose. To build this collection, Blasim and Page were open to writers from varied backgrounds, from academics to novelists to writers of short stories, rather than selecting specific writers to include in the project. They didn’t require the stories to be classifiable under the science or speculative fiction genre, as long as they fit the premise of imagining an Iraqi city in a hundred years.
After the valuable insights of the introduction, the collection as a whole completes an interesting picture of Iraq, the devastating impact of the US occupation, and the struggle to speculate on how the country/world might move forward. At times I could feel the reluctance to write speculative fiction in these stories, which would instead incorporate significantly the present, through diary entries, or in one case the protagonist is actually a time traveler from the Iraq war into the imagined future.
At times these stories felt a little lackluster to me, whether because they didn’t lean as far as I’d hoped into the realm of the speculative, or because they were difficult to follow. I will say though that that discomfort of being immersed in a cultural viewpoint that is completely outside my familiarity is actually what I’m looking for when reading a collection like this, so rather than only detracting from the experience, I feel that it also enhances it.
Of course also some of the inconsistency comes from the inherent nature of an anthology, collecting multiple voices across different skill sets and passions. I burn out quickly on anthologies so I think it was a mistake to tackle two in a row. Next few collections I read I’m going to treat myself to what I’ve grown to love most in short stories, a deep dive into a collection by the same author.
My favorite story in this anthology would have to be Kuszib by Hassan Abdulrazzak, which envisions a future not only-post US invasion of Iraq, but post-alien invasion of Earth. Set in Baghdad and from the perspective of a pair of aliens, this story went some weird directions, but also provided fascinating commentary on the dehumanization of invasion.
After the valuable insights of the introduction, the collection as a whole completes an interesting picture of Iraq, the devastating impact of the US occupation, and the struggle to speculate on how the country/world might move forward. At times I could feel the reluctance to write speculative fiction in these stories, which would instead incorporate significantly the present, through diary entries, or in one case the protagonist is actually a time traveler from the Iraq war into the imagined future.
At times these stories felt a little lackluster to me, whether because they didn’t lean as far as I’d hoped into the realm of the speculative, or because they were difficult to follow. I will say though that that discomfort of being immersed in a cultural viewpoint that is completely outside my familiarity is actually what I’m looking for when reading a collection like this, so rather than only detracting from the experience, I feel that it also enhances it.
Of course also some of the inconsistency comes from the inherent nature of an anthology, collecting multiple voices across different skill sets and passions. I burn out quickly on anthologies so I think it was a mistake to tackle two in a row. Next few collections I read I’m going to treat myself to what I’ve grown to love most in short stories, a deep dive into a collection by the same author.
My favorite story in this anthology would have to be Kuszib by Hassan Abdulrazzak, which envisions a future not only-post US invasion of Iraq, but post-alien invasion of Earth. Set in Baghdad and from the perspective of a pair of aliens, this story went some weird directions, but also provided fascinating commentary on the dehumanization of invasion.
Susan Devan Harness, born Vicky Charmain Rowan, is a member of the Confederated Salish Kootenai Tribes and was raised from age two by white parents in a predominantly white community in Montana. This memoir recounts her experience growing up visibly Native surrounded by white people and their racism, the abuse and neglect she suffered at the hands of her alcoholic father and mentally ill mother, and her experience trying and finally succeeding at connecting with her birth family. Though in large part her personal story, this book also discusses her research into transracial adoptee experiences, which became a focus of her academic study.
This is a really excellently put together book, Harness tells her story in a not quite chronological order that allows her to dive deep topically, unravelling complex dynamics of her transracial adoption experience, such as being visibly Native but raised white and unknowledgeable about her own culture, which leaves her feeling out of place everywhere. She thoughtfully delves into her fraught relationships with her parents, as well as with her large birth family. I was impressed with this book’s nuanced layers, as well as how she draws together a larger picture than simply her own.
Her experience and the compiled stories of other transracially adopted Indigenous kids drives home a point Haudenosaunee writer Alicia Elliott makes in her brilliant essay collection A Mind Spread Out on the Ground, about how the system in place privileges white neglect over Indigenous love. Harness encounters this mindset again and again from friends, and even heartbreakingly from her birth family, but it was hopeful to see her research and public speaking join with others trying to make changes in adoption policy.
This is a book that swept me up in Harness’s story, and taught me a lot along the way. Definitely recommend, especially to those who enjoy memoir or nonfiction more broadly.
This is a really excellently put together book, Harness tells her story in a not quite chronological order that allows her to dive deep topically, unravelling complex dynamics of her transracial adoption experience, such as being visibly Native but raised white and unknowledgeable about her own culture, which leaves her feeling out of place everywhere. She thoughtfully delves into her fraught relationships with her parents, as well as with her large birth family. I was impressed with this book’s nuanced layers, as well as how she draws together a larger picture than simply her own.
Her experience and the compiled stories of other transracially adopted Indigenous kids drives home a point Haudenosaunee writer Alicia Elliott makes in her brilliant essay collection A Mind Spread Out on the Ground, about how the system in place privileges white neglect over Indigenous love. Harness encounters this mindset again and again from friends, and even heartbreakingly from her birth family, but it was hopeful to see her research and public speaking join with others trying to make changes in adoption policy.
This is a book that swept me up in Harness’s story, and taught me a lot along the way. Definitely recommend, especially to those who enjoy memoir or nonfiction more broadly.
Erdrich is a masterful storyteller, I feel privileged to be able to get back into these characters' stories.
There was so much more going on in this book than I expected there would be, and I was especially fascinated by Baldwin's discussions of religion.
Absolutely brilliant. Y'all this collection disassembled me into component atoms. Woww Arimah is a FORCE. This is what short stories are at their best. I loved reading even as it destroyed me. That first story, I was not ready!
The majority of these punchy, impactful stories are contemporary/literary fiction, but a few lean into the speculative, like the title story in which a unifying formula that explains the universe, and allows for humans to fly or identify the source of another person’s sadness and remove it. A LOT going on in that one. Arimah’s repeated focus on how the world wears down the souls of her girl characters was especially devastating and powerfully rendered. Her hand is subtle in drawing a throughline in these stories, giving you so much to think about after each small tale is finished. Wildly creative, I was constantly hungry for more, and yet I wasn’t up to reading more than one story at a time because there was so much to unpack upon finishing each one.
The majority of these punchy, impactful stories are contemporary/literary fiction, but a few lean into the speculative, like the title story in which a unifying formula that explains the universe, and allows for humans to fly or identify the source of another person’s sadness and remove it. A LOT going on in that one. Arimah’s repeated focus on how the world wears down the souls of her girl characters was especially devastating and powerfully rendered. Her hand is subtle in drawing a throughline in these stories, giving you so much to think about after each small tale is finished. Wildly creative, I was constantly hungry for more, and yet I wasn’t up to reading more than one story at a time because there was so much to unpack upon finishing each one.
Talk about a book that exceeded my high expectations! After finishing Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler last month, I was eager to get right into its sequel, Parable of the Talents. From the prologue, this book absolutely stunned me. I loved the first book, but this sequel took the series to a completely other level.
No spoilers for either book, but the shift in style from Sower to Talents creates so much tension, and the foreshadowing had me on the edge of my seat. In the vein of Sower, this book is a tense, frightening look at a world that feels all too credibly our potential future. It’s hard to read, and the hopeful bits are mired amongst deep pain and trauma. A genius work of speculative fiction, I fully recommend this pair of books to anyone, even if sci fi isn’t your usual fare.
No spoilers for either book, but the shift in style from Sower to Talents creates so much tension, and the foreshadowing had me on the edge of my seat. In the vein of Sower, this book is a tense, frightening look at a world that feels all too credibly our potential future. It’s hard to read, and the hopeful bits are mired amongst deep pain and trauma. A genius work of speculative fiction, I fully recommend this pair of books to anyone, even if sci fi isn’t your usual fare.