NALO’S NEW CONCOCTIONS

 

“They,” the people who run the publishing business, keep saying that no one cares about single author short story collections. I disagree. I love them. Guess I’m nobody.

 

I kinda understand when a degenerate like me does one and it gets ignored, but you’d think the world would stop and take notice when a SFWA grandmaster has one come out. Come on, folks, where’s the social media buzz? The cultural groundswell of excitement? The dancing in the streets?

We’ve still got some time before the release, so let me tell you about Jamaica Ginger and Other Concoctions by Nalo Hopkinson and how wonderful it is.

The fifteen stories—one co-written by Nisi Shawl—were all originally published in the 21st century and are prime examples of what is, and is becoming. And if you haven’t noticed, there’s been a whole lot of becoming going on. None of the usual cornball sci-fi is here. Nalo can’t help but be different, original. This book just had to be diverse. 

She’s Caribbean-Canadian, outside of the usual boundaries of traditional English-language science fiction that are centered around New York, and sometimes goes on field expeditions to far-off London. Both the fantastic worlds she imagined and real-world elements she uses are richly textured.

Rising sea levels creates a new world with, among other things, cyborg pigs. An alien life form crossed the line between living and dead. Stereotypes become real in an unexpected way. A cruise ship is hacked into a tool for decolonization. Queer love and relationships abound. No sign of the all-white future I grew up reading about.

She’s hip to what’s happening on the cutting edges of science and technology, but delivers far more than the usual hard-science take on things. The human element is always present. Sometimes things other than human. There is anger, but also optimism.

This volatile mix often steps out of the restrictions of the science fiction genre and becomes other kinds of storytelling. Some of these are more like folklore and fables, the literature you are more likely to overhear being told into a smart phone on public transportation and in performance art than in a book. Genres are just marketing gimmicks–we need to set our imaginations free to soar beyond the temporary, artificial cultural borders.

She is a true grandmaster. This collection of marvelous, delicious concoctions is a joy to read.

Those dopes who don’t like story collections don’t know what they’re missing.