NALO’S NEW CONCOCTIONS

 

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

 

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

We’ve still got sometime 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—oneco-written by Nisi Shawl—were all originally published in the 21st century andare 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 cornballsci-fi is here. Nalo can’t help but be different, original. This book just hadto be diverse. 

She’sCaribbean-Canadian, outside of the usual boundaries of traditionalEnglish-language science fiction that are centered around New York, andsometimes goes on field expeditions to far-off London. Both the fantasticworlds she imagined and real-world elements she uses are richly textured.

Rising sea levelscreates a new world with, among other things, cyborg pigs. An alien life formcrossed the line between living and dead. Stereotypes become real in anunexpected way. A cruise ship is hacked into a tool for decolonization. Queer loveand relationships abound. No sign of the all-white future I grew up readingabout.

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

This volatile mixoften steps out of the restrictions of the science fiction genre and becomes otherkinds of storytelling. Some of these are more like folklore and fables, the literatureyou are more likely to overhear being told into a smart phone on publictransportation and in performance art than in a book. Genres are just marketinggimmicks–we need to set our imaginations free to soar beyond the temporary,artificial cultural borders.

She is a truegrandmaster. This collection of marvelous, delicious concoctions is a joy toread.

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

 

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