Outside by Lucy Kemnitzer

Not Actually the Outside referred to

Outside by Lucy Kemniter is a fantastic read.

I’ve actually been a fan of the author for some years–she’s Plumblossom on Fictionpress.com, which is where I first found her. Or perhaps it was where she found me, because we had a bit of a mutual-fan/almost-friend thing going on for awhile. Which I believe fizzled because I had mostly stopped writing, and which I no longer know how or when it started.

I’m a big fan of Lucy, but if you’ve never read her work you should be warned that her writing style is very unusual. I can’t quite explain how or why, but when I try to do so I find myself trying to tell people that her sentences are inside out (and really, so is her whole story line). It’s like the message is still there, and it makes sense when you think about it, but the way she’s put it is like no other. This used to be a serious barrier to reading her stuff, and there are�� things that I’ve started and had to stop and come back later when I could handle it.

But somehow, once you get past whatever magical twisting of language it is that she’s doing (or perhaps even because of it), her stories are some of the most emotionally moving and intricate and amazing things that I’ve ever read. And this book was no exception.

It’s a sci-fi novel set mostly on a certain station, focusing on the scientists; a superior one who likes to work “inside” or on the station, and a junior one who is desperate to get “outside” or off to study exoplanets. It’s a story about the romantic dance that they go through, about how they try to advance their careers, and about how things don’t go as planned, because Kemnitzer is very much a “for want of a nail” author, and nothing ever goes as planned.

The story deals elegantly with some difficult topics, leaves space for each character to save themselves (even if they need a bit of help), and runs off of incredibly human mistakes.

I highly suggest you give this book a try, and probably a really solid try, since her style is so odd. If you do, you will not be disappointed.