A 2017 Lambda Literary Award Finalist in LGBTQ SF/F/Horror.
Formed in summer 2012, METROPOLARITY is a DIY sci-fi collective based, bred, and tested in the colliding future-present of Philadelphia. This Style of Attack Report contains select work from Metropolarity's four founding members, who contribute theory, practice, and experience of home grown speculative visioning for both historical documentation as well as personal and collective survival. The collection serves as a model and a record of how Black, brown, queer, low-resource, working, ill and in-recovery people can project themselves into the future, conjuring resources, technology, and magic that aid us in the present.
If You Like My Reviews, Why Not Try.... this very book that me and my sci-fi crew put out. My actual thoughts on this collection are well reflected in the official book description, which Ras wrote. It can be purchased from METROPOLARITY.net, along with other stuff we put out. How bout that.
Rating this one is mighty difficult, so I'll have to give it a middle-score of 3 stars I guess. Depending on what you're looking for it will be lower or higher for you, I'm sure. This report is a small-sized book collecting works from the various members of the Metropolarity writing group in Philadelphia, and reads a bit like one of the cool old zines some of us may remember from the past. Short pieces from a variety of perspectives and on a variety of topics, some fiction, some philosophical, some political. The group's work is highly focused on inclusion and bringing to science-fiction those voices not typically heard -- a great effort, of course.
Calling out specific pieces here seems counter-productive, although I do have to say that Alex Smith's "In the Grips of the Star, Shining" hit me the strongest, a terrific tale of what being "chosen" as a superhero might really mean. Similarly, "Grl, Suicide, Holiday" by Ras Mashramani is a powerful piece.
If you're looking for the "other" sorts of voices that seem missing from the sci-fi in the bookstores, check this out and you may find some promising futures.