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How Long 'til Black Future Month?
(Dreamblood #0.5 - The Narcomancer )
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In these stories, Jemisin sharply examines modern society, infusing magic into the mundane, and drawing deft parallels in the fantasy realms of her imagination. Dragons and hateful spirits haunt the flooded city of New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. In a parallel universe, a utopian society watches our world, trying to learn from our mistakes. A black mothe
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I think I just need to accept that I cannot get into short story collections haha. So many of these were a hit or miss for me that overall I felt very lukewarm and stuck in the middle. Jemisin is definitely a great author and she has really cool concepts. I appreciate the various ways she tried to experiment with her writing style throughout these stories. Unfortunately, I either end up not liking them as much or I like them enough but get frustrated that it’s not longer and feels incomplete! My
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God this was brilliant. I’ll come back later with a full review for every story in the collection. For now -
Average rating: 4/5
Final rating: 4.5/5
Update 3/4/20:
Ok let's talk about how good this collection is. I'm obsessed with N.K. Jemisin and I've only read 2 books by her at this point, so I can only imagine how that obsession will grow with time. This is a thoughtful, inventive collection that takes so many risks and almost every single one of them pays off. How Long 'til Black Future Month ...more
Average rating: 4/5
Final rating: 4.5/5
Update 3/4/20:
Ok let's talk about how good this collection is. I'm obsessed with N.K. Jemisin and I've only read 2 books by her at this point, so I can only imagine how that obsession will grow with time. This is a thoughtful, inventive collection that takes so many risks and almost every single one of them pays off. How Long 'til Black Future Month ...more
Updated to add additional reviews for stories that are in this collection. "The Storyteller's Replacement" and "Cuisine des Mémoires" are nominated for a 2019 Locus award.
Goodreads has pulled together a couple of my Jemisin short story reviews and dumped them here, since they appear in her new short fiction collection, How Long 'til Black Future Month?. As it turns out, I've already read and reviewed some of her other stories in this collection, and am reading some additional stories I haven't r ...more
Goodreads has pulled together a couple of my Jemisin short story reviews and dumped them here, since they appear in her new short fiction collection, How Long 'til Black Future Month?. As it turns out, I've already read and reviewed some of her other stories in this collection, and am reading some additional stories I haven't r ...more
This was, I’m ashamed to admit, the first N.K. Jemisin book I’ve ever read. I don’t say this because I subscribe to the belief that there are books which are “required reading” in the fantasy genre (because I absolutely don’t), but rather because on reading the stories in How Long ’til Black Future Month, I was struck by just how damned gifted Jemisin is as a writer. And yet I’m only finding that out now.
But then, “gifted” isn’t really the best word to use here. These stories are very much a ref ...more
But then, “gifted” isn’t really the best word to use here. These stories are very much a ref ...more
3.5 stars
I absolutely *LOVED* this author's Broken Earth trilogy (starts with The Fifth Season) so I was really excited to pick up this collection of short stories. However, and it pains me to say this, I am not sure why this collection was published because the majority of the stories didn't particularly 'wow' me. That's not to say that I didn't enjoy some of them, there were a handful I actually REALLY wish were expanded into a full length novel because I enjoyed them so much. But most of them ...more
I absolutely *LOVED* this author's Broken Earth trilogy (starts with The Fifth Season) so I was really excited to pick up this collection of short stories. However, and it pains me to say this, I am not sure why this collection was published because the majority of the stories didn't particularly 'wow' me. That's not to say that I didn't enjoy some of them, there were a handful I actually REALLY wish were expanded into a full length novel because I enjoyed them so much. But most of them ...more
How Long ‘Til Black Future Month? is simply superb. There wasn’t a story in the twenty-two that didn’t impress. Jemisin is a science fiction and fantasy powerhouse, and that is clear by the sheer variety of tales told—there are a dozen novel-worthy worlds crafted in this volume.
Jemisin opens with “The Ones Who Stay and Fight,” a direct story response to Ursula K. Le Guin’s “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas.” It ends with a parallel—a story about a man defending his city, post-Katrina New Orle ...more
Jemisin opens with “The Ones Who Stay and Fight,” a direct story response to Ursula K. Le Guin’s “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas.” It ends with a parallel—a story about a man defending his city, post-Katrina New Orle ...more
"I am writing the stories that I wish someone had written for me when I was younger." - N.K. Jemisin on the video for her fresh and well deserved MacArthur Fellowship. This collection shows so much of the range of the mind of N.K. Jemisin, and I can't wait to see what she does next.
I purchased this book as part of a bundle of speculative fiction by black women writers from Sistah Scifi and I have been reading it since July. I set it beside my working space and would read a story when I needed to ...more
I purchased this book as part of a bundle of speculative fiction by black women writers from Sistah Scifi and I have been reading it since July. I set it beside my working space and would read a story when I needed to ...more
Based on the title, I was expecting
How Long ‘til Black Future Month?
to be a little more sci-fi leaning and/or a lot more overtly political. But as Jemisin points out in her introduction, just being a black woman writing sci-fi and fantasy that features black characters is a political act. Occasionally she does reference real-world events, such as the terrific “Sinners, Saints, Dragons, and Haints, in the City Beneath the Still Waters”, about a young man and his elderly neighbour trying to
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3.5 stars. What follows is my massive breakdown of all the stories. There were some absolute gems in this, but some I also found overly complicated.
The Ones Who Stay and Fight - 3 stars. Great concept, falls a little flat in execution for me due to it being so short, no build up. Lots of telling and no showing.
The City Born Great - 2.5 stars. Feels frenetic and confusing and missing a lot of the backstory which would have helped. Most of the time I had no idea what was going on. However, great ...more
The Ones Who Stay and Fight - 3 stars. Great concept, falls a little flat in execution for me due to it being so short, no build up. Lots of telling and no showing.
The City Born Great - 2.5 stars. Feels frenetic and confusing and missing a lot of the backstory which would have helped. Most of the time I had no idea what was going on. However, great ...more
https://www.wired.com/2016/12/nk-jemi...
***Hey, Great job, Goodreads! This review was for a single short story, The Evaluators, but maybe also for another short story, "The Narcomancer." Idk, because my links are broken and the you re-shelved my review under a collection of short stories. So I should probably delete this review because I have no idea what it's reviewing. Jerks.---carol. 5/19
While I had links to the stories, it appears Jemisin had to pull it them from the website and there were, ...more
***Hey, Great job, Goodreads! This review was for a single short story, The Evaluators, but maybe also for another short story, "The Narcomancer." Idk, because my links are broken and the you re-shelved my review under a collection of short stories. So I should probably delete this review because I have no idea what it's reviewing. Jerks.---carol. 5/19
While I had links to the stories, it appears Jemisin had to pull it them from the website and there were, ...more
[edit: my review was only for the titular story. Apparently goodreads decided to merge that with the collection of the same name.]
This was a pretty awesome, original short story about alien contact. It was told in the form of fragmentary documents: reports, IMs, recorded conversations, etc. There were also visual and formatting elements, but unfortunately I was unable to read this on the WIRED site because of pop-ups, so I pasted it into a text document and was not able to see the images. Still ...more
This was a pretty awesome, original short story about alien contact. It was told in the form of fragmentary documents: reports, IMs, recorded conversations, etc. There were also visual and formatting elements, but unfortunately I was unable to read this on the WIRED site because of pop-ups, so I pasted it into a text document and was not able to see the images. Still ...more
Impressively varied in tone, voice, subject, and style, this short story collection was wonderfully entertaining and provocative. N.K. Jemisin writes with enormous confidence, takes big risks, and doesn’t settle for the easy way out. Well worth reading.
I finished and it only took 5 days. Go me!
I wasn’t sure what to expect going into this. From Jemisin I’ve only ever read The Fifth Season, and my relationship with that was only lukewarm. I did know that she had some fantastic ideas for worlds and narrative choices though, so I was hopeful.
I’m happy to say that every single story in this book reaffirms what I’ve stated above. Jemisin is truly a creative genius and her writing is top notch. (And best of all, I didn’t come across any that were sup ...more
I wasn’t sure what to expect going into this. From Jemisin I’ve only ever read The Fifth Season, and my relationship with that was only lukewarm. I did know that she had some fantastic ideas for worlds and narrative choices though, so I was hopeful.
I’m happy to say that every single story in this book reaffirms what I’ve stated above. Jemisin is truly a creative genius and her writing is top notch. (And best of all, I didn’t come across any that were sup ...more
Jun 29, 2020
✨ jamieson ✨
added it
Shelves:
2020-reads,
owned-books,
adult,
audiobook,
fantasy,
science-fiction,
short-story-collections
Incredible collection. Jemisin once again proves her skill, creativity, and sheer innovation in the SFF genre. She is such a versatile writer with so much to say, who creates such intriguing stories and clearly has a lot to say. I would recommend going into this after reading some Jemisin (The Fifth Season!!!) but at the same time, SFF and short story fans shouldn't give this one a miss if they haven't because there is a lot here for everyone.
top 3 Favourites:
The Effluent Engine: Follows a spy ...more
top 3 Favourites:
The Effluent Engine: Follows a spy ...more
Review to follow
Jemisin is a phenomenal writer and every story of hers reflects her talent. She has a knack for telling stories and creating worlds with a lot of depth and meaning and lot of parallels to our real world. This collection of short stories has its own share of some great ones and some not so good ones, but my main problem was that there were a few I just didn’t understand. I’ve felt this before about the author’s works - she writes on a whole other level which is very complicated and not easy for m
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Jul 17, 2018
Hannah
marked it as on-hold
I don’t think I could be more excited for this.
I didn't need much of an excuse to prioritize more Jemisin, but as I recently had cause, I was glad to spend more time in her thoughtful, complex writing. I will never be as good at reading short stories as I am at full length work (I'm like an 800 relay kind of girl, rather than a 100m one when it comes to books) but there was plenty here to chew on.
CONTENT WARNING (just a list of topics) (view spoiler) ...more
CONTENT WARNING (just a list of topics) (view spoiler) ...more
The art and the web design is reinforcing the atmosphere of the story. One of my better read for SF short story on 2017. A fascinating contact-with-another-species story with web style storytelling. I admit I add 1 star due to the design.
Maybe only I did the mistake, but when first time I read it, I was confused with the timeline. Please make sure you notice the time record of each section/chapter.
For the title art, if the page art seems too large, I use this link to watch it: (view spoiler) ...more
Maybe only I did the mistake, but when first time I read it, I was confused with the timeline. Please make sure you notice the time record of each section/chapter.
For the title art, if the page art seems too large, I use this link to watch it: (view spoiler) ...more
This book makes me so excited to try more from NK Jemisin. There are definitely highs and lows, as is true for most short story collections, but overall, this showcases the range of her imagination and, even more intriguingly to me, her consistent thematic content
A majestic collection of fantasy and sciencefiction short stories from N.K. Jemisin, one of my favourite authors. There's incredible variety in here, from a world where "quantum proliferation" has propelled everyone into separate looping realities to a magical recipe that keeps you forever young to a restaurant that can serve any meal from any day in history to an uncanny exactness. Some stories are stronger than others, but overall an excellent book.
...more
I’ve been waiting to write a review of this, hoping words would come at some point, but - no. No words. It's too good to find new words for.
Just... this is further proof of the pure and utter genius of N.K Jemisin ...more
Just... this is further proof of the pure and utter genius of N.K Jemisin ...more
Many enjoyable stories, although a few underwhelmed. I'm so used to reading Jemisin's epics that I often finished a story wanting more from that world. I found the variety of genres and lengths of stories cacophonic, and incongruent with my 'pandemic'- affected moods. But I got through it and was able to enjoy the collection more and more as I went along.
I love Jemisin's preoccupation with cities. That gets touched in this collection, which I deeply appreciate.
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I love Jemisin's preoccupation with cities. That gets touched in this collection, which I deeply appreciate.
...more
Stories like this one are the reason I love sci-fi.
I’ve recently been making my way through this authors ” Broken Earth ” trilogy – one book to go- and the way she writes is so creative, beautifully done, so as a fan of short stories generally I was looking forward to this.
There is an art to the short story form, not every author no matter how talented can pull them off, but N K Jemisin certainly can. In this collection we have varying lengths but each one is a small gem unto itself, exploring many themes, a lot of them melancholy and thought pr ...more
There is an art to the short story form, not every author no matter how talented can pull them off, but N K Jemisin certainly can. In this collection we have varying lengths but each one is a small gem unto itself, exploring many themes, a lot of them melancholy and thought pr ...more
Is there even any doubt that this would be fucking fantastic?
Review pending...just know I loved this collection. 🏃🏾♀️ 🏃🏾♀️ 🏃🏾♀️ to buy The Inheritance Trilogy and Dreamblood Duology!
yup, I just found out that I don't like short stories, which is a bummer :(
So don't take this review seriously. If you like short stories, definitely try this book, it has some interesting ideas
I am still really excited to read The Broken Earth trilogy!!! ...more
So don't take this review seriously. If you like short stories, definitely try this book, it has some interesting ideas
I am still really excited to read The Broken Earth trilogy!!! ...more
Wow! This is a fantastic collection of diverse short stiries. I need to read anything and everything from N.K. Jemisin stat!
Ahoy there me mateys! I have read five of the author’s novels but had never read any of her short stories. N.K. Jemisin has been making waves by doing cool things like winning the Hugo award three years in a row for every book in her Broken Earth trilogy (which I haven’t read yet!). So when I saw she was publishing this short story collection I got excited. And after listening to the audiobook, I can say that I adored it.
This collection has 22 varied tales. Now here’s the thing, for the majority ...more
This collection has 22 varied tales. Now here’s the thing, for the majority ...more
| topics | posts | views | last activity | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Black Future Book...: How Long 'Til Black Future Month | 1 | 7 | Aug 13, 2020 08:14PM | |
| MoPOP Book Club: Questions about Effluent Engine? | 1 | 7 | Jun 14, 2020 04:26PM | |
| Beyond Reality: How Long Til Black Future Month (03/20): Finished Reading (Spoilers) | 6 | 16 | Mar 04, 2020 11:30AM | |
| Beyond Reality: How Long Til Black Future Month (03/20): Roll call and first impressions (no spoilers) | 4 | 15 | Mar 02, 2020 10:48AM |
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“Who is to say plutonium is more powerful than, say, rice? One takes away a million lives, the other saves a hundred times as many.”
—
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“Everyone—even the poor, even the lazy, even the undesirable—can matter. Do you see how just the idea of this provokes utter rage in some? That is the infection defending itself … because if enough of us believe a thing is possible, then it becomes so.”
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