Five Points on an Invisible Line

by Su J. Sokol

Some families we choose, some battles we can't avoid, some lines we must cross together.

A bomb at the airport.
A mysterious disappearance.
A family pushing boundaries.

Three years after finding refuge in near-future Montreal, Laek and Janie prepare to expand their unconventional family. But when their friend Philip's arrival coincides with an explosion at the airport, their sanctuary begins to crack.

Struggling with PTSD, Laek must forge an alliance with someone he doesn't trust as street kids start vanishing from his school. Meanwhile, Janie dreams of building a larger family through a polyamorous union, even as dangers mount around them.

Their community of queer, poly, and neurodivergent activists fights for justice in a city that's both haven and battleground. But when protecting others means risking everything they've built, how much are they willing to sacrifice?

In a world of invisible lines, which ones are worth crossing?

Sunburst Award-nominated Su J Sokol crafts hopepunk science fiction where hope isn't just resistance—it's revolution.

392 pages, Hardcover

Published September 16, 2025

About the author

Su J  Sokol is a social rights activist and a writer of speculative and interstitial fiction. Cycling to Asylum, xyr debut novel, was long-listed for the Sunburst Award for Excellence in Canadian Literature of the Fantastic; its French translation, Les lignes invisibles, is a finalist for the Prix de traduction de la Fondation Cole. Su’s novels also include Run J Run; and Zee, a finalist for the QWF Janet Savage Blachford Prize for Children’s and Young Adult Literature. Five Points on an Invisible Line, the sequel to Cycling to Asylum, is scheduled to be published in the spring of 2025. Su's short fiction and essays have appeared in various publications.

Sokol's short fiction has appeared in various magazines and anthologies including in The Future Fire, Spark: A Creative Anthology, Glittership: an LGBTQ Science Fiction and Fantasy Podcast, After the Orange: Ruin and Recovery (B Cubed Press) and Amazing Stories, and Revue Solaris.

When xe is not writing, battling slumlords, bringing evil bureaucracies to their knees, and smashing borders, Sokol curates and participates in readings and literary events in Canada and abroad.

Reviews

[Nandini · Rating 5 out of 5]

Set in Montreal in a dystopian near future, it's a book about families, community, activism and the struggles of caring those we love the most.
It poses ethical questions about beliefs and action, what we need to fight for and the different ways we participate in community.

I loved returning to the family from Invisible Line/Cycling to asylum. Three years have passed and the kids are now young teenagers. I enjoyed discovering how they are growing up and finding their own selves, the tension from that age of rebellion and following their parents' steps. The family is expanding, different dynamics unfold but at the core they all deeply love and respect each other.

As a Montrealer, I enjoyed reading an alternative version of our city (and some French-English dialogues here and there). I loved the dystopian elements built over the specificity of the spirit of Montreal.

What strikes me the most is the point of view from the different characters. Every scene is told through the point of view of the different members of the family and they are all very distinct and real. One chapter is particularly enthralling, the flow of the point of view switching reads as a dexterous cinematographic long shot.

[Ken French · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really liked the first book in this series and I wanted to like this one too, but it was a slog. The author spends more time on the polyamorous relationship than xe does setting up the climactic demonstration at the end. To the point where it was never clear what the demonstration was about: government abuse? Teens in sweatshops? Animal cruelty? All of those? It was hard to invest in what was going on because it was too confusing.

Plus Laek, who was the hero of the first book, spends more than half of this one manipulating and shutting out the people he supposedly loves, then whining "but you promised" when they don't do exactly what he wants them to. I know he's supposed to have PTSD, but he's so unlikable here that it's hard to root for him.

Still, I like the basic premise and the first book was so good that I'm willing to give possible future books in the series a chance.