YA contemporary fantasy. A young Black woman in Brooklyn whose touch, and sometimes mere presence, causes plants to grow, bloom, move. From a hitherto unknown relative, she inherits an old mansion outside a small town in upstate New York. Adventure ensues and she learns more about her powers and the heritage she has been born …
Fantasy novella. The premise is that when enslaved people who were pregnant were thrown or jumped overboard from slave ships and subsequently died, their foetuses did not die but came into the world transformed into beings of the sea. Over the years, some of these “wajinru” survived, found each other, and built a society. In …
Speculative short stories, mostly set in worlds close to but distinct from our own. Quietly weird, often unsettling or vaguely sad. The writing wraps around and immerses you, doesn’t spoonfeed, so there were some I didn’t understand, but the collection as a whole was definitely to my taste and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Originally posted by Scott on …
Fantasy. Set in Cairo in 1912. A bit steampunk, a bit noir mystery, and lots of magic drawn from folk traditions of Egyptian and other Islamic cultures. The premise is that in the late 19th century, djinn and other magical beings returned openly to the world in a way that was centred on Cairo. This …
Science fiction. Near future. A company develops technology that, when implanted in the brain, allows human beings to have much greater ability to focus on multiple things at once and to for-real multitask. This makes those with the implants considerably more productive and therefore more valued in the capitalist economy and its associated institutions (e.g. …
Historical fiction. About slavery and Scotland. Built around the actual historical case that led in 1777 to the establishment of the principle that Scots law did not uphold slavery, at least domestically. Joseph Knight is the enslaved man at the centre of this case, originally kidnapped from west Africa and brought to Jamaica, and then …
YA contemporary. Traces the experiences of two young women (and their respective best friends) at a massive music festival, and their trajectory from strangers to much more. Sweet and funny, and it certainly provides the kind of emotional journey that one reads this sort of book to have, so I’m sure it will have many …
Literary fiction. The young Two-Spirit/Indigiqueer protagonist is living in Winnipeg, supporting himself as a cybersex worker, and needs to raise enough money to get back to the reserve community where he grew up, for his stepfather’s funeral. The narrative wanders across the days he has in which to do this, and across his whole life. …
YA contemporary with a sprinkling of the fantastical. Follows a teenage girl – Mexican-American, queer, a high school student, works in her family’s pastry shop and has a knack for knowing the perfect baked good to meet the needs or fulfill the desires of anyone who comes in. At a party at the home of …
Literary fiction. Short stories, mostly centred on characters who are Black girls and young women living in Florida. Relationships, loss, embodied messiness in everyday life and in those few-in-a-lifetime moments when everything changes. The stories were more distinct from each other than you often find in an early-career collection like this, while still having a …