milohno's review
adventurous
dark
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
4.0
emreads97's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
hopeful
informative
lighthearted
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
readingforfun's review against another edition
Liked the first 2 stories, not as interested after that. Need a break from short story collections for a bit.
kiramekihoshi's review
4.0
A collection of queer short stories. Most of which were fun, strange, and cute, but I was pretty bored by the final story, which unfortunately was the longest.
l0u_stips's review against another edition
medium-paced
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.5
TL;DR come for the apricots, stay for the Buttsmobile.
A treasure trove of short stories, with the final one particularly perfect - space weasels, need I say more? They play with form and finality - sometimes revealing how this story might find its end past the span of its pages, but sometimes you just have to leave the tape recording or step into the ocean under the Swedish asshole's couch and discover on your own what's down there. Loving, nuanced depictions of queer and trans people of colour reckoning with desire, loss, wraiths, radio static, lots of hauntings, frankly. A really excellent trans time travel story - I haven't read anything quite like it, but has the ghostly imprint of Octavia Butler. Cipri's another Clarion Writers Workshop alum - from 2014, I believe - and the collection spans 7 years of their writing. I'm curious about when each story was originally published (and where), how their craft has evolved - their voice is so clear, confident and versatile. But I'm a sucker for some stylistic asides.
A treasure trove of short stories, with the final one particularly perfect - space weasels, need I say more? They play with form and finality - sometimes revealing how this story might find its end past the span of its pages, but sometimes you just have to leave the tape recording or step into the ocean under the Swedish asshole's couch and discover on your own what's down there. Loving, nuanced depictions of queer and trans people of colour reckoning with desire, loss, wraiths, radio static, lots of hauntings, frankly. A really excellent trans time travel story - I haven't read anything quite like it, but has the ghostly imprint of Octavia Butler. Cipri's another Clarion Writers Workshop alum - from 2014, I believe - and the collection spans 7 years of their writing. I'm curious about when each story was originally published (and where), how their craft has evolved - their voice is so clear, confident and versatile. But I'm a sucker for some stylistic asides.
thegracexu's review
dark
4.0
I’ve read some really excellent short story collections lately and though this one also great experimental speculative fiction/horror/fantasy elements, I think some of the stories just fell a bit short. That being said I thought “Presque Vu” was spectacular - grounded, romantic and creepy all at once.