A review by fayesparallelstories
New Suns: Original Speculative Fiction by People of Color by Nisi Shawl
2.0
I was thrilled to read a free eARC of New Suns. Speculative fiction is one of my favourite things, the cover looks great, and the mix of authors promised an eclectic mix of fantasy, horror, hard sci-fi and magical realism.
Unfortunately many of the stories felt unfinished and the desire to tell a clever story often came at the cost of creating memorable characters. I enjoyed the writing of the short stories by Karin Lowachee, Andrea Hairston, Hiromi Goto, and Rebecca Roanhorse and will check out the authors in the future. All in all, however, I missed finding true gems and the few solid works did not balance out the number of disappointing short stories.
1. The Galactic Tourist Industrial Complex - Tobias S. Buckell;
A cab driver on earth, which has become the new hip place of travel for all kinds of aliens, stumbles through an almost old-fashioned, humorous sci-fi short story. (2.5/5)
2. Deer Dancer - Kathleen Alcalá;
dystopian fiction with an "indigenous spin". I would have appreciated more magic or fleshed out characters. (3/5)
3. The Virtue of Unfaithful Translations - Minsoo Kang;
Asian fairy tale mixed with the faults of historical story telling? I can't be sure because I did not finish this short story that suffered from being overly wordy and leaving me emotionally totally uninvested. (1/5)
4. Come Home to Atropos - Steve Barnes;
Angry and cynical advertisement for euthanasia tourism- not bad. (3.5/5)
5. The Fine Print - Chinelo Onwualu;
Interesting imagery somehow wasn't followed through and taken to a satisfying ending, even though I was keen to like the story of a djinn granting wishes with a catch. (2.5/5)
6. Unkind of Mery - Alex Jennings;
Ghost story or not, the narrator gets side-tracked and I found the time line to be poorly executed. I remember nothing of the two main characters besides that they were a care worker and a professional comedian. (1/5)
7. Burn the Ships - Alberto Yáñez;
A story of war between two factions with an interesting magic system and characters that begged to be developed more. (3/5)
8. The Freedom of the shifting Sea - Jaymee Goh;
The story about the discovery of a "worm-woman" creature wants to explore themes of love and gender roles but seeks to shock and repulse the reader instead. (2/5)
9. Three Variations on a Theme of Imperial Attire - E. Lily Yu;
The Emperor's New Clothes retelling which ends up undecided about what was supposed to be changed in this version. (1/5)
10. Blood and Bells - Karin Lowachee;
Romeo and Juliet with gangs, a toddler and a twist I did't see coming. (4/5)
11. Give Me Your Black Wings Oh Sister - Silvia Moreno-Garcia;
Explores the feeling of feeling bad and wrong inside. It had a very different tone, which I appreciated but eventually meandered along not telling much of a story. (2/5)
12. The Shadow We Cast Through Time - Indrapramit Das;
Space travel, demons, and the beginning of time - too much bunched into a repetitive story for my liking. (2/5)
13. The Robots of Eden - Anil Lemon;
Interesting setup of "enhanced", psychologically super healthy people, but leaves things up in the air when it could have been fleshed out more. (3/5)
14. Dumb House - Andrea Hairston;
The characters in this one just drip with coolness and remind me of everything I like in "Station Eleven" by Emily St. John Mandel. (4/5)
15. One Easy Trick - Hiromi Goto;
Body image, loneliness and fat shaming rolled up in a funny little fable. (4/5)
16. Harvest - Rebecca Roanhorse;
Reminded me of "Let the right one in" by John Ajvide Lindqvist. Eerie but feels like the beginning to a longer story. (3.5/5)
17. Kelsey and the Burdened Breath - Darcie Little Badger
Spin on a ghost hunter story- even includes the lingering spirit of a ghost herding dog but the characters ironically did not come alive. (3/5)
Unfortunately many of the stories felt unfinished and the desire to tell a clever story often came at the cost of creating memorable characters. I enjoyed the writing of the short stories by Karin Lowachee, Andrea Hairston, Hiromi Goto, and Rebecca Roanhorse and will check out the authors in the future. All in all, however, I missed finding true gems and the few solid works did not balance out the number of disappointing short stories.
1. The Galactic Tourist Industrial Complex - Tobias S. Buckell;
A cab driver on earth, which has become the new hip place of travel for all kinds of aliens, stumbles through an almost old-fashioned, humorous sci-fi short story. (2.5/5)
2. Deer Dancer - Kathleen Alcalá;
dystopian fiction with an "indigenous spin". I would have appreciated more magic or fleshed out characters. (3/5)
3. The Virtue of Unfaithful Translations - Minsoo Kang;
Asian fairy tale mixed with the faults of historical story telling? I can't be sure because I did not finish this short story that suffered from being overly wordy and leaving me emotionally totally uninvested. (1/5)
4. Come Home to Atropos - Steve Barnes;
Angry and cynical advertisement for euthanasia tourism- not bad. (3.5/5)
5. The Fine Print - Chinelo Onwualu;
Interesting imagery somehow wasn't followed through and taken to a satisfying ending, even though I was keen to like the story of a djinn granting wishes with a catch. (2.5/5)
6. Unkind of Mery - Alex Jennings;
Ghost story or not, the narrator gets side-tracked and I found the time line to be poorly executed. I remember nothing of the two main characters besides that they were a care worker and a professional comedian. (1/5)
7. Burn the Ships - Alberto Yáñez;
A story of war between two factions with an interesting magic system and characters that begged to be developed more. (3/5)
8. The Freedom of the shifting Sea - Jaymee Goh;
The story about the discovery of a "worm-woman" creature wants to explore themes of love and gender roles but seeks to shock and repulse the reader instead. (2/5)
9. Three Variations on a Theme of Imperial Attire - E. Lily Yu;
The Emperor's New Clothes retelling which ends up undecided about what was supposed to be changed in this version. (1/5)
10. Blood and Bells - Karin Lowachee;
Romeo and Juliet with gangs, a toddler and a twist I did't see coming. (4/5)
11. Give Me Your Black Wings Oh Sister - Silvia Moreno-Garcia;
Explores the feeling of feeling bad and wrong inside. It had a very different tone, which I appreciated but eventually meandered along not telling much of a story. (2/5)
12. The Shadow We Cast Through Time - Indrapramit Das;
Space travel, demons, and the beginning of time - too much bunched into a repetitive story for my liking. (2/5)
13. The Robots of Eden - Anil Lemon;
Interesting setup of "enhanced", psychologically super healthy people, but leaves things up in the air when it could have been fleshed out more. (3/5)
14. Dumb House - Andrea Hairston;
The characters in this one just drip with coolness and remind me of everything I like in "Station Eleven" by Emily St. John Mandel. (4/5)
15. One Easy Trick - Hiromi Goto;
Body image, loneliness and fat shaming rolled up in a funny little fable. (4/5)
16. Harvest - Rebecca Roanhorse;
Reminded me of "Let the right one in" by John Ajvide Lindqvist. Eerie but feels like the beginning to a longer story. (3.5/5)
17. Kelsey and the Burdened Breath - Darcie Little Badger
Spin on a ghost hunter story- even includes the lingering spirit of a ghost herding dog but the characters ironically did not come alive. (3/5)