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A review by thebookberrie
Out There: Into the Queer New Yonder by Saundra Mitchell
I heard queer sci-fi stories I thought oh cool, queer teens falling in love on a spaceship with an alien or something. Not every other story being "oh the earth is dying, the atmosphere exploded, the sky is dust, and its all our fault". Like yes I know we are absolutely fucked in the future but bro you said sci-fi not "everyone is dying in the future lol"????
Simply cannot count how many were like this and then there were so many that were so depressing. Also multiple time loops and people disappearing, did they not talk to each other about what they were wearing that day or??
It wasn't really queer teens falling in love, it was queer teens in shitty sci-fi situations but also they gay. I will give credit that it was very diverse and that was the best part. But saying "oh yeah queer teens can also be dying from a dust cloud in the future while the rich leave on a spaceship" is not the book I was looking for. I do understand now the assignment was future and not fun space stories lol rip.
Also every story was trying too much?? It was like it was the beginning of a full novel instead of a short story and I feel like... all of these could have been saved by being an actual novel.
But like all anthologies there were a couple that absolutely clapped my ass:
Beauty Sleep was a sapphic Sleeping Beauty retelling and it was fucking DOPE. It had so many nods to the fairytale and how they tied in was so cool. I can't express how cool it was like Maleficent had a dragon mech and the fairies were drones. It was giving Cinder but also giving me everything and I'll be up at night crying because this wasn't a full story.
H O M E is about a girl and an intersex alien that get stuck in a frozen time loop at a planetary airport. This one really touched my cold dead heart because over the years of them in the time loop together, they grow old together (while not aging at all). The romance was just so well done and I'm emotional just thinking about them.
Present: Tense in this all the cishet people disappear (Thanos snapped fr). It was weird but also fun.
Reshadow I'm still not even sure I liked this one because it ended up depressing me but basically a boy is in an escape room / time loop situation. It was very trippy and very Black Mirror.
Simply cannot count how many were like this and then there were so many that were so depressing. Also multiple time loops and people disappearing, did they not talk to each other about what they were wearing that day or??
It wasn't really queer teens falling in love, it was queer teens in shitty sci-fi situations but also they gay. I will give credit that it was very diverse and that was the best part. But saying "oh yeah queer teens can also be dying from a dust cloud in the future while the rich leave on a spaceship" is not the book I was looking for. I do understand now the assignment was future and not fun space stories lol rip.
Also every story was trying too much?? It was like it was the beginning of a full novel instead of a short story and I feel like... all of these could have been saved by being an actual novel.
But like all anthologies there were a couple that absolutely clapped my ass:
Beauty Sleep was a sapphic Sleeping Beauty retelling and it was fucking DOPE. It had so many nods to the fairytale and how they tied in was so cool. I can't express how cool it was like Maleficent had a dragon mech and the fairies were drones. It was giving Cinder but also giving me everything and I'll be up at night crying because this wasn't a full story.
H O M E is about a girl and an intersex alien that get stuck in a frozen time loop at a planetary airport. This one really touched my cold dead heart because over the years of them in the time loop together, they grow old together (while not aging at all). The romance was just so well done and I'm emotional just thinking about them.
Present: Tense in this all the cishet people disappear (Thanos snapped fr). It was weird but also fun.
Reshadow I'm still not even sure I liked this one because it ended up depressing me but basically a boy is in an escape room / time loop situation. It was very trippy and very Black Mirror.