A review by greeniezona
The Assimilated Cuban's Guide to Quantum Santeria by Carlos Hernandez
5.0
Normally I put the book back down when I see that it is a collection of short stories, but I just couldn't resist this title, or this cover. For which I am grateful, because I really loved some of these stories, and even the ones that weren't my favorite all had details or moments that excited me. Not a dud in the book.
The first story, "The Aphotic Ghost," was one of my favorites. Think selkie story meets deep ocean marine biology plus some mountaineering. (Trust me, it works.) Minus the whole kidnapping aspect of a traditional selkie tale. There were bits I saw coming and bits that I didn't, but I was delighted with it the whole way through.
The story that surprised me more was "The International Studbook of the Giant Panda." Imagine a future where pandas are so imperiled that it requires a new kind of intervention to save them. This story posits (and I don't know if it's true, but given pandas' highly solitary nature, it seems plausible enough) that part of the reason for pandas' low reproduction rates is a lack of sex education. In a natural state, when many males respond to a female's call,, the males who aren't chosen watch -- and thus get to see and smell how things are supposed to go. With pandas so thin on the ground in the wild and isolated in zoos, they are missing this social instruction. So one lab creates mechanized panda suits that allow human scientists to both create their own live sex-ed shows and also collect semen from male pandas in a more naturalistic way. Of course, in order to give a convincing show, the scientists employ a combination of chemical and nanotech therapy and virtual reality tech in the suits -- enabling them to "be the panda." It could so easily go over the top, but somehow it doesn't and it's absolutely fascinating.
All in all, these stories were a refreshing blend of science, magical realism, and Cuban immigrant culture. I will definitely be on the lookout for future fiction from this author.
The first story, "The Aphotic Ghost," was one of my favorites. Think selkie story meets deep ocean marine biology plus some mountaineering. (Trust me, it works.) Minus the whole kidnapping aspect of a traditional selkie tale. There were bits I saw coming and bits that I didn't, but I was delighted with it the whole way through.
The story that surprised me more was "The International Studbook of the Giant Panda." Imagine a future where pandas are so imperiled that it requires a new kind of intervention to save them. This story posits (and I don't know if it's true, but given pandas' highly solitary nature, it seems plausible enough) that part of the reason for pandas' low reproduction rates is a lack of sex education. In a natural state, when many males respond to a female's call,, the males who aren't chosen watch -- and thus get to see and smell how things are supposed to go. With pandas so thin on the ground in the wild and isolated in zoos, they are missing this social instruction. So one lab creates mechanized panda suits that allow human scientists to both create their own live sex-ed shows and also collect semen from male pandas in a more naturalistic way. Of course, in order to give a convincing show, the scientists employ a combination of chemical and nanotech therapy and virtual reality tech in the suits -- enabling them to "be the panda." It could so easily go over the top, but somehow it doesn't and it's absolutely fascinating.
All in all, these stories were a refreshing blend of science, magical realism, and Cuban immigrant culture. I will definitely be on the lookout for future fiction from this author.