The time has arrived, I’ve been looking forward to The Future is Queer book club since we hatched the idea late last year. What better way to celebrate Pride than to focus on some speculative fiction by and about LGBTQ folks. Whether you read one or all four of our options, I hope you find something below that sparks your interest so we can continue to enjoy talking about books together. On to the boilerplate: ground rules remain the same as they always have. For […]
Too Much and Too Little
An Unkindness of Ghosts by Rivers Solomon
Rivers Solomon tells an unflinching tale of slavery and survival, set in a future that is horrifically similar to both America’s dreadful past and terrible present. They sugarcoat nothing; what else would you expect from a story that starts with a gruesome amputation? I have to applaud Solomon for writing a brutal and gut wrenching story. They shout out the horrors of racism, giving graphic depictions of brutality. Black women are tortured, raped, and publicly executed, and Solomon makes you stare at these scenes of […]
Becky Chambers and the Quest for Righteous Representation
The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers
…because lord knows we cannot deal with any more from that dreadful she-who-must-not-be-named and her unquenchable desire to hurt the hearts and minds of the people who grew up with, admired, and felt welcomed by Harry Potter and company. People are who they say they are, and she-who-must-not-be-named can do us all a favor and shout her nonsense directly into a portal to hell. Anywho! Luckily, Becky Chambers is on the scene to raise our spirits through the roof and out into the beautiful and […]
This one is for thinking, not for fun
An Unkindness of Ghosts by Rivers Solomon
I wish I’d had more time with this novel but I had to give An Unkindness of Ghosts back to the library because someone else requested it. This means I may have had to rush reading a little and thus may not be as particular about the style and details as I might otherwise be. Here’s why this matters: this is not one of those books you read and enjoy. This is one of those books you read, either don’t exactly like or quite understand […]
The Aliens are Just a Catalyst for These Deeply Human Journeys
I Hope You Get This Message by Farah Naz Rishi
Number 2 of my reads for the #CannonBookClub this June, and it’s a bit of a different tone from my previous read of The Disasters, but I have really enjoyed both so far! I Hope You Get This Message begins after earth unscrambles a message from an alien planet, stating that they will be deliberating whether or not to terminate earth within 1 week. While most of the world scrambles to bunker down or descends into chaos, this novel focuses on three teenagers each with […]
A Dash of Courage, a Pinch of Brains, a Splash of Luck, and a Whole Lot of Heart
The Disasters by M.K. England
This was my first choice for reading out of the options of June’s The Future is Queer #CannonBookClub, though to be honest all of the 4 possible books for the book club sounded right up my alley! A group of so-called disasters having to come together to save themselves and the universe? A found family that comes together through their shared factor of being outcasts in one way or another? I love to see it. The Disasters opens with a group of 4 young people […]