(Buy this book directly from the author here.)
It’s 2347, and Earth is a polluted, barren wasteland. Exploratory research robots roam, collecting information and sending repetitive transmissions while they prepare to resurrect the human race more than 200 years after its extinction, using carefully banked embryos.
Jacey-One is the first of the new humans, raised in the dispassionate emotional image of his mechanical ‘mother’. On his 18th birthday, he’s asked to do something confusing. His reaction catalyzes strange and catastrophic interactions with other remnants of humanity.
I feel like this self-published novel will have a special place in the hearts of readers who grew up on 70s sci-fi dystopia(Logan’s Run or The Omega Man) and psychosexual shock horror films(Butcher, Baker, Nightmare Maker or The Green Inferno) I’m admittedly only into the former, so while not everything here resonated with me emotionally, I appreciate what the author’s done and how deliberately crafted Jacey-One’s voice and world are. There are big themes and clear visual concepts being laid out here, mostly having to do with religion and sexuality. Joshua Valentine is a drag artist as well as an author, so unsuprisingly there’s a tinge of classic camp to this as well, the kind that Susan Sontag used words like artifice and vulgarity to analyze, eventually deciding the whole gross display was based in a love for human nature despite itself.
Speaking of vulgarity–this book doesn’t shy away from extremity. It’s deliberate, not gratuitous, but be aware–this book has graphic depictions of violence, torture, cannibalism, scatology, and a lot of sexual encounters of dubious consent. The shock value is high, and it’s a lot to take in.
In the wake of book bans and global hard turns to the right, work like this is important. It’s lurid and shocking, but there’s a rhyme and reason to it, and I revel in artist freedom, even when it doesn’t result in the beauty and joy I usually resonate with. I appreciate the daring it takes to unapologetically push boundaries for artistic reasons, and the tenacity it takes to put the work into the world on one’s own.
A better world and better mother to Somebody’s Dilemma.
Also, big gratitude to the author/artist for sending me a copy of the novel, as well as a great shirt and stickers. Apologies that this took so long, and keep writing!
(Beautiful people! Welcome back to reviews and such–I think I’m back in the saddle again. If you want to read more books by gay and queer authors, check out this booklist curated by a friend of mine or just generally peruse the Equal Opportunity Bookshop. Remember that any purchase you make there from a link here results in a little commission being paid, so thanks in advance for reading and visiting, and hope you’re reading something good. Peace!)
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