(Buy this book in the Equal Opportunity Bookshop)
Whew this was a weird book. But, here goes.
Josué is a queer, light-skinned AfroCuban with locs, a survivor of the cutthroat slums of future Havana, and part of a highly specialized intergalactic ambassadorial sex worker class. Known as “condomnauts”, Josué and his colleagues are responsible for making first contact with the weirdest, most well-traveled aliens and setting the stage for favorable trade relations and cultural exchange. To make it clear that no amount of tentacles, extra eyes or otherwise alien biology will impede relations, the condomnauts start negotiations by having…uh, relations with every species possible, coming where no man has…okay, let me stop.
Given the subject matter, this book really isn’t very spicy. It is weird and absurd and probably very funny in its original Spanish. I liked quite a lot of things it does; frankness about male sexuality and trauma, cheeky pokes at colonial impact on sex work and tourism, and expansive sci-fi worldbuilding. However, sexuality and its expressed tropes are both culturally and preferentially dependent. For me, the machismo and colorism Josué constantly demonstrates were off-putting but also multi-dimensional. It comes across as authentic to that specific character, for what it’s worth. The story is a bit thin, too–it’s almost all worldbuilding, and for me the final twist didn’t curl all the way over. (I hollered “GROSS AND FOR WHAT?!?!” at the book but kept reading.)
There’s another thing, as well, and the next paragraph is a content warning. I’ve accidentally been in a reading wormhole of texts on male sexual vulnerability that started with The Earl Who Isn’t(a very gentle and thoughtful book) and has somehow led me here, to a very extreme example. There’s an extended flashback sequence that includes very graphic discussions of sexual activity between very young children. It’s icky to read and that’s the point–it’s the genesis of Josué’s trauma wounds and a clear illustration of how terrible his childhood was. But while I can see what Yoss was trying to do, I’m not sure it works all the way, and a lot of it relies on pretty poor psychology. Some of the themes–extreme fatphobia, sexism, more colorism and kids doing things kids really shouldn’t–left a bad taste behind. But–that’s the point. I got it, I didn’t like it, and I recognize that not everybody is going to want to read that by accident so: content warning.
Yoss is apparently a bonafide heavy metal star in Cuba as well as one of the island’s leading sci-fi writers. After reading this, I’m not surprised. This made me curious about his other work even if it didn’t ring all my bells.
Space prophylactics and ironclad consent to Condomnauts.
(Fellow readers, consider this my concession to Valentine’s Day capitalist propaganda. Go love on somebody. If you need inspiration, check out this booklist of diverse romance or anything in the Equal Opportunity Bookshop. Anything you buy from a link on this site results in a commission being paid. Thanks for visiting, happy Valentine’s Day, and peace! Now go read something good!)
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