[REVIEW] Emergency Skin, N.K. Jemisin

By now we’ve all heard the incredible news that the Grande Dame Nouvelle of Black speculative fiction, and spec-fic in general, N.K. Jemisin herself, is one of the 2020 recipients of the MacArthur Genius Grant. (If you hadn’t heard–well, now you have!)

I’m a huge Jemisin fan, considering her the heir apparent to the throne vacated when Octavia Butler left us all too soon. I’ve enjoyed all of her work, along with most of the rest of the book-buying world–is there anyone left who doesn’t see the genius of The Broken Earth Trilogy?

However, my favorite of her works (so far) is also her most unexpected, in my opinion–the short novelette Emergency Skin, one of the half-dozen titles in the Forward Collection made available exclusively as Kindle e-books last fall. I’ve read enough N.K. Jemisin to expect myself to have a very strong emotional response to her work. I still didn’t expect to whoop, cackle and cheer at this short the way that I did. (Internally, of course. Except for the cackling–some of that was out loud.)

I was thoroughly surprised by the speculative premise and the sneaky optimism written into this quick, spare story of a rather unusual space colonizer. Spec-fic and fantasy are my favorite reading campgrounds but I can’t deny that these days they’re pretty grim, pessimistic places to be–everything seems to be a dystopia, a gritty reboot or a crapsack world made of pain in need of an antihero. It’s not always the most emotionally rejuvenating literary space, to put it mildly.

Jemisin is no stranger to grim, gritty, and mean but she neatly reverse-engineers all of that into something wryly funny and hopeful without losing any of her usual creative edge. It’s short and very densely plotted so I won’t spoil it for you in this review but let me just say this; when I first realized where it was going I literally howled with laughter. It’s such a smart and funny premise, deftly handled. Even now, every time I think of the story’s conclusion I have to smile a little. It’s a feel good bit of incisive, socially aware speculative fiction and I can’t recommend it enough. If you only read one of Amazon’s exclusive Forward short story collection, I recommend this one (although it’s a very close tie with Blake Crouch’s Summer Frost). If you’ve never read any of Jemisin’s work before and are curious now that she’s an actual MacArthur Genius–give it a whirl. Finally, if you love sci-fi but need a little bit of hope with your interplanetary/biological/environmentally dystopic shenanigans–you definitely could do with a big dose of Emergency Skin.

(This blog has affiliate relationships with online booksellers like Bookshop, so any clicks and purchases made from here may result in a commission being paid. While I usually don’t link to Amazon (for reasons I’ve explained), creative initiatives like the Forward Collection are one of the saving graces of the platform and one of the reasons I can’t just chuck the whole site away just yet(that and the number of marginalized and BIPOC authors who find their self-publishing platform empowering). So, you’ve been warned. There’s Amazon links in here. It won’t happen again any time soon.)

[REVIEW] Clap When You Land, Elizabeth Acevedo

(Buy it HERE.)

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Yano Rios is on a flight from NYC to Santo Domingo when a mechanical error causes the plane to crash. There are no survivors, and his teenaged daughter Camino is devastated when the anticipation of her father’s yearly visit turns into unspeakable grief and sudden financial insecurity for her and her aunt. His other teenaged daughter, Yahaira, is equally devastated back in New York, after finding that her father’s yearly business trip has ended in tragedy. ⠀
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Neither daughter has any idea that the other even exists, but while grieving they find each other and learn a few of the secrets their father carried between countries for 17 years.⠀
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I feel as though this novel-in-verse tells a story I’ve heard variations of my whole life but have rarely seen so thoroughly told. It’s not unusual for women’s lives to be wrapped around men’s lies. What makes this book unique and refreshing is how remarkably non-judgmental it is. There’s not a lot of moralizing or villainizing going on (with one notable exception). Everyone and every choice is written through a lens of love. Even though I expected to be upset by some characters, I never was–the sense of community empathy Acevedo creates in these pages is far too great. She packs a lot of humanity into these verses; two lifetimes of grief, two families worth of betrayal, and foundations for a great future. I have no doubt that Yahaira and Camino are in a good place somewhere, many years after the end of the story–it ends on a sweet, hopeful note after beginning with tragedy. ⠀
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Novels in verse seem to be a literary *thing* these days–I’m just not sure they’re mine. While I definitely appreciate the craftsmanship it takes to write a whole novel this way and I’m impressed by how much depth the format gave to the characters and their surroundings, I’m very picky about poetry and this took me a while to get into. I’m not in a hurry to read any more verse novels, honestly. I will check out Acevedo’s other work though–she has such a beautiful way with characters and I want to meet more of her people.

There’s a lot more that could be said about this novel–about its portraits of Dominican and Dominican diasporan life and how they converge and diverge, about the things it has to say about daughterhood and how important fathers can be, and about how deeply but non-performatively culturally Dominican the text is–I don’t know a lot of Dominicans and had to look a lot of things up as I read. But I’ll leave that to more literary heads than mine and simply say that while this isn’t the best thing I’ve read this month, it’s a worthwhile read with a lot of emotional depth and heart. I enjoyed it and think you might, too.
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4 and half stars and some poetry night snaps to Clap When You Land.

This blog has affiliate relationships and any clicks/purchases may result in a commission being paid. Peace!

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[REVIEW] Half-Resurrection Blues, Daniel José Older

(Buy it HERE.)

First things first–I read this on the MyMustReads app for Android and absolutely hated it. It’s poorly designed and made my reading experience far less enjoyable. 0/10, will not use again unless they overhaul it entirely. Delete, block, ban. UGH.
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Fortunately the book in question was more enjoyable than the app I used to read it, although it still wasn’t perfect. It was initially described to me as “Puerto Rican zombie detective in Brooklyn” and I was instantly sold. I was all too ready to put Malagueña-smoking, sword-cane wielding, santeria-observing half-dead investigator Carlos Delacruz in my urban fantasy clique along with Harry Dresden, Damali Richards, Jilly Coppercorn and Elena Michaels but…

…man does this book start slow. Painfully slow. It took about ten chapters for the momentum to pick up and even then–there are a lot of dips and lulls in the action. I’m not sure how–the premise is very interesting. One day, Carlos woke up dead–well, half-dead, anyway. Since then he’s been hunting and dispatching Brooklyn’s errant ghosts on behalf of a mysterious afterlife bureaucracy, convinced that he’s the only one of his kind. Until one day–he’s not…⠀
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It’s hard to review this book since it’s such a mixed bag. Sometimes it lurches clumsily and aimlessly along much like its half-dead protagonist. Other times it’s evocative and gripping. Ultimately it’s uneven and a little flat, even though the premise is fire. Nothing is explained enough and Carlos is a pretty dull hero who does what he’s told and rarely has ideas of his own. The best bits are an action packed trip to the underworld and the obligatory action-driving urban fantasy love story. In the latter, the love interest is unfortunately more of a prop than a person but it’s one of the few times Carlos rouses from his sleepy half-dead expository drone and really becomes an interesting narrator with an inner life and motivation. There are a few beautifully written love scenes that made me bump this up a star.
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What saves the book, time and again, are the side characters–sniffy dead bureaucrats, the local santeria’s resident Baba, his angrily white-passing indigenous lawyer boyfriend, a very unlucky Hasidic realtor, and Esther, a motherly spirit literally attached to an library for the spirit world. Because of them, and the fact that I’ve read and enjoyed some of Older’s other work (namely Shadowshaper), I’d probably pick up the next in the series if I see it somewhere by chance–but I won’t go out of my way to find it.⠀
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3 stars and a defibrillation to Half-Resurrection Blues.

(You know what time it is, beautiful people. This blog has an affiliate relationship with other sites like Bookshop, which means if you click and purchase, a commission will be earned. Peace!)

[REVIEW] Children of Virtue and Vengeance, Tomi Adeyemi

(Buy it HERE.)

Let me begin this review by putting on my flame retardant suit and face mask.

sighOkay, I get that people love this book, and the series it forms the center of. I even get why they love it. I want to love it, too. It’s fantasy, it’s epic, it’s romantic (sorta), it’s written by a black woman, and it’s super-duper, Afro-pick with a fist, fufu and plantain, cocoa butter and respect your elders BLACK. Not just Black, Black and feminine. Lord knows we need more books and authors like this out here in these spec-fic streets and based on that alone, this got a pre-order and preliminary 3 star rating from me.

However none of that erases the fact that this is a bone dry, 90 chapter, by-the-numbers monstrosity that messily changes point of view every 5 pages or so and is full of whiny teenage angst that leads to murder, death and mutilation for no real reason except that all the adults who show up are crazy and our main characters generally have the relationship skills of pounded yam. They’re also so boring that I don’t remember their names and can’t be bothered to look them up. Sure, there’s magic, there’s love triangles, there’s all the ingredients of a successful YA fantasy book but man. This is really the cold grits of fantasy fiction–unenjoyable to take in and hard to digest, but you eat it up anyway for the culture. The book really doesn’t become genuinely enjoyable to read until the last 15 chapters or so. Up until then I was just struggling through the bad prose and dull personalities thinking DEAR GOD THERE’S GOING TO BE ANOTHER BOOK WHY AND YO, TOMI PLEASE STOP ADDING -AIRE TO ALL THE ANIMAL NAMES LIKE THAT’S SPECIAL IT’S JUST ANNOYING AHHHHH…

sighSorry.

That said, read this anyway. Game of Thrones has even worse writing, and the land of Orisha will make a much better TV show whenever it happens. Read this, because we need to increase the presence of Africa and black people in our speculative collective consciousness and they don’t all have to be genius, they just have to *be*. (I’ve talked about that a bunch here.) Then go read N.K. Jemisin, Nnedi Okorafor, Octavia Butler and Nalo Hopkinson, because all Black women who are speculative fiction writers need love (and the preceding four happen to be geniuses.)

3 out of 5 stars to Children of Virtue and Vengeance.

(Beautiful people, this was one of my more disappointing reads, but if you think you might like it, feel free to click and buy. The cover is gorgeous and looks pretty on your bookshelf, even if you don’t like it. If you do click and buy, be aware that this blog has an affiliate relationship with Bookshop and any purchases will result in a commission being paid. Peace! )

[REVIEW] The Dirty Girls Social Club, Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez

(Buy it HERE.)

You know what the weirdest thing about being an adult is? It’s that nobody ever really tells the whole truth. We’re told not to lie for our entire childhoods, then we grow up and realize almost no-one is ever entirely honest about what’s really going on with them.
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Take, for example, the protagonists of The Dirty Girls Social Club–six very grown, very successful Latinas in Boston. Some are family women, some are professionals, some are lovestruck…and all are liars. Every one of them is keeping secrets, and the plot of the book predictably follows their lives as the truth comes out, bit by bit. ⠀
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I enjoyed this. I don’t like drawing comparisons, but it’s a bit like a Latina Waiting To Exhale. There’s the same sense of camaraderie, a similar tone as the book nods to life as a modern, professional woman who also wants love and family and a decent place to live, preferably without racism kicking your ass as you do it. As a nice touch, the Dirty Girls have not only diverse personalities but cultures and backgrounds–Amber is a goth Mexica rocker with working class roots, Liz a gorgeous Black Colombian, Sara a rich white Cuban Jew, Becca a New Mexican Hispanic princess, Usnavys a Puerto Rican plus-size diva, and finally Lauren is half Cuban-exile, half-American trailer park, all disaster. They interact like oil and vinegar–the book has a slow start but once it smooths out it’s quite entertaining. It’s a sloppy, girly story of friendships, relationships and all the drama they contain, and I had fun visiting with these ladies for a bit.⠀
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There’s a few things that kept this from being perfect for me. All six main characters are very strongly written, but many of their storylines get left out in the cold. Also, the author quite candidly writes the anti-Blackness and homophobia endemic in some Latin communities into the characters’ lives–so candidly that at some points, I forgot these were just characters in a book and got legitimately angry. It’s strange and uncomfortable to see the rumors of what other cultures think of your community confirmed and laid out boldly on a page, even when it’s called out as wrong.

(It bears mentioning here that I first heard of this book, and its author, via her supremely written, incisive takedown of Oprah’s Book Club darling American Dirt. That link directs you to the takedown, not to the book. It’s one of the best things I’ve read in a long while.)
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In the end, though, this was a fun, relatable bit of chick-lit, broadly inclusive of Latinx/Latine groups, and full of juicy drama that kept me turning pages. 4 stars and some therapy to The Dirty Girls Social Club.

(Beautiful people! I thought about doing this usual announcement in Spanish and then I realized I knew better and decided to let you know that this blog has affiliate relationships with great sites like Bookshop and any click/purchases result in a commission being paid in English, like I usually do. Peace!)

[REVIEW] The Black Traveler’s Guide To Incheon, by The Blerd Explorer


(Buy it on Amazon or Apple)

The city of Incheon sits right in the shadow of Western Seoul, South Korea. It holds two international airports, several beaches, and one of the world’s more interesting Chinatowns, but most people skim past it and head straight to Seoul’s more popular attractions.
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That’s where this handy travel guide by The Blerd Explorer comes in. Full of photos, practical descriptions and personal anecdotes, it gives novice travelers a great foundation from which to plan their travels in Incheon and to Korea in general. The guide mentions everything from restaurants to hiking trails to anime exhibits and gives a pretty good idea of what it’s like to get around, socialize and sightsee in Incheon. There are quite a few notes on Korean culture and the way Korean locals treat Black people–those sections are quite general but mostly accurate, and you can tell the author put in an effort to be fair and culturally positive. The photos are lovely and there’s a helpful directory in the back giving addresses for many of the places named in the text.(Phone numbers or social media handles would be helpful too, though.)⠀
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I’ll be the first to admit–I don’t think I’m really the target demographic for this book. Although I am Black, I’ve been living abroad for nearly 14 years, 7 and and half of those in Korea. I’m a seasoned traveler who started globetrotting before social media and online travel guides were much of a thing, and I don’t have much of a complex about traveling while Black anymore, if I ever even did. However, I could see this guide being very helpful for new travelers and young Black Americans with a lot of fears and reservations about leaving the country for the first time. We all have to start somewhere, and I could see this book being a launchpad for the right person. This is a book for the very inexperienced, but that’s a good thing. ⠀
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Many thanks to The Blerd Explorer for sending me a copy of this ebook to review. It’s currently available on Amazon and Apple Books. If Korea is on your post-Corona bucket list, give it a look.

(This blog has affiliate relationships and a commission may be earned from any clicks and purchases. Peace!)

[REVIEW] See No Stranger, Valarie Kaur

(Buy it HERE.)

Breathe and push.⠀
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This book is so many things, and I loved them all. ⠀
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It’s a manifesto–a revolutionary encouragement to love not only with community and caring, but with law, protests, and the pent up rage that comes from receiving injustice. It’s warm, empowering, & sharply attuned to our current times and their particular dangers.⠀
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It’s a memoir. Kaur intersperses calls to love and action with her own experiences growing up Sikh on a California farm, going to Harvard & Yale, becoming an activist, falling in love, having children, and building communities of love and power. There’s a stunning vulnerability and bold femininity in these stories that speaks to the breadth and depth of womanhood–not only love, softness and warrior triumph but also abusive relationships, assault, sexism, reproductive issues and the unique trauma that Black and brown women face in America when feeling the need to choose between protecting the men in our communities who are often victimized by law enforcement and seeking legal justice when some of those same men choose to victimize us. ⠀
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It’s a memorial. Prior to reading this I was not aware of the deadly extent of anti-Sikh domestic terrorism in the US, or the way it has increased, as has most domestic terror, in recent years. Kaur paints us a thorough, intimate portrait of the grief and pain felt by the American Sikh community and gives us a primer in the faith that has empowered many of the people in that community to forgive and rebuild. I have an enduring respect for Sikhs, and this part of the book only deepened it. (It also made me tell myself, “I will not cry on this train” approximately 347 times while reading. Whew.) ⠀
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It’s a manual. The last section of the book contains tools and exercises to enact some of the principles described in the manifesto part, as well as some beautiful translations of Sikh scripture done by Kaur herself.⠀
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This book had a profound personal effect on me as well, and while I wanted to weave bits of my own story into this review, I’ve tried several times and you know what? I’m not in a place to be vulnerable like that yet. I’ll write about it later, I think, after the words in this book have had a chance to percolate next to my soul for a little while longer.

Meanwhile–5 stars, the deepest of breaths and the strongest of pushes to Valarie Kaur’s See No Stranger. Go read it.

(As always, beautiful people, this is your regular reminder that this blog has affiliate relationships with excellent entities such as Bookshop, and any clicks and purchases made from this site will result in commission being earned. You know I always keep it 100–this one’s worth buying, not borrowing, and I’m the first to tell you when you should hit the library instead. Peace!)

[REVIEW] Pride, Ibi Zoboi

(Buy it HERE.)

Can I be honest with y’all? It took me a long time to understand what the big deal about Pride and Prejudice was. High school classes, grudging re-reads, and wet Colin Firth on PBS were not enough to make me care about 5 sisters in 1813 England. It wasn’t until I was pressed into teaching it at a girl’s school summer camp a few years ago that I really got it–the girls created a whole primer connecting Darcys, Bennets, and Bingleys to their own boarding school dramas complete with illustrations, and a light bulb went off.⠀
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If I’d had Pride in high school, that light would’ve gone on much earlier for me. In this YA novel, the Bennets become the Haitian-Dominican Benitez family, crammed into a Bushwick apartment and surrounded by a vibrant Afro-Latin community. When the Darcys–a very rich, very Black family with an Afro-British mom and a vacation home in Martha’s Vineyard–move into the renovated house across the street, Zuri Benitez can’t stand their gentrifying asses. While her sisters try various ways to get into their good graces, Zuri makes her feelings about fake, judgmental rich people loudly known–at least until handsome Darius Darcy turns his prep school frown in her direction. ⠀
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I loved this concept. Pride pays homage not only to Austen’s original romance, but also her commentary on class and gender. The setting, however, is purely, joyfully Black–the community Zoboi pens made me a little homesick, although I’m neither from Brooklyn nor Latina. I love how she brings in so many textures and types of Blackness–rich, poor, light, dark, Latin, Caribbean, British, Southern, Prince George County and Bushwick. It’s rare to see someone describe the sometimes tense interactions between Black communities with a light and humorous hand but Zoboi manages it. ⠀
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Of course the heart of the story is its romance and unfortunately–that was the only off note for me. (It is in the original, too.) Zuri and Darius are a couple of grouches and when they do get together it comes out of nowhere. It’s still fun and readable, but it’s easily the weakest part of the book. ⠀
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4 stars and some real street cred to Pride.

(This blog contains affiliate links to Bookshop, and any clicks or purchases made will result in a commission earned. Thanks for reading, beautiful people, and peace! )

Last Week In Books, September 7th – 14th:

Welcome to this week’s diverse book news recap! Let’s just get started, shall we?

  • It’s Hispanic/Latinx Heritage Month in the USA starting tomorrow. While the month has its share of controversies(both internal and external), I personally am looking forward to my all Latinx, all the time reading list for the rest of the month. [Penguin Random House]
  • It’s 2020. The very first novel by a member of the Eastern Band Cherokee was just published, by Annette Saunooke Clapsaddle. It’s called Even As We Breathe. Read an excerpt here. [LitHub]
  • Queenie author Candice Carty-Willams is struggling to script the TV adaptation of her Black British romance due to COVID-19 and the havoc it’s wreaked on the dating world. Tell us about it, girl. [The Guardian]
  • The Dune trailer is out and I am OBSESSED. [YouTube]
  • I’m also obsessed with 21-year old Faridah Abike-Iyimide, the British uni student who just landed a million dollar book deal for her debut thriller, Ace of Spades. It’s been described as ” Gossip Girl meets Get Out”. [The Guardian]
  • I was not so obsessed with bird-watching comics editor Christian Cooper, but his free DC Comic It’s A Bird, about his experience with harassment and police violence threats at the hands of a racist white woman in New York Central Park, is very much worth a download and a read. [Equal Opportunity Reader]
  • Speaking of which, DC is really putting in work on the social justice and representation front. They also have a graphic novel anthology entitled Wonder Women of History, which spotlights 17 different wonderful women, coming out on December 1st. [Billboard]
  • Last but not least, a giant congratulations to Viet Thanh Nguyen, for being elected to the Pulitzer Prize Board(and for being the first Asian American to be so.) [Pulitzer]

Peace, beautiful people and fellow readers!

(Before you go, click a link. While you’re clicking, be aware that this blog has affiliate relationships with entities like Bookshop and some clicks and purchases will result in a commission being paid to this blog.)

[REVIEW] Represent! #1: It’s A Bird! written by Christian Cooper

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Chris Cooper should be famous for being Marvel Comics’ first openly gay writer and editor, for introducing some of the first canon gay characters in major comic books, and for his editing work on Blade, The Punisher, and Star Trek comics.⠀
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Instead, on May 25th, 2020, the same day that George Floyd was killed, Cooper became famous when a film of him being harassed, threatened, and lied about to police by a white woman breaking the leash laws in New York Central Park while he was peacefully birdwatching was released online. ⠀
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Then, he became infamous for refusing to press charges against the woman, despite the cries for justice–any justice–that were sweeping across America.⠀
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So, I wasn’t sure what to expect from his comic based on the event, now available for free via Amazon Kindle and DC Comics. I certainly wasn’t expecting it to be any good–interesting, perhaps, but not good. ⠀
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But it is good, and definitely worth your time. The art is clean, the pace is quick, and the story it tells is necessary. While it’s based on Cooper’s frightening Central Park experience it doesn’t really make direct reference to Cooper himself. It does reference George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Amadou Diallo, and quite a few others on the heartbreaking list of Black people killed unjustly due to police violence. They come to the mind of a kid named Jules. He’s birding in a park when he’s confronted by suspicious white people who threaten him with cops and lies, and their specters remind him to walk away. The ghosts of the victims don’t give him strength or come to his rescue. They just stand nearby sadly as this kid, who’s done nothing wrong but be Black while birding in the park on a nice morning like countless others do…just walks away, and lives to bird another day, while the memories of those who weren’t so lucky stand sadly by. ⠀
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Make of that what you will. ⠀
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5 stars and continued cries of #BlackLivesMatter for Represent! #1: It’s A Bird.

(No affiliate links in this blog entry, beautiful people but do download this comic on Amazon, DC, or any major ebook or comic seller online. Peace!)