fiction – Page 2 – Equal Opportunity Reader

[REVIEW]The Free People’s Village, by Sim Kern

The bright orange cover of the hardback edition of The Free People's Village, depicting a punk rocker hitting a robot dog with a baseball bat, sits on a blonde wooden table on top of a booksleeve printed with 1940s Black debutantes.

[Buy this book here.] whew This is a BOOK, y’all. The year is 2020, and COVID-19 doesn’t exist. In 2000, Al Gore became president, declaring a War on Climate Change and ushering in 20 years of Democrat control. Infrastructure is totally green, and carbon taxes keep it that way. Sounds great, right? NOPE. Instead ofContinue reading “[REVIEW]The Free People’s Village, by Sim Kern”

Last While In Books: I’ve Mentioned Most of This Before.

A light skinned Black woman wearing a white eyelet frock, a big Afro, and funky neon yellow eyeliner sits by a window, reading a hardback book

The struggle continues, but so does the printing press, fellow readers. Without further ado, here are some tidbits of interesting diverse bookish news I’ve come across lately. I may have posted about this before, but I don’t think one can post too much about the adorable children’s book that James Baldwin wrote for his nephews.Continue reading “Last While In Books: I’ve Mentioned Most of This Before.”

[REVIEW] The Dead Cat Tail Assassins, by P. Djèlí Clark

A hardback copy of The Dead Cat Tail Assassins lays on a yellow cushioned ottoman on top of a few other books and a Kindle.

(Buy this book here!) I’m back, annoyed with everything, and politically and emotionally exhausted so let’s talk about a fun book today, fellow readers. An extraordinarily well-written fun book that happens to have won an Alex Award (for adult books that have special appeal to teen readers), but a fun book, nonetheless. Eveen has noContinue reading “[REVIEW] The Dead Cat Tail Assassins, by P. Djèlí Clark”

[REVIEW] Star Child: A Biographical Constellation of Octavia Estelle Butler, by Ibi Zoboi

The author's hand hold's the colorful, modern art collage of Star Child featuring front and side profiles of Octavia Butler's face on a background reminiscent of stars, up in front of a blurry green and yellow background, probably garden plants.

(Buy this book here.) When I was in elementary school I went through a phase of trying to read all of the middle-grade biographies available in my school’s library. There was a mass-market series of them in a shelf right next to the librarian’s office. They were old and cheap, mass-produced, bound in nubbly plasticizedContinue reading “[REVIEW] Star Child: A Biographical Constellation of Octavia Estelle Butler, by Ibi Zoboi”

[REVIEW] Walking Practice by Dolki Min, translated by Victoria Caudle

The cover of Walking Practice by Dolki Min, displaying a weird, grotesque alien,is held in the lap of the writer's sundress. In the background you can see a very gross beach.

(Buy this book here.) Spoilers abound, because there was no other way. Sometimes, it takes a people eating alien to show us just how much dating, gender expectations and hook-up culture can suck. This debut novel by enigmatic queer Korean literary figure Dolki Min follows an alien stranded in Seoul, light years away from home,Continue reading “[REVIEW] Walking Practice by Dolki Min, translated by Victoria Caudle”

[REVIEW] Blood At The Root, by LaDarrion Williams

The Kindle cover of Blood At The Root, depicting a magical Black boy standing in front of an ancient tree, is held up in front of a slightly less ancient, very green real world tree.

(Buy this book here.) Malik Baron has had the usual fantasy hero’s rough start in life. He’s an orphan who’s finally aged out of the abusive foster homes he grew up in, and he has the prickly, exasperatingly self-destructive, suspicious personality to show for it. He also has erratic magic powers and no idea whereContinue reading “[REVIEW] Blood At The Root, by LaDarrion Williams”

[SNIPPETS] This Year’s Literary Pulitzers Were Meaningfully Diverse

An image of the front and back of the coin-shaped Pulitzer Prize

For a lot of reasons, I’m finding it very hard to care about certain things this year. Literary prizes, media awards ceremonies, and celebrity gossip have all lost their luster, and I didn’t often enjoy the shine on them to begin with. So I haven’t paid much attention to this year’s Pulitzers or any ofContinue reading “[SNIPPETS] This Year’s Literary Pulitzers Were Meaningfully Diverse”

[REVIEW] The Truth of the Aleke, by Moses Ose Utomi

The Kindle cover of The Truth of the Aleke, depicting four young Black people in traditional garb standing upside down beneath a clay fortress, takes up the entire screen.

(Buy this book here.) Somehow, this sequel to my favorite fantasy book of 2023 manages to be both entirely the same and completely different from its predecessor. Once again, a beautifully written story set in a Nigeria-inspired fantasy world revolves around a boy hero, although this time around instead of sweet teachable Tutu we haveContinue reading “[REVIEW] The Truth of the Aleke, by Moses Ose Utomi”

[Review] Snowglobe, by Soyoung Park, translated by Joungmin Lee Comfort

A Black woman's hand holds up the icy Kindle cover of Snowglobe in front of a laptop background displaying a frozen mountain range.

(Buy this book here.) This was…cute. That’s not really what I was expecting when I cracked open this Korean YA novel that’s been billed, somewhat stereotypically, as The Hunger Games meet Squid Game. Really, it’s more like Snowpiercer meets Mean Girls meets The Parent Trap. Korean teen Chobahm lives in one of many tiny villagesContinue reading “[Review] Snowglobe, by Soyoung Park, translated by Joungmin Lee Comfort”

[REVIEW] Lunar New Year Love Story, by Gene Luen Yang and LeUyen Pham

The Kindle cover of Lunar New Year Love Story, depicting a young Asian couple in front of a pinkwashed sunset sky, is propped up in front of a lily plant and surrounded by wooden hearts and wrapped chocolate hearts.

(Buy this book here.) Valentina Tran loves the holiday she’s named after. Every year she makes heart-decorated cards for all her classmates, and an extra special one for her dad, who’s still trying to cope years after his wife’s death. To the disgust of her realistic bestie Bernice, Val maintains a belief in romance soContinue reading “[REVIEW] Lunar New Year Love Story, by Gene Luen Yang and LeUyen Pham”