"Friday Black" by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah

Adjei-Brenyah is a name I'll be watching for. This collection is intense: filled with violence, racism, death, and magic. These stories are heavy. But, thanks to Adjei-Brenyah's writing, they're light on their feet, lively and passionate, tinged with dark humor, and rich with detail and empathy that stop most of them short of despair.

There's really not a weak story here; they often feel worth reading on the sheer brashness of their Kilgore Trout-ish premises, but the writing is strong even in the quieter stories. Fantastic, science fictional, and magical realist techniques flesh out ideas and characters that are almost uncomfortably, clearly drawn from present reality.

"The Finkelstein 5", the opening story, launches the collection at full strength. In the wake of a brutal chainsaw-murder of five young black people by a white man who goes free, spontaneous incidences of black-on-white violence erupt while the victims' names are ritually spoken. Both a parody of miscarriages of justice and frighteningly plausible, there's both horror and a kind of bleak, surreal humor in the coverage of the trial. The narrator's storyline captures the confusion and pain around the double violence of the attack and acquittal, and his ability to "dial" his blackness up or down in a quantified way.

Think Galactic- Iraq +100

For the December meeting of Think Galactic, we discussed Iraq+100, edited by Hassan Blasim.

The aim of this project was to get Iraqi writers—not necessarily science fiction writers—to set stories 100 years after the American invasion. The result is an interesting spread of stories.

As usual with our anthology discussions, we focused our conversation on a few pre-selected stories. At this meeting, we also picked our next 6 books for 2018. Brief notes and possible spoilers below:

Think Galactic- Kelly Sue DeConnick & Amal El-Mohtar

For the May meeting of Think Galactic, we read selections from the Guests of Honor at the upcoming Wiscon: Kelly Sue DeConnick and Amal El-Mohtar. For DeConnick, we read Bitch Planet, and for El-Mohtar we read a selection of short stories and poems.

Think Galactic's original formation was inspired by Wiscon, and there's usually a good number of us in attendance, and these two creators have a lot of interesting work.

Brief notes and discussion below:

Weird & Wonderful- Magic for Beginners

For the April meeting of City Lit Books' Weird & Wonderful book club, we discussed Magic for Beginners by Kelly Link.

The collection showcases Link's ability to draw on a host of genre techniques—most of these stories feel like they belong somewhere on a spectrum of horror-fantasy-surrealism—while also creating affecting human characters. "Kinda ghost-story-like" and "demented YA" were two terms we used.

As frequently and fruitfully happens at Weird & Wonderful, mixed opinions on this one! Brief notes below:

Think Galactic- Sisters of the Revolution

For December's meeting of Think Galactic, we discussed selections from Sister of the Revolution (2015), edited by Ann & Jeff VanderMeer.

As usual, when we discuss an anthology, we had a handful of stories that we focused on, a few bonus stories, and then of course a few of us read more/all of the collection, as well. Brief notes and possible spoilers below:

Think Galactic- Kabu Kabu

For the August convocation of Think Galactic (all meetings of Think Galactic are august convocations, FWIW), we discussed stories from "Kabu Kabu" (2013) by Nnedi Okorafor.

This collection spans most of her career to date, and those who read the whole thing reported that it works best to think of it that way—shows Okorafor and her worlds developing. A number of these stories are also the seeds or extracts from larger works, sometimes obviously so: weren't complete as short stories, though they might compellingly introduce us to bigger stories.

We had a surprisingly short conversation on this collection; most of us didn't have particularly strong reactions to it. We griped about some weak editing and little writerly things, but also praised the atmosphere in some of the stories, as well as the different tone and folk-tale-like distance in a few.

Chicago Nerds- Central Station

For June's meeting of the Chicago Nerd Social Club, we discussed "Central Station" (2016) by Lavie Tidhar. It's a "fix-up" novel, stringing together a number of his previously-published short stories.

This should come with a disclaimer if you don't already know: there's no over-arching plot here, so don't hold your breath for one. But at the same time, it's not just an unrelated collection--Tidhar uses a series of interconnected anecdotes to sketch out a setting and his cast of characters with surprising depth.

With the exception of the "no plot" caveat, this was a really well-received book. Possible spoilers below!

Think Galactic- Get In Trouble

Way back in May, before Wiscon, Think Galactic discussed Kelly Link's short story collection "Get In Trouble" (2015). Which is just darn tootin' good, you should read it.

As is our custom with collections, we pre-selected a few for focused discussion, although in this case we did wind up talking about most all of the stories. "Summer People", "Secret Identity", "Two Houses", and "Light" were our focal stories.

Lots of questions of reality & identity, lots of interweaving of science fiction, fantasy, horror, and even superhero elements throughout this collection. All delivered in this style that's kind of Lethem crossed with O'Connor crossed with...someone who writes sexy stuff. Brief discussion sketches and possible spoilers below:

Think Galactic- Octavia's Brood

For the last Think Galactic meeting of 2015, we discussed the collection "Octavia's Brood", edited by Walidah Imarisha and adrienne maree brown.

The collection brings together writers who are active in social justice movements, many of who don't normally work in the short SF/F form, to pay tribute to the kind of "visionary fiction" embodied in the work of Octavia Butler.

We were a bit split over the collection as a whole. We all agreed that we liked the idea of the project and the ideas being engaged with. However, some of us found the execution extremely weak in many (though not all) of the stories. An interesting discussion.

We closed the discussion by making our own list of transformative or visionary fiction, and also selected books for the first half of next year.

Chicago Nerds: Hyperion

After many nominations and near-selections, Dan Simmons' Hugo-winning "Hyperion" (1989) finally made it to the top of the Chicago Nerds' book-club list.

Structurally, "Hyperion" draws on "The Canterbury Tales" (1390ish), being composed of a frame story of a group of pilgrims travelling together, with the bulk of the novel made up of the individual stories that six of the pilgrims relate; each individual's story is told in a different style, and has a different thematic focus.

I found Hyperion a delight to re-read, as did many others at group; I think we were about evenly split between first-time readers and re-readers. It's one of those books that is a real pleasure to share and talk about. Possible spoilers below!

Weird & Wonderful: Stories of Your Life

For the last meeting of City Lit Books' "Weird and Wonderful" club, we discussed Ted Chiang's "Stories of Your Life and Others" (2002).

What a collection! This is a book I frequently recommend to people--it's a great example of some of the best kinds of things being done in SF today. It doesn't hurt that Chiang is one of the strongest short-form writers out there. The collection also frequently makes it into SF/F reading groups: I know at least Think Galactic & Chicago Nerds have discussed it.

We read and discussed (at least briefly) all the stories herein,  and given the nature of short stories there may be SPOILERS BELOW!

Think Galactic: Mothership

The full version of this John Jennings cover is worth sharing.
Via collection contributor Rochita Loenen-Ruiz.

For the last meeting of Think Galactic, we discussed some selections from "Mothership: Tales from Afrofuturism and Beyond", edited by Bill Campbell and Edward Austin Hall, and published by Rosarium. It's a really diverse collection, and Sara picked us a good handful of stories to focus on: