Category: Science Fiction

Future Home of the Living God by Louise Erdrich

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Louise Erdrich’s storytelling talent is simply massive. The concept of FUTURE HOME OF THE LIVING GOD is not a new one. (Preceded by THE HANDMAID’S TALE and other dystopian visions of a future state where childbearing is a tool of terror and the stakes on which social control rest, this novel takes its place among that company.) But here, that concept is merely the frame around a brilliant story that storms through the explosive tension between parents and children, the roles of faith and science during catastrophe, the ingenuity of communities to both protect and persecute. Above all, I think it’s an argument that both heaven and hell can manifest here on earth, through our bodies, our natural surroundings, our relationships, our social fabric, the very lowly ephemera of our lives… and that transitioning between them can happen as quickly and commonly as falling through thin ice to the water below. Moving forward, moving back: where are we going?



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The Lathe of Heaven by Ursula K. Le Guin

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Ursula is beyond time, and will keep teaching us indefinitely, it seems.

THE LATHE OF HEAVEN is spooky and superb, an exploration of human ethics and fault, a playful but nightmarish interrogation of the power of the unconscious mind to shape our thoughts, our plans, and therefore the world. It will have you looking around at your reality, disoriented and asking “Who dreamed this one? Was it the best they could do?”



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I Cheerfully Refuse by Leif Enger

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


One for the Great Lakes Gothic shelf! I CHEERFULLY REFUSE by Leif Enger spins a tale that imagines how our world might disintegrate or regenerate in the years just beyond our own horizon. The characters in this book are recognizable, for their flaws, their oversights, their confusions and convictions. Culture and circumstances change quickly, but perhaps people don’t, and in that reality lies a balancing act for morality when the chips are down. Enger’s book celebrates the stubborn and trusts Lake Superior as a rarely forgiving (but always honest) setting on which to prove oneself. An entrancing sail through the dark.



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Calypso by Oliver K. Langmead

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


What will we leave the world?
Also: will we leave the world?

–Two central questions at the heart of this boundary-pushing novella that imagines human history’s farthest-reaching future through its oldest written literary form. Unforgettable, weird, and wonderful stuff from Oliver K. Langmead.

We haven’t seen the end of epic heroes. History has more waiting for us. I think, in the end, that’s the idea that made this book so touching to me.



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Venomous Lumpsucker by Ned Beauman

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Ned Beauman’s VENOMOUS LUMPSUCKER is a bold, scathing, and brilliant commentary on the impact of human industry on the natural world. It’s funny, incredibly dark, and grusomely incisive. 0% lyricism, 100% wit. But always with an honest love that you can tell is probably still alive, way down there, somewhere in the brackish depths.



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The Seep by Chana Porter

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


THE SEEP by Chana Porter is quiet and strange, a new utopia for a new era with new discomforts and new questions. Porter’s questing, soft narrative explores the burdens and the wisdom of resistance to easy solutions. Humor, otherworldliness, fantastic worldbuilding, and open-ended possibilities abound.



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