Book Review: Meet Me in the Future - Stories

Image: The cover of the book has a background of thin lines stretching out from the center which each end in a white dot and have different lengths, resembling an illustration of travel through space. Behind the lines is a light blue background. In the upper center of the book, a large section is covered by a yellow shape with unequal sides spanning the width of the book. Across the center is a large red beetle shown from the head and front legs forward, facing to the right. Across their head it says "MEET ME IN THE" in small capital black letters. Between the large pinchers of the beetle, it says "future" in large black capital letters. Under that is a red circle with the word "stories" in yellow. Across the bottom of the book is the author's name in large black letters with "Kameron" slightly smaller than "Hurley." Below that is a review quote in very small red letters that is too small to read.

Kameron Hurley has quickly become on of my favorite fiction authors. I have been immersing myself in her collection of works and adding more to my shelf to read next. I was excited to get the chance to read her forthcoming short story collection, Meet Me in the Future, for the aforementioned reasons but also because I had not read any of her short stories yet.

Short story collections are this odd measure of diversity in talent in which a favored author can perform unexpectedly badly or a mediocre author can rock your world. They can often be a collection of amazing stories mixed with ones that are so bad it is difficult to understand how they were allowed to be published at all. In Hurley's case, an excellent author of novels performs excellently in the short story realm as well, despite her claims in the introduction that she is not a short fiction writer. I started bookmarking my favorite stories to list in this review. But, by the end of the book, I had bookmarked most of the stories which basically made the practice unnecessary. It is rare not only that someone performs superbly across mediums but also that a collection of shorts is excellent the whole way through. It is obvious that these stories were written and chosen with care and intent to produce something great.

I want to focus a bit on the introduction, because it was enlightening to me why it is that Hurley draws me in so well even when she is covering themes that don't often attract me. I often think I am not really into themes of war, grotesque and gory body horror, or which lean more fantasy than science fiction at times. Yet, I feel completely immersed in Hurley's works that often completely center these things. I have come to realize that it is how someone presents them to me that matters. The reality is that not enough authors' writing involving these themes has the insight Hurley's has. She discusses in the introduction that she lives with serious chronic illness and disability and had grandparents who lived through the Nazi occupation, one of whom was captured on suspicion of being part of the French resistance movements. I also knew that she is a feminist who is formally educated in South African resistance movements (available in the author biography at the end of the book.) These all inform her writing in ways that captures a reality of struggle and suffering that is not just written for the sake of shock or disturbance.

The ways disability and illness inform several stories is in intimate and real portrayals of disabled life. There is one character with leg braces who describes formerly being told she is "lucky' by doctors who only focus on her ability to eventually walk again and not her permanent catheter, her (implied) ostomy bag, her sex life, or that trauma is never "lucky." This is an experience countless sick and disabled people have dealt with with doctors, self included. This character is not portrayed as a victim nor is she portrayed as inspirational, which are often the only fates for those with disabilities. She's a disabled person being human with advantages and struggles. Other stories often also include excretory functions and other fun stuff we often ignore in injury and violence because we are too squeamish or afraid. Yet, disruption of these functions is common in illness, injury, and/or disability and often requires outside help and support from both technologies and human beings. Basically, Hurley has a realistic take on what it likes to be sick and/or disabled that is likely formed by her own experiences.

Another theme in many stories is that of gender nonconformity, transgender experiences, and straight up cross-gender body swapping. Again, Hurley goes at these themes in a way that separates her from others who either make the story all about the person's gender or who tokenize trans and GNC characters for points with no understanding of gender dynamics. Hurley's portrayal of these characters and societies is unique and fantastical while still holding on to the here and now enough that we can recognize them. LGBTQ and polyamorous women of many kinds are a common theme in Hurley's books and stories. This was present across most of the stories in the book. But, the creative ways Hurley explored multiple genders via futuristic or parallel words and multiple stories about body swapping was more present in this book.

There are a couple of stories that may excite those who have read and enjoyed "The Stars are Legion" and "The Light Brigade." (Possibly others, but I have not read all of her books yet.) They include inspiration for the books or events that predated the narratives in the novels. There are familiar themes of technology combining with flesh in ways that are different from the usually human or android representations. There are themes of colonization and oppression that capture the horrific realities via the medium of fiction. There are repeated occurrences of nonhuman animals used as a vehicle for oppression via the description of their commonplace mistreatment as an excuse for mistreatment of marginalized humans. Hurley manages all of these things in ways I have not experienced in other science fiction and/or fantasy that I have read. There are times when Hurley's messages are heavy handed, which can bother me, but for some reason does not when she does it. There are many other times where the themes and messages are woven intricately in complicated ways throughout the stories, creating the experience of the story as reality, even if it's in space, a parallel  world, or a million years in the future.

If you like Hurley's work, you will likely enjoy this book. If you are unfamiliar with her work, I think this book could be good to dip your toes into it. Overall, it is a good representation of her styles and talent. "Meet Me in the Future: Stories" is due out in August of 2019 and is definitely a recommended read.

This review was also posted to my goodreads.

Book Review: The Light Brigade

   

Image: The cover of the book shows a full-body profile of a slim and armored soldier.  There is a bright white light behind them taking up the center of the background which then fades to blues and greens and black at the edges. There is a sea foam green light blurring the figure's legs and fading as it reaches her waist. The top half of the foreground of the cover says the author's name in large, white, capitalized letters. Below that, the title of the book is in the same letters only green. Between the words "light" and "brigade" a quote from Jeff Vandermeer in small white letters reads, "A brave, unflinching, original writer" and below that is a line of text too small for me to make out.

I recently became enamored with Kameron Hurley after reading her bizarre and original "The Stars Are Legion." I had never read anything like it and immediately sought out other books by her. I discovered the recently published "The Light Brigade" and I am very glad that I did.

The Light Brigade is a science fiction story that is quite heavy handed in its leftist sociopolitical messaging. This is something that could be bothersome when not paired with excellent writing and story line, but Hurley executes both quite well. The story centers a queer woman whose military participation in a mega-corporation's war involves some interesting outcomes via her light-speed travel. Hurley gets around the science suggesting the impossibility of light-speed travel by introducing a creative methodology in which soldiers are broken down into light itself. For some soldiers including the protagonist, this does not go as expected, outside of the already extreme danger the process puts them all in. The main character's heroine's journey is excitingly conveyed via fantastic story telling peppered with interrogation recordings/transcripts.

Hurley uses the story to send a message of anti-capitalism, anti-authoritarianism, and anti-militarism in ways that are abundantly clear. I assume it was intentional to create the book as the author's far-left political manifesto told through the vehicle of a cyberpunk tale in space. The story is fast-paced enough to satisfy those into thrillers and has a glimmer of hard scifi sprinkled throughout for those who are into the science part of science fiction. Though it is fantastical enough to probably still be put in the space opera category.

In order to avoid major spoilers, I am not going to discuss the story further. But, I will say that it is exciting throughout with a satisfying ending. It probably helps that I can completely get behind the messaging in this manifesto. Would a far right wing reader enjoy the book as much as I did? Frankly, I don't care.

This review was also posted to goodreads.

Book Review: Turn This World Inside Out - The Emergence of Nurturance Culture

Image: The cover of the book depicts the outline of two people hand in hand viewed from the shoulder down to the wrist and into the centers of their bodies. They are depicted using a light skinned tone. Behind them and weaving through their arms is a watercolor style depiction of blue-green ivy over a background of light earth tones. The top half of the book has "Turn This World Inside Out" in orange, painted cursive letters. Below that in a slightly darker red orange is "The emergence of nurturance culture." Across the bottom in orange is the author's name in painted, capitalized letters.

Turn This World Inside Out by Nora Samaran is a quick read that expands upon Samaran's widely read essay: The Opposite of Rape Culture is Nurturance Culture. The book's expansion on the topic is carried largely by Samaran's interviews with others. I am guessing, though I did not count the pages, that more of this book is interviews that Samaran did with various people than it is her own personal writing. I believe this was a smart move by Samaran. It is always a smart move to consult a wide range of people for a topic, but with this book in particular, I found Samaran's personal writings to be limited quite heavily by her personal experience. I assume she is a white, cisgender, heterosexual woman. If I am incorrect in assuming that identity, it is because her personal writings center this kind of experience.

That is not to say that there is nothing to be gained from the chapters written only by Samaran. There is great information about attachment theory, the importance in addressing conflict in nuanced ways, the seriousness of gaslighting as an abusive behavior, how to make a good apology and accept responsibility, and others. Samaran is also very good at holding onto others' humanity in her analyses. She expresses information in a gentle and accessible way often lacking in discussions of topics within this book. The book is well written, efficiently organized, and contains a ton of important information in a very small space.

Where Samaran falls short is in including a more intersectional approach in terms of her writing. The way she discusses attachment styles is as if all (cis) men without a secure attachment are avoidant and all (cis) women without one are anxious. This is not true as studies show that expressions of attachment styles are similar across genders (though they affect genders differently.) All interactions and relationships seem to center a heterosexual framework as well. She does throw in a "masculine people" in place of the word "men" and "women and femmes" in place of "women" here and there in what I assume is an attempt to be more inclusive. However, she lacks understanding of how masculinities function outside cis heterosexual white men and seems to misunderstand the definitions of and the problems with the phrase "women and femmes." It shows in some of her writing.

The inclusion of interviews by trans women and/or women of color such as Serena Bhandar, Ruby Smith Diaz, Aravinda Anada, and others do well to combat this lack of insight. This is what separates Samaran's book from other white hetero cis women's literature that is lacking in these areas. Those books also often have something important to offer in terms of the author's personal experiences and so on. The problem with this book lies in the fact that the interviews seem to have been done after the rest of the book was written and thus, the learning gained from the interviews is not implemented in her own essays. The ordering of things is often, essay-interview-essay-interview, but when we get to the essays, the information within reverts back to the same singular perspective.

Another issue I had with Samaran's personal essays was how she tackled the topic of gaslighting using her own experiences. The beginning of the chapter, which discusses how severe the effects of gaslighting can be, is a great start. The end of the chapter, which exemplifies the harmful and extreme ways gaslighting exists in community and abuse dynamics is an excellent end. But, in the center, Samaran waters down the definition of gaslighting, basically using it to mean, "this person disagreed with me and said it in a mean way." This is specifically evident in her second example in which a male friend disagreed with her about seeing rent signs in her neighborhood and she labeled this gaslighting because he said it "like she was an idiot." It is misuses like these of the term that make its existence taken less seriously and hides the fact that we all experience the world in different ways. There is a reason that eye-witness testimonies are extremely flawed. Later in the book, Samaran details some of the abuse her family endured with her father and I am not sure why she didn't draw on that for her examples of gaslighting. Every misunderstanding, expression of false information- especially out of ignorance- or irritated response is not abuse. It can be problematic behavior or a stressful conflict that absolutely needs to be addressed without being treated as abuse.

Because of these limitations, analyses that should have been included such as conflicts within same gender romantic and other relationships, white woman tears that are used to silence people of color, the complex nature of trans peoples experiences with gender vs how they are read in the world, the complexities of different masculinities when they co-occur with other marginalized identities, the existence of masculine women and feminine men, the experiences of sick and/or disabled people with, and so on. Luckily, the interviews do address many of these things beautifully which is why I still consider this to be a worthwhile read. In conclusion, my recommendation is to approach this book as a great collection of interviews interspersed with the author talking about her own experiences.

This was also posted to my goodreads.

Book Review: Care Work - Dreaming Disability Justice

Image: The cover of the book is a white background. Across the top in blue-violent, capital letters is the author's name Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha. Below that in large mustard green capital letters is "care work" one word on top of the other. Between the two words, in the same letters as the authors name, it says "dreaming disability justice." Behind the title is an illustration taking up the lower half of the cover. It appears to be a brown-skinned woman with her left arm and left leg around a mass of white branches and perhaps mushrooms. I am sorry that I cannot tell exactly what she is hugging. Only her arm and her leg are visible behind the bramble of plants.

I wanted to put my only negative critique at the beginning of my review for people who skim because it involves one small section of the book that contains dangerous advice. There is a section in which the author shares her tips for touring, many of which are safe and helpful. While she does remark that these things will not work for every body, she does not explain further in ways that are critical for disabled and/or sick people reading. 

One thing she recommends is, for chronic pain, to take 800mg of ibuprofen every 4 hours. She doesn't say for how long or when to stop. One day of doing this puts an adult well over the maximum safer prescription dose. I say 'safer" not safe because long term NSAID use can still be dangerous at "safe" levels. Overdosing ibuprofen (and other NSAIDs) can commonly cause deadly and debilitating illnesses such as stomach bleeding and kidney disease. I learned the hard way by developing both likely from too many NSAIDs in my youth because of chronic pain. My stomach has since mostly healed but I have to be regularly monitored by my nephrologist forever. Now, if that's your chosen risk level, that's totally ok for you. But, if you are going to recommend the practice to others, they need to also be informed of the risk. 

Another thing she recommends is activated charcoal. It is true that activated charcoal can help with digestive issues and other things. It is also true that they give activated charcoal for overdoses and poisonings because it absorbs drugs and poison. If you are on meds, activated charcoal will absorb your meds, reducing or eliminating their concentration in your system and thus their effectiveness. As a person on 20 medications, I looked into activated charcoal at one point and luckily was reminded of being given it in the hospital in the past. This part is not explained in the recommendation, so if a person on medication- particularly the kind of medication you die without- follows this advice without more research, they could be injured or die. 

So, please be careful with and research things before trying them. If you are not able to do the research, perhaps ask someone you trust to do it or your doctors if you have a good relationship with them. 

Now that that is out of the way, let me move on to saying what a beautiful and important book Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha's "Care Work: Dreaming Disability Justice" is. I am not a big poetry person. I might say I don't often feel like I "get" poetry. Maybe I lack creativity or education. That said, I knew about Piepzna-Samarasinha from "The Revolution Starts at Home" and her general disability justice work. Every time a poem of hers came across my feed, I found myself enchanted. I promised myself that one day I would read a book of her poetry- a promise I have yet to fulfill. But, when I saw "Care Work" come out, it seemed like an excellent place to start. I went ahead and picked up her memoir "Dirty River: A Queer Femme of Color Dreaming Her Way Home" as well which I hope to read soon.

This book challenged me in ways I expected and those I did not. I don't want to make this review all about me, but I struggle to express the immense affect this book had on me without getting personal. I have had multiple chronic illnesses and disabilities since I was very young, but only recently began identifying with disability when they progressed badly enough that I had to stop working, most activism, and lose most of my social life through losing the ability to do many things I loved. I initially felt sad and lonely reading this book. I felt sad about all of the times I failed to implement or educate myself about disability justice in my activist days. I felt and feel sad that the kind of care networks Piepzna-Samarasinha discusses in this book seem so out of reach. I felt sad that I am not quite there yet as far as feeling worthy and empowered around my health and disability. I really want to be there.

The challenges came in realizing how much internalized ableism I have. They came in realizing how many times I failed to provide proper access and care, how many times I don't realize I failed, and how many times I have felt embarrassed, ashamed, and unworthy of accessing care. It challenged me to think about my masculinity (which I try hard to manifest as a caring and sensitive kind) with how my masculinity and that of others has manifested in failing to provide care and access. I initially tightened up a little with discussions around masculinity as the way I move through the world and especially medical settings has been a struggle (to keep it short, I've been asked to undress far too often in front of people and I was once getting a painful EMG of a nerve in my neck while two doctors stood over me calling me he and she competitively in front of a room full of med students- a common occurrence.) I have also often found myself a caretaker in my partnerships. Piepzna-Samarasinha did nothing to inflame this. In fact, she went out of her way to say she knows about many masculine people providing care and caring. She discussed ways in which feminine abled people have messed up. They were 100% my feelings to work through.

I am grateful for the look into myself and into my life. Real talk, it was my dad who abruptly and carelessly changed the subject without asking if I was ok when I told him I had cancer, it is my male roommate who I have to passively ask 10x over a period of weeks to carry something heavy upstairs for me, it was a male doctor who once told me in the hospital, "You need to suffer," it was a male psychiatrist who yelled at and insulted me as a teenager in an assessment "to see how long it would take me to break," it was multiple male doctors who told my mom I was malingering before I ended up hospitalized for multiple days with a 105+ degree fever followed by a botched spinal tap and missing months of school, it has been masculine people including trans ones and myself who have not been there, it was my single mom who sat with me in hospital beds as a child and youth, it was she and my femme and feminine friends who opened me up to accepting help when I was the sickest in adulthood, it was trans guys who identified as fem/feminine/not masculine who provided support, and so on and so on. The discussions around gender and masculinity in this are real and on point. So, if you're like me, sit with that discomfort and you will learn many things. The discussions of masculinity, femme-phobia, and care work in this are wonderfully nuanced and informative. If your knee jerks, that's on you.

I had no resistance to her discussions of race and whiteness in the book. One of the first things I noticed when I began delving into disability literature was how overwhelmingly white it all was. I am not saying this for ally cookies or whatever so please don't offer. I am trying to say that it was apparent even as a white person how limited the discourse and activism ends up being when you only have a minority of the world population having the most highlighted contributions. It was excellent reading Piepzna-Samarasinha's words and point of view as well as racking up new sources to check out via her impeccably well done citations and resources. I adore what many white disabled people contribute as well (hello, Eli Clare, you changed my life.) They are just one small piece of a very large puzzle.

Another thing that Piepzna-Samarasinha does well is catalogue Queer and/or POC disabled history in really informative ways. She discusses the lack of "elders" in movements who can tell these and other stories. Often the exclusion is due to lack of disability accessibility. All of us who do not die abruptly will become disabled eventually. She discusses the importance of having movements larger than a rotating door of 20-something middle class abled people. I wish this was something I had educated myself on better when I was younger and more able. Perhaps I would have created different networks and would have more to draw on now.

As you can see, this book made me think about myself and my life a lot. I don't know if approaching this review this way was me taking up too much space. But, I will say that though this book brought up a lot of feelings, it was not all bad. Piepzna-Samarasinha gave me hope that there is more out there. She describes beautifully care networks, friendships, other relationships, event set ups, activism, etc that can include sick and disabled people of all kinds. She describes them as real, possible, and already happening. She describes things I have longed for and things I never even thought of.

This book brings something huge to the table in terms of disability justice and discourse around disability in general. Reading this book opened up a whole other dimension for me. I can't recommend it enough to both newbies to the struggle and veterans. I think everyone can gain something from this book.