 First edition cover | |
| Author | Rivers Solomon |
|---|---|
| Country | United States of America |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Science fiction |
| Publisher | Akashic Books |
Publication date | 2017 |
| Pages | 340 |
| ISBN | 978-1-617-75588-0 |
| OCLC | 1026779516 |
An Unkindness of Ghosts is a 2017 science fiction novel by Rivers Solomon, exploring the conjunction between structural racism and generation ships. Solomon's first book, it was published by Akashic Books.
On board the generation ship Matilda (named for the Clotilda ), [1] where the passengers have formed a society stratified along racial lines such that those with dark skin are relegated to lower-deck lives of servitude and harsh behavioral restrictions, Aster Gray is a lower-decks healer who must discover the hidden connection between her mother's suicide decades ago and the mysterious death of the ship's Sovereign.
An Unkindness of Ghosts was a finalist for the 30th Lambda Literary Award for Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror, [2] and led to Solomon being shortlisted for the 2018 John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer. [3]
Kirkus Reviews considered the book "entertaining", calling the Matilda a "well-crafted world" and noting that the "refreshingly visible and vital" diversity of its population lessens the extent to which the dictatorial Sovereignty "feels like a familiar dystopic trope." [4] Publishers Weekly called it "stunning", but stated that the "worldbuilding by poetry" and "many layers of metaphor" may disappoint readers seeking hard science fiction. [5]
In Locus , Gary K. Wolfe commended Solomon's depiction of shipboard society as "sharply detailed and viscerally realized", with "characters so closely observed" and "individual scenes so tightly structured" that the book "achieves surprising power and occasional brilliance", and underlined Aster's "Heinleinesque" competence. [6] At National Public Radio , Amal El-Mohtar lauded Solomon's use of different dialects on each deck of the Matilda, and conceded that —although she "loved the book for what it did to (her)" and "for having made (her) feel stronger and more sure in a nightmare world" — it is "not a happy book". [7] Strange Horizons observed that the book's "Afrofuturist premise" is shaped by its "queer neuroatypical worldview" in that "all of the central characters are both gender-variant and neurodivergent", emphasizing that Aster's inability to understand figurative language and deception — and subsequent insistence on clear and unambiguous communication — "disrupts some of the more expected tropes of SF adventure narratives." [8]
Jo Walton is a Welsh-Canadian fantasy and science fiction writer and poet. She is best known for the fantasy novel Among Others, which won the Hugo and Nebula Awards in 2012, and Tooth and Claw, a Victorian era novel with dragons which won the World Fantasy Award in 2004. Other works by Walton include the Small Change series, in which she blends alternate history with the cozy mystery genre, comprising Farthing, Ha'penny and Half a Crown. Her fantasy novel Lifelode won the 2010 Mythopoeic Award, and her alternate history My Real Children received the 2015 Tiptree Award.
Nicola Griffith is a British-American novelist, essayist, and teacher. She has won the Washington State Book Award, Nebula Award, James Tiptree, Jr. Award, World Fantasy Award and six Lambda Literary Awards.
Charlie Jane Anders is an American writer and commentator. She has written several novels, published magazines and websites, and hosted podcasts. In 2005, she received the Lambda Literary Award for work in the transgender category, and in 2009, the Emperor Norton Award. Her 2011 novelette Six Months, Three Days won the 2012 Hugo and was a finalist for the Nebula and Theodore Sturgeon Awards. Her 2016 novel All the Birds in the Sky was listed No. 5 on Time magazine's "Top 10 Novels" of 2016, won the 2017 Nebula Award for Best Novel, the 2017 Crawford Award, and the 2017 Locus Award for Best Fantasy Novel; it was also a finalist for the 2017 Hugo Award for Best Novel.
Lambda Literary Awards are awarded yearly by the United States-based Lambda Literary Foundation to published works that celebrate or explore LGBT themes. To qualify, a book must have been published in the United States in the year current to the official year of the award; the presentation ceremony is held a year later. The Lambda Literary Foundation states that its mission is "to celebrate LGBT literature and provide resources for writers, readers, booksellers, publishers, and librarians - the whole literary community."
Amal El-Mohtar is a Canadian poet and writer of speculative fiction. She has published short fiction, poetry, essays and reviews, and has edited the fantastic poetry quarterly magazine Goblin Fruit since 2006.
Saeed Jones is an American writer and poet. His debut collection Prelude to Bruise was named a 2014 finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award for poetry. His second book, a memoir, How We Fight for Our Lives won the Kirkus Prize for Nonfiction in 2019.
The Stone Sky is a 2017 science fantasy novel by American writer N. K. Jemisin. It was awarded the Hugo Award for Best Novel, the Nebula Award for Best Novel, and the Locus Award for Best Fantasy Novel in 2018. Reviews of the book upon its release were highly positive. It is the third volume in the Broken Earth series, following The Fifth Season and The Obelisk Gate, both of which also won the Hugo Award.
Lara Elena Donnelly, is an American author of speculative fiction. She is a graduate of the 2012 Clarion Workshop. Her short fiction and poetry have appeared in Strange Horizons, Mythic Delirium, Escape Pod, Nightmare Magazine, and Uncanny Magazine.
Rivers Solomon is an American author of speculative and literary fiction. In 2018, they received the Community of Literary Magazines and Presses' Firecracker Award in Fiction for their debut novel, An Unkindness of Ghosts, and in 2020 their second novel, The Deep, won the Lambda Literary Award. Their third novel, Sorrowland, was published in May 2021.
Rebecca Roanhorse is an American science fiction and fantasy writer from New Mexico. She has written short stories and science fiction novels featuring Navajo characters. Her work has received Hugo and Nebula awards, among others.
Sarah Gailey is an American author. Their alternate history novella River of Teeth was a finalist for the 2017 Nebula Award for Best Novella, the 2018 Hugo Award for Best Novella, and the 2018 Locus Award for Best Novella. In 2018, they also won the Hugo Award for Best Fan Writer.
Witchmark is a 2018 fantasy novel by Canadian author C. L. Polk. It features a murder mystery set in an alternate history England, and has been described as gaslamp fantasy. Witchmark won the World Fantasy Award for Best Novel in 2019. It was first published by Tor Books.
Lent is a 2019 fantasy novel by Jo Walton, about Girolamo Savonarola. It was first published by Tor Books, and was nominated for the Mythopoeic Fantasy Award.
Navah Wolfe is a two-time Hugo Award winning American editor of science fiction, fantasy and horror works.
The Lambda Literary Awards are awarded yearly by the US-based Lambda Literary Foundation to published works that celebrate or explore LGBT themes. The organization is considered to be one of the main promoters of new and emerging LGBT writers.
The Deep is a 2019 fantasy book by Rivers Solomon, with Daveed Diggs, William Hutson and Jonathan Snipes. It depicts an underwater society built by the water-breathing descendants of pregnant slaves thrown overboard from slave ships. The book was developed from a song by the same name by clipping., an experimental hip-hop trio. It won the Lambda Literary Award, and was nominated for Hugo, Nebula and Locus awards.
Travis John Klune is an American author of fantasy and romantic fiction featuring gay and LGBTQ+ characters. His fantasy novel, The House in the Cerulean Sea, is a New York Times best seller and winner of the 2021 Alex and Mythopoeic Awards. Klune has spoken about how his asexuality influences his writing. His novel Into This River I Drown won the Lambda Literary Award for Best Gay Romance in 2014.
The Vanished Birds is a 2020 space opera novel, the debut work by Simon Jimenez. In a plot that spans millennia, the story focuses on the interconnected lives of several characters, including a boy whose special ability may hold the key to unlocking the secrets of the universe. The novel received critical acclaim. It was nominated for the 2021 Locus Award for Best First Novel and the 2021 Arthur C. Clarke Award.
Terra Nullius is a 2017 novel by Claire G. Coleman. It concerns the future colonisation of Australia by the "greyfellas", humanoid aliens.
So Lucky: A Novel is an autobiographical novel by Nicola Griffith, published May 15, 2018 by MCD x FSG Originals. The book follows Mara Tagarelli as she is diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS) and must step down from her role as director for a multi-million AIDS organization. All the while, a serial killer is targeting individuals with MS.