Book Review: HOW LONG 'TIL BLACK FUTURE MONTH? by NK Jemisin

How Long 'til Black Future Month? by N.K. Jemisin

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


"if...
if a tree falls...
if a tree falls and there's no one around to hear it (but God)...
would it really bother with anything so mundane as making a sound?
or would it
dance"

I LOOOOVE Jemisin, having swallowed whole her Broken Earth trilogy (each book in the series won the Hugo in the year each was published!!!). I remember all the treks to the different branches of Fully Booked in order to complete the series, ahaha. And when I heard that she wrote a collection of short stories, I was thrilled!

HLTBFM contains 22 short stories, and each one has the potential for a future novel! Some are downright terrifying, while others were tributes to other authors that had gone before.

Standouts for this reader were "Stone Hunger" (set in the Broken Earth universe!), "Walking Away" (written as a reaction to Heinlein's "The Puppet Masters" and if TPM is anything close to as terrifying as WA then I MUST HAVE IT), "The Storyteller's Replacement" (quite possibly the most horrifying fairy tale ever), "The Narcomancer" (a very special love story) and "Valedictorian" (set in a world where the worst... and the brightest... are sacrificed).

Before reading this collection, I thought I understood what Jemisin's writing was. And now that I've read this collection, I am not sure I do. Each story was written in a different voice, and while some were excellent, some were difficult to understand (possibly by design) and had me re-reading them. I am struck with the theme that ties them together: Discrimination. By race, of course, which is something that hasn't been an issue in my country in modern times... until very recently. And also by gender.

"Underneath Meroe's contempt lurked fear. Underneath that lurked reverence. He never looked very deeply inside himself, however, so contempt remained foremost in his heart."

Certain comments made by my elementary students this past week made me reflect on how easily, how thoroughly hatred and intolerance (of other religions, other races) are inculcated in the very young.

And so, Jemisin's collection is most welcome, because the diversity of its stories matches the diversity of its characters... "where every soul matters, and even the idea that some might not is anathema."

Within stories are the power of creation. We keep telling each other the right stories, we help create a better world.



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