What an utter delight it is to pick up an anthology and to like pretty much every story and love a good number of them. Yeah, I’m not going to do some sort of long, drawn-out intro for this review. Amplitudes, edited by Lee Mandelo, is an absolute banger of a sci-fi anthology. It also happens to be a collection of works by trans and queer authors, imagining queer futures, which might explain why I love it so much.
One reason why Amplitudes is so good is that it contains work by a very diverse array of queer authors. There are queer people of color, disabled queer people, and queer people from around the world, including authors in translation. As such, you get a really diverse view of both identity and the future. There’s earth-based futures and space-based futures, futures under the sea, futures low tech and high tech. Not surprisingly with today’s current political climate, you won’t find a lot of utopias, but you will find people creating community and joy in even the most dire of apocalypses.
The important thing is, no matter what kind of future we have, these authors imagine a world that will contain trans and queer people.
I think this anthology speaks to the intense creativity of the queer community, and to the skill and hard work of the editor. There are 22 stories, and I felt like there was very little overlap in the themes and types of futures imagined. There were stories of love, and war, and social media influence. Even when there was overlap, such as two stories about the monetization of memories, they approached it from very different angles.
What I love about a great anthology is that it not only gives you new works by authors you already like (hello, Sarah Gailey and Neon Yang), it also introduces new-to-you authors. I’ve already added Wen-yi Lee’s upcoming novel to my TBR because I enjoyed her short story so much, and I’ll be flipping back through these pages and looking up a few other authors to see if they have any book-length works I can explore.
Sure, I could get into some of the specific stories and what I specifically liked about them, but honestly, I think you should get a copy for yourself and discover what delights await you.
CWs and TWs: Because this is a short story collection, there’s a lot going on. Off the top of my head: transphobia, homophobia, drug use, violence, death of loved ones, religious abuse, various apocalypse scenarios.
Source and Format: I bought a paperback from Charlie’s Queer Books. They were sold out when I went looking for it, but, pro tip: indie bookstores will happily order you a copy of a sold-out book.
Reading Challenge Prompts
Nook & Cranny (Card 1): Queer Joy. It’s not that every story in this book overflows with queer joy (many are more like, queer perseverance), it’s that reading this book brought me pure queer joy. What an absolute treat to have such a good anthology. What a delight to have a physical copy to hold in my own hands and share with others. What a beautiful reminder of the diverse talent of the queer writing scene.
Reading Challenge Progress
Nook & Cranny (Card 1): 15 of 25, no bingos.
Nook & Cranny (Card 2): 20 of 25, 2 bingos.
Book Riot: 16 of 24.
Physical TBR: 8 of 12.
World of Whimm: 21 of 24, 6 bingos.