by Rachel A. Rosen

The foreword to this book describes Rich Larson as underrated, which is the understatement of the year. There’s not a single weak link in this cyberpunk/biopunk anthology. It’s like a good version of Black Mirror, focusing on the human and fallible. It had me by the first story when someone’s eye implant is infected; this future is grounded and lived in and messy and sometimes beautiful.

It’s hard to pick a favourite, and I haven’t, but the standouts to me include “Animals Like Me,” which is a delightfully horrifying take on Elsagate, “Quandary Aminu vs The Butterfly Man,” which takes us to a grimy, crime-ridden Nuuk with a tough-as-nails queer heroine and surprising compassion at its core, “Tidings,” which is the most hopeful story I’ve read in a good long time, but in a cool way not a twee way, and “You Are Born Exploding,” which is devastating and brilliant. If you like your sci-fi with an incandescent emotional core, this is an anthology for you.