Jamaica Ginger and Other Concoctions. by Nalo Hopkinson. 2024
JAMAICA GINGER AND OTHER CONCOCTIONS
RATED 83% POSITIVE. STORY SCORE 3.9 OF 5
15 STORIES : 3 GREAT / 8 GOOD / 3 AVERAGE / 1 POOR / 0 DNF
This book will be released on October 29, 2024 - PreOrder your copy here.
Nalo Hopkinson has been lauded for bringing Caribbean sensibilities, characters, and environments into the world of speculative fiction. Another in a long line of science fiction writers who do their best work in the shorter lengths, she also embraces the current trend of publishing genre fiction both within and without traditional venues of the genre.
This collection covers Hopkinson’s work from 2015 through 2021 with most of the stories falling squarely into the genre of science fiction. We get a series of stories that confront themes like climate change and environmental collapse, notably in "Covenant" and "Inselberg," where societies grapple with ecological devastation. Hopkinson integrates Afro-Caribbean culture into all the narratives, specifically such stories as "Broad Dutty Water" and "Repatriation," providing unique settings and perspectives.
The only real criticism I can level at this collection is the near comical obsession with Climate Change as the only future setting. Reminds me of how nuclear apocalypse dominated the minds of sci-fi writers in the late 1940s and 1950s.
Three Stories in this Collection Join the Ranks of My All-Time Great List:
“And More Slow” copyright © 2018
Great. A beautifully atmospheric story of two women marveling at the fossilized body of an alien woman in a giant cave. Something here that captures the quiet, melancholy sense of wonder that Steven Utley does so well.
“Broad Dutty Water (A Sunken Story)” copyright © 2021
Great. A harrowing story of survival for a young woman and her cute pig that can talk through technology. Set in an ecologically devastated future Caribbean, it nevertheless tells the story of people living the best lives they can among the wreckage. A classic tale of man vs nature, Hopkinson fills the world with interesting and believable nature and tech. Hopkinson also uses written dialect to great effect without making the story hard to read.
“Inselberg” copyright © 2016
Great. Cool bit of climate change weird fiction told in the voice of a jaded tour guide. Hints of the crazy world interject themselves with the misadventures of stupid tourists. Wryly funny.
JAMAICA GINGER AND OTHER CONCOCTIONS
15 STORIES : 3 GREAT / 8 GOOD / 3 AVERAGE / 1 POOR / 0 DNF
“And More Slow” copyright © 2018 by Nalo Hopkinson. Originally published in Particulates (Dia Arts Foundation, 2018).
Great. Beautiful mood story of two women wondering at the fossil body of an alien woman in a giant cave. Something here that captures the quiet, melancholy sense of wonder that Steven Utley does so well.
“Can’t Beat ’Em” copyright © 2016 by Nalo Hopkinson. Originally published in Uncanny Magazine Issue 13, Nov/Dec 2016
Average. Woman is attracted to the woman who is working to get an alien monster out of her sink drain.
“Child Moon” copyright © 2020 by Nalo Hopkinson. Originally published in The Decameron Project on Tor.com, 2020
Good. A mother is compelled at night to take her strange baby outside into the perilous wild and discovers another stranger mother there.
“Covenant” copyright © 2021 by Nalo Hopkinson. Originally published in Planet City (URO, 2021).
Good. Fairy Tale or Myth told by people living in the City of Covenant, a refuge from Climate Change that all of humanity as fled into.
“Ally” copyright © 2018 by Nalo Hopkinson. Originally published in Nightmare Magazine Issue 68, May 2018.
Good. An excellently creepy ‘ghost’ story. A trans woman meets an old friend who has just buried their partner. The friend reveals a history of abuse, death, and the hints of mercy through possession. (This would score Great if it was science fiction.)
“Broad Dutty Water (A Sunken Story)” copyright © 2021 by Nalo Hopkinson. Originally published in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction Vol. 141, Nov/Dec. 2021.
Great. A harrowing story of survival for a young woman and her cute pig that can talk through technology. Set in an ecologically devastated future Caribbean, it nevertheless tells the story of people living the best lives they can among the wreckage. A classic tale of man vs nature, Hopkinson fills the world with interesting and believable nature and tech. Hopkinson also uses written dialect to great effect without making the story hard to read.
“Clap Back” copyright © 2021 by Nalo Hopkinson. Originally published in Black Stars: A Galaxy of New Worlds (Amazon Original Stories, 2021).
Average. Disjointed story with two characger’s’ narratives. One is a fashion designer who embeds racial forgiveness into nanobots that are absorbed into the skin. The other takes racist figurines and indwells them with magic from a flute. Interesting idea. Poor execution.
“Pocket Universe” copyright © 2020 by Nalo Hopkinson. Originally published in Peter Friedl: Rehousing (Sternberg Press, 2020).
Good. A dying woman works with scientists to assemble a virtual house that will embody her memories and feelings.
“Inselberg” copyright © 2016 by Nalo Hopkinson. Originally published in Drowned Worlds (Solaris, 2016).
Great. Cool bit of climate change weird fiction told in the voice of a jaded tour guide. Hints of the crazy world interject themselves with the misadventures of stupid tourists. Wryly funny.
“Jamaica Ginger” copyright © 2015 by Nalo Hopkinson and Nisi Shawl. Originally published in Stories for Chip: An Anthology Honouring Samuel R. Delany (Rosarium Publishing, 2015).
Good. In a “Steampunk/Teslapunk” New Orleans, a young black woman is torn between the demands of her ailing father and her work repairing automatons.
“Waving at Trains” copyright © 2017 by Nalo Hopkinson. Originally published in The Boston Review: Global Dystopias Issue, Oct 2017.
Good. A child packs for a hike and slowly the reader starts to realize the devastation around them.
“Repatriation” copyright © 2019 by Nalo Hopkinson. Originally published online in Current Futures: A Sci-Fi Ocean Anthology XPRIZE (2019).
Good. An ex-carribbean man is taken by his partner on a Caribbean cruise, although he hates cruises, the boat is run down, and the tourists seem more like him than normal wealthy white people. Leading to a pleasant surprise.
“Sans Humanité” copyright © 2016 by Nalo Hopkinson. Originally published in DASH Literary Journal Issue 9. 2016
Poor. A ‘literary’ story directly evocative of “the New Wave” in SF. The narrator describes a gradual unraveling of reality, marked by subtle yet unnerving experiences—dancing lights, strange shifts in perception, and familiar voices calling from the edges of sleep.
“Whimper” copyright © 2016 by Nalo Hopkinson. Originally published in Black Clock 21 (March 2016).
Good. A great fantasy story about a woman who jumps in a river to avoid the “Leggobeasts” that are coming to kill them. She then has existential discussions with all the other people treading water as well.
“Propagation: A Short Story.” Originally read at TEDTalk Conference, Vancouver, British Columbia, 2015. Revised
Average. This isn’t really a story, or isn’t a compete one, as Hopkinson mentions in her introduction. It is her TED talk about storytelling and the black speculation fiction experience. There’s a nice vignette here about a poor Jamaican family who wakes up to popcorn falling from the sky. It is seemingly caused by a science experiment one of the daughters is doing on the roof.
