My June of Happy Reading continues! And it’s worth noting that Happy Books are not only found in the zhuzh of magic-infused Regency romances by Emily Larkin, the deeply satisfying verve of Fake Geek Girl or the delight in the release of books I loved.
Happy June reading also resides in collections of amazing SF like Defying Doomsday, a Twelfth Planet Press anthology that funded through a Kickstarter campaign. TPP has composed other great anthologies that are diverse, inclusive and have superbly high standards, like Kaleidoscope.
They’re in the process of another Kickstarter to fund Mother of Invention, an anthology of stories about gender and robotics that I’m very excited about. As of writing this, there are 70 hours to go and they’re in stretch goal territory. I recommend it!
The blurb
Defying Doomsday is an anthology of apocalypse fiction featuring disabled and chronically ill protagonists, proving it’s not always the “fittest” who survive – it’s the most tenacious, stubborn, enduring and innovative characters who have the best chance of adapting when everything is lost. In stories of fear, hope and survival, this anthology gives new perspectives on the end of the world.
The book
You’d think an anthology with 15 stories about the end of the world would be a bit of a bummer for Happy June reading, but you’d be wrong. For a start, the very idea of Defying Doomsday is happy-making, full of perspectives and experiences that don’t often get a look in.
And while some of the stories find the world ending no matter what you do, the end is met with courage, wit and humanity by people whom other books have already written off when the apocalypse comes.
Protagonists in these stories bring their realities of cystic fibrosis, autism, blindness and deafness to survival. Some are neurally atypical. Some were born without limbs. Each and every one of these people, and their friends and family, is a complete person with skills, insights and imagination to meet, survive and/or thrive in the end of the world.
I suppose you want me to pick some favourites. Shame on you. They are all my favourites, though all in different ways. A few tastes of the deliciousness, however:
Roberts’ Ditmar-wining “Did We Break the End of the World?” is an obvious golden child, given I’m a huge fan of her work. Smart, funny, lively, sassy, with a bit of a twist and a whole lotta gumption. She packs so much personality into the characters that I would happily read whole books with them.
“Tea Party” by Lauren E Mitchell is also a corker, set in the remains of a former hospital and the residents who were getting treatment at the time of the apocalypse. Now they take turns in doing the ‘shopping’, to find the medications that everyone needs to function – antidepressants, antipsychotics, insulin, even denture glue. Filled with humour and sympathy, it’s a little quirky and immensely likable.
Samantha Rich’s “Spider-Silk, Strong as Steel” introduced my pet phobia, though this time the spiders are aliens. Still creepy as, though, and Emm, who goes foraging on a skateboard, is braver than I’ll ever be.
Jane and Sam in KL Evangelista’s “No Shit” are a delight, and it’s so nice to see a post apocalyptic world where people don’t band into gangs of destructive arseholes all killing each other. Instead, their story is inventive, fun, warm and even joyful, Crohn’s notwithstanding.
“I Will Remember You” by Janet Edwards rounds off the collection with a poignant story of a human cull, perpetrated by aliens.
But don’t tell the other stories I picked these ones to showcase, because I honestly do love them all.
Awards!
Another bit of June Happy for this book is how well it did in the Ditmar awards at the 2017 National SF Convention, Continuum 13. Defying Doomsday tied with Dreaming in the Dark for Best Collected Work and Tansy Rayner Roberts’ contribution, “Did We Break the End of the World?” won the Ditmar for Best Novelette or Novella.
TPP has also now instituted the D Franklin Defying Doomsday Award to further recognise and celebrate work in disability advocacy in SFF literature.
Buy Defying Doomsday
- Defying Doomsday
(Amazon.com)
- Defying Doomsday (Twelfth Planet Press)
- Defying Doomsday (Booktopia)
- Defying Doomsday (Book Depository)
(Amazon.com)Kickstarter
Support the Kickstarter campaign to fund Mother of Invention. (Ends 1 July 2017)