Crystal M. Huff

I bought this for the story by the excellent Octavia Cade, not having heard of any of the other authors before, and was pleasantly surprised by the quality.

"A Disease of Time and Temporal Distortion" by Jennifer Shelby - competently written "lets kill Hitler" type if time-travel story, though the time-travel ideas are not particularly well thought out and she doesn't seem to know what the Big Bang is.
"The Scale of Defiance" by Nina Niskanen - the science-fictiony bit about growing and shrinking was a clumsy metaphor for self-confidence. Poor.
"May Your Government Be the Center of a Smelly Dung Sandwich" by Justin Short- entertaining overthrow of capitalism using just a song.
"The Company Store" by Kiya Nicoll- excellent story about the pressure of body dysphoria in a rigidly gendered society.
"Scholar Miaka’s Brief Summary of Memories Imbued in Memory Object Exhibit- 132.NW.1" by Jaymee Goh - interestingly constructed piece about a historian recovering/interpreting memories from an ancient artifact.
"Just an Old Grouch" by Laura Jane Swanson- well written but strange story about a "happiness" vampire.
"A Brilliant Light, An Unreachable Dawn" by Phoebe Barton- the life of a poet locked in a world where rigid linguistic expression is used to enforce social conformity.
"Octobers/October" by Leonardo Espinoza Benavides (translated by Julie Capell) - confusing. Starts with rioting in Santiago, then a man turns into a woman, then a murder. Don't know what to make of it.
"That Time I Got Demon Doxxed While Smuggling Contraband to the Red States" by Luna Corbden- irritating urban fantasy with demons possessing bits of junk and domestic items. Poor.
"Go Dancing to Your Gods" by Blake Jessop – demonstrating ethics to AI. Good.
'Brooklyn" by Jonathan Shipley. - self-pitying homeless male galvanised into action by compassionate woman. Yeuch!
"Sacred Chords" by Alexei Collier- intriguing tale of musical orthodoxy and rebellion. Good
"The Three Magi" by Lucie Lukacovicova- dull urban fantasy with wizards and necromancers in prague.
"The Body Politic" by Octavia Cade- body horror as a metaphor for the destruction of environmental biodiversity. Excellent
"In Her Eye's Mind" by Selene dePackh- disturbing story of a trans teen prostitute connecting with a police AI who has learned about justice rather than just the law. Good
"What Eyes Can See" by Lauren Ring- bioengineered flowers with eyes in them. Doesn't seem to go anywhere. OK
"We All Know the Melody" by Brandon O'Brien- meandering tale about street kids. Poor.
"Chicken Time" by Hal Y. Zhang- totally confusing hallucination about chickens and time. No clue what it was meant to be about but I quite enjoyed it.
"Notes on the Supply of Raw Material in the Bodies Market" by Rodrigo Juri- bodies rented out as vehicles for off-planet tourists are used used by the government for spying on the populace. OK
"The Sisterhood of the Eagle Lion" by Sam J. Miller- breaking away from schoolgirl bullying. OK
"The Turnip Golem" by Dianne M. Williams- dull folksy horror story.
"Today is the First Day of the Rest of Your Life" by Meridel Newton- “arty” teenagers scribbling graffiti to protest a war. Poor.… (lisätietoja)

Recognize Fascism is a short story collection edited by Crystal M. Huff.

The title of this collection is well chosen – all the stories revolve around fascism, recognizing it, fighting it, preventing it, getting out of it. In their introduction to this collection, Huff notes they were uncertain if they could edit it – whether they knew enough about fascism to do so. But they point out the problem with fascism in a very clear way:

"Fascists foster uncertainty in order to undermine the ground you stand on when you declare, “This is fascist.” It’s akin to developing a political Impostor Syndrome, until you are second-guessing yourself at each turn. Fascism evades and evolves, such that you can’t exactly pinpoint it. It is a moving target. It gaslights. If you are unclear about what it is and can’t put your finger on it, pushing back against it is so much more difficult! Fascists then weaponize this confusion to secure your acquiescence."

So, they need not have worried about that, and it shows in the stories they collected that show a broad range of SciFi and Fantasy settings that all come back to the central theme. It is also an excellent example for feminist practice by using clear and extensive content notes for each story, so props for that as well (I will therefore not use Content Notes in this review, unless I discuss something in detail). Altogether, it’s an anthology that is very consistent in its high quality and I really enjoyed reading it.

Read more about each of the stories on my blog: https://kalafudra.com/2021/02/11/recognize-fascism-ed-by-crystal-m-huff/… (lisätietoja)

I received a copy of this book through LibraryThing's Early Reviewers program, and I'd like to thank the publishers for the opportunity to read this book.

This was a good and interesting collection; in some ways the theme I think made at least some of the stories feel kind of similar in a way that made them blur together, and some of the recurring themes (we get it, "augmentation" is a metaphor and rarely about disabled people or reflecting how ableism works.) But I think it's still definitely an interesting read, and folks might appreciate seeing other people recognize fascism in fiction as we face it in our current moment.… (lisätietoja)

What a truly excellent collection. In this companion volume to 2018's Resist Fascism (which I haven't read, yet), editor Crystal M. Huff and their contributors have set out to collect stories that explore how fascism rises, and how people rise to push against it. They cover a wide range of circumstances and genre, united by shared fear and shared hope.

Many of these authors have crafted incredible metaphors for not just how fascism infiltrates a society, but how it makes one feel. Perhape the standout to this effect is Nina Niskanen's "The Scale of Defiance", set in a world where a person's emotional state literally determines their size at any given moment. This was the strongest and clearest metaphor I have ever read, capturing how hate and fear can make one feel too small to make a difference, until a simple act gives them the strength to grow. Blake Jessop's "Go Dancing to Your Gods" and Luna Corben's "That Time I Got Demon Doxxed While Smuggling Contraband to the Red States" imagine how technology, though of two very different sorts, can both bring about a fascist state and aid its downfall. Jaymee Gog's "Scholar Miaka's Brief Summary of Memories Imbued in Memory Object Exhibit Item 132.NW.1" is an anti-Colonialism experiment in alternate forms of narrative. Octavia Cade's " The Body Politic" translates the loss of agency into body horror. And Laura Jane Swanson's "Just an Old Grouch" used humor and satire to point out the insidious creep or authoritarianism.

These stories are heavy. Some are strange and difficult. And a few caused real pain. But almost all saw a way out - a glimmer of hope though the clouds of fascism driven by people willing to fight and survive. This book is a tool to crush fascists, and a primer for how to see them coming. Go read it.… (lisätietoja)