A quirky collection of short sci-fi stories for fans of Kij Johnson and
Kelly Link
Assimilation is founded on surrender and being broken; this collection
of short stories features people who have assimilated, but are actively
trying to reclaim their lives. There is a concert pianist who defies
death by uploading his soul into his piano. There is the person who
draws his mother's ghost out of the bullet hole in the wall near where
she was executed. Another character has a horn growing out of the center
of his forehead--punishment for an affair. But he is too weak to end it,
too much in love to be moral. Another story recounts a panda breeder
looking for tips. And then there's a border patrol agent trying to
figure out how to process undocumented visitors from another galaxy.
Poignant by way of funny, and philosophical by way of grotesque,
Hernandez's stories are prayers for self-sovereignty.
Carlos Hernandez is the author of more than 30 works of fiction, poetry,
prose, and drama. He is an associate professor at the City University of
New York (CUNY), where he teaches English courses at the Borough of
Manhattan Community College, and is a member of the doctoral faculty at
the CUNY Graduate Center. He is a coauthor of Abecedarium and is a game
designer, currently serving as lead writer on Meriwether, a computer
role playing game (CRPG) about the Lewis and Clark Expedition. He lives
in Queens.
