Slipping: Stories, Essays, & Other Writing by Lauren Beukes
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
After reading this collection of short stories Lauren Beukes is now firmly on my favourite authors list. Clever and very relevant, the stories are a mix of sci-fi, weirdness, and commentary on modern life.
None of the stories here are very long so it’s easy to dip in and out of. Though saying that, normally I find myself having to stop between stories in short story collections but with this book I couldn’t do that, I had to start the next straight away. I think that was partly because they are short and I knew I wouldn’t have to stop reading half way through one (I hate having to do that), and partly because these stories are just that good I didn’t want to stop reading.
There weren’t any stories that I disliked, but my favourites were:
Slipping – about a contestant in a futuristic Paralympics event where the athletes can have exosuits, implants controlling their hormones, remote controlled bodies, or they can even remove their organs to make them run better.
Confirm/Ignore – a look into the mind of someone that creates fake online personas by copying other people’s photos and quotes.
The Green – pure sci/fi! Workers on a remote planet searching for plants or chemicals the company they work for can make money with.
Unathi Battles the Black Hairballs – a lolita punk pilots a Japanese fighter robot and battles monsters to save Tokyo.
Dial Tone – a story that’s about loneliness really.
Ghost Girl – a teenage girl haunting a university student.
I received a free copy from the publisher in return for an honest review.