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Portalmania: Stories
“Powerfully unique and thoughtfully written, with the ability to carry you to places you’ve yet to imagine and return you to places you’ve tried to escape.” —Chicago Review of Books
“Every story in Portalmania is distinctive, vital, and sophisticated; the whole is an almost perfectly constructed debut collection that brings into sharp focus an impressively cohesive project.” —Locus
If you could go anywhere, where would you go? And what happens to the people you leave behind?
From the author of After World comes a genre-busting collection of stories that reveal our lives in a startling new light, perfect for fans of Kelly Link and Carmen Maria Machado
In Portalmania, Debbie Urbanski wields sci-fi, fantasy, horror, and realism to build a dark mirror that she holds up to the ordinary world. Within the sharply imagined landscape of this collection, portals appear in linen closets, planetary gateways materialize in boarding schools, monsters wait in bathroom vents, and transformations of women’s bodies are an everyday occurrence. Political division causes physical rifts that break apart the Earth’s crust. A son on another planet sends dispatches home to the mother who failed him, and a wife turns to the supernatural to escape her abusive marriage. Portals are not only doorways found in children’s classics, but separations, escapes, dead ends, desertions, and choices that will change these characters’ lives forever.
Against a fantastical backdrop, these stories dive bravely into the shadowy depths of betrayal, parenthood, revenge, murder, coercive sex, open marriages, asexuality, neurodiversity, and second chances. What if we’re not the ideal parents for our children? What if we’re not the ideal person to live our own life? Portalmania questions why we love as we do and asks if we have enough courage to reimagine desire.
“Every story in Portalmania is distinctive, vital, and sophisticated; the whole is an almost perfectly constructed debut collection that brings into sharp focus an impressively cohesive project.” —Locus
If you could go anywhere, where would you go? And what happens to the people you leave behind?
From the author of After World comes a genre-busting collection of stories that reveal our lives in a startling new light, perfect for fans of Kelly Link and Carmen Maria Machado
In Portalmania, Debbie Urbanski wields sci-fi, fantasy, horror, and realism to build a dark mirror that she holds up to the ordinary world. Within the sharply imagined landscape of this collection, portals appear in linen closets, planetary gateways materialize in boarding schools, monsters wait in bathroom vents, and transformations of women’s bodies are an everyday occurrence. Political division causes physical rifts that break apart the Earth’s crust. A son on another planet sends dispatches home to the mother who failed him, and a wife turns to the supernatural to escape her abusive marriage. Portals are not only doorways found in children’s classics, but separations, escapes, dead ends, desertions, and choices that will change these characters’ lives forever.
Against a fantastical backdrop, these stories dive bravely into the shadowy depths of betrayal, parenthood, revenge, murder, coercive sex, open marriages, asexuality, neurodiversity, and second chances. What if we’re not the ideal parents for our children? What if we’re not the ideal person to live our own life? Portalmania questions why we love as we do and asks if we have enough courage to reimagine desire.
313 pages, Kindle Edition
First published May 13, 2025
67 people are currently reading
6523 people want to read
About the author
Debbie Urbanski
19 books131 followersDebbie Urbanski is the author of the novel After World (S&S, 2023) and the forthcoming short story collection Portalmania (S&S, May 2025). Over the past two decades, she's published widely in such places as The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy, The Best American Experimental Writing, The Sun, Granta, Orion, and Junior Great Books. Her favorite organisms are Green Wood Cups and Pixie Cup Lichens, her favorite forest is Morgan Hill State Forest, and her favorite hike is the Onondaga Branch of the Finger Lakes Trail. She's eternally grateful to the Department of Environmental Conservation’s forest rangers for not only protecting New York’s natural areas but also for airlifting her from Algonquin Mountain after a hiking accident.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 151 reviews
October 25, 2025
I wrote these stories over a period of 10 years. They're definitely cross-genre--there is some realism, some sci-fi, some fantasy, some horror. Some of the stories are (intentionally) disturbing and difficult. (Let me know if content warnings would be useful.) I like books that play around with genre. I like books that make me feel uncomfortable and encourage me to think about the world in a different way. I like books that contain difficult characters who may not be likable themselves. I like books that have witches in them, and portals, and monsters, and mothers. Portalmania hits all those notes for me.
I do want to offer a few warnings:
A PORTAL WARNING: Even though my new book is called Portalmania, and there is a portal on both the front cover and the back cover, you will not find traditional other-worldly portals on every single page or in every single story. Sometimes the portals are metaphorical. Sometimes they’re gateways. Sometimes they are a shimmer of light in the corner of a room. Sometimes they are this wanting for another world or another life. Even when there are actual portals, the main characters generally don't go through them. Portalmania is (intentionally!) not a traditional portal fantasy.
A NON-NORMATIVE WARNING: I am also intentionally showing asexuality in a non-normative setting – meaning the asexual characters are going to be in conflict, discomfort, or worse. I did this because that’s my experience and those are the stories I wanted to write. If you are looking for a celebratory book about why asexuality or motherhood is so fun, this is not that book.
I do want to offer a few warnings:
A PORTAL WARNING: Even though my new book is called Portalmania, and there is a portal on both the front cover and the back cover, you will not find traditional other-worldly portals on every single page or in every single story. Sometimes the portals are metaphorical. Sometimes they’re gateways. Sometimes they are a shimmer of light in the corner of a room. Sometimes they are this wanting for another world or another life. Even when there are actual portals, the main characters generally don't go through them. Portalmania is (intentionally!) not a traditional portal fantasy.
A NON-NORMATIVE WARNING: I am also intentionally showing asexuality in a non-normative setting – meaning the asexual characters are going to be in conflict, discomfort, or worse. I did this because that’s my experience and those are the stories I wanted to write. If you are looking for a celebratory book about why asexuality or motherhood is so fun, this is not that book.
January 10, 2025
Exceedingly dark, with unflinching portrayals of intimate partner violence and the isolating weight of otherness, Urbanski’s prose nonetheless shines as a compulsively readable beacon, propelling us from one uncanny world to the next.
The ever-present portals symbolize opportunities, threats, or escapes, their importance shifting depending on the characters’ perspective and circumstances.
The stories themselves are interlinked, featuring recurring motifs and situations. The characters even feel like carbon copies of the same person, with only subtle differences, as they navigate their respective worlds. These similarities lead to a sense of sameness across many of the stories, yet there is enough thematic variety to make this a bold and satisfying collection.
Favorite stories: “LK-32-C,” “The Dirty Golden Yellow House”
My thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.
Blog | Twitter | Instagram | Bluesky
The ever-present portals symbolize opportunities, threats, or escapes, their importance shifting depending on the characters’ perspective and circumstances.
The stories themselves are interlinked, featuring recurring motifs and situations. The characters even feel like carbon copies of the same person, with only subtle differences, as they navigate their respective worlds. These similarities lead to a sense of sameness across many of the stories, yet there is enough thematic variety to make this a bold and satisfying collection.
Favorite stories: “LK-32-C,” “The Dirty Golden Yellow House”
My thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.
Blog | Twitter | Instagram | Bluesky
November 7, 2025
Oh wow. I went into this book expecting a traditional short story collection. I wasn’t expecting THIS!
Portals to different realities are a theme in this collection, and there are links between the stories that make it feel as though they are playing out in parallel dimensions. We see similar characters and themes within many of the stories with a few changes, creating the sense that these are different versions of the same characters. These stories are largely rooted in reality with a few speculative elements, and the collection as a whole explores themes of asexuality and varying levels of dissatisfaction with marriage and motherhood (I do recommend looking up trigger warnings, as the marriages range from unhappy to legitimately abusive). The author’s note at the end explains the way her own experiences informed each of the stories.
This collection was very different than I thought it would be—and even better than I could have imagined!
Portals to different realities are a theme in this collection, and there are links between the stories that make it feel as though they are playing out in parallel dimensions. We see similar characters and themes within many of the stories with a few changes, creating the sense that these are different versions of the same characters. These stories are largely rooted in reality with a few speculative elements, and the collection as a whole explores themes of asexuality and varying levels of dissatisfaction with marriage and motherhood (I do recommend looking up trigger warnings, as the marriages range from unhappy to legitimately abusive). The author’s note at the end explains the way her own experiences informed each of the stories.
This collection was very different than I thought it would be—and even better than I could have imagined!
June 15, 2025
Like most readers, short story collections usually even out around a three star for me because there are inevitably stories I like and dislike. Portalmania has some stellar entries (Long May My Land Be Bright & The Dirty Golden Yellow House), but I think the individual stories are stronger than the collection together. There's thematic consistency in all the entries about portals, escapism, and identity that works very well, and the commentary about asexuality is something I don't often see explicitly called out. However, several of the stories rely on the same (auto-fictional?) set-up and feel monotonous. The author's note made me appreciate them more, but the collection feels overly long and could have been consolidated into a collection of eight stories, rather than ten.
For a collection that deals with objectively heavy subjects, Urbanski is able to add some charm and whimsical elements that help lighten the mood. It doesn't lessen the impact of the message, but it certainly helps keep my interest. The closest analog I can think of to this collection is Her Body and Other Parties: Stories or perhaps Salt Slow - if you enjoyed those, I think you'll enjoy this collection too. I'm not extraordinarily well-versed in asexuality and appreciated how this demystified and challenged common misconceptions about it.
Thank you to the author for the gifted copy!
---
For Pride I'm trying to read more about identities outside of my own lived experience, and this collection deals a lot with asexuality!
For a collection that deals with objectively heavy subjects, Urbanski is able to add some charm and whimsical elements that help lighten the mood. It doesn't lessen the impact of the message, but it certainly helps keep my interest. The closest analog I can think of to this collection is Her Body and Other Parties: Stories or perhaps Salt Slow - if you enjoyed those, I think you'll enjoy this collection too. I'm not extraordinarily well-versed in asexuality and appreciated how this demystified and challenged common misconceptions about it.
Thank you to the author for the gifted copy!
---
For Pride I'm trying to read more about identities outside of my own lived experience, and this collection deals a lot with asexuality!
April 8, 2025
“I have always considered familiarity to be the most stable form of love.”
I had mixed feelings about this story collection, but I was grateful that an early copy was offered to me. First of all, I LOVE the cover. I'm glad to see such heavy Asexual representation in general, and the author is very vocal about the fact that she is a self-insert in her own work and writes about her personal feelings and experience even though it's technically Fiction.
Other positives: The writing itself was good. I liked the strange theme of portals and wanting to run away to other worlds/not belonging in this one, and the way that this theme linked the stories together. That was a cool idea. I liked the piece about the witch, though it seemed unnecessarily punishing towards the protagonist, and I also liked the one about the service that will replace you with an AI version of yourself to keep your spouse happy. I think that there is some beautiful use of metaphor throughout the whole thing.
Overall, though, these stories became repetitive quickly. Most of them were very long, overstayed their welcome, and contained huge, unbroken paragraphs. Even though many of them are related either through characters or topics, I felt like I was reading the same one over and over. Many of the endings sadly didn’t work for me, either. They were either too abrupt, difficult to understand or simply lacked impact. I think they went over my head most of the time. (Author Debbie Urbanski herself even comments on this at a couple of points, talking back to her critics in a way that seemed a bit aggressive. The general attitude came across as, "If you're questioning what I wrote, maybe you were just uncomfortable." The reality is that I understood the core situation pretty well. I'm kind of afraid to criticize anything in my review, but I always want to be honest.) Urbanski plays a role in several of her stories and breaks the fourth wall, speaking directly to you, the reader. This was interesting from the standpoint that it gave me insight into her personal experience with Asexuality, but it made things a bit too meta and interrupted the immersion as well.
I admittedly skimmed quickly through one story because it was a thinly veiled metaphor, (if veiled at all), for our current political situation and I just wasn’t in the mood. It felt like reading the news, which I don't want to do, either. Yes, I realize it’s a privilege to try to ignore reality right now even for a moment, but why do you think I’m constantly reading books? Realism is going to slip in every once in a while, but this was too much. (I noticed that another reviewer skipped this story for the same reasons.)
Honestly, even though there was a lot in here that I could relate to on a very personal level, there was just as much that I think I didn't get. *That was probably my fault, not the author's.*
These stories are bleak, frustrating and not an enjoyable experience. They are designed that way. All the men are insufferable. (There's an entire story about marital rape.) Urbanski is writing from a real, painful place, and pretty much all of these protagonists are unhappy.
“I always knew it was wrong to call me desireless. Sometimes people have desires so strong that they can affect the shape of reality.”
Thank you to Netgalley and to the Publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
Biggest TW: Sexual violence, harm to children, domestic abuse, *Marital rape, Self-harm
I had mixed feelings about this story collection, but I was grateful that an early copy was offered to me. First of all, I LOVE the cover. I'm glad to see such heavy Asexual representation in general, and the author is very vocal about the fact that she is a self-insert in her own work and writes about her personal feelings and experience even though it's technically Fiction.
Other positives: The writing itself was good. I liked the strange theme of portals and wanting to run away to other worlds/not belonging in this one, and the way that this theme linked the stories together. That was a cool idea. I liked the piece about the witch, though it seemed unnecessarily punishing towards the protagonist, and I also liked the one about the service that will replace you with an AI version of yourself to keep your spouse happy. I think that there is some beautiful use of metaphor throughout the whole thing.
Overall, though, these stories became repetitive quickly. Most of them were very long, overstayed their welcome, and contained huge, unbroken paragraphs. Even though many of them are related either through characters or topics, I felt like I was reading the same one over and over. Many of the endings sadly didn’t work for me, either. They were either too abrupt, difficult to understand or simply lacked impact. I think they went over my head most of the time. (Author Debbie Urbanski herself even comments on this at a couple of points, talking back to her critics in a way that seemed a bit aggressive. The general attitude came across as, "If you're questioning what I wrote, maybe you were just uncomfortable." The reality is that I understood the core situation pretty well. I'm kind of afraid to criticize anything in my review, but I always want to be honest.) Urbanski plays a role in several of her stories and breaks the fourth wall, speaking directly to you, the reader. This was interesting from the standpoint that it gave me insight into her personal experience with Asexuality, but it made things a bit too meta and interrupted the immersion as well.
I admittedly skimmed quickly through one story because it was a thinly veiled metaphor, (if veiled at all), for our current political situation and I just wasn’t in the mood. It felt like reading the news, which I don't want to do, either. Yes, I realize it’s a privilege to try to ignore reality right now even for a moment, but why do you think I’m constantly reading books? Realism is going to slip in every once in a while, but this was too much. (I noticed that another reviewer skipped this story for the same reasons.)
Honestly, even though there was a lot in here that I could relate to on a very personal level, there was just as much that I think I didn't get. *That was probably my fault, not the author's.*
These stories are bleak, frustrating and not an enjoyable experience. They are designed that way. All the men are insufferable. (There's an entire story about marital rape.) Urbanski is writing from a real, painful place, and pretty much all of these protagonists are unhappy.
“I always knew it was wrong to call me desireless. Sometimes people have desires so strong that they can affect the shape of reality.”
Thank you to Netgalley and to the Publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
Biggest TW: Sexual violence, harm to children, domestic abuse, *Marital rape, Self-harm
May 17, 2025
This collection was compelling. The perfect blend of scifi with a variety of real issues different people face in society. The perfect amount of weird that still feels rooted in reality.
In its own unique ways, this short story collection discusses what difficulties might look like for parents to neurodivergent children, how asexuality can impact marriage, how disability can impact marriage, the damage a politically divided society can cause and so much more.
The collection ends with notes from the author about each story and I looooved this addition to the book.
Will 100% be reading more from Debbie Urbanski in the future!
In its own unique ways, this short story collection discusses what difficulties might look like for parents to neurodivergent children, how asexuality can impact marriage, how disability can impact marriage, the damage a politically divided society can cause and so much more.
The collection ends with notes from the author about each story and I looooved this addition to the book.
Will 100% be reading more from Debbie Urbanski in the future!
June 7, 2025
This book is a deceiving work of autofiction. You go into it thinking it's going to be a fun scifi-ish book about portals - but oh no. This is not what lies ahead. There are portals yes, but the author talks EXTENSIVELY about asexuality. It is a prominent theme in almost every story. That, and her comorbid apathy, sometimes even dislike, of the male gender.
The author addresses lots of difficult thoughts and emotions. Forcing the reader to be comfortable with being uncomfortable. She throws these issues in your face, prompting acknowledgement of the things that people /couples don't talk about. Strong themes of commitment and love, and the different ways 2 people can love each other and stay committed in nontraditional ways are prevalent.
Underneath it all, you can feel there is anger and a slight sadness that runs like a vein, snaking through the stories. This seems like a deeply personal collection of work to the author. I felt at times like I was traipsing through her journal, unseen.
There are 9 stories and a bonus story at the end in this book. I did not like all of them. There were 2 in particular, How to Kiss a Hojacki -and- LK-32-C that I really didn't care for. However, the way she writes, the attention that is brought to these uncomfortable truths and her prose - I couldn't give it less than 4 stars (even tho I almost DNF it toward the beginning). I was even leaning towards 5 there for a bit, but I think I'll hang out at 4 for now. If you like unconventional short stories that push boundaries and challenge what you think you know about love and relationships, read it. It's really worth it.
Thanks to Net Galley, the publisher and the author for an ebook ARC in exchange for my honest review!
The author addresses lots of difficult thoughts and emotions. Forcing the reader to be comfortable with being uncomfortable. She throws these issues in your face, prompting acknowledgement of the things that people /couples don't talk about. Strong themes of commitment and love, and the different ways 2 people can love each other and stay committed in nontraditional ways are prevalent.
Underneath it all, you can feel there is anger and a slight sadness that runs like a vein, snaking through the stories. This seems like a deeply personal collection of work to the author. I felt at times like I was traipsing through her journal, unseen.
There are 9 stories and a bonus story at the end in this book. I did not like all of them. There were 2 in particular, How to Kiss a Hojacki -and- LK-32-C that I really didn't care for. However, the way she writes, the attention that is brought to these uncomfortable truths and her prose - I couldn't give it less than 4 stars (even tho I almost DNF it toward the beginning). I was even leaning towards 5 there for a bit, but I think I'll hang out at 4 for now. If you like unconventional short stories that push boundaries and challenge what you think you know about love and relationships, read it. It's really worth it.
Thanks to Net Galley, the publisher and the author for an ebook ARC in exchange for my honest review!
dnf
June 17, 2025as soon as the author starts quoting & not-so-subtly calling out negative reviews of their own short stories IN the book it’s gonna be an instant no from me
February 1, 2025
PORTALMANIA
Debbie Urbanski
Thank you @simonbooks for gifting me this early copy! Out in May.
PORTALMANIA (PM) opens up feeling like a spooky twist on Black Mirror, then, just like the “monster” you meet early in its pages, the narrative of the collection slowly, deliberately materializes into a much more haunting sort of realism.
Urbanski, much like in her debut novel AFTER WORLD, is interested in the dark uncomfortable places. TWs are appropriate here for intimate partner violence/sexual coercion and assault in a marriage.
Her feminine characters tend to be complex, layered asexual women set to contrast with heterosexual (even hypersexual) men, flat in a way that is reflective of reality. She is interested in marriages between those of differing sexual orientations.
PM offers escape to people stuck in impossible situations—with portals. Sprinkled throughout these myth-adjacent stories are literal offworld portals—all different sizes of bizarre shimmering shapes and distortions allowing characters an opportunity to glimpse into and perhaps even leave the current horrors and hop into another life.
PM is heavy, yes, as it details struggles of women stuck in violent homes. Don’t get me wrong though, this collection has a bit of everything: there are monsters and witches, and a lovely, dry sense of humor, too.
(Y’all, the witch story is GOOD GOOD.)
These stories don’t “interconnect” as much as they form a sort of asterisk of intersections and repetitions. We are asked to feel uncomfortable. I did. I gained so much insight into how masculinity is perceived, how marriages change. I have seen my marriage differently since reading this work. I feel like I’ve gained a bit of wisdom I didn’t have.
Do not approach Urbanski’s work with presuppositions or expectations. They will be challenged. It’s made my reviewing of her work feel impossible, because it is one of the few bodies of work that I think really demands you as a reader just sit down, shut up, and listen. Interact, don’t compare. Come here to buckle in and learn something and leave your pride at the front cover. Peer into the portal. Then jump in.
Debbie Urbanski
Thank you @simonbooks for gifting me this early copy! Out in May.
PORTALMANIA (PM) opens up feeling like a spooky twist on Black Mirror, then, just like the “monster” you meet early in its pages, the narrative of the collection slowly, deliberately materializes into a much more haunting sort of realism.
Urbanski, much like in her debut novel AFTER WORLD, is interested in the dark uncomfortable places. TWs are appropriate here for intimate partner violence/sexual coercion and assault in a marriage.
Her feminine characters tend to be complex, layered asexual women set to contrast with heterosexual (even hypersexual) men, flat in a way that is reflective of reality. She is interested in marriages between those of differing sexual orientations.
PM offers escape to people stuck in impossible situations—with portals. Sprinkled throughout these myth-adjacent stories are literal offworld portals—all different sizes of bizarre shimmering shapes and distortions allowing characters an opportunity to glimpse into and perhaps even leave the current horrors and hop into another life.
PM is heavy, yes, as it details struggles of women stuck in violent homes. Don’t get me wrong though, this collection has a bit of everything: there are monsters and witches, and a lovely, dry sense of humor, too.
(Y’all, the witch story is GOOD GOOD.)
These stories don’t “interconnect” as much as they form a sort of asterisk of intersections and repetitions. We are asked to feel uncomfortable. I did. I gained so much insight into how masculinity is perceived, how marriages change. I have seen my marriage differently since reading this work. I feel like I’ve gained a bit of wisdom I didn’t have.
Do not approach Urbanski’s work with presuppositions or expectations. They will be challenged. It’s made my reviewing of her work feel impossible, because it is one of the few bodies of work that I think really demands you as a reader just sit down, shut up, and listen. Interact, don’t compare. Come here to buckle in and learn something and leave your pride at the front cover. Peer into the portal. Then jump in.
May 30, 2025
Portalmania is a short story collection that is beautifully strange and fiercely intelligent. It combines elements of many genres to explore grief, identity, loneliness and escape. At the core of Portalmania is this deep ache, this pain, this sense of not belonging. As the title and cover promise, the stories do center around portals. But know that these portals are sometimes metaphorical. How do we deal with the realities, or run from the realities, of our lives? This is not a traditional “jump through a hole and enter another dimension” portal book. This is Urbanski using the concept of portals to deep dive into our emotional landscapes. I wouldn’t call this an easy read and I definitely don’t think it’s intended to be. It can be really heavy, maybe take it one story at a time. I think it’s meant to force introspection and make you uncomfortable.
January 13, 2025
Like Urbanski's novel After World, this set of stories is intense. It seems innocuous enough at the beginning--the stories are reminiscent of George Saunders, impeccably written and a little bit weird. All the stories are based on portals: ways people can leave this life for somewhere else. Yet once it's clear that the stories are connected, those intense themes of rejection, escape, and control come out. The stories become chilling and scary, leaving the reader with a sense of unease. It's a wild ride and highly, highly recommended.
November 9, 2025
This is a collection of short stories with magical realism or SF events where weird things happen to married women with children. There's a lot of this kind of book these days and I wonder if we can really call it a 'new' thing when the authors of yore have always used the supernatural or strange phenomena to represent or dramatise societal malaise or some bleeding wound of that era.
I felt that this collection would be great for in-person book club discussion because the way it gets progressively meta, repeatedly circles back to the same issue, or plays with reader expectations of a short story collection is bound to generate mixed responses. Some of the stories are just vague enough for the reader to assign meaning to it based on the reader's own schema, but the collection generally focus on heavy topics like marital rape, fragmenting families and marriages, the parent-problem child relationship, the mother-daughter relationship, useless therapists, and marriage as a patriarchal institution. The stories must be read in chronological order for the meanings to unfold as intended.
The opening story, 'The Promise of a Portal', reminded me of the haunting film 'I Saw the TV Glow', and the subsequent stories all built on the previous ones. Other stories were funny—'Long May My Land Be Bright' parodies the political situation in the US—but majority were interesting experiments in pushing the limits of the form and the reader's suspension of disbelief. It made for a unique reading experience where any similarities must be taken as intentional and meaningful. They were all memorable but the most for me was 'The Dirty Yellow Golden House', which I felt contained everything the author wanted to say.
I felt that this collection would be great for in-person book club discussion because the way it gets progressively meta, repeatedly circles back to the same issue, or plays with reader expectations of a short story collection is bound to generate mixed responses. Some of the stories are just vague enough for the reader to assign meaning to it based on the reader's own schema, but the collection generally focus on heavy topics like marital rape, fragmenting families and marriages, the parent-problem child relationship, the mother-daughter relationship, useless therapists, and marriage as a patriarchal institution. The stories must be read in chronological order for the meanings to unfold as intended.
The opening story, 'The Promise of a Portal', reminded me of the haunting film 'I Saw the TV Glow', and the subsequent stories all built on the previous ones. Other stories were funny—'Long May My Land Be Bright' parodies the political situation in the US—but majority were interesting experiments in pushing the limits of the form and the reader's suspension of disbelief. It made for a unique reading experience where any similarities must be taken as intentional and meaningful. They were all memorable but the most for me was 'The Dirty Yellow Golden House', which I felt contained everything the author wanted to say.
March 4, 2025
When I initially requested this book, I thought I was getting into a fun collection of sci-fi romps. It ended up being so much more than that. Each of the stories were unique, dark, some sad, some slightly confusing, but all of them were full of heart. There is something so extremely human about these stories and I found myself relating to the experiences and feelings of the characters. Also - I never read a book that breaks the fourth wall before, so that was a new and interesting experience for me as a reader. A story early in the collection was predictive of events happening right now; it was unsettling and so real. I appreciated the story notes in the back and was surprised when there was one more additionally story right after the notes and acknowledgements. It feels as though this collection was written and organized very intentionally - it's impressive. Thanks for the ARC!
July 15, 2025
I love when women leave their families
May 15, 2025
I don't know....like I get what it was going for, but this collection was hard to get into personally
June 17, 2025
The reason for the two stars is because I think I only actually “liked” two of these stories; I was a bit bored in most and annoyed at the writing style in others. Kind of difficult to explain.
Not two-starring because of the content; I think novels and collections like this need to be published and read, but it wasn’t my personal favorite stylistic interpretation.
Some of these stories were really heavy-handed on the moral takeaways. Others were boring. Most all of them were horrific, repulsive, and unsettling in one way or another. Debbie Urbanski relays the struggles of motherhood, asexuality, and relationship abuse on all levels with both searing honesty and, at the same time, an unemotional air that made it difficult to resonate with (most) of these characters.
Most of these characters are not someone I would want to be friends with. Most of these characters are (seemingly) very one-dimensional, which I feel bad about saying, because the women in these stories just get the shit kicked out of them from every angle. The men are (mostly) terrible, which isn’t too far off from the truth.
I liked the political emphasis, whether overt or more subtle. I didn’t like how most everything else happened in these stories, but I think that was kind of the point.
My main takeaways from this were:
1. don’t trust men, ever, and they won’t love you when you change- no matter how big or small that change may be.
2. reinforced that I never want children, partly because of fear of having to care for a sociopathic child where nothing ever works to make them… better. maybe this is a selfish take but I don’t care.
3. portals are either actual, shimmery things that take you to a different world, or are the little escapisms in your head while paying for an expensive and shitty therapy session.
One of the biggest things that kept getting repeated throughout these vaguely intertwined stories is that love can be many things, and mostly that love, a lot of the time, is compromise to pain. And I just don’t believe that. I think in cases of real love, there is compromise, yes, but that it shouldn’t be “everybody just feels like shit all the time and puts on a fake smile until they die.” Idk. Maybe that’s why this book is tagged as horror though.
I did like it when the rapists got killed, but I didn’t like it when almost every other thing involving the rapists happened. But that’s to be expected. This book was both terrifying and sad, yet nonchalant and evasive of emotion.
This was a really fucking weird book. I don’t think I’m too dumb to understand it because I can already tell that these stories are going to ink themselves into my brain whether I like it or not. I do wish that more of these women got happy endings but that’s not the point. This is Portalmania, baby.
Not two-starring because of the content; I think novels and collections like this need to be published and read, but it wasn’t my personal favorite stylistic interpretation.
Some of these stories were really heavy-handed on the moral takeaways. Others were boring. Most all of them were horrific, repulsive, and unsettling in one way or another. Debbie Urbanski relays the struggles of motherhood, asexuality, and relationship abuse on all levels with both searing honesty and, at the same time, an unemotional air that made it difficult to resonate with (most) of these characters.
Most of these characters are not someone I would want to be friends with. Most of these characters are (seemingly) very one-dimensional, which I feel bad about saying, because the women in these stories just get the shit kicked out of them from every angle. The men are (mostly) terrible, which isn’t too far off from the truth.
I liked the political emphasis, whether overt or more subtle. I didn’t like how most everything else happened in these stories, but I think that was kind of the point.
My main takeaways from this were:
1. don’t trust men, ever, and they won’t love you when you change- no matter how big or small that change may be.
2. reinforced that I never want children, partly because of fear of having to care for a sociopathic child where nothing ever works to make them… better. maybe this is a selfish take but I don’t care.
3. portals are either actual, shimmery things that take you to a different world, or are the little escapisms in your head while paying for an expensive and shitty therapy session.
One of the biggest things that kept getting repeated throughout these vaguely intertwined stories is that love can be many things, and mostly that love, a lot of the time, is compromise to pain. And I just don’t believe that. I think in cases of real love, there is compromise, yes, but that it shouldn’t be “everybody just feels like shit all the time and puts on a fake smile until they die.” Idk. Maybe that’s why this book is tagged as horror though.
I did like it when the rapists got killed, but I didn’t like it when almost every other thing involving the rapists happened. But that’s to be expected. This book was both terrifying and sad, yet nonchalant and evasive of emotion.
This was a really fucking weird book. I don’t think I’m too dumb to understand it because I can already tell that these stories are going to ink themselves into my brain whether I like it or not. I do wish that more of these women got happy endings but that’s not the point. This is Portalmania, baby.
May 23, 2025
I definitely only picked this book up because of the cover. I had no idea what to expect, but it was really great. At times uncomfortable and hard to read, but every single story was interesting.
June 19, 2025
BOOK✶REVIEW
#ad much love for my copy @sagapress #partner
🅿🅾🆁🆃🅰🅻🅼🅰🅽🅸🅰
Oof what a read! Seriously loved this book so much. The writing is engaging and these stories capture the essence of the human experience when it comes to society, family ties, relationships, and life in general. This would make an excellent book club read.
Portalmania by Debbie Urbanski has a total of 9 stories (plus a bonus) but also has much more. These stories are thought-provoking and will have you looking deeper at the world around you. I think “Some Personal Arguments in Support of the BetterYou” was my favorite one.
Reading this book felt like watching a season of Black Mirror - which if you haven’t watched it yet, you need to - it can be found on Netflix. You will walk away from this book feeling a bit different. It will affect you, probably in ways you won’t even understand fully.
Seriously, all the praise for this book. I loved that it’s a mix of genres that include sci-fi, fantasy, horror, and more. It’s one of those books that can be enjoyed by readers from all different genres. After all, we’re all searching somewhere for our own type of portal.
1. 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑃𝑟𝑜𝑚𝑖𝑠𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑎 𝑃𝑜𝑟𝑡𝑎𝑙 - fear and childhood
2. 𝐻𝑜𝑤 𝑡𝑜 𝐾𝑖𝑠𝑠 𝑎 𝐻𝑜𝑗𝑎𝑐𝑘𝑖 - marriage, sexuality
3. 𝐿𝑜𝑛𝑔 𝑀𝑎𝑦 𝑀𝑦 𝐿𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝐵𝑒 𝐵𝑟𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡 - political divide
4. 𝐿𝐾‑𝟹𝟸‑𝐶 - belonging, send those who are different away
5. 𝐴 𝐹𝑒𝑤 𝑃𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑜𝑛𝑎𝑙 𝑂𝑏𝑠𝑒𝑟𝑣𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑠 𝑜𝑛 𝑃𝑜𝑟𝑡𝑎𝑙𝑠 - connection and fear, technology
6. 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝐷𝑖𝑟𝑡𝑦 𝐺𝑜𝑙𝑑𝑒𝑛 𝑌𝑒𝑙𝑙𝑜𝑤 𝐻𝑜𝑢𝑠𝑒 - revenge, abuse, being pushed to the edge
7. 𝐻𝑦𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑎 - retraumatizing victims
8. 𝑆𝑜𝑚𝑒 𝑃𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑜𝑛𝑎𝑙 𝐴𝑟𝑔𝑢𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑠 𝑖𝑛 𝑆𝑢𝑝𝑝𝑜𝑟𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐵𝑒𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑌𝑜𝑢 - fitting in, being what’s expected
9. 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑃𝑜𝑟𝑡𝑎𝑙 - loss, searching, longing. Finding something better.
10. 𝐶𝑜𝑑𝑎 - loss, identity
#SagaSaysCrew #portalmania #books #bookstagram #book #booklover #reading #bookworm #bookstagrammer #read #bookish #booknerd #instabook #bookaddict #bookstagrammer #bibliophile #bookshelf #readersofinstagram #booksbooksbooks #bookaholic #bookgirlbrown #reader #booklove #literature #instabooks #booklovers
#ad much love for my copy @sagapress #partner
🅿🅾🆁🆃🅰🅻🅼🅰🅽🅸🅰
Oof what a read! Seriously loved this book so much. The writing is engaging and these stories capture the essence of the human experience when it comes to society, family ties, relationships, and life in general. This would make an excellent book club read.
Portalmania by Debbie Urbanski has a total of 9 stories (plus a bonus) but also has much more. These stories are thought-provoking and will have you looking deeper at the world around you. I think “Some Personal Arguments in Support of the BetterYou” was my favorite one.
Reading this book felt like watching a season of Black Mirror - which if you haven’t watched it yet, you need to - it can be found on Netflix. You will walk away from this book feeling a bit different. It will affect you, probably in ways you won’t even understand fully.
Seriously, all the praise for this book. I loved that it’s a mix of genres that include sci-fi, fantasy, horror, and more. It’s one of those books that can be enjoyed by readers from all different genres. After all, we’re all searching somewhere for our own type of portal.
1. 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑃𝑟𝑜𝑚𝑖𝑠𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑎 𝑃𝑜𝑟𝑡𝑎𝑙 - fear and childhood
2. 𝐻𝑜𝑤 𝑡𝑜 𝐾𝑖𝑠𝑠 𝑎 𝐻𝑜𝑗𝑎𝑐𝑘𝑖 - marriage, sexuality
3. 𝐿𝑜𝑛𝑔 𝑀𝑎𝑦 𝑀𝑦 𝐿𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝐵𝑒 𝐵𝑟𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡 - political divide
4. 𝐿𝐾‑𝟹𝟸‑𝐶 - belonging, send those who are different away
5. 𝐴 𝐹𝑒𝑤 𝑃𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑜𝑛𝑎𝑙 𝑂𝑏𝑠𝑒𝑟𝑣𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑠 𝑜𝑛 𝑃𝑜𝑟𝑡𝑎𝑙𝑠 - connection and fear, technology
6. 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝐷𝑖𝑟𝑡𝑦 𝐺𝑜𝑙𝑑𝑒𝑛 𝑌𝑒𝑙𝑙𝑜𝑤 𝐻𝑜𝑢𝑠𝑒 - revenge, abuse, being pushed to the edge
7. 𝐻𝑦𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑎 - retraumatizing victims
8. 𝑆𝑜𝑚𝑒 𝑃𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑜𝑛𝑎𝑙 𝐴𝑟𝑔𝑢𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑠 𝑖𝑛 𝑆𝑢𝑝𝑝𝑜𝑟𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐵𝑒𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑌𝑜𝑢 - fitting in, being what’s expected
9. 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑃𝑜𝑟𝑡𝑎𝑙 - loss, searching, longing. Finding something better.
10. 𝐶𝑜𝑑𝑎 - loss, identity
#SagaSaysCrew #portalmania #books #bookstagram #book #booklover #reading #bookworm #bookstagrammer #read #bookish #booknerd #instabook #bookaddict #bookstagrammer #bibliophile #bookshelf #readersofinstagram #booksbooksbooks #bookaholic #bookgirlbrown #reader #booklove #literature #instabooks #booklovers
August 6, 2025
bookstagram ♡━━━♡━━━♡ 25+ discord book club
I’m so obsessed with this book cover. The second I saw it, I needed it. I was super excited to see this one in the mail and even more excited because I really enjoyed this short story collection. I don’t even know how to explain the book because it’s such a genre bender.
Horror? ✅
Sci fi? ✅
Fantasy? ✅
Asexuality? ✅
It has something for everyone so if you’re not into one story, you might be into the next one. I like that it tackled so many different real life issues in unique ways. Some of the themes were sexuality, politics, loss, abuse, and disabilities. I’m just a huge fan of bleakness, generally speaking, so I’m a satisfied reader.
There are 9 stories in this collection. If I had to pick a favorite it would probably be The Dirty Golden Yellow House. It was the most intense story in the collection for me and just so well-written. It’s also a subject matter that I don’t often seen tackled.
I’m so obsessed with this book cover. The second I saw it, I needed it. I was super excited to see this one in the mail and even more excited because I really enjoyed this short story collection. I don’t even know how to explain the book because it’s such a genre bender.
Horror? ✅
Sci fi? ✅
Fantasy? ✅
Asexuality? ✅
It has something for everyone so if you’re not into one story, you might be into the next one. I like that it tackled so many different real life issues in unique ways. Some of the themes were sexuality, politics, loss, abuse, and disabilities. I’m just a huge fan of bleakness, generally speaking, so I’m a satisfied reader.
There are 9 stories in this collection. If I had to pick a favorite it would probably be The Dirty Golden Yellow House. It was the most intense story in the collection for me and just so well-written. It’s also a subject matter that I don’t often seen tackled.
May 29, 2025
4.5 rounded up
I'm so freakin' happy this book found me. Thank you Saga Press & Simon & Schuster for the gifted copy! This book gave me Carmen Maria Machado vibes in the best way. The author included Story Notes at the end of the book and it was great to read a blurb about why she wrote this story or what this story meant to her. I wish more authors did this for their story collections!
It was so beautifully written - speculative fiction is among my favorite genres and the author gave me a lot to think about after every story. My favorite stories were about portals - places to another world for these characters to escape to. My favorite of the entire collection though was "Some Personal Arguments in Support of the BetterYou (Based on Early Interactions)". I gave it 5 stars. It was devastating. I nearly cried so many times during it (and other stories)!
"He was looking at my BetterYou like he would have chosen her, or me -us?-out of everybody in the world. My husband used to look at me in that way."
If you enjoy speculative fiction, stories that make you think existentially... you'll love this.
"Perhaps I'll get used to it someday. So what if I'm not the person I actually am. At least I'm the person someone wants me to be."
I'm so freakin' happy this book found me. Thank you Saga Press & Simon & Schuster for the gifted copy! This book gave me Carmen Maria Machado vibes in the best way. The author included Story Notes at the end of the book and it was great to read a blurb about why she wrote this story or what this story meant to her. I wish more authors did this for their story collections!
It was so beautifully written - speculative fiction is among my favorite genres and the author gave me a lot to think about after every story. My favorite stories were about portals - places to another world for these characters to escape to. My favorite of the entire collection though was "Some Personal Arguments in Support of the BetterYou (Based on Early Interactions)". I gave it 5 stars. It was devastating. I nearly cried so many times during it (and other stories)!
"He was looking at my BetterYou like he would have chosen her, or me -us?-out of everybody in the world. My husband used to look at me in that way."
If you enjoy speculative fiction, stories that make you think existentially... you'll love this.
"Perhaps I'll get used to it someday. So what if I'm not the person I actually am. At least I'm the person someone wants me to be."
August 31, 2025
My Selling Pitch:
A collection that’s better sold as speculative, maladaptive escapism than sci-fi portals with asexual and autism rep and plenty of heavy hitters with feminist and political commentary. Kind of a must read bummer if you like marinating in anti-patriarchy awakenings.
Pre-reading:
This cover is so existential and manic, and I love it.
(obviously potential spoilers from here on)
Thick of it:
The Promise:
It’s weird to fantasize about being kidnapped.
This is reading like I’m upset I didn’t get kidnapped and raped as a kid, and I-
I don’t understand that story at all 1/5. Like I get that it’s about trying to escape normal family life, but it’s too tied into rape and suicide.
————————
How to Kiss:
So gayness lol (-er, more asexuality)
Action does not entitle you to sex.
I like that it’s political too.
It’s unmasking too.
Fuck you, Trump.
I can buy myself flowers🎶
If you see your man in this, dump him. If your man can’t read this without getting triggered, dump him.
This is so well done.
Men feel robbed by change so they get angry.
She mimics Trump so well.
5 stars fucking phenomenal. So timely. Would argue it’s a must read.
———————
Long May:
I’m even more confused about the first story since both of the following ones have been political.
Another loud fuck Trump short story.
Lol, this one isn’t even subtle.
See you think it’s so fun because it’s exaggerated fiction, and then you’re like oh no, literally all of those passed. Gr8. What a time to be alive.
Another political banger, 5/5.
————
Lk32c:
Is this autism Auschwitz lol but not lol?
It’s so hard to balance wanting to help one child with special needs when they start fucking with their younger siblings because the younger ones do not deserve that. They don’t deserve to be abused and traumatized.
Awe Tom. That was so sweet.
Dude, he’s so menacing. That feels bad to write because he’s a child with special needs who doesn’t understand but also fuck, he’s gonna kill someone.
His poor sister.
This is so well done and nuanced.
This poor sister.
And people are like why don't you want kids. And I’m like I can't cope with the normal ones, let alone ones with special needs. I couldn’t. I don’t have that in me. It’s not selfish to protect a child (by not having them) from your bad parenting.
So good, but really hard to read. 5 again.
————
A Few Personal:
This is a lot like the first one, and I don't get it again.
But he did that before asking, so he cheated, so divorce him.
Again I just don’t get it. 1/5 It’s like oh, you want to keep people from changing, but it doesn't make sense for a baby to get a portal then, and it’s gross to be so desperate for your partner you'd rather they lie. You don’t love them. You love the idea of them. It’s the same as the rape story, but she's framed as the sympathetic character, and it’s like it’s still abuse. It feels hypocritical to have the two stories where the woman is always the sympathetic figure regardless of her behavior.
————-
The Dirty Golden:
5 rah rah feminism.
———-
Hysteria:
Oh, this is the earlier story she was talking about. Yeah, it is a little muddy in comparison, but it’s still very obviously about marital rape, and fuck all those people who didn’t know what it was about.
4/5
———
Some Personal:
The bad thoughts are chronic but this ass is iconic ✨✌️
See, I think love is like that. I think you just married an asshole.
So Severance lol.
It’s very that dead husband episode of Black Mirror.
YOUR HUSBAND SUCKS, BABE.
I feel like that’s such an important conversation you need to have before you marry someone; what does our life look like if one of us gets sick and the other has to become a caregiver? What if sex is removed from the equation? If you wouldn’t want them as just a friend, then you don’t want them.
I just don’t think you’ve experienced real love, babe.
Does this woman have supportive girl friends? Because I feel like I also didn’t get a good example of love, relationships, or sexuality from my home life, but venting with my girlfriends and reading books definitely helped fill that void.
This is good nuance, but also her husband is a fucking ass. If you replace sex with any other required hobby or activity, his whole argument falls apart.
Me, I hate kissing 😂
I feel like every disillusioned housewife feels this way, but that’s what you get when you settle and refuse to put yourself first, although I get that it’s super hard to do that once kids are involved.
It’s giving more undiagnosed autistic and sex is a sensory nightmare for you and instead of being accommodated, you were forced into it, so now it’s just ruined entirely. I don’t think it’s fair to say you aren’t sexually traumatized anymore when your husband is literally raping you. You were never taught that you were allowed to say no or given the safe space to say no. If no wasn’t an option, it was never safe, sane, or consensual, regardless of if you said yes.
5/5
—————-
The Portal:
I feel like this whole collection is less about portals than it is about escapism. Portals are just the excuse/device she’s come up with.
This feels underdeveloped. Also, it’s clearly not a utopia if they still have struggles.
Girl, leave your husband. What are we doing?
She said her 17-year-old is the one who gave her the title for this book, and I’m just like did your 17-year-old read the stories where you essentially tell him his dad’s a rapist because-
Ma’am, you married a narcissist.
This isn’t you don’t want your kids. This is you don’t want your husband the rapist.
Whoa, nelly. We gotta ditch this fear of no one will love the real you. I think it’s better to be authentic and be alone than get raped every day. Sorry, just me.
5. So baffled by what those other two stories are doing in this collection because when she’s writing more personal, less generalized stories, they hit so well. Like I don’t necessarily relate to this identity, but the voice is so good that you can’t help but have empathy for it.
———-
Story Notes:
Oh my god, I love that there’s a breakdown of what the author thought she was doing with each short story. I wish all collections had this. Sometimes they don’t translate, and I’d love to be able to find out what the author was attempting to do with their work.
Yeah, OK cool. I did understand the first story. I think there’s just unintentionally- or maybe intentionally- a darker undercurrent about a rape fantasy to it, and I’m not on board with that. She can argue that it was just to go to another fantasy world, but that’s really not what the story is saying, and I think it’s quite the Freudian slip. I still don’t like it.
I wonder when these were originally published and if you gave them to my generation that’s full of angry feminists if they would still be received the same way? I feel like if you like Carmen Maria Machado, then you’ll fuck with these stories. I’d be interested to read some of the criticism of them. Oh my god, that’s incredible that it was written pre-Trump because she really fucking nailed it. Wowwww. I’d love to see if the people who criticized it back then, given the current political climate, still think it’s bad or if they'd come around on it or at least acknowledge that it's accurate.
OK cool. I understood that other story I don’t like too, and I still don’t like it even after her explanation. I wonder why she feels the need to defend these stories where everyone’s like that’s not love as real, valid love? I'd love to see her explore the difference between friendship and romantic vs familial love. I think that’s a notable absence in all her stories. Her couples never have outside friends. They always have to rely on each other for every little thing, and if they can’t get every little thing from each other, then they’re like well, it’s not a typical relationship, but we still love each other. And I’m over here like you could just be friends. You could be life partners without being romantic partners. I think people resent these stories so much because they don’t reflect the love they wanna see in their lives, and they can’t fathom why the author would resign herself to so little. It’s just kind of like want more for yourself, girlypop! This may be the best kind of love you’ve experienced, but that doesn’t mean it’s the best kind of love that’s out there.
I think it’s so frustrating that she has to cite sources here when it should be so clear to everyone that that’s rape. I think the definition is definitely changing for my generation. It’s just that there’s still no consequences for it being violated.
I love dialogue heavy stories too. I guess it didn’t even register while I was reading that that story is almost entirely dialogue. I was just like yeah, I’m reading a conversation between two people. That is a story.
I don’t know if I believe in couples therapy. I don’t think 50 minutes of people pretending to be on their best behavior is really a good way to judge what's actually going on at home. Anna Kendrick’s story is such a good example of this. Her therapist kept siding with her partner only for them to eventually realize she was being abused. I don’t think couples therapy takes into account how dangerous it is to send a woman back to a man who’s just been criticized or to send a woman back to an environment where he believes she’s the problem and now has someone else backing up that belief. But you know it’s only dangerous because they keep killing us so-🙃
I guess it’s odd because I grew up in the Tumblr era, so all those labels were always right there for me, so it’s not groundbreaking to me to read that somebody might be asexual. I don’t relate to it, but I’m just like whatever floats your boat as long as you’re not hurting other people, go after it, honey. I feel like all these stories are really important representation. I just wish there was one that wasn’t such a fucking bummer. Like where’s the hope in any of this? But also, I get it because how could you have hope with THAT as your husband. I don’t think you could. Also, I totally agree that one of the biggest problems facing society is people trying to skirt sexual consent. I just think it’s so easy not to fuck something that doesn’t wanna fuck you. Like so easy. There's no excuse.
———
Coda:
Stop teaching your daughters to apologize for things that aren't their fault or to keep the peace. Stop.
It’s reading a little transphobic, and I hope it turns around or that my initial assessment of it is wrong.
It’s giving dragon, and I think it’s fascinating that there’s been so many stories written about women turning into dragons as an analogy for feminism. It’s so interesting because so many of the stories we grew up with were the knight saving the girl from the dragon too. And it’s like we’ve been indoctrinated to believe that men will save us when the biggest threat to our lives isn’t coming from monsters and dragons. It’s coming from men.
There’s a weird us-versus-them feminism element to this as if feminism only exists to denounce this mom‘s way of life or to say that women in the past weren’t doing enough or that their lives were bad. All feminism is doing is allowing you a choice if you want something different.
OK, cool, and that’s what I’ve been saying about this collection from the beginning. I like that the author has come to the same conclusion that we don’t have to escape the world. We can fix this one. And I like that both are being recognized as forms of escapism. It’s just that one form was avoidant, and this form is not combative, but at least more active.
4/5 What a good collection.
Post-reading:
Oh, how to say this? In all caps, with a bullhorn, LEAVE YOUR HUSBAND.
This is a really honest, and raw, and vulnerable collection, and by no means is it the writing I’m criticizing. I don’t even know if criticizing is the right word here. It just feels like the author is still in some deeply rooted, internalized misogyny, denial phase. Which is whack because you’ve come to the conclusion your husband is raping you and you’re still going with it. And like with every fiber of my being, I hope someday you want more for yourself.
A lot of this reads like an undiagnosed autistic person masking for years and years, and these are the first inklings of this is unsustainable and I can’t live like this. Does that make me a bad person? And it’s bomb writing because of that, but fuck me, if she ain’t a bummer. This collection is definitely not an easy read. It’s hard to hear that the author is trying to live more authentically and their partner keeps stonewalling them at every turn, and then you have to listen to her insist it’s still love. But she’s captured so much nuance to the argument in her observations and her extended metaphors, that it’s an empathy workout. It’s really good. Really, really good. It doesn’t shy away from arguably problematic takes, or statements that would be damning without context.
There’s two flops in the collection for me. I wish that lead story wasn’t there. Even after reading the author’s notes about it, it still didn’t work for me. But I loved having an author’s note section. I wish all collections came with that sort of breakdown. I feel like short stories especially are prone to getting lost in translation so being able to have the author tell you what her intention was with each story was so refreshing.
I think the political satire in this is so sharp and relevant to the times we’re living in. It’s even more incredible when you realize that those stories were written before the times we’re living in. She mimicked the voice before the voice even happened. That’s so impressive to me.
This is less of a collection where the stories are going to stick with you than a collection that’s going to prompt questions and conversations that will stick with you. There was that joke that went around TikTok of ‘would you still love me if I was a worm,’ and we all hee hee-ed and ha ha-ed about it, and every time I read these speculative fiction stories that take that question seriously, it just reminds me of the conversations you need to have with your romantic partner before you decide to spend the rest of your life with them. I don’t think enough people do that, and I think that’s part of the reason so many people are unhappy in their relationships. You know, in addition to men not being shit. Patriarchy’s a real bitch.
I’m glad I read this. I will be picking up the author again. It’s definitely going on my must read list. What’s keeping this from a five? That first story really is off-putting and not in a fun or forgivable way. If your lead story has a sharp undercurrent of rape fantasy, especially with kids, I think it really clashes with a collection that’s mostly about being asexual and rallying against marital rape. Also taken individually, a lot of five-star short stories, but because they’re so similar, the collection feels a bit repetitive. There’s no real switch up to the misery, and even the last story isn’t hopeful enough to swing the pendulum. And while I don’t know how you eke out a hopeful story given the circumstances if it’s not leaving your husband, I think most readers want more balance. By all means, give me dark shit, but tell me there’s some light too. But like this book is juicy, and it’s gonna make you think, and I hope you read it with your partners.
Who should read this:
Feminists
Rape culture commentary fans
Political satire fans
Autistic rep fans
Ideal reading time:
Anytime
Do I want to reread this:
Yup. I will be forcing partners to read this.
Would I buy this:
Yup.
Similar books:
* Her Body and Other Parties by Carmen Maria Machado-dark short story collection, feminist, social commentary, queer
* In the Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado-lit fic, meta fiction, romance, feminist, social commentary, queer
* Interesting Facts About Space by Emily Austin-lit fic, character study, queer romance, autism rep, mental health, family drama
* Normal Women by Ainslie Hogarth-lit fic horror, social commentary, motherhood
* Paradise Logic by Sophie Kemp-lit fic, horror, unreliable narrator, autism rep, social commentary
* How High We Go in the Dark by Sequoia Nagamatsu-dystopian short story collection, social commentary
* Annie Bot by Sierra Greer-sci-fi dystopian, social commentary
* Oddbody by Rose Keating-lit fic, horror, short story collection, queer, mental health, social commentary
* Sympathy for Wild Girls by Demree McGhee-lit fic, short story collection, queer, mental health, social commentary
* Stag Dance by Torrey Peters-lit fic, horror, historical, short story collection, queer, trans
* Helpmeet by Naben Ruthnum-horror, historical, short story, social commentary, revenge
* Januaries by Olivie Blake-short story collection, fairytale retelling, romance, motherhood
* Want by Gillian Anderson-nonfiction, essays on desire and sexual fantasies
* That’s What She Said by Eleanor Pilcher-contemporary fiction, rom-com, asexual rep, queer
* Nightbitch by Rachel Yoder-magical realism, horror, motherhood, social commentary
* Sike by Fred Lunzer-sci-fi dystopian, social commentary
* Vanishing World by Sayaka Murata-dystopian, motherhood, social commentary
* Shark Heart by Emily Habeck-dystopian, lit fic,horror, family drama, social commentary
A collection that’s better sold as speculative, maladaptive escapism than sci-fi portals with asexual and autism rep and plenty of heavy hitters with feminist and political commentary. Kind of a must read bummer if you like marinating in anti-patriarchy awakenings.
Pre-reading:
This cover is so existential and manic, and I love it.
(obviously potential spoilers from here on)
Thick of it:
The Promise:
It’s weird to fantasize about being kidnapped.
This is reading like I’m upset I didn’t get kidnapped and raped as a kid, and I-
I don’t understand that story at all 1/5. Like I get that it’s about trying to escape normal family life, but it’s too tied into rape and suicide.
————————
How to Kiss:
So gayness lol (-er, more asexuality)
Action does not entitle you to sex.
I like that it’s political too.
It’s unmasking too.
Fuck you, Trump.
I can buy myself flowers🎶
If you see your man in this, dump him. If your man can’t read this without getting triggered, dump him.
This is so well done.
Men feel robbed by change so they get angry.
She mimics Trump so well.
5 stars fucking phenomenal. So timely. Would argue it’s a must read.
———————
Long May:
I’m even more confused about the first story since both of the following ones have been political.
Another loud fuck Trump short story.
Lol, this one isn’t even subtle.
See you think it’s so fun because it’s exaggerated fiction, and then you’re like oh no, literally all of those passed. Gr8. What a time to be alive.
Another political banger, 5/5.
————
Lk32c:
Is this autism Auschwitz lol but not lol?
It’s so hard to balance wanting to help one child with special needs when they start fucking with their younger siblings because the younger ones do not deserve that. They don’t deserve to be abused and traumatized.
Awe Tom. That was so sweet.
Dude, he’s so menacing. That feels bad to write because he’s a child with special needs who doesn’t understand but also fuck, he’s gonna kill someone.
His poor sister.
This is so well done and nuanced.
This poor sister.
And people are like why don't you want kids. And I’m like I can't cope with the normal ones, let alone ones with special needs. I couldn’t. I don’t have that in me. It’s not selfish to protect a child (by not having them) from your bad parenting.
So good, but really hard to read. 5 again.
————
A Few Personal:
This is a lot like the first one, and I don't get it again.
But he did that before asking, so he cheated, so divorce him.
Again I just don’t get it. 1/5 It’s like oh, you want to keep people from changing, but it doesn't make sense for a baby to get a portal then, and it’s gross to be so desperate for your partner you'd rather they lie. You don’t love them. You love the idea of them. It’s the same as the rape story, but she's framed as the sympathetic character, and it’s like it’s still abuse. It feels hypocritical to have the two stories where the woman is always the sympathetic figure regardless of her behavior.
————-
The Dirty Golden:
5 rah rah feminism.
———-
Hysteria:
Oh, this is the earlier story she was talking about. Yeah, it is a little muddy in comparison, but it’s still very obviously about marital rape, and fuck all those people who didn’t know what it was about.
4/5
———
Some Personal:
The bad thoughts are chronic but this ass is iconic ✨✌️
See, I think love is like that. I think you just married an asshole.
So Severance lol.
It’s very that dead husband episode of Black Mirror.
YOUR HUSBAND SUCKS, BABE.
I feel like that’s such an important conversation you need to have before you marry someone; what does our life look like if one of us gets sick and the other has to become a caregiver? What if sex is removed from the equation? If you wouldn’t want them as just a friend, then you don’t want them.
I just don’t think you’ve experienced real love, babe.
Does this woman have supportive girl friends? Because I feel like I also didn’t get a good example of love, relationships, or sexuality from my home life, but venting with my girlfriends and reading books definitely helped fill that void.
This is good nuance, but also her husband is a fucking ass. If you replace sex with any other required hobby or activity, his whole argument falls apart.
Me, I hate kissing 😂
I feel like every disillusioned housewife feels this way, but that’s what you get when you settle and refuse to put yourself first, although I get that it’s super hard to do that once kids are involved.
It’s giving more undiagnosed autistic and sex is a sensory nightmare for you and instead of being accommodated, you were forced into it, so now it’s just ruined entirely. I don’t think it’s fair to say you aren’t sexually traumatized anymore when your husband is literally raping you. You were never taught that you were allowed to say no or given the safe space to say no. If no wasn’t an option, it was never safe, sane, or consensual, regardless of if you said yes.
5/5
—————-
The Portal:
I feel like this whole collection is less about portals than it is about escapism. Portals are just the excuse/device she’s come up with.
This feels underdeveloped. Also, it’s clearly not a utopia if they still have struggles.
Girl, leave your husband. What are we doing?
She said her 17-year-old is the one who gave her the title for this book, and I’m just like did your 17-year-old read the stories where you essentially tell him his dad’s a rapist because-
Ma’am, you married a narcissist.
This isn’t you don’t want your kids. This is you don’t want your husband the rapist.
Whoa, nelly. We gotta ditch this fear of no one will love the real you. I think it’s better to be authentic and be alone than get raped every day. Sorry, just me.
5. So baffled by what those other two stories are doing in this collection because when she’s writing more personal, less generalized stories, they hit so well. Like I don’t necessarily relate to this identity, but the voice is so good that you can’t help but have empathy for it.
———-
Story Notes:
Oh my god, I love that there’s a breakdown of what the author thought she was doing with each short story. I wish all collections had this. Sometimes they don’t translate, and I’d love to be able to find out what the author was attempting to do with their work.
Yeah, OK cool. I did understand the first story. I think there’s just unintentionally- or maybe intentionally- a darker undercurrent about a rape fantasy to it, and I’m not on board with that. She can argue that it was just to go to another fantasy world, but that’s really not what the story is saying, and I think it’s quite the Freudian slip. I still don’t like it.
I wonder when these were originally published and if you gave them to my generation that’s full of angry feminists if they would still be received the same way? I feel like if you like Carmen Maria Machado, then you’ll fuck with these stories. I’d be interested to read some of the criticism of them. Oh my god, that’s incredible that it was written pre-Trump because she really fucking nailed it. Wowwww. I’d love to see if the people who criticized it back then, given the current political climate, still think it’s bad or if they'd come around on it or at least acknowledge that it's accurate.
OK cool. I understood that other story I don’t like too, and I still don’t like it even after her explanation. I wonder why she feels the need to defend these stories where everyone’s like that’s not love as real, valid love? I'd love to see her explore the difference between friendship and romantic vs familial love. I think that’s a notable absence in all her stories. Her couples never have outside friends. They always have to rely on each other for every little thing, and if they can’t get every little thing from each other, then they’re like well, it’s not a typical relationship, but we still love each other. And I’m over here like you could just be friends. You could be life partners without being romantic partners. I think people resent these stories so much because they don’t reflect the love they wanna see in their lives, and they can’t fathom why the author would resign herself to so little. It’s just kind of like want more for yourself, girlypop! This may be the best kind of love you’ve experienced, but that doesn’t mean it’s the best kind of love that’s out there.
I think it’s so frustrating that she has to cite sources here when it should be so clear to everyone that that’s rape. I think the definition is definitely changing for my generation. It’s just that there’s still no consequences for it being violated.
I love dialogue heavy stories too. I guess it didn’t even register while I was reading that that story is almost entirely dialogue. I was just like yeah, I’m reading a conversation between two people. That is a story.
I don’t know if I believe in couples therapy. I don’t think 50 minutes of people pretending to be on their best behavior is really a good way to judge what's actually going on at home. Anna Kendrick’s story is such a good example of this. Her therapist kept siding with her partner only for them to eventually realize she was being abused. I don’t think couples therapy takes into account how dangerous it is to send a woman back to a man who’s just been criticized or to send a woman back to an environment where he believes she’s the problem and now has someone else backing up that belief. But you know it’s only dangerous because they keep killing us so-🙃
I guess it’s odd because I grew up in the Tumblr era, so all those labels were always right there for me, so it’s not groundbreaking to me to read that somebody might be asexual. I don’t relate to it, but I’m just like whatever floats your boat as long as you’re not hurting other people, go after it, honey. I feel like all these stories are really important representation. I just wish there was one that wasn’t such a fucking bummer. Like where’s the hope in any of this? But also, I get it because how could you have hope with THAT as your husband. I don’t think you could. Also, I totally agree that one of the biggest problems facing society is people trying to skirt sexual consent. I just think it’s so easy not to fuck something that doesn’t wanna fuck you. Like so easy. There's no excuse.
———
Coda:
Stop teaching your daughters to apologize for things that aren't their fault or to keep the peace. Stop.
It’s reading a little transphobic, and I hope it turns around or that my initial assessment of it is wrong.
It’s giving dragon, and I think it’s fascinating that there’s been so many stories written about women turning into dragons as an analogy for feminism. It’s so interesting because so many of the stories we grew up with were the knight saving the girl from the dragon too. And it’s like we’ve been indoctrinated to believe that men will save us when the biggest threat to our lives isn’t coming from monsters and dragons. It’s coming from men.
There’s a weird us-versus-them feminism element to this as if feminism only exists to denounce this mom‘s way of life or to say that women in the past weren’t doing enough or that their lives were bad. All feminism is doing is allowing you a choice if you want something different.
OK, cool, and that’s what I’ve been saying about this collection from the beginning. I like that the author has come to the same conclusion that we don’t have to escape the world. We can fix this one. And I like that both are being recognized as forms of escapism. It’s just that one form was avoidant, and this form is not combative, but at least more active.
4/5 What a good collection.
Post-reading:
Oh, how to say this? In all caps, with a bullhorn, LEAVE YOUR HUSBAND.
This is a really honest, and raw, and vulnerable collection, and by no means is it the writing I’m criticizing. I don’t even know if criticizing is the right word here. It just feels like the author is still in some deeply rooted, internalized misogyny, denial phase. Which is whack because you’ve come to the conclusion your husband is raping you and you’re still going with it. And like with every fiber of my being, I hope someday you want more for yourself.
A lot of this reads like an undiagnosed autistic person masking for years and years, and these are the first inklings of this is unsustainable and I can’t live like this. Does that make me a bad person? And it’s bomb writing because of that, but fuck me, if she ain’t a bummer. This collection is definitely not an easy read. It’s hard to hear that the author is trying to live more authentically and their partner keeps stonewalling them at every turn, and then you have to listen to her insist it’s still love. But she’s captured so much nuance to the argument in her observations and her extended metaphors, that it’s an empathy workout. It’s really good. Really, really good. It doesn’t shy away from arguably problematic takes, or statements that would be damning without context.
There’s two flops in the collection for me. I wish that lead story wasn’t there. Even after reading the author’s notes about it, it still didn’t work for me. But I loved having an author’s note section. I wish all collections came with that sort of breakdown. I feel like short stories especially are prone to getting lost in translation so being able to have the author tell you what her intention was with each story was so refreshing.
I think the political satire in this is so sharp and relevant to the times we’re living in. It’s even more incredible when you realize that those stories were written before the times we’re living in. She mimicked the voice before the voice even happened. That’s so impressive to me.
This is less of a collection where the stories are going to stick with you than a collection that’s going to prompt questions and conversations that will stick with you. There was that joke that went around TikTok of ‘would you still love me if I was a worm,’ and we all hee hee-ed and ha ha-ed about it, and every time I read these speculative fiction stories that take that question seriously, it just reminds me of the conversations you need to have with your romantic partner before you decide to spend the rest of your life with them. I don’t think enough people do that, and I think that’s part of the reason so many people are unhappy in their relationships. You know, in addition to men not being shit. Patriarchy’s a real bitch.
I’m glad I read this. I will be picking up the author again. It’s definitely going on my must read list. What’s keeping this from a five? That first story really is off-putting and not in a fun or forgivable way. If your lead story has a sharp undercurrent of rape fantasy, especially with kids, I think it really clashes with a collection that’s mostly about being asexual and rallying against marital rape. Also taken individually, a lot of five-star short stories, but because they’re so similar, the collection feels a bit repetitive. There’s no real switch up to the misery, and even the last story isn’t hopeful enough to swing the pendulum. And while I don’t know how you eke out a hopeful story given the circumstances if it’s not leaving your husband, I think most readers want more balance. By all means, give me dark shit, but tell me there’s some light too. But like this book is juicy, and it’s gonna make you think, and I hope you read it with your partners.
Who should read this:
Feminists
Rape culture commentary fans
Political satire fans
Autistic rep fans
Ideal reading time:
Anytime
Do I want to reread this:
Yup. I will be forcing partners to read this.
Would I buy this:
Yup.
Similar books:
* Her Body and Other Parties by Carmen Maria Machado-dark short story collection, feminist, social commentary, queer
* In the Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado-lit fic, meta fiction, romance, feminist, social commentary, queer
* Interesting Facts About Space by Emily Austin-lit fic, character study, queer romance, autism rep, mental health, family drama
* Normal Women by Ainslie Hogarth-lit fic horror, social commentary, motherhood
* Paradise Logic by Sophie Kemp-lit fic, horror, unreliable narrator, autism rep, social commentary
* How High We Go in the Dark by Sequoia Nagamatsu-dystopian short story collection, social commentary
* Annie Bot by Sierra Greer-sci-fi dystopian, social commentary
* Oddbody by Rose Keating-lit fic, horror, short story collection, queer, mental health, social commentary
* Sympathy for Wild Girls by Demree McGhee-lit fic, short story collection, queer, mental health, social commentary
* Stag Dance by Torrey Peters-lit fic, horror, historical, short story collection, queer, trans
* Helpmeet by Naben Ruthnum-horror, historical, short story, social commentary, revenge
* Januaries by Olivie Blake-short story collection, fairytale retelling, romance, motherhood
* Want by Gillian Anderson-nonfiction, essays on desire and sexual fantasies
* That’s What She Said by Eleanor Pilcher-contemporary fiction, rom-com, asexual rep, queer
* Nightbitch by Rachel Yoder-magical realism, horror, motherhood, social commentary
* Sike by Fred Lunzer-sci-fi dystopian, social commentary
* Vanishing World by Sayaka Murata-dystopian, motherhood, social commentary
* Shark Heart by Emily Habeck-dystopian, lit fic,horror, family drama, social commentary
September 10, 2025
That was really cool. Feel like I missed some things due to not being smart enough. But it made me think about things I’ve never thought about, and somehow was still relatable???
September 28, 2025
beau soren recommended this book to me and let me just say it is beautiful and weird and honest and dark
stories about asexuality and neurodivergent children
and what it means to be a different kind of person and a different kind of wife
and the last story coda is my favorite thing ever
stories about asexuality and neurodivergent children
and what it means to be a different kind of person and a different kind of wife
and the last story coda is my favorite thing ever
August 11, 2025
Thank you to S&S and NetGalley for the ARC!
These stories are terrifying, engaging, and unfortunately grounded in a very harsh reality that I think a lot of women and femme presenting individuals can relate to. These genuinely terrified me, but also comforted me in a weird way?
My favorite one was the story about the woman who slowly turned into the alien/machine thing and how much that pissed off the husband lmao, cause then he didn’t have control over her.
These stories are terrifying, engaging, and unfortunately grounded in a very harsh reality that I think a lot of women and femme presenting individuals can relate to. These genuinely terrified me, but also comforted me in a weird way?
My favorite one was the story about the woman who slowly turned into the alien/machine thing and how much that pissed off the husband lmao, cause then he didn’t have control over her.
June 23, 2025
Finally finished this absolute abysmal book just uninteresting and felt like a fight to get through such boring stories with really cool concepts but just each time fumbling through each story with no good context in each. The best thing I picked up from this is that this gives me the courage to write something myself because if this can get published then anything I can write has a chance too as well so congratulations to that.
June 1, 2025
cw - suicide idealation, suicide, dog being threatened, acephobia against a character
I became interested in this book when the All The Books podcast mentioned the short story "Long May My Land Be Bright" which is a cheeky political satire in which America has presidents that alternate days to appease both exteme views (the left and right). Also that cover is amazing.
Most of the stories are about escapism and seeking a portal, a world you can belong to instead of desperately trying to fit in. We open with "Promise of a Portal" to a young girl desperate to find her portal. Women in white vans seek out children whose portals are ready. Other stories unravel what we're so desperate to escape - and mostly it's an asexual woman married with kids that has come out to her husband. She no longer wants to have sex, everyone else tries to convince her how wrong she is. "How to Kiss a Hojacki" places us in the husband's mind, linking his wife's asexuality with her becoming another species. The most grounded is "Hysteria," a woman being talked over by her therapist.
Technology that doesn't exist are another interesting feature - devices that erase memories, doppelgangers that could, say, have sex with your husband ("Some Personal Arguments in the Support of a Better You") The portals themselves are a sightseeing attraction, like looking at Christmas lights in "A Few Personal Observations on Portals"
A girl seeks her childhood portal and friend Zeff in "The Portal." An asexual woman seeks help from a witch in "The Dirty Yellow Golden House."
"LK32C" and "LK32C Reflection" really broke my heart. A woman is trying to understand her son who is neurodivergent. He's violent, he doesn't like being asked a bunch of questions, but he does like to share trivia. His main interest is in a planet that doesn't exist: LK32C. He draws maps, he prepares how he could live there, it's what matters to him. Mom just wants him to be normal. The second part gives us Luke's view in letters - the narrator really had me emotional, how we try to understand and love one another when sometimes someone needs space.
Relentlessly sad, but effective. "Long May My Land Be Bright" was the outlier to this collection - portals existed and there is a sadness to it, but it had a lighter tone in comparison. Still, I was surprised by how much I enjoyed the other stories. I identify on the ace spectrum. I'm also nonbinary. I have a hard time feeling like I belong anywhere. I get it too well.
I became interested in this book when the All The Books podcast mentioned the short story "Long May My Land Be Bright" which is a cheeky political satire in which America has presidents that alternate days to appease both exteme views (the left and right). Also that cover is amazing.
Most of the stories are about escapism and seeking a portal, a world you can belong to instead of desperately trying to fit in. We open with "Promise of a Portal" to a young girl desperate to find her portal. Women in white vans seek out children whose portals are ready. Other stories unravel what we're so desperate to escape - and mostly it's an asexual woman married with kids that has come out to her husband. She no longer wants to have sex, everyone else tries to convince her how wrong she is. "How to Kiss a Hojacki" places us in the husband's mind, linking his wife's asexuality with her becoming another species. The most grounded is "Hysteria," a woman being talked over by her therapist.
Technology that doesn't exist are another interesting feature - devices that erase memories, doppelgangers that could, say, have sex with your husband ("Some Personal Arguments in the Support of a Better You") The portals themselves are a sightseeing attraction, like looking at Christmas lights in "A Few Personal Observations on Portals"
A girl seeks her childhood portal and friend Zeff in "The Portal." An asexual woman seeks help from a witch in "The Dirty Yellow Golden House."
"LK32C" and "LK32C Reflection" really broke my heart. A woman is trying to understand her son who is neurodivergent. He's violent, he doesn't like being asked a bunch of questions, but he does like to share trivia. His main interest is in a planet that doesn't exist: LK32C. He draws maps, he prepares how he could live there, it's what matters to him. Mom just wants him to be normal. The second part gives us Luke's view in letters - the narrator really had me emotional, how we try to understand and love one another when sometimes someone needs space.
Relentlessly sad, but effective. "Long May My Land Be Bright" was the outlier to this collection - portals existed and there is a sadness to it, but it had a lighter tone in comparison. Still, I was surprised by how much I enjoyed the other stories. I identify on the ace spectrum. I'm also nonbinary. I have a hard time feeling like I belong anywhere. I get it too well.
September 25, 2025
This was an okay collection. I enjoyed the writing style, but the content of the stories started to get repetitive. And that's after removing some of the repetitive stories already according to the Story Notes.
I appreciate what the stories were tackling. There's a lot about asexuality (named or unnamed) as well as coerced sex and rape in marriage. Worthy topics, but the stories covered very similar ground. A woman sees a therapist who counsels her poorly concerning her lack of interest in sex, a woman buys an android (?) version of herself for her husband to have sex with since since doesn't want to, a man describes his "love" for his wife who has lost interest in sex, etc. Having all of the stories in one collection just didn't do them any favors for me.
A novella/novelette in the middle brought some respite as it was about the mother of a young boy clearly on the autism spectrum (though it isn't named - I don't know why not). I think the author has an autistic son maybe? but the Story Notes also list many books she read for research. I've read Far From the Tree, the main one she highlights, so I appreciate how she wrote a more honest and less romanticized, hunky-dory, "inspirational" accounting of being a parent of a child who thinks *very* differently from you.
I think I'd read from her again if I knew the collection touched on different themes than this one.
I appreciate what the stories were tackling. There's a lot about asexuality (named or unnamed) as well as coerced sex and rape in marriage. Worthy topics, but the stories covered very similar ground. A woman sees a therapist who counsels her poorly concerning her lack of interest in sex, a woman buys an android (?) version of herself for her husband to have sex with since since doesn't want to, a man describes his "love" for his wife who has lost interest in sex, etc. Having all of the stories in one collection just didn't do them any favors for me.
A novella/novelette in the middle brought some respite as it was about the mother of a young boy clearly on the autism spectrum (though it isn't named - I don't know why not). I think the author has an autistic son maybe? but the Story Notes also list many books she read for research. I've read Far From the Tree, the main one she highlights, so I appreciate how she wrote a more honest and less romanticized, hunky-dory, "inspirational" accounting of being a parent of a child who thinks *very* differently from you.
I think I'd read from her again if I knew the collection touched on different themes than this one.
April 1, 2025
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC!
*4.5
I randomly stumbled across this book one day and was drawn in by both the cover and the description. It was definitely a unique reading experience and not like anything I’ve personally read before. I liked that the stories touched on various important topics, such as asexuality, motherhood, being transgender, politics, etc. while maintaining a sense of nuance that really makes you think about what you’re reading. I found myself dissecting the stories a lot even after I finished them. One that particularly stood out to me was LK-35-C - it was definitely one of the best and most thought-provoking stories I’ve ever read. I don’t usually buy physical copies of books after I read them digitally but I will definitely be buying this one when it comes out.
*4.5
I randomly stumbled across this book one day and was drawn in by both the cover and the description. It was definitely a unique reading experience and not like anything I’ve personally read before. I liked that the stories touched on various important topics, such as asexuality, motherhood, being transgender, politics, etc. while maintaining a sense of nuance that really makes you think about what you’re reading. I found myself dissecting the stories a lot even after I finished them. One that particularly stood out to me was LK-35-C - it was definitely one of the best and most thought-provoking stories I’ve ever read. I don’t usually buy physical copies of books after I read them digitally but I will definitely be buying this one when it comes out.
June 28, 2025
I just loved this collection overall. Urbanski is a master at conveying loneliness, longing and turning ordinary experiences into something mysterious. That might sound like a funny thing to say, given that most of these stories are automatically odd, but the troubles are usually everyday feelings pushed into the extremes. Even when someone is searching for their portal, or seeing a replacement take over their lives, the core feelings are relatable. Sometimes I gave a bark of laughter (that's the only way to describe it when reading pushes a laugh out of me) out of sheer surprise. The humor is dark, sly, and the only way to enjoy it is to go all in on what the story is telling you. A couple of the stories I wasn't in the right frame of mind for, but all of the others were absolutely excellent.
The themes are consistent; generally marital conflict and mothering difficulties, where love, disconnection and exhaustion battle it out.
The themes are consistent; generally marital conflict and mothering difficulties, where love, disconnection and exhaustion battle it out.
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