Systems Fail

by Hiromi Goto, N.K. Jemisin

Systems Fail celebrates the work of Hiromi Goto and N.K. Jemisin, WisCon 38’s Guests of Honor. The volume includes two pieces of Goto’s short fiction, N.K. Jemisin’s Nebula Award-nominated story “Non-Zero Probabilities,” and a selection of Jemisin’s essays as well as her 2013 Continuum IX Guest of Honor speech. In addition, the authors talk at length with interviewers knowledgeable about their work: Goto with writer and editor Nisi Shawl, and Jemisin with critic and scholar Karen Burnham.

Aqueduct Press is pleased to release the volume in conjunction with WisCon 38, held in Madison, Wisconsin over the Memorial Day weekend, in a limited, numbered edition of small trade paperbacks.

Genres: Short Stories, Nonfiction

134 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 2014

About the author

Hiromi’s first novel, Chorus of Mushrooms (1994), received the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize for Best First Book in the Caribbean and Canada region and was co-winner of the Canada-Japan Book Award. Her short stories and poetry have been widely published in literary journals and anthologies. Her second novel, The Kappa Child (2001), was a finalist for the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize for Best Regional Book, and was awarded the James Tiptree Jr. Memorial Award. Her first children’s novel, The Water of Possibility, was also published that year. Hopeful Monsters, a collection of short stories, was released in 2004. Her YA/Crossover novel, Half World (2009), was long-listed for the IMPAC Dublin Literary Award and received the 2010 Sunburst Award and the Carl Brandon Society Parallax Award. Her long poem, co-written with David Bateman, came out in Fall 2009. Wait Until Late Afternoon is her first book-length poetry publication. Darkest Light, companion book to Half World, will be released in 2012 with Penguin Canada.

Hiromi is an active member of the literary community, a writing instructor, editor and the mother of two children. She has served in numerous writer-in-residencies and is currently in BC, working on Darkest Light.

Reviews

[Catherine · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a small collection of nonfiction essays, interviews and a short story apiece from Hiromi Goto and N.K. Jemison to commemorate their GOH appearances at the 2014 WisCon. I enjoyed the essays and interviews quite a bit and felt like I learned more about each author as well as gotten some more perspective on various events that have gone through the science fiction community in waves. The short fiction, I was more ambivalent about, but your mileage may certainly vary on that. Well worth tracking down and reading.

[Meg]

Fun selection of short stories and essays from Hiromi Goto and NK Jemisin. Good reminder from Jemisin about how uncomfortable conversations like those around #racefail is necessary.