Super Extra Grande

by Yoss

The winner of the 20th annual UPC Science Fiction Award in 2011, the Cuban science fiction master Yoss delivers a space opera of intergalactic proportions in Super Extra Grande. Set in a distant future, the novel features creatures of immense variety—Amoebas that cover entire worlds, sensual females that feed on substances from their males’ reproductive systems, talking reptiles, and other creations drawn from the classics of Cuban and international science fiction—all of which serve as colleagues, fellow adventurers, sex partners, teachers, or members of the military high command in the Galactic Commonwealth governing this part of the universe. Our protagonist, Jan Amos Sangan Dongo, has a special role in this otherworldly menagerie: He is a veterinarian who specializes in treating enormous animals across the galaxy.

Coupling his own extensive studies in (earthly) biology with his vast curiosity and wild imagination, Yoss brings us a rare specimen in the richly parodic tradition of Cuban science fiction.

“One of the most prestigious science fiction authors of the island.”
—On Cuba Magazine

"A gifted and daring writer."
—David Iaconangelo

"José Miguel Sánchez [Yoss] is Cuba’s most decorated science fiction author, who has cultivated the most prestige for this genre in the mainstream, and the only person of all the Island’s residents who lives by his pen.”
—Cuenta Regresiva

Born José Miguel Sánchez Gómez, Yoss assumed his pen name in 1988, when he won the Premio David Award in the science fiction category for Timshel. Together with his peculiar pseudonym, the author's aesthetic of an impentinent rocker has allowed him to stand out amongst his fellow Cuban writers. Earning a degree in Biology in 1991, he went on to graduate from the first ever course on Narrative Techniques at the Onelio Jorge Cardoso Center of Literary Training, in the year 1999. Today, Yoss writes both realistic and science fiction works. Alongside these novels, the author produces essays, reviews, and compilations, and actively promotes the Cuban science fiction literary workshops, Espiral and Espacio Abierto.

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Humor, Science Fiction Fantasy, Speculative Fiction, Space, Space Opera

160 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 15, 2014

About the author

Born José Miguel Sánchez Gómez, Yoss assumed his pen name in 1988, when he won the Premio David Award in the science fiction category for Timshel. Together with his peculiar pseudonym, the author's aesthetic of an impentinent rocker has allowed him to stand out amongst his fellow Cuban writers. Earning a degree in Biology in 1991, he went on to graduate from the first ever course on Narrative Techniques at the Onelio Jorge Cardoso Center of Literary Training, in the year 1999. Today, Yoss writes both realistic and science fiction works. Alongside these novels, the author produces essays, reviews, and compilations, and actively promotes the Cuban science fiction literary workshops, Espiral and Espacio Abierto.

Reviews

[Ryan · Rating 1 out of 5]

I love stories about extraterrestrial biology and admire authors who play with linguistics and culture. I abhor a main character who says, "Call me machismo and closed-minded, and maybe I am, but what good is a woman without her most important opening?" Hanging a flimsy lampshade on a protagonist's repulsive beliefs (it's OK because he admits he's piggishly sexist?) makes it no less repugnant, especially if the whole point of a book seems to be set up to the punchline of a man grudgingly admitting he enjoys oral sex, too. I get the feeling that readers are supposed to sort of smirk and roll their eyes. "This guy," we're meant to say with a chuckle, especially since he "matures" by story's end—though the maturation is akin to a frat boy learning he should see beyond just sorority sisters as vehicles for his pleasure. The jacket itself calls this book "funny, witty, raunchy" and a "rare specimen in the richly parodic tradition of Cuban science fiction." I'm not sure what it's parodying, but I think women (of any species) deserve better. And my definition of funny, witty, and raunchy is something more than just "Lo siento, no filter, bro."

[Richard Derus · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rating: 4.5* of five, rounded up because reasons

#ReadingIsResistance but don't resist having fun! SUPER EXTRA GRANDE is a space opera with wordplay, humor, interspecies sex, and wildly imaginitive weirdness. My review is live at Expendable Mudge Muses Aloud. I gave it 4+ stars because I admire Restless Books and David Frye for making a funny, smart, playful, anti-imperialist political book in a market that doesn't necessarily snatch such beasts from the shelves. Resist the market, read this Cuban rocker-cum-author's energetic Spanglish literature classic. (Like that's hard...how many Spanglish books do you know of?)

[James · Rating 2 out of 5]

Embarrassingly adolescent and sexist in places, exasperatingly pedantic in others, and then... periodically... a bit of fun in spite of itself. To wit, regarding the mis-steps, the story ends with our hero espousing the virtues of getting head from a toothless, 6 breasted "gynoid" with a tri-forked tongue. WINK!

Ugh.

[Michelle Morrell · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a new Cuban import, written by Yoss, considered one of the foremost Cuban science fiction authors. He's written over 20 books, many highly regarded. One look at the author picture provided, and you can see he is larger than life himself. "He looks like a heavy metal singer," I thought. And Bingo! He also heads up a pretty rocking heavy metal band. (YouTube has everything)

So what kind of book was I going to find?

Super Extra Grande is the size of the universe's largest creatures. Not feet or pounds, but kilometers and tons. A perfect job niche, actually, because how many competetors are willing to go headfirst into a titan's digestive tract? Someone's got to do it.

It was a smart book. I was fed a whole lot of science and it was mostly effortless. It was fast, yet deep. The ideas were fresh but didn't ignore the scifi foundations. And it was fun.

My only complaint was the Spanglish dialogue. I was surprised that I could puzzle out the majority of what was said, but it stopped the flow of the book for me. I gave up quickly the first time and read through skipping over huge chunks of dialogue, but then the story was good enough I went back and deciphered it all.

One of the Philip K Dick award nominees for 2017, super happy to see them choosing a Latin voice and an underrepresented culture.

[Jonfaith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quick and fun, Super Extra Grande details an adventure of a veterinary biologist in the space age future, one who specializes in truly mammoth megafauna. Conversing in Spanglish, humans are but one of seven "intelligent " species who have achieved interstellar travel without the concurrent advances in culture or ethics. Just imagine the hijinks!

Satirical and hilarious, the novel is a treatise on chauvinism and orthodoxy . Intransigence and jingoism rule the day until our eight foot tall half Cuban/ half Japanese protagonist attempts to reconcile his prejudices, his ambitions and his gaping love for the natural manifestations of the universe. Recommended.

[Richard Everett · Rating 1 out of 5]

There were some mildly amusing situations and projections here but not enough to counter balance the crappy attitude towards females of any species. Don't waste even the small amount of time it takes to read this.

[jenni · Rating 2 out of 5]

Eeggghh there were things I really, really liked about this book, yet I still didn't really like this book. What got me: latinos as the first cosmic pioneers ("SUCK ON THIS, DUMB-ASS GRINGOS"), spanglish as galactic lingua franca, sci-fi from an optic I have literally never experienced before (a space-opera that takes place mostly within alien entrails). things that sucked: machismo, my own vacant knowledge of biology, a pedantic plot, presence of female characters being used merely for the purpose of unpalatable sexualization.

[Aleah · Rating 1 out of 5]

Clumsy exposition that's sprinkled with such gems as:

"I guess there's some strange part of the female psychology that simply can't stand being ignored by a male, interpreting it as a personal insult or a challenge they have to confront, come what may, whatever it takes" on page 23.

Or...

"Call me machista and closed-minded, and maybe I am, but what good is a woman without her most important opening" on page 83.





Not even leviathan sized amoebas could salvage this one for me.

[Lauren Stoolfire · Rating 3 out of 5]

Short, fun, and risqué sci-fi novel. I wish that this story about a veterinarian to super extra grande sized alien creatures was quite a bit longer to flesh out Jan's world a little more, and to have some of my favorite scenes (the rescue mission) get a little more page time. While it's very funny, I know that some of the satirical elements went over my head as well as some of the language jokes simply because I'm not very familiar with Cuban culture or the Spanish language for that matter. I definitely want to try more by Yoss after this first foray into his work.

[TraceyL · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is such a weird and truly unique book. It's a parody of old science fiction novels while also being an excellent example of one.

The alien creatures alone were so cool to hear about. The main character starts off the book, walking through the intestinal system of a worm the size of a mountain. He's looking for a bracelet belonging to the wife of an important political figure, and has to wade through waist deep excrement to do it.

Yes, it's gross, but it's also SO FREAKING COOL. There's also some silly stuff, like six breasted aliens, and creatures that reproduce through oral sex (it isn't as sexy as it sounds) but it all works. I loved this!

[Anna · Rating 3 out of 5]

I came across ‘Super Extra Grande’ while browsing in a bookshop years ago and was intrigued, then finally bought a copy off eBay last month. It’s an exuberant pulp-y Cuban sci-fi novella, full of fun details and playful structure and language. So why only three stars? Because the narrator is consistently, depressingly misogynist and the entire plot hangs on foolish females doing foolish female things. An illustrative sample of the narration:

I should have seen it coming. Woman (and, by extension, apparently all female humanoids, or gyncecoids, in general) are like cats, or like the marbusses of Mizar that all women love so much: When you call them they don’t come, and when you don’t call them, there’s no way to get rid of them.
Professional gigalos are well acquainted with this paradox. They take advantage of it with what they call ‘inaction strategy’ or ‘boredom as bait’ or something along those lines. And they say it always works.
I guess there’s some strange part of the female psychology that simply can’t stand being ignored by a male, interpreting it as a personal insult or challenge they have to confront, come what may, whatever it takes.

Given how much sci-fi I’ve read, I’m no longer particularly surprised to run across this sort of thing (cf The Doomed City, Limbo, etc, etc) but it still really fucking pisses me off. The rest of the world-building was vibrant and original: the narrator is a biologist veterinarian to the galaxy’s largest creatures; seven species discovered FTL travel at the same time and are trying not start territorial wars. I liked the concept that FTL travel had been a freak discovery and no similar technological advances in AI, delayed senescence, or advanced materials had accompanied it. The Cuban culture of making do and reusing older technology seemed to infuse the book. The dialogue is all in Spanglish, which I found easy to follow despite not knowing any Spanish (other than the swearing I learned from Y Tu Mama Tambien). If he hadn’t been so unremittingly sexist the protagonist would have been appealing, as he has a distinctive voice and an interestingly weird job. Unfortunately, this is another for the ‘spoilt by sexism’ stack.

[Amanda · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really wanted to like this book and was planning on pushing through because it’s short, but after 77 pages I think I’ll commit to DNFing. “. A person wouldn’t have lavender skin or yellow eyes or a spiny crest in the top of her head, or those six beautiful breasts with perfect nipples, seductively arranged in three pairs, all so naturally exposed” is what got me.
I was pushing past the first traces of misogyny and man-ness, remembering a conversation I had with a professor in college about just bc a character is unlikable doesn’t mean the book can’t be good or meaningful blah blah in fact a lot of time it means the character will grow and even if they don’t, as readers we may still have something to learn from them, etc.
but I’ve read enough to realize I don’t think finishing this will teach me anything, bring me joy, or a sense of satisfaction. I love the concept - critiques of colonialism through space, interesting linguistics, veterinarian to giant aliens - !!!! But this narrator is just unlikable making an unenjoyable read, and life is too short for that!!

[Brooke · Rating 2 out of 5]

If I were not reading it for a book club, I never would have finished this book. In short:

1. Almost nothing happens. Most of the action is squashed into the last third of the book and told in an off-hand way that makes it feel summarized.

2. The narrator is unpleasant. Reading this book feels like being trapped at a bar with a guy who insists on telling you all the ways he can tell the bartender is flirting with him. It’s really a shame because the world building was genuinely enjoyable, except that the protagonist made a terrible tour guide.

[Lucas Remington · Rating 4 out of 5]

Super Extra Grande is a unique postmodern take on traditional science fiction tropes, in which a giant veterinarian delves into an enormous amoeba to rescue two beautiful women, making an enormous amount of puns along the way.

Strengths:

Hilarious: Make no mistake: this is a funny, funny novel. The obligatory comparison to Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy is especially warranted here, as Super Extra Grande approaches humor with the same bombastic, rapid-fire insanity perfected by Douglas Adams. (Though unlike the original Hitchhiker, Super Extra Grande can get very risqué.) Importantly, it also doesn’t seem to take itself too seriously, particularly regarding the portrayal of the main character, who we’ll elaborate on more in the ‘weaknesses’ section. Though the novel does make its view of the world very clear, I never felt like I was being preached to, a trap that much of modern satire falls into.

Well-Realized World: Much of the first part of Super Extra Grande focuses on the development of the world, which is something that usually bothers me--I’m an impatient man, and I want to get the plot started as soon as possible. But in this case, the world that was being built was so damn fascinating that I found myself absorbed in the biological descriptions of the baffling, enormous creatures being wrangled. Encouragingly, this sense of depth and history was present throughout the rest of the novel, especially when describing aliens. It’s clear that Yoss spent a lot of time thinking about his world, and made sure to maintain consistency with both his character interactions and descriptions.

Weaknesses:

Culturally Dependent: While the satirical aspects of this novel can be screamingly funny, many of the puns and one-liners only make sense if you know about Cuban culture, or have a fair bit of knowledge about the Spanish language. This criticism might not be entirely fair, coming from a ‘stupid gringo’ like myself, but I feel that for a novel which roots itself so heavily in a world melding both Spanish and English, it should be understandable for both groups of readers. That said, while those jokes did fly over my head, they certainly didn’t make the novel unreadable—while I missed some of the nuances in the Spanglish dialogue, I was at least able to follow the plot.

Inconsistent Tone of Humor: The main character, Dr. Jan Amos Sangan Dongo (apparently, this is Spanish for ‘really big’) can be a bit obnoxious, although I do think his overbearing misogyny is more of a jab at traditional science fiction heroes than reflective of the beliefs of its author. This confusion pops up in several places, highlighting the main issue I had with the novel: it wants to tell a fun, lighthearted story while also being a biting satire of anything and everything. Not to say that this is impossible; Terry Pratchett, rest his soul, managed to strike this balance in his Discworld series. However, Pratchett understood for this concept to work, the satire in his novels needed to be extremely focused, almost to the point of parody; each one of his books systematically identified and attacked a particular idea. Yoss has taken a more scattershot approach in his novel, poking fun at politics, religion, sex, and traditional science fiction tropes all at the same time, all in under one hundred and fifty pages.

Weird Length: Speaking of the length, one hundred and fifty pages is… unusual, to say the least, especially because Super Extra Grande has so much to say. If some of the fat was trimmed off, Super Extra Grande would have been an excellent novella, and if some of the sparser sections were fleshed out, it would have been able to tie together all of these ideas together more coherently. As it is, none of the satirical elements get quite enough focus, which is a real shame.

Conclusion:

3.5 out of 5 stars. While this novel was certainly not perfect, it was still an enjoyable, well-paced romp. While I wouldn’t necessarily call it a ‘must-read’ book, I definitely would read other books by the same author, as he has a real gift for both humor and world

[Anne-Marie · Rating 3 out of 5]

A really fun, funny, raunchy romp through space in the mind of a veterinarian for giant space animals.

If you’re not in the mood for humour on the cruder side of the scale or can’t handle the dialogue in Spanglish (yes, Spanglish) this isn’t the book for you. But those interested, it’s an extremely inventive and different take on sci-fi.

I will warn you that the main character, while likeable for the most part, is a tad bit misogynistic - especially towards females of the non-humanoid variety. It almost derailed me from reading the book so you have been warned. But he ends up in a polyamorous relationship with one human female and one Cetian female (that of course has six breasts...) so I guess it’s all okay according to the character?

One last critique is that the ending/denouement was not super well done in my opinion, mostly the last 5-10 pages or so. It felt a little lazy and shoe horned in, for my tastes.

Also I want a laketon. They sound freaking amazing.

[Paul · Rating 3 out of 5]

Woohoo Latinos in space! Bummer that the protagonist is another fugly character that is the best at his job and gets all the girls. Other than that it is a fun and fast read with some interesting universe building.

[Roy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Anti-imperialist sci-fi story based on a veterinarian specializing in enormous alien animals? What's not to love?

[Ms. McGregor · Rating 1 out of 5]

I wish I could give this zero stars!

[Kelly · Rating 1 out of 5]

Started this book over a year ago and put it down because I wasn't able to follow what was going on and kept feeling like I was missing something. Picked the book back up (went back to the start of the book) with the hopes to completing it and I'm not enjoying it and still feel lost. I am not going to try a third time and just be done with this book.

[Liz · Rating 1 out of 5]

This ended up reading like a lot of self-published LitRPG. The world building was pretty cool (alien creatures and Spanglish), but the characters were two-dimensional and unlikeable, especially the "hero." Holy machismo, batman: hulky he-man physique, with his heart in the right place, and uttering such lines as "So the jealous sorts can run their mouths off about my supposed misogyny... [before going into sexist descriptions of his two female assistants]" and the one that almost made me hurl the book across the room, "Call me machista and closed-minded, and maybe I am, but what good is a woman without her most important opening [her vagina]?"

The only reason I didn't DNF is because I needed it to finish the 2018 Book Riot Read Harder Challenge

2021 Reading Challenge: Finish past Book Riot, Popsugar, or Back to Classics challenge
Book Riot Read Harder 2019: Book of genre fiction in translation

[Matt · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really wish this book were less sexist. Aside from the sexism, it’s great. But that’s very much like asking Mrs. Lincoln what she thought of the play.

Interesting world building, a strong narrative voice, and the use of spanglish as interstellar lingua franca can’t overcome the combination of the character’s sexism, and the narrative’s complete disinterest in women as independent beings.

I’ve seen some arguments that it is the character who is sexist, not Yoss. That may well be true, but the events of the book do not seem designed to make clear that the narrator’s views are anything other than correct.

It’s a shame. If I can establish that another of Yoss’ novels avoids the blatant misogyny, then I will gladly read it.

[S. Kallahan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun read with lots of surprises. Nice to read scifi with a slightly different cultural referent.

[Regina Irurzun · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tremendamente original. Ya solo por el invento del Impulso González para viajar más rápido que la velocidad de la luz, merece la pena leerlo. El planteamiento, la elección del protagonista (un veterinario de seres extraterrestres súper extra grandes) es genial y, desde luego, se nota que el autor, licenciado en Ciencias Biológicas, sabe muy bien de lo que habla. Quizás ahí puede estar también, al mismo tiempo, el problema, pues a veces la descripción detallada de la biología de los distintos seres puede resultar a los lectores demasiado extensa y técnica. A mí, por sí misma, no me ha molestado (de hecho me ha fascinado), pero me parece que queda un poco descompensado con la rapidez que, por el contrario, utiliza para narrar otros hechos importantes y solucionar ciertas situaciones. El final también me ha parecido excesivamente precipitado, como si fuera un resumen en realidad. Aun así, mis cuatro estrellas bien merecidas.

[MichaelK · Rating 1 out of 5]

One of the worst books I've read in a long time.

Horribly misogynistic, with an embarrassingly adolescent obsession with sex throughout. An immature, shallow writing style, with a plot reliant on nonsensical coincidences.

The experience of reading it was not unlike watching 'The Room', or a one of the 'so bad it's good' movies. Every few pages it reached a fresh low; it was almost hypnotically bad. I kept reading just to see how much worse it could possibly get, and it just kept getting worse, right up until the final, excruciatingly bad, cringe-fest of a page.

I managed to read it in one evening, so that's a positive at least.

[Michael · Rating 1 out of 5]

Picked this up in the hope of adding Cuba to my 'Read Around the World' challenge. What could have been an interesting story of a vet specialising in gargantuan alien beasts instead turns out to be a bizarre and frankly extremely creepy discussion of the main character's sexual exploits with alien creatures. Meticulous descriptions of the sexual behaviour of alien races are needless and disturbing, the narrator going into meticulous justification of his weird behaviour.

Just weird, uncomfortable and not recommended in the slightest. In fact, this was so awful that I'll be actively avoiding any Restless Books in the future.

[Alejandro Sierra · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was already a long time since I read a Scifi novel, and reading a fellow Latin American writing with this quality was both amazing and amusing. Figuring out how can be the life forms in the galaxy, given the vastness of environments, gravities, atmospheric composition, energies, is a stimulant and immense field for the imagination. But Yoss doesn't stop there and gave us a glimpse of the infinite variants of love and sex in a galaxy with 7 very different space travelable intelligent beans living in harmony. Recommendable nice and short reading.

[Edgar Nieves · Rating 3 out of 5]

As I keep reading Yoss, I can’t simply overlook how his characters are always male. I’ve read three of his novels translated to English and all three are male-centered narratives (even when one of them is supposed to be narrated by a robot) and somehow feels that his aim is writing for a male public. I mean, that’s his prerogative, of course. But I just hate how these male narrators have a macho-man attitude, often times making sexist remarks and relaying women to their sexuality.

As for the story, it’s fun, though the plot is quite simple.

[Bairdlet · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm only ten pages in and the overt misogyny is an unentertaining gut-punch. Plus, even if you're bilingual in English and Spanish (which I happen to be) the weird pidgen they're speaking is really distracting. So far the tons of literal shit the author is wading through (he just gave a giant alien an enema) seems prophetic.

I'll give it a bit longer because of the premise, but I feel right now like I'm reading some fratboy's attempt at NanoWrimo.

[Carter · Rating 3 out of 5]

Have been wanting to read a Yoss book for a while, and pick this up used for 6$. Ultimately a fun little novella that gets weighed down by some super expendable sex-focused tangents. I also skimmed goodreads in the store and knew they were coming, which made them all the more cumbersome.

I was surprised by how robust the world building was in such a short span, but it’s kind of a machismo rambly world build that doesn’t get any objective perspective as filler. Could’ve been a special little gem, the Spanglish and xenobiology is fun and quirky to parse, but I could never recommend this book to someone without a big warning in advance.

[Becky · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this book's protagonist to be irritatingly sexist at times, but was otherwise entertained and enjoyed the unique premise of following a human veterinary biologist specializing in extra large alien animals across the galaxy.