Slipping: Stories, Essays, & Other Writing

by Lauren Beukes

In her edgy, satiric debut collection, award-winning South African journalist and author Lauren Beukes (The Shining Girls, Moxyland) never holds back. Nothing is simple and everything is perilous when humans are involved: corruption, greed, and even love (of a sort).

A permanent corporate branding gives a young woman enhanced physical abilities and a nearly-constant high
Recruits lifted out of poverty find a far worse fate collecting biohazardous plants on an inhospitable world
The only adult survivor of the apocalypse decides he will be the savior of teenagers; the teenagers are not amused.

From Johannesburg to outer space, these previously uncollected tales are a compelling, dark, and slippery ride.

Genres: Short Stories, Fantasy, Essays, Science Fiction, Fiction, Anthologies, Horror

288 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 29, 2016

About the author

Lauren Beukes is an award-winning, best-selling novelist who also writes screenplays, TV shows, comics and journalism. Her books have been translated into 26 languages and have been optioned for film and TV.

Her awards include the Arthur C Clarke Award, the prestigious University of Johannesburg prize, the August Derleth Prize, the Strand Critics Choice Award and the RT Thriller of the Year. She’s been honoured in South Africa’s parliament and most recently won the Mbokondo Award from the Department of Arts and Culture, celebrating women in the arts for her work in the Creative Writing field.

She is the author of Broken Monsters, about art, ambition, damaged people and not-quite-broken cities, The Shining Girls, about a time-travelling serial killer, the nature of violence, and how we are haunted by history, Zoo City, a phantasmagorical noir set in Johannesburg which won the Arthur C Clarke Award and Moxyland, a dystopian political thriller about a corporate apartheid state where people are controlled by their cell phones. Her first book was a feminist pop-history, Maverick: Extraordinary Women From South Africa’s Past, which has recently been reprinted.

Her comics work includes Survivors' Club, an original Vertigo comic with Dale Halvorsen and Ryan Kelly, the New York Times-bestselling graphic novel, Fairest: The Hidden Kingdom with Inaki Miranda, and a Wonder Woman one-shot for kids, “The Trouble With Cats” in Sensation Comics, set in Mozambique and Soweto and drawn by Mike Maihack.

Her film and TV work includes directing the documentary, Glitterboys & Ganglands, about Cape Town’s biggest female impersonation beauty pageant. The film won best LGBT film at the San Diego Black Film Festival.

She was the showrunner on South Africa’s first full length animated TV series, URBO: The Adventures of Pax Afrika which ran for 104 half hour episodes from 2006-2009 on SABC3. She’s also written for the Disney shows Mouk and Florrie’s Dragons and on the satirical political puppet show,ZANews and Archbishop Desmond Tutu’s South African Story.

Before that she was a freelance journalist for eight years, writing about electricity cable thieves, TB, circumcision, telemedicine, great white sharks, homeless sex workers, Botswana’s first female high court judge, and Barbie as a feminist icon for magazines ranging from The Sunday Times Lifestyle to Nature Medicine, Colors, The Big Issue and Marie Claire.

She lives in Cape Town, South Africa with her daughter.

www.laurenbeukes.com
Twitter.com/laurenbeukes Instagram.com/laurenbeukes Facebook.com/laurenbeukes

Awards & Achievements
2015 South Africa’s Mbokondo Award for Women In The Arts: Creative Writing
2014 August Derleth Award for The Shining Girls
2014 Strand Critics Choice Award for The Shining Girls
2014 NPR Best Books of the Year Broken Monsters
2014 LA Times Best Books of the Year Broken Monsters
2013 University of Johannesburg Literature Prize for The Shining Girls
2013 RT Thriller of the Year for The Shining Girls
2013 WHSmith Richard & Judy BookClub Choice
2013 Exclusive Books’ Bookseller’s Choice for The Shining Girls
2013 Amazon Best Mysteries and Thrillers for The Shining Girls
2011 Kitschies Red Tentacle for Zoo City
2010 Arthur C Clarke Award for Zoo City

Reviews

[karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

this is a collection of previously-published material and like all collections, it's highs and lows, highs and lows, but even more so here since the material was written over the course of ten years of beukes' writerly development. judging by the names of some of the anthologies/journals in which these stories first appeared, her contributions may have been commissioned and specifically tailored to the theme of the collection, and operating within dictated parameters doesn't always produce the best work, so it's understandable that some of these are stronger than others.

the ones that are good are very good, indeed, and the collection is a diverse mix of science fiction, flash fiction, dark fantasy, crime fiction, with the recurring themes of dehumanization and a frightening vision of the future, both in a general sense and in her native south africa, with the repercussions of its particular history. the stories are steeped in social commentary, particularly the abuse of technology - medical or social media, scams and catfishing. there are also 5 nonfiction pieces representing beukes' journalism career.

bit by bit:

Muse (2010)

flash fiction - 68 words.

it's short, but it does its job - a dark droplet of an angela carter-feeling reverie about the creative process.

Slipping (2014)

the title track, this story features the +Games, a sort of futuristic olympics in which all contestants have been enhanced with superhuman abilities, provided with sympathy-baiting backstories and exploited by promoters to show off "look what we can do with the human body" to entice pharmaceutical, medical, or military interests. beukes' speculative futurefear at its best.

Confirm/Ignore (2010)

short, but excellent little story about all the wonderful possibilities the anonymity of the internet provides … for creeps.

chilling, yes, but this made me laugh:

But who of us can claim to be truly original? Aren't we all remixes of every influence we've ever come across? Love something, let it go. If it comes back, it's a meme. There's a double me in meme.

Branded (2003)

i've only read The Shining Girls and Broken Monsters - i haven't read either Moxyland or Zoo City but i know what they are, in terms of themes and genre: futuristic urban fantasy with slang and drugs and street punks. this story seems to have come from that artistic period, and it's fine, but i have a feeling if i were to read her urban fantasy stuff, i wouldn't like them as much as i loved the ones i've already read.

oh, and there's a handy glossary in the back of this book deciphering south african slang, if that's not something you already have in your brain.

Smileys (2005)

crime and survival in south africa - political unrest and its trickling-down to those suffering on the very bottom of the power spectrum and how those people should not be underestimated.

Princess (2008)

fairy tale pornography! it's a broad retelling of the princess and the pea, where the pea is found, not beneath the teetering pile of mattresses, quilted and cotton-rich, with pocket coils and high-density foam, but nestled among the wiry coils between her legs.

told from the faithful handmaid's perspective, this is a story about celebrity exploitation and the mother of all paparazzi upskirt angling.

this was written for Open: Erotic Stories by South African Women, which goes back to what i said about wanting to know why these were written and if she would have written this on her own.

My Insect Skin (2003)

short and intense, with no way to write about it further without spoiling. just … intense.

Parking (2005)

obsession, stalking, abuse of power, and yet i can't help feeling a little sad for the character's creepy stalker ass.

Pop Tarts (2004)

another celebrity culture tale, where reality tv is anything but, where characters are built, media is manipulated, people are props, and those who knew you when are disgusted and sad but roped in for the ride.

The Green (2012)

even scarier than toxoplasmosis! this is one of the longest stories in the collection, which is good, because it actually has room to develop, and it's a wonderfully unsettling tale of medical advancements, the people who get paid to be guinea pigs, and the horror of … the pinocchios...

Litmash (2012)

this might be my favorite thing beukes has ever written - apparently, during some twitter fiction festival, I asked followers to propose genre mash-ups and wrote tweet-sized stories, live.

the fact that she can do this on the spot and have them be so funny and clever (which are two different things), is amazing. and since this is all on the twitter, i don't feel bad about copying out the ones in the book, and there are more examples here:

#Sex&TheDystopianCity I

Picked up the most adorable bespoke pink tutu. Only had to gun down eight people. #win #summer-sales.

#Sex&TheDystopianCity II

Miranda was the first to go. All the lawyers up against the wall. Carrie was executed for looting. Samantha ran a brothel for a while. But Supreme General Commander Charlotte came out best of all. She always was the most ruthless.

#KamaSartre

Hell is sex with other people.

#MuppetPrisonDrama

They shaved Animal to reveal the map, Gonzo picked the lock. But Warden Piggy was waiting for them. "Going somewhere, Frog?"

#PotterxPalahniuk

I am Benjamin Bunny's vented spleen. His gutted innards. His roast haunch on a plate.

#MyLittlePonyNoir

Ain't no rainbows here, Dash said. Not since Pinkie Pie turned up hooves up in an alley.

#ColdWarFairyTale I

The sad truth was that magic gets mired in bureaucratic red tape, same as everything.

#ColdWarFairyTale II

He opened up the warhead and found her heart. All glass and nuclear love.

i could read an entire book of these...

Easy Touch (2009)

a story of a scam artiste and his various tactics and how you ought never to get too complacent in the work that you do.

Algebra (2006)

a relationship told through the letters of the alphabet (a is for algebra, b is for braggadocio, etc), where each segment is given a few paragraphs to develop the story. sounds gimmicky, but it's really nicely done.

Unathi Battles the Black Hairballs (2010)

this one i did not like at all. but it may be that i haven't read enough Haruki Murakami, who features here as a character. maybe i'm missing out on references and nods, but i just didn't get anything out of this one, which is weird, since i usually love b-movie weirdness.

Dear Mariana (2004)

another wonderfully skewed relationship story. oh, that lauren beukes, she is a dark lady, indeed. but what about the cat, beukes?? what about the cat?

Riding with the Dream Patrol (2011)

fake journalism from a real journalist, set six years into the future at the time of writing, and one year from present-day. one can't help but wonder how much of this is based on real experiences, with her reasonably projecting the likely state of journalism when it runs up against politics in the fuuuuutuuuure.

Unaccounted (2011)

He is aware that he isn't qualified to know what is inappropriate anymore.

a science fiction-y allegory on what prolonged war and occupation does to trained soldiers - the boredom filled with casual cruelty, the lapses in discipline and protocol, the mistreatment of the indigenous population and prisoners. it's a mess. and not just because of the spiny gastropods.

Tankwa-Karoo (2014)

lauren beukes channels o. henry and it gets horrifying. love this one so much.

Exhibitionist (2006)

the fine line between performance art and terrorism.

Dial Tone (2005)

short and sad - in a world that boasts its connectivity and ability to communicate with anyone, anywhere, how can you still feel so alone?

it made me want to listen to this song. so i did.

Ghost Girl (2008, 2011)

a cute story about a young student architect and the ghost of a little girl who latches onto him.

Nonfiction:

Adventures in Journalism (2005)
All the Pretty Corpses (2013)
Judging Unity (2006)
Inner City (2013)
On Beauty: A Letter to My Five-Year-Old Daughter (2014)

i don't feel like summarizing the nonfiction, because this has already taken foreeever to review (as do all short story collections). suffice it to say, she's quite good at narrative nonfiction, and i'd happily read more of it, i just don't feel like doing the review-thing for it.

now i need a new novel from her, stat!

*************************************



what do we have here??

come to my blog!

[Taryn · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 Stars. A collection of twenty-six short stories & essays written by Lauren Beukes, author of The Shining Girls, Broken Monsters, and Zoo City. Why haven't I read any of Lauren Beukes's work before? This book was my favorite kind of strange!

You might think of a city as a map, all knotted up in the bondage of grid lines by town planners. But really, it’s a language—alive, untidy, ungrammatical. The meaning of things rearranges, so the scramble of the docks turns hipster cool while the faded glamor of the inner city gives way to tenement blocks rotting from the inside. It develops its own accent, its own slang. And sometimes it drops a sentence. Sometimes the sentence finds you. And won’t shut up. (Ghost Girl)

The stories in this book address a wide range of topical issues: corporate and government exploitation of the underprivileged, the effects of reality TV and social media on culture, government surveillance, obsession/toxic relationships/domestic violence, and creativity. Most of the stories are set in South Africa, but we also visit Pakistan, Japan, and unfamiliar planets. The author occasionally uses words specific to South Africa, so be sure to turn to the glossary at the end if you have trouble with any unfamiliar terms.

Dehumanizing is not only something that other people do to you. It can be self-inflicted, too. Switch off the light behind your eyes. Focus on the lowest rungs of Maslow. Get through the day, however you can. (Inner City)

The overall atmosphere is dark and disturbing. Many of the stories are spine-chilling in a "sensing a sinister presence while walking alone in the dark" way. Most of the characters seem to have a deep longing for something better and are doing the best they can to survive in the harsh and unforgiving world they were born into. There's a mix of realistic stories and science fiction, but even the ones set in a strange environment have a recognizable tinge. Throughout the entire book, I felt like I was in the middle ground between fantasy and reality. Beukes takes the current state of affairs to an extreme using familiar attitudes and rationalizations. Strip away all the strange details and it's all uncomfortably real!

The young people don’t see it. It’s all nonsense, they say, apartheid is over and done, leave it behind. But the past infests everything, like worms. They’ve cut down the old trees, the new government, but the roots of the past are still there, can still tangle round your feet, trip you up. They go deep. (Smileys)

My seven favorites in the fiction section:
• Slipping: A young woman with a disability has the opportunity to lift her family out of poverty when she agrees to be enhanced with biotechnology. Her custodians use her as a showpiece to obtain military and pharmaceutical contracts.
• Pop Tarts: Sponsorships are king in a competitive market where everyone has the opportunity to broadcast their lives on television. These new celebrities are willing to go to extreme lengths to improve their ratings and keep fickle audiences entertained.
• Tankwa-Karoo: An eclectic mix of people gather together at a music festival as society collapses around them, but the situation at "civilization's last stand" quickly deteriorates.
• Riding With the Dream Patrol: Written as a news article, correspondent Lauren Beukes interviews a government surveillance unit that's dedicated "watching the greatest show on earth. You."
• Easy Touch: A 419 scammer preps his next victim.
• Algebra: The tale of a complicated relationship told from A to Z.
• The Green: A corporation recruits people with underprivileged backgrounds to travel to a dangerous planet and mine a unique substance that's potentially valuable to the military.

At least in fiction, unlike real life, you can get justice. (All the Pretty Corpses)

There were only five essays/articles in the non-fiction section and I wished there were more! The five non-fiction pieces included reveal how Beukes's career as a journalist informs her fiction. In Adventures in Journalism, the beginnings of the short story Smileys come to light. In All the Pretty Corpses, she addresses the media treatment of murder victims and explains why she wrote The Shining Girls. There is also a really touching essay, On Beauty: A Letter to My Five Year Old Daughter, that I hope every young girl has the opportunity to read.

Real beauty is engaging with the world. It’s the courage to face up to it, every day. It’s figuring out who you are and what you believe in and standing by that. It’s giving a damn. You are interesting because you are interested, you are amazing because you are so wide open to everything life has to give you. (On Beauty)

As is the case with many collections of short fiction, not all the stories resonated with me. Sometimes the weird little details are so distant from my own frame of reference that I have a hard time visualizing what was going on and/or feeling like I had a full grasp of the message being given. The absolute weirdest--and most fun--story was Unathi Battles the Black Hairballs (available at link), a short story that readers of Haruki Murakami will appreciate. It's hard not to be intrigued by a badass flight sergeant wearing "knee-high white patent combat boots made from the penis leather of a whale she had slaughtered herself"!

This author is definitely on my must-read list now. I love her empathy, imagination, and how she explores important issues in a creative way. If you like this book, I think you might also like Some Possible Solutions by Helen Phillips or Children of the New World: Stories by Alexander Weinstein. You might also want to check out director Neill Blomkamp's movies: District 9, Elysium, and Chappie.

________________________
I received this book for free from Tachyon Publications & NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review. This title will be released on November 29, 2016.

[Bradley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC!

This is my fourth Beukes and I was thrilled to get the ARC, not merely because the author is fantastic with mixing genres, being as solid in hard SF and mystery as she is in wonderfully evocative and detailed and interesting prose set within South Africa.

Not that South Africa is as important to the story as the recurring themes of con games and violence against women. The themes of identity and image and body mods are also extremely prevalent, too.

But she also evokes wonderful and interesting flavors for her settings, too, bringing out some of the most interesting and sharp details like all of the best writers I've ever read. She is completely conscious of the issues of South Africa, but she's just as evocative about the alien worlds featuring the problem of slime molds, the kind of world that makes cyborgs, or even a meme'd out inner-world. :)

She's weird, and I love weird. Everyone should be reading this author and start tracking her wonderful talent with characters. That's where she shines the most. :)

[Tania · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. Normally I don't read short stories, but as I am a huge fan of fellow South African, Lauren Beukes, I was ecstatic when netgalley approved me for an ARC. The title story is Lauren at her best, and I ended up wishing it was a full-length novel - imagine a very dark and twisted Hunger Games. Although the stories are all very different (some dealing with the harsh reality of living in SA, some sci-fi, some fantasy etc), most of them focuses on the theme of how technology and social media has changed the way we life, and taking this reality to a fantasy level. Some of the stories also really reminded me of her previous work: Moxyland and Branded, Zoocity and Easy touch for instance. So this is a quick way to see if you will enjoy her novels.
The three things I enjoy most about this unique author is her edgy and avant-garde imagination, her tongue in cheek sense of humour and the fact that she uses South Africa as the setting for most of her stories. The non-fiction writing was interesting as she shows us how she uses information received as a journalist when writing fiction.
Some of my favorite stories were: Slipping, Princess, Pop tarts, Easy touch, Unathi battles the black hairballs (this one was so ridiculously over the top, I had to love it) and Tankwa-Karoo.
If you have not tried this author before, and you sometimes enjoy reading weird and wonderful, sometimes wacky, but almost always a little bit sinister stories, I highly recommend that you try this out.
*ARC from Netgalley

[Althea Ann · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fiction

Muse - Brief, poetic and appropriate as an introduction. A dash of the fantastic, a bit of horror - and a comment on the creative process.

Slipping - A re-read (and worth the second look.) "Last year, Beukes' 'Broken Monsters' impressed me... and this story continues to impress. The technology here is beyond today's capabilities - but the behavior of the humans here is all too believable; the situation not just credible but likely.
With most countries banning 'enhanced' sports, the +Games has found a home in Pakistan, where bionic athletes compete not solely for an audience, but for corporate and military observers. The hope? For the surgeon to showcase their wares, resulting in a payoff.
Why would anyone opt for these extreme and experimental surgical procedures? And what is the human cost? Beukes answers these questions with this horrific and emotionally wracking portrait of one young South African competitor."

Confirm / Ignore - Brief, but timely and insightful look into the mentality involved in creating fake social media profiles.

Branded - You can read the story on i09: http://io9.gizmodo.com/5943053/a-bran.... This is a precursor to 'Moxyland,' and shares some of the same themes, especially the idea of paid sponsors wearing commercial logo 'tattoos' and receiving nanotech enhancements that allow them to get 'high' off seemingly innocuous products.
If you haven't read this - or Moxyland - yet, I recommend doing so. (https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...)

Smileys - An older woman, heading to market, is approached by a young man who can't have anything good in mind. The outcome is surprising, and kick-ass. Loved it!

Princess - A weird fairytale/allegory about sexual awakening, and the romance between a popstar celebrity and her Ecuadorean maid, complete with happy-ish ending. Bizarre.

My Insect Skin - Powerful and disturbing. This is a short vignette, but packs an emotional punch in with more layers of complexity than the reader initially expects. Impressively excellent writing.

Parking - Remember The Beatles' "Lovely Rita"? Well, this is a reversal of that scenario. A traffic warden develops a crush on a woman who regularly parks on his beat. Things don't work out so well. Exploring both issues of class and human nature, Beukes eloquently allows for understanding, without demanding or excusing.

Pop Tarts - With just one step into the future, Beukes shows us the possible next gen of reality TV. What happens when your best friend is the next big star, her - and your - every move followed by the cameras? A blackly humorous look at where the trends are leading.

The Green - WOW. Dystopian military sci-fi/horror. This story is so excellent. Our protagonist has been recruited from the slums to a military-style research corporation specializing in R&D. They use people like her for highly dangerous harvesting operations on alien planets. On-the-job injury or death isn't uncommon. But a new project is particularly demoralizing: they're experimenting with corpses; using some kind of alien 'mold' to reanimate them, zombie style. Seeing your former lover in this state is pretty rough, understandably. But is it the worst thing you can imagine? Beukes is up for the challenge of taking the horror one step further.

Litmash - Bits from a Twitter 'story' challenge. Some of them are amusing, but this isn't really my kind of thing.

Easy Touch - At this point in time, it's a familiar story: a woman with a dying child has been sucked into a 419 scam, lured across international borders and convinced to sink her assets into the hopes of a big payout. But Beukes does something a bit unexpected with the tale.

Algebra - It's just the story of a relationship. Not usually my sort of thing. Nothing really that unusual or remarkable happens. You might think, at first, the little A-Z sections are a bit gimmicky. But the end result is just wonderfully done.

Unathi Battles the Black Hairballs - Again, at first, I didn't think this was going to be my kind of story. Wild and weird, cartoony Japanime action... But then, I said, "Waiiittt... this is sounding an awful lot like the Takashi Murakami exhibit we had at the Brooklyn Museum." And then, Haruki Murakami (the writer) shows up as a character. Next thing you know, Takashi is there too. And I was laughing out loud on the subway... It's awesome.

Dear Mariana - This one is more in line, mood-wise, with 'Broken Monsters' (and maybe 'Shining Girls; which I haven't read yet.) A poorly-typed letter to an absent ex-girlfriend begins innocuously enough. But as the narrative continues, an ominous tension crawls to the forefront.

Riding with the Dream Patrol - Drawing from Beukes' experience as a journalist; this one almost feels like non-fiction. The concerns about issues of privacy, 'classified' data and technology are all-too-current.
"The problem is that you can justify almost anything as national security, and the guy who gets to decide what should be declassified is the same person who decided it was classified in the first place. ... And all this is being sold to us as for our own good."

Unaccounted - Things have gone sour between humanity and the aliens. We're in a state of war. Alien 'diplomats' are now held prisoner at a military facility. And, in a situation disturbingly reminiscent of Guantanamo (or any other military prison/base), the lines between correct operating procedure, the rules of bureaucracy, ethical actions, and the violation of all of those, becomes increasingly blurred. Powerful piece.

Tankwa-Karoo - Attendees at a rave festival slip more quickly than they could have imagined into Mad-Max-style bloody power struggles, when they hear that outside civilisation has collapsed. Bitterly hilarious.

Exhibitionist - This is an excerpt from 'Moxyland.'

Dial Tone - Similar in theme to "Confirm / Ignore," but instead of social media, the narrator here makes 'prank' phone calls.

Ghost Girl - A college student studying architecture and struggling through a passionate but unstable romantic relationship finds his perspective challenged when the ghost of a teenage goth girl starts following him around and bugging him.

Nonfiction

Adventures in Journalism - An essay on Beukes' work as a journalist and how those experiences and techniques have informed an enabled her fiction.

All the Pretty Corpses - An introduction, or notes on 'The Shining Girls,' with a story about the truly horrific murder of a woman Beukes knew, and tried - and failed - to gain justice for. Not easy reading.

Judging Unity - An introduction, based on an interview, to the writer, lawyer and human rights activist Unity Dow. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unity_Dow Succeeding in interesting me in her writing!

Inner City - An introduction/notes on "Zoo City," again, giving insight into how real-life experiences informed the novel.

On Beauty: A Letter to My Five-Year-Old Daughter - A feminist essay.

Many thanks to Tachyon and NetGalley for the chance to read this collection from one of my favorite authors. As always, my opinions are unconnected to the source of the book.

[Jenny (Reading Envy) · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is really more short stories with a few essays at the end, so definitely go into it for the fiction and not the non-fiction. I was excited about the idea of reading more non-fiction by Beukes, knowing her background in journalism, but this is majority short fictions - contemporary South Africa, near future, with all the lingo and language play I'm used to from some of her earliest published works.

Still, overall I did not rate this that highly.

One story that is five-stars is the title story, Slipping. It is about the +Games, with modified athletes competing for billionaires by selling their bodies (and souls) away. It had tastes of Tiptree in it and is probably the only piece I am likely to remember long-term.

I did find an interesting tidbit in the essay, All the Pretty Corpses, where Beukes gives some of the real-life backstory to why she wrote The Shining Girls. Quite sad, really, and this quote sums it up:
"At least in fiction, unlike real life, you can get justice."

I received a copy of this from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

[Fiona Knight · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked this up in the current Storybundle offer - curated by Lavie Tidhar and well worth checking out here: https://storybundle.com/scifi

Having only read Lauren Beukes in the long form before, I went into this hopeful, but not entirely certain what to expect - the ability to write amazing novels doesn't always translate to short fiction, much less to non-fiction. But no need to worry; her voice is strong and comes across in a very familiar way. South Africa features heavily, her only recurring character so far, and it's an interesting collection, full of near-future extrapolations that warn, and entertain, and horrify in turn. The edge of outrage at injustice and unfairness that lingers around the edges of her fiction comes straight to the fore in the non-fiction essays collected at the back; it was interesting to see all that subtext laid bare. And the letter to her daughter I suspect I'll keep for mine (should I have one).

Definitely a collection worth the time, and one that leaves the reader with something to think about.

[Bonnie · Rating 4 out of 5]

‘You don’t have to name something to understand it.’

In Slipping, Beukes takes the modern world and transforms it into something futuristic and near unrecognizable. The title story, Slipping, is about a girl who, following a severe accident, is transformed through technological advances into a racing machine. Smileys, is a strange story about a soldier attempting to extort a woman who sells cooked sheep heads. Pop Tarts, is a story about a reality star and the realization that it’s all nothing but scripted fiction. Unathi Battles the Black Hairballs, is the story about a woman who must save Tokyo (and I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the talking cat). Each of these stories are wildly authentic, vastly entertaining, and a constant focus on the darkness in this world.

'Culture wants to be free. This is not my original thought. But who of us can claim to be truly original? Aren’t we all remixes of every influence we’ve ever come across?’

The wide variety of genres cause the stories to lack a certain cohesion like a typical short story anthology might, but it does this collection a disservice to think this is a negative. Instead, each of these stories act as their own palette cleanser from one story to the next and it keeps the reader in a constant state of bewilderment not knowing what type of outlandishness to expect next. I was pleasantly surprised that my favorite part of this collection were the five Non-Fiction pieces included at the end. In these she discusses personal topics such as how she got into journalism, about the research she conducted for her book Zoo City within the inner city of Johannesburg, and some additional insight into why she wrote The Shining Girls, my personal favorite of Beukes, which made me love it even more. She leaves us on a resolute note, with a letter to her five-year-old daughter about the meaning of true beauty.

I’ve read (and loved) a few of Beukes’ full length novels and her writing prowess manages to be just as impressive in her short fiction. This obscure collection only proves that her talents are truly expansive and that we have much to look forward from her.

‘Every person I speak to gives me a new perspective, a different lens. It’s made my writing more than it would have ever been. And it’s still an excuse to go adventuring.’

I received this book for free from the Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

[Michael Hicks · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tachyon Publications sent me an ARC of SLIPPING for a blurb, so no formal review from me on this one.

I will say, though, that I had fun reading this collection of short stories. Beukes has one hell of a voice, and whether she's writing about far-flung future space explorers or creepy ass meter maid stalkers, there's always a supreme authorial command at work. Her non-fiction works, although a much smaller collection than her fictional short stories here, surprised me in all the best ways, particularly her letter to her five-year-old daughter on the topic of beauty, which is brief but powerful. Good stuff!

[Sonja Arlow · Rating 4 out of 5]

3 1/2 stars

Predictable and conforming is not words that can ever describe this author’s work and this eclectic collection of short stories was no exception. As there were quite a lot of stories I wanted to just highlight 3 of my favourites.

Slipping – the title story set in a futuristic world during the kill-or-be-killed Olympic style event. Reading this coincided with me watching Caster Semenya cruise into victory in the 800m Rio Olympics so I think that added to my enjoyment of this story. I actually liked it so much I was disappointed that it was actually just a short story – I would have read a fully-fledged novel about his world in a heartbeat.

Smileys - set in Johannesburg following an old Gogo catching a train with her bag of Smileys (sheeps heads) on her way to sell them at her food stall and along the way getting harassed by a young ex-freedom fighter.

Tankwa-karoo – plays off during an Africa style Burning Man festival where things go completely awry (think Lord of the Flies)

In fact, all the stories which had a South African flavour were highly enjoyable and as a South African it felt as if I was sharing some inside jokes with the author as it was just full of local colloquialisms that only a South African would get.

There were also 5 non-fiction stories at the end and I really loved these. It gave some insight into where the author got her inspirations to write Zoo City and The Shining Girls and both stories had very powerful reasons to be written. And these last stories made me roundup my rating to a full 4 stars.

In the interest of being truthful I did not like ALL the stories but If you are a fan of this author I don’t think you will be disappointed at all.

A truly odd and wonderful collection of stories.

Expected publish date: 29 November 2016

[Kalin]

I skipped over the darker pieces, but "Branded" (which I've already mentioned here), "Princess," and "Unathi Battles the Black Hairballs" made me squeal with laughter; while "Ghost Girl" also made me warm.

A signature excerpt from "Confirm/Ignore":

These are not my words. But be honest, they’re not yours either. Nothing belongs to anyone anymore. Culture wants to be free. This is not my original thought. But who of us can claim to be truly original? Aren’t we all remixes of every influence we’ve ever come across? Love something, let it go. If it comes back, it’s a meme. There’s a double me in meme.

I also liked Beukes's journalistic articles and essays, for both their passion and the context they added to her fiction. If some of those short stories sounded weird, "Adventures in Journalism" proved life to be weirder:

Journalism gives me license to intrude, to ask queasily personal questions of people like Riaan* (not his real name), a tattooed twenty-eight-year-old who knowingly passed HIV to his wife, Lizl*. Sitting in the downstairs coffee shop of the multinational corporation the couple work for as AIDS educators, I asked them if they were still in love, after all they’d been through. “We’ve been married for six years now,” Riaan said, rubbing the back of his hand, marred by white scars from punching in his car window, because, ironically, he’s the bitter one. “But if you watch Oprah Winfrey, you’ll know that love thing is just a phase.”
“Like an infection,” Lizl added, straight-faced.

And "On Beauty: A Letter to My Five-Year-Old Daughter" showed the loveliness of life:

I can’t control or stop the things people will say, what magazines will tell you that you can or can’t wear, the way men will call after you in the street and think they’re doing you a favor, how your physical self will be turned into a weapon against you, in the outside world and, worse, inside your head.
I can’t filter it, I can’t protect you from it. That’s the worst way to live your life—sheltered from the world. But I can arm you as best I can. I can try to nurture your self-confidence. I can try to tell you what real beauty is.
It’s everything you are already. Right now.
Hold on to that. Hold on to it as tight as you can—your delight, your burning curiosity, your sense of humor, your mad imagination, your clear sense of justice, your joy in your body, in running and climbing and swimming and playing and dancing.
Real beauty is engaging with the world. It’s the courage to face up to it, every day. It’s figuring out who you are and what you believe in and standing by that. It’s giving a damn. You are interesting because you are interested, you are amazing because you are so wide open to everything life has to give you.

[Bookworm · Rating 4 out of 5]

Muse - 2.5
Slipping - 4
Confirm / Ignore - 2.5
Branded - 3
Smileys - 3.5
Princess - 3
My Insect Skin - 4
Parking - 3.5
Pop Tarts - 3
The Green - 4.5
Litmash - 3.5
Easy Touch - 4
Algebra - 3.5
Unathi Battles the Black Hairballs - 4.5
Dear Mariana - 3
Riding with the Dream Patrol - 3
Unaccounted - 3.5
Tankwa-Karoo - 3
Exhibitionist - 3
Dial Tone - 3
Ghost Girl - 3.5

[David Harris · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm grateful to the publisher for an advance e-copy of this book via NetGalley.

I mostly knew of Beukes as the author of smart, twisted SF or fantasy - though it was clear from The Shining Girls that she was also a committed journalist - and I certainly hadn't read any of her short fiction. So this collection was enlightening in a number of ways.

The book collects 21 short stories, written over a decade or more both before and around Beukes' 4 published novels, and 5 pieces of non-fiction. There is also a glossary which may be useful if you're puzzled by some of the South African language used here.

In one of the non-fiction pieces, 'Adventures in Journalism', Beukes sets out what you might take as the manifesto for this collection: '...my job sent me careening around the city from rough-hewn Bellville (cellular chip technology, kiteboarding) to an exclusive boys' school in leafy Rondebosch (teen sexuality) to the low-income apartheid estate Bonteheuwel (graffiti artists, taxi drivers).' Driven by her desire to learn, to understand and to communicate, she flits around, taking in all the breadth of human life (and death).

Similarly, this book explores the boundaries of the weird, the fantastical, the outrageous, from an obsessed stalker who's invaded her girlfriend's home ('Dear Mariana') to an occupying army carrying out torture on captive aliens ('Unaccounted') to a fraud perpetrated by 419 scammers ('Easy Touch'). In some of these you can see ideas developing that resulted in full length novels - part of the background of 'Zoo City' was those same scammers, and 'Branded' reads like backstory to 'Moxyland'. Others are standalone (or haven't resulted in full length books yet...) or experimental: a collection of microstories written as tweets ('Litmash'), the story of someone calling random numbers and trying to impose a structure on the results ('Dial Tone'), a tale ('Algebra') told in 26 sections, one for each letter of the alphabet.

Not all the stories have elements of the fantastic or the SFnal: many are naturalistic, at least on the surface: in 'Parking' a parking attendant burns with desire for one of the women who regularly leaves her car in his area. Or is he a threatening stalker? In 'Slipping' a mysterious figure adopts multiple identities online - but why? Perhaps there's a sense that Beukes herself is, here, slipping: all those journalistic assignments, all those different themes - trans-human athletes competing in a kind of reality TV show, a fairytale in which a princess finds happiness somewhere she had never looked, stories of edgy art creators and architecture students who meet ghosts - seem to be her sampling possibilities, trying on ideas, and reporting back.

Sometimes, as I've said, things coalesce in themes or ideas that relate to the novels - both in the fiction and the non-fiction, where there is a discussion of the themes behind The Shining Girls, specifically the man who hates women so much that he wants to snuff out something special that he sees in them.

That idea - the twistedness behind the way things are - is a common motif, many of the stories touching on themes of, especially, race (how could they not) but generally obliquely. There's the determined woman who makes her living selling 'smileys' (cooked sheeps' heads) who has a spot of bother with a veteran of the Struggle. There are references (again in both the fiction and non-fiction) to the different districts, often close beside each other, the vastly different yet intertwined lives. Safe and dangerous places. But it's more I think about atmosphere and influence than straight reporting - a chilling account of a surveillance state run in the name of law and order, or that torture prison for 'aliens' (they're 'not human' so can they be dehumanised?) So many themes, so many ideas - reading this book is like turning a Kaleidoscope round and round.

Some of the influences may be hinted at in the origins of the stories - written for a wide range of publications (an erotic collection here, the Big Issue there, by way of annuals and themed anthologies). But - unless I'm missing something - Beukes hasn't let her vision be unduly trammelled by the such commissions. There's a unity of vision and tone that builds through the volume, despite (or because of?) the wide ranging nature of the material

An engaging collection, whether or not you're read the novels, and I hope hinting at still more strangeness to come soon from this most compelling writer.

[bittertea · Rating 2 out of 5]

At 2.5 stars, I decided I'd round up to 3 if I could finish the whole book, but would round down if I couldn't. So you can see how that went. I'm DNF'ing at 75%, but I technically read more than that, since I skipped ahead to the non-fiction after the fiction tired me out.

"Slipping" reads like a short story collection written by someone who doesn't actually care about writing short stories, but wants to use this form as a vehicle for her Very Important Thoughts. On the positive side, Beukes' prose is sharp, vivid, and engaging -- the kind of prose I'd like to learn from -- and she knows how to use single powerful lines to make an impact.

I won't review all the stories individually, but will point out the two I liked most:

1. "Slipping" -- I was sucked right into this world. Character development was deft and powerful, the sci-fi elements brilliantly imagined, and the world-building just plain fun. I could have read a whole novel of this story. Unfortunately, the ending was unsatisfying. It felt like the author didn't know what to do next, but had said all the Profound Things she wanted to say, so she just stopped rather than bothering to figure it out.

2. "The Green" -- More cool world-building, terrifying premise, and great sci-fi concepts to be found in this one. However, the execution was weak in terms of plot and character. Despite some vivid and horrifying imagery (I mean that in a good way) I felt no emotional connection, which was a problem in this case for reasons I won't spoil.

Like other reviewers, I liked the non-fiction much better than the fiction. I wouldn't recommend buying this collection, but maybe sitting with it at the library for an hour and reading a select few of the stories.

I received this book from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

[Jamie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Holy mother of weirdness. This was my first book by Lauren Beukes, and I really enjoyed it.
This style of writing is totally right up my alley-dark and morbid at times, and just plain weird, all with a twist of reality-illustrating an important aspect about how social media and tech has infiltrated every aspect of life. Some stories were a little hard to get into, or I just didn't understand them at all.
The nonfiction part at the end was so completely different than the beginning it kind of threw me off a bit. My favorite part though was the letter to her five-year-old daughter at the very end-that was just so heart warming.
I will for sure be checking out more of her work.

I received a copy of this book through NetGalley for an honest opinion. My thanks to Lauren Beukes
and Tachyon Publications for the opportunity.

[Chris · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve been keen on Lauren Beukes’ writing ever since I read Zoo City on a whim a few years ago, and my opinion that she’s an author worth following was confirmed when I read Broken Monsters. Her career started with the gritty South African SF novels Moxyland and Zoo City, and while she’s moved on to do comics (Fairest) and into more horror/thriller territory (Shining Girls, Broken Monsters), all of her work has been excellent. Needless to say, I was eager to dive into her first collection, Slipping, which collects an assortment of short stories and nonfiction articles written between 2003 and 2014.

The stories in Slipping can feel rough compared to Beukes’ newer works—some are a bit too short, others lack the same polish or care as her later works. That’s understandable, since many of them were written before Beukes published Moxyland in 2008. The collection’s something of a glimpse into her writing origins, not just from how it collects her early fiction pieces but from the insight it offers into her career as a journalist. Readers who’ve wanted to see Beukes return to her earlier, grittier Joburg-SF days will find this collection right up their alley. As much as I liked Broken Monsters, set in my hometown Detroit, I enjoy her fiction set in South Africa for the authenticity she brings in writing about it, and because it introduces a locale that’s not as well-known or common in fiction here in the States.

Slipping is a goldmine of stories that veer sharply towards the dark and unsettling. Beukes doesn’t shy away from complex themes, and they begin to form common, underlying threads across her work: humanity’s tenuous relationship with technology, dehumanization and exploitation by corporations, privacy in the age of governmental surveillance, the bombarding influence of social media and reality TV, the love-hate world of toxic relationships and domestic violence, poverty, race relations, gender inequality. These themes crop up just as often in Beukes’ journalism as her fiction, and you can see her focusing on these same issues in her latest novels. She’ll probably keep writing about them as long as humanity at large keeps grappling with them.

Beukes often uses a SF framework to look at our pursuit of better living through technology, and how it can become an unhealthy obsession. The title story, “Slipping,” follows a sixteen-year-old girl who lost both legs in an accident, now rebuilt as the next generation of biomedical devices, a living, breathing, proof-of-concept demonstration. She participates in special olympics-type races against similar girls, broken and rebuilt and cut into products, breaking themselves further in hopes that an investor will shower them with money by picking their gadgetry for mass production. “The Green” is about low-skill, low-wage workers hired from dead-end lives to strip-mine an exotic jungle planet of its flora and fauna; that the planet’s lifeforms are hostile to humans is no concern to the company, who uses its workers as guinea pigs—zombies, in fact, sent to find the next fungus or bug that can be medicinalized, weaponized, or merchandized. “Branded” and “Pop Tarts” deal with cultures altered by social media, with people marketing themselves for the fame and glory of being the next big thing.

Not all of the fiction fall into the realm of genre; some are more mainstream pieces tinged with weird elements or magical realism. Most of these deal with unhealthy relationships from a decidedly feminist perspective. “Algebra” is an A-to-Z primer of a failed, toxic relationship, from its lustful beginnings to its self-destructive end; I love its unique structure, and found it both oddly relatable and a self-perpetuated tragedy. “Parking” has an obsessive niceguy traffic cop stalking his crush’s parked car, offering to let her off the hook for a parking ticket in exchange for one date. “My Insect Skin” is so intense and real it’s chilling, a story I’m loath to spoil… I found it deeply humane but horrific and disturbing.

It seems like a strange choice to include nonfiction in a fiction collection—my original fear was that they were there to increase the page count, since even with them the collection doesn’t break 300 pages—but they’re just as strange and informative and varied as the fiction. Several touch on Beukes’ background as a journalist, short snippets describing the grittier side of Johannesburg. “All the Pretty Corpses” offers insight into the origins of The Shining Girls, examining why gender issues and domestic violence have played such a key role in her fiction. Another is a letter written to her five-year-old daughter about real beauty versus the expectations of “beauty” saddled on women by marketing and society. They may lack the supernatural and fantastic elements found in Beukes’ fiction, but they’re every bit as powerful, if not more so due to the added weight of reality. Reading them gives a better understanding of where Beukes is coming from.

Don’t let me sell you on the idea that every story is a downer, because not every one is. Some are upbeat; others are just plain weird. “Unathi Battles the Black Hairballs” is an homage to Japanese anime and Snow Crash-style gonzo postcyberpunk futurism, a tongue-in-cheek tale where a chic mecha pilot’s karaoke session is interrupted when monstrous black hairballs attack Tokyo. It’s a fun piece that goes far over the top in its gonzo craziness and weeaboo tropes; it’s not my cuppa, but it’s more palatable as a short than it would be as a novel. And then there’s “Ghost Girl,” a cute story about an architecture student who becomes haunted when the ghost of a tween goth girl latches onto him. It could have been a downer—the ghost girl is dead, after all, and she lashes out when the architect prioritizes his girlfriend over his friendship with the lonely ghost girl—but it ends up as a touching story that’s aware enough not to ruin its own sense of wonder.

I wasn’t sure what to expect with Slipping, though I did have high hopes going in since I already thought Beukes’ novels were fantastic. Her short fiction and nonfiction turned out to be equally impressive; while these early stories may have rough edges, they have the same themes, voice, and power that made her award-winning novels so successful. Lauren Beukes is a major talent in the genre, a shining figure of the weird and speculative: her writing is beautiful, her imagination is breathtaking, and the way she weaves boundless creativity with deft social commentary is something to behold. If you enjoy avant-garde science fiction, weird and unsettling tales, dark explorations of important issues through the lens of speculative fiction, you will probably enjoy this volume. Whether you like SF-as-social-commentary or fiction that’s just plain weird, this collection is for you.

I received an e-ARC from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. Slipping is scheduled for release on November 29th, so make sure to grab your own copy. (Originally posted on my blog here, along with reviews of Beukes' novels and other, similar works.)

[MargaretDH · Rating 4 out of 5]

I would not pick this up for your first Lauren Beukes, but if you've liked any of her novels, this is definitely worth digging into. It's a grab bag of short works published elsewhere, mostly fiction, but also some essays.

Beukes is so wonderful at turning the everyday on it's head, either a little or a lot. Some of this is full on scifi, some of it fantastical, and some of it just here and now weird. I enjoyed some of the stories more than others, but got the point of all of them. Some of them felt like snippets of bigger stories, and I wanted to read those novels. Plus, you get to visit South Africa in many of the stories, and I always enjoy being a literary tourist.

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

This collection of short stories and essays by Lauren Beukes was full of the delightfully weird, deliciously dark, and incredibly imaginative. I genuinely enjoyed all the stories in this collection; they were all highly original and thought-provoking. The non-fiction essays at the end were also really interesting and informative. Highly recommended for fans of Sci-Fi - you won't be disappointed.

[Helen · Rating 4 out of 5]

After reading this collection of short stories Lauren Beukes is now firmly on my favourite authors list. Clever and very relevant, the stories are a mix of sci-fi, weirdness, and commentary on modern life.

None of the stories here are very long so it's easy to dip in and out of. Though saying that, normally I find myself having to stop between stories in short story collections but with this book I couldn't do that, I had to start the next straight away. I think that was partly because they are short and I knew I wouldn't have to stop reading half way through one (I hate having to do that), and partly because these stories are just that good I didn't want to stop reading.

There weren't any stories that I disliked, but my favourites were:

Slipping - about a contestant in a futuristic Paralympics event where the athletes can have exosuits, implants controlling their hormones, remote controlled bodies, or they can even remove their organs to make them run better.

Confirm/Ignore - a look into the mind of someone that creates fake online personas by copying other people's photos and quotes.

The Green - pure sci/fi! Workers on a remote planet searching for plants or chemicals the company they work for can make money with.

Unathi Battles the Black Hairballs - a lolita punk pilots a Japanese fighter robot and battles monsters to save Tokyo.

Dial Tone - a story that's about loneliness really.

Ghost Girl - a teenage girl haunting a university student.

I received a free copy from the publisher in return for an honest review.

[Jessica Sullivan · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm a big fan of Lauren Beukes' horror novels Broken Monsters and The Shining Girls, so I was interested in reading her short stories.

Disclaimer: It's rare that I love a short story collection. I much prefer full-length novels. So take what follows with a grain of salt.

While there were a few stories in this collection that I genuinely enjoyed, I had a difficult time getting into most of them. I wanted more horror. I wanted more gore. I wanted more surrealism. All of that is present in this collection, but not to the extent that I expected. I rarely ever do this, but I even skimmed through a few of these stories because I just wasn't engaged.

My favorite part of this collection was the end when Beukes shifted over to non-fiction essays. She has a unique voice and lots of interesting commentary on modern humanity in general, and, more specifically, South African culture.

I don't want to discourage anyone from reading Slipping — especially if short stories are your thing. It just wasn't for me.

Thanks to NetGalley for giving me an advanced digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

[Benoit Lelièvre · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an interesting case.

Short story collections often have this problem where they go in every direction and don't contain much of what you like about a certain author. I loved Lauren Beukes' BROKEN MONSTERS but it knew what it was: a supernatural crime thriller where the city of Detroit was an important character. There's very little of that in SLIPPING.

That's the thing: there's a little bit of everything in there. Pieces written over close to a decade. There's some interesting material in there. The flash pieces were super interesting: Muse, Confirm/Ignore and Dial Tone in particular. I really loved the piece about her novel THE SHINING GIRLS which probably sold me the book. PRINCESS and EXHIBITIONIST were also really cool.

There's a lot of energetic and colorful science fiction to this collection also. Lots of robots and "hard" dystopian vision and these are just a bad match with me. I just don't care about nightmare worlds that have no chance in hell of turning to be true. Not Beukes' fault like I said. She's talented and there are things I liked about that book. Just a so-so match. Next!

[Jennifer Jamieson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Slipping is a collection of previously published short stories and essays by Beukes. Her worlds are always rich and interesting, and her quirkily populated, future South Africa is always a fascinating backdrop for her stories about how technology and social media warp humanity's sense of self.

Slick and stylish, Beukes' visions of the future both entertain and alarm in the way that great science fiction should. I really love most everything I've read from her, and Slipping is no exception. A great little collection.

[John Defrog: global citizen, local gadfly · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’ve enjoyed Lauren Beukes’ novels, so I was keen to read this, which is her first collection of short stories, essays and non-fiction, although the fiction section accounts for about 70% of the book. The stories are strikingly diverse, although firmly within Beukes’ usual beat – extreme cybernetics, alien biohorror, ghosts, stalkers, serial killers, 419 scams, South African youth subculture, and so on. While most are top-loaded with amazing ideas – a Japanese punk Lolita vs giant monster story that doubles as a tribute to Haruki Murakami, for example – some of them are little more than ideas, with not much story to propel them, although Beukes’ crackling, energetic prose keeps it interesting, and in some cases less really is more.

However, it’s the non-fiction that really stands out for me – Beukes is a sharp journalist and social observer, and her chronicles of her journalism career and her field research for her novels really bring the people and places she encounters to life. And the open letter to her five-year-old daughter on the subject of beauty is both fierce and moving. Overall the book is a good showcase of her writing talent and imagination, but slightly disappointing in that the non-fiction section is so short.

[Tyson Adams · Rating 4 out of 5]

Could zombies be a viable replacement for slave labour? Asking for a certain electronics company. And most clothing manufacturers.

Slipping is an interesting collection of writing from the brain of Lauren Beukes. From enhanced athletes to bored ghosts, these stories display Lauren's spec-fic interests. There are also a few essays at the end of the collection, one of which explains the personal inspiration behind The Shining Girls; an essay well worth reading.

I met Lauren at a writers' festival where she was running a workshop on, surprise surprise, writing. I really enjoyed reading the aforementioned The Shining Girls as it was a highly enjoyable mix of crime and spec-fic. So I was looking forward to reading this collection. As with any collection of previously published works, there are highs and lows. For me the highs outweighed the lows, with Slipping, The Green, and Ghost Girl being amongst my favourites. I think the strengths of this collection come from the South African cultural influence to Lauren's writing, which gives far more grittiness to the bleak sci-fi stories than you usually see.

If you're a spec-fic fan, or a fan of Lauren's writing - and how could you not be? - then you will find some compelling stories in this collection.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

[Seyi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ideal for filling dead time at the dentist / mechanic / insert waiting room related chore here. Probably more deserving of "Golden" reading time (sitting in the "throne room" / just before falling asleep / Sunday after lunch / insert preferred reading time here).

"Ghost girl" is epic and I hope gets fuller treatment soon. "My Insect skin" really shook me as did the essay "Inner City". Many other memorable characters / scenarios in this collection and favorites will vary.

These are mine

Enjoy them all

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I first discovered Lauren Beukes after picking up a copy of Broken Monsters and immediately became smitten. I found I had a hard time putting into words what the book was about and why I fell in love with it, mainly because Beukes is able to tackle serious real world issues through fiction - fiction that involves science fiction/fantasy elements that don't ruin the story line or make something terrifyingly real seem silly or impersonal. This is a talent I haven't found in other authors and it makes me feel like I've found a true treasure in Beukes' novels.

My love of Broken Monsters and The Shining Girls has yet to waiver so when I saw that Beuekes had released a collection of short stories and essays, I think my heart stopped momentarily.

Slipping is an interesting compilation of stories that tackle topics ranging from the frightening future of technology/social media to issues of extreme poverty and race. While some stories are particularly heavy on the science fiction ("Unathi Battles the Black Hairballs" and "The Green") others like "Smileys" and "My Insect Skin" are made all the more chilling by their realism.

While each story in this collection is unique, they all have that one piece in common that make me so passionate about her previous novels - there's a sense of some underlying real world threat in even the most intensely science fiction story lines. Much like Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale, the reader is left with feelings of unease, that though what you've just read is fiction, it still hits too close to home to not make you nervous.

Slipping ends with a brief collection of non-fiction that helped to make her fiction even more meaningful. "Adventures in Journalism" gives an intensely personal description of Beukes career as a journalist in South Africa, while "All the Pretty Corpses" shares insight into how The Shining Girls came to be and why gender issues (sexism, domestic violence, etc.) play such a prevalent role in much of her work. I felt that this glimpse in Beukes' own life and personal experiences made her fiction even more meaningful.

Thank you, Netgalley and Tachyon Publications, for providing me the opportunity to further my Lauren Beukes obsession!

[Jared]

I had quite a time getting my hands on this book! Was it worth it? I'm honestly not sure. Is this book worth it? I think so, but as always, I have Some Thoughts.

First I want to say that Lauren Beukes is a new favorite author of mine. I loved Zoo City, and the Shining Girls put me in that fan-category of instantly pre-ordering anything she wrote from then on. Broken Monsters is similarly good, but I kind of prefer the Shining Girls for its specific focus on violence against women.

Second, a story of my own on the general weirdness of actually acquiring this book (spoilered for your convenience) I pre-ordered the Kindle edition of Slipping, and Amazon ran me through a bit of a loop. I received an email telling me the release date had been pushed back next Tuesday. Then another email, another Tuesday. Then a third email--my preorder had been canceled. I couldn't find a good reason for this, especially given that I didn't find the email until searching for it of my own volition, consulting a mental calendar and thinking, I don't remember it being delayed this long. It has to be out by now, right?

And it was! It had released--on schedule. I was baffled and a little annoyed, and by that point I didn't really want to read the book.

Flash forward to ~one month ago, leaving the library with my armful of books. There's Slipping on the new release shelf, so: cool! Next week's plan is set. Right? Nope.

I come back and it's gone. It's not in-section with the Beukes fiction, it's not in fiction anthologies. I ask at the desk, figuring maybe it's been checked out by another right-thinking Beukes fan. No dice, it's simply missing. But he puts in the hold anyway. I get the email saying it's ready the next day, so someone got a hold of it, and here we are, nearly eight months later.

Onto the actual collection:

I admit to some disappointment, since the subtitle is: Stories, Essays & Other Writing. Slipping actually contains 21 short stories (some of them flash or micro-fiction) and five pieces of nonfiction. I did expect a bit more from the "Essays & Other Writing." Beukes' nonfiction reads like her fiction, and in this collection her stories are diverse. Twitter genre mashup fiction, sci-fi, dark fantasy, all variations of crime and thriller, and some shorter, more experimental pieces show the range of her voice and skill.

- "Muse" - Microfiction, possibly derived from the Hemingway quote of "All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed."

- "Slipping" - Future SF, and a look at how we sponsor our bodies to compete, in this case literally, for a kind of track race. Rereading it, I was reminded a bit of S.B.Diva's Runtime; both are excellent.

- "Confirm / Ignore" - Flash piece on social media, sort of from the view of social media.

- "Branded" - A vignette of a story, possibly from the world of Moxyland? Like a hit of cyberpunk, sharp and intense but with little beyond the initial high.

- "Smileys" - A shorter SF piece, where the smileys of the title don't appear until the end. Otherwise, I thought, very interesting. Good worldbuilding; that is to say, introducing me to sociocultural dynamics that are very South African and may have gone over my head, but were not inaccessible to me, an ignorant North American.

- "Princess" - A very good fairy tale subversion, as far as these go, which are not my style. Fans of Beukes' work in "Fairest" will enjoy this one.

- "My Insect Skin" - Excellent, haunting short piece that looks at internalized guilt and violence in and out of relationships. One of my favorite stories in the collection.

- "Parking" - A parking attendant who essentially falls for a woman he sees at his job, known only via her car.

- "Pop Tarts" - Not-quite-SF about the danger introduced to scripted reality stars for ratings. The visceral shock pulled off the end alone makes it stand out.

- "The Green" - One of the longer pieces, and I think in terms of craft it's more...functional? But I just could not get into this one. Seems like a universal truth that for every story collection, there is one story that irrationally refuses to be enjoyed. This was that story for me.

- "Litmash" - Twitter genre mashup fiction!

- "Easy Touch" - A deeper look at email scammers (which was a minor profession of the Zoo City protagonist).

- "Algebra" - The semi-epistoly structure of this one ("a is for algebra") didn't sit well with me, probably because it brought awareness that the story ended at Z, and the actual headers didn't add much.

"Unathi Battles the Black Hairballs" - Like "Branded" but longer. Fun, but I don't remember what specifically I enjoyed about this one.

"Dear Mariana" - A letter to an ex written on a typewriter, with fluctuating adeptness. Leads to some interesting formatting tricks, to varying effects.

"Riding with the Dream Patrol" - Somewhat meta-sci-fi, political control and a grim possible reality. Do I dislike it, or just what it might portend?

"Unaccounted" - Future sci-fi on the interaction with aliens.

"Tankwa-Karoo" - The end of the world--right? Had to reread parts of this one. YMMV!

"Exhibitionist" - Another of the "short sci-fi piece set in South Africa, where something weird happens and then it's over" stories. But I felt bad for the sentient sound system.

"Dial Tone" - Weird flash piece about calling people up for...odd reasons.

"Ghost Girl" - A strong closing story about a boy who meets a dead girl. Solid emotional arc and ending.

Personally, I found that I liked the story the more story there was. So "Ghost Girl", "Pop Tarts", "My Insect Skin", and, of course "Slipping" were all excellent. These stories, I think, gave their characters and setting room to breathe. (The major exception being "The Green," which for some reason just completely bounced off me.)

Some of the shorter stories, I notice, are the ones that seem to be more locally populated: about, or set in, Johannesburg, Cape Town, or somewhere near there. So "Parking", "Easy Touch", "Smileys", "Exhibitionist" -- These felt very Beukes to me, but did not feel like the most fleshed out stories.

But, you know, they don't all have to be. For all I disliked a particular story, just about each one in this collection does what it sets out to do, and with a clear voice. I did find a lot to like, and enjoyed reading it. The shorter or more atypical stories didn't work for me, but that's true of, say, That Book Your Mad Ancestor Wrote as well.

I can only fault myself for not being wowed by the selection: I'd read the title story, "Slipping," in the Twelve Tomorrows collection where it was first released, and two of the most resonant essays ("All the Pretty Corpses","Inner City") I had either heard or read Beukes discuss in interviews I'd tracked down before.

All this to say, I was a big fan of Beukes before, and I still am. This, like William Gibson's Distrust That Particular Flavor, like probably any collection by a favorite author, is going to be worth how much you can't get enough of that person's creative output.

[Katharine (Ventureadlaxre) · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is, as the by-line says, a collection of stories, essays and other writing (such as poems). We start off with a poem titled Muse, about fishhooks in the fingers of gloves that embed themselves a little more with every keystroke, and it's beautiful.

From there we have the first short story, about a girl who, instead of the lower half of her legs, has neurocircuitry. She's come to Pakistan as one of the runners (as the taxi driver oh so cleverly works out), in a futuristic version of the Paralympics. It's hard hitting and interesting, character-driven like Beukes does best, and the perfect start to the collection.

Each part in the collection after this is totally different, and yet utterly enthralling and manages to keep you reading though the easy way you slip into each narrative. Usually when there's huge changes in short story to short story I usually need a break, but this collection works perfectly at holding you down to devour the first half easily within an hour - or until dinner interrupts you, at least.

Being Beukes, hard topics are described and explored, and being Beukes one can easily trust in the author to be both sensitive, intelligent and eloquent throughout.

The non-fiction shows us work that Beukes did as a journalist, and it's amazingly good - I'm picky with my non-fiction and either struggle through each paragraph or can't put it down, and this was the latter.

In this collection, though it's sometimes hard to see through the grit and the grime and the grim nature of the narrative, there is still hope and determination and people ready to struggle for what's right. And that's what makes this collection so damn powerful.

[Lori L (She Treads Softly) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Slipping: Stories, Essays, & Other Writing by Lauren Beukes is a highly recommended collection of 26 previously published pieces. The majority are fiction, with five nonfiction essays at the end of the collection. As with any compilation, some of the works appealed to me and felt more successful than others, but there is no selected work included that doesn't belong. There are several selections that could easily be the start of a novel. My absolute top favorites were Slipping, Smileys, The Green, and Litmash, but there are several others I also liked quite a bit. All the works are, to some extent, about the darkness inside people's souls. They are all well-written and powerful.

Contents include:
Fiction: Muse; Slipping; Confirm/Ignore; Branded; Smileys; Princess; My Insect Skin; Parking; Pop Tarts; The Green; Litmash; Easy Touch; Alegbra; Unathi Battles the Black Hairballs; Dear Mariana; Riding with the Dream Patrol; Unaccounted; Tankwa-Karoo; Exhibitionist; Dial Tone; Ghost Girl
Nonfiction: Adventures in Journalism; All the Pretty Corpses; Judging Unity; Inner City; On Beauty: A Letter to My Fiver-Year-Old Daughter
To assist those who need it, there is a Glossary which could help those who need it with some of the South African words in the collection

Disclosure: My advanced reading copy was courtesy of the publisher/author.

[Alexander Páez · Rating 4 out of 5]

4,5

Reseña completa

Los relatos que más me han gustado son los de ciencia ficción, aunque hay un par que a priori no son de género que me han parecido espectaculares, en especial el de la chica que sale a correr y ... Bueno, ya lo veréis, espero. Incluso el microrrelato del principio es genial. Ah, y Branded, el tercer o cuarto relato, lo podéis conseguir en castellano en aquel minirecopilatorio de 3 cuentos que sacó RBA. Suerte encontrándolo.

Aunque interesante, quizá la parte que menos me atraía era la de los ensayos pero me ha sorprendido gratamente.

Beukes es una de las autoras contemporáneas que más disfruto leyendo, con un estilo que varía dependiendo del tono de la obra pero que en general es muy, muy bueno.