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Homesick
Dark, irreverent, and truly innovative, the speculative stories in Homesick meditate on the theme of home and our estrangement from it, and what happens when the familiar suddenly shifts into the uncanny. In stories that foreground queer relationships and transgender or nonbinary characters, Cipri delivers the origin story for a superhero team comprised of murdered girls; a housecleaner discovering an impossible ocean in her least-favorite clients’ house; a man haunted by keys that appear suddenly in his throat; and a team of scientists and activists discovering the remains of a long-extinct species of intelligent weasels.
In the spirit of Laura van den Berg, Emily Geminder, Chaya Bhuvaneswar, and other winners of the Dzanc Short Story Collection Prize, Nino Cipri’s debut collection announces the arrival of a brilliant and wonderfully unpredictable writer with a gift for turning the short story on its ear.
In the spirit of Laura van den Berg, Emily Geminder, Chaya Bhuvaneswar, and other winners of the Dzanc Short Story Collection Prize, Nino Cipri’s debut collection announces the arrival of a brilliant and wonderfully unpredictable writer with a gift for turning the short story on its ear.
223 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 15, 2019
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 202 reviews
July 8, 2019
I was lucky enough to read an early copy of this book, and HOT DAMN. These stories are so vivid and strange and surreal, and yet full of warmth and humanity. It's rare to see a collection of short fiction that conjures such a powerful sense of weirdness and illogic, but also sports tons of characters that feel like fully-realized, flesh-and-blood people. I found myself both wondering about what happened after each of these stories reached a haunting conclusion, but also thinking about the characters and their inner lives. I especially love the gender-fluid Merion from "A Silly Love Story," and Maddie from "Dead Air," and Min the grumpy trans grad student in "Before We Disperse Like Star Stuff." This book has some of the best queer representation I've seen in ages, too. Don't sleep on this one!
April 20, 2020
The first three stories, "A Silly Love Story", "Which Super Little Dead Girl Are You?", and "Dead Air", are as smart, charming, and funny as anything I've read in months. The titles give a good indication of the warmth and irreverence. I was laughing out loud and slapping my thigh (not touching my face, thank you) every few pages. The fractured narrative of "Dead Air" also adds an unsettling entrapment/space-time anomaly element, ending with lots of loose ends and few explanations.
"Let Down, Set Free" is an affecting, beautiful piece. The aging narrator is ostensibly writing a letter to her recently divorced husband; I love how Cipri renders the voice, and the wistful, ambivalent story she has to tell. Its quiet delivery, and matter-of-fact attitude toward flying reminds me a little of "Flying Carpets", one of my favorite Steven Millhauser stories. In Millhauser's story, flying is a (magical!) toy one puts away when one comes of age; in "Let Down Set Free", flying is hopefully the start of wonderful new beginnings. Very different from the first three stories, with a relatively conventional non-gender fluid POV rather than the young spunky queer women in the earlier pieces, but just as effective.
By the time I figured out "The Shape of My Name" was (kind of) about time travel, I was immersed in the messiness and confusion of gender fluidity, family dysfunction, and parental disappearances. Another thoughtful and engaging piece.
"Presque Vu" is an unsettling, open-ended story with many intriguing details, but maybe not up to the best ones here. The collection ends with the novella "Before We Disperse Likestar Stuff". (Being an old guy, I'm not sure I understand the title, and parsed it originally as "Before We Disperse Like Star Stuff"; apparently there's an app called Likestar. Update: isfdb.org actually has "...Like Star Stuff", not "...Likestar Stuff".) But this sums up a lot of my thoughts about the collection:
The "documentary" is about a major archeological find made by the three queer protagonists. The thing is an affair two of them were involved in. I found most of these stories very engaging, precisely because you can't separate all the strands of personal/cultural/gender identity, family dynamics, romantic entanglements, artistic creation, scientific explorations, etc. The three protagonists are all smart, queer, and feisty; I would grumble lightly that their personalities seem a bit too similar. But people probably complain that way about my friends (hi!), and the characters were all charming, interesting, and fun to observe and hang with. The prehistoric weasels were just a device to set all the strands in motion. We get some nuanced and often hilarious personal interactions, snappy dialog, and an ending that just cuts off in a satisfying way. (I would quote some of the snappy dialog, but you should just find out for yourself. Besides one old guy's "snappy" might be your "annoying".)
Easily 4 stars, maybe 4.5. (A few of the stories were less strong, but still entertaining.) If I'd read this last year, it would be a shoo-in for my 2019 favorites list. Now I'm jonesing to check out Cipri's new novel.
"Let Down, Set Free" is an affecting, beautiful piece. The aging narrator is ostensibly writing a letter to her recently divorced husband; I love how Cipri renders the voice, and the wistful, ambivalent story she has to tell. Its quiet delivery, and matter-of-fact attitude toward flying reminds me a little of "Flying Carpets", one of my favorite Steven Millhauser stories. In Millhauser's story, flying is a (magical!) toy one puts away when one comes of age; in "Let Down Set Free", flying is hopefully the start of wonderful new beginnings. Very different from the first three stories, with a relatively conventional non-gender fluid POV rather than the young spunky queer women in the earlier pieces, but just as effective.
By the time I figured out "The Shape of My Name" was (kind of) about time travel, I was immersed in the messiness and confusion of gender fluidity, family dysfunction, and parental disappearances. Another thoughtful and engaging piece.
"Presque Vu" is an unsettling, open-ended story with many intriguing details, but maybe not up to the best ones here. The collection ends with the novella "Before We Disperse Likestar Stuff". (Being an old guy, I'm not sure I understand the title, and parsed it originally as "Before We Disperse Like Star Stuff"; apparently there's an app called Likestar. Update: isfdb.org actually has "...Like Star Stuff", not "...Likestar Stuff".) But this sums up a lot of my thoughts about the collection:
He'd told Damian he didn't want their whole thing to be part of the documentary, but he wasn't sure he knew how to separate the two.
The "documentary" is about a major archeological find made by the three queer protagonists. The thing is an affair two of them were involved in. I found most of these stories very engaging, precisely because you can't separate all the strands of personal/cultural/gender identity, family dynamics, romantic entanglements, artistic creation, scientific explorations, etc. The three protagonists are all smart, queer, and feisty; I would grumble lightly that their personalities seem a bit too similar. But people probably complain that way about my friends (hi!), and the characters were all charming, interesting, and fun to observe and hang with. The prehistoric weasels were just a device to set all the strands in motion. We get some nuanced and often hilarious personal interactions, snappy dialog, and an ending that just cuts off in a satisfying way. (I would quote some of the snappy dialog, but you should just find out for yourself. Besides one old guy's "snappy" might be your "annoying".)
Easily 4 stars, maybe 4.5. (A few of the stories were less strong, but still entertaining.) If I'd read this last year, it would be a shoo-in for my 2019 favorites list. Now I'm jonesing to check out Cipri's new novel.
December 2, 2023
An Amy book
—
An absolute MUST read. Collecting my thoughts but girlies reading Carmen Maria Machado — this is for you.
Realizing I never went back to review this but I have to say this is everything I wanted Her Body And Other Parties to be, AND MORE. There was maybe 10% more humanity in the characters in a way that made me enjoy them more, but the speculative and "weird" vibes are just as good as that short story collection.
There's a story where a trans man born into a family of matrilineal time-travelers reflects on his childhood. There's a story about a girl who goes to visit her girlfriend's family for the first time and then the town won't let them leave. There's a fantastic novella about a group of anthropologists/scientists who uncover evidence of ancient animals who had their own language thousands of years ago.
This book is an all-time favorite of mine. Is it strange? Yeah, a bit. Did I just rattle off the specific plots of three different stories six weeks after reading this? Also, yes. My point is: It'll stick with you.
—
An absolute MUST read. Collecting my thoughts but girlies reading Carmen Maria Machado — this is for you.
Realizing I never went back to review this but I have to say this is everything I wanted Her Body And Other Parties to be, AND MORE. There was maybe 10% more humanity in the characters in a way that made me enjoy them more, but the speculative and "weird" vibes are just as good as that short story collection.
There's a story where a trans man born into a family of matrilineal time-travelers reflects on his childhood. There's a story about a girl who goes to visit her girlfriend's family for the first time and then the town won't let them leave. There's a fantastic novella about a group of anthropologists/scientists who uncover evidence of ancient animals who had their own language thousands of years ago.
This book is an all-time favorite of mine. Is it strange? Yeah, a bit. Did I just rattle off the specific plots of three different stories six weeks after reading this? Also, yes. My point is: It'll stick with you.
September 15, 2020
I really loved this collection of speculative short stories (and those who know me know that stories are not typically my jam, so they have to be excellent to keep my attention!) - top marks for transgender and nonbinary representation, also just playing with tropes in new ways.
October 25, 2020
I love the juxtaposition of the warmth and humanity of the characters with the weirdness of the worlds they inhabit. Sometimes the weirdness is science fictional, and sometimes it's a plot quirk in an otherwise ordinary world. Always creative, always interesting. I don't feel the need to stress the gender diversity in the stories, because the characters are just so naturally who they are that it seems unnecessary. The writing also has a natural flow to it, descriptive in an unfussy way. "The land east of Fort Collins stretched out comfortably, grasslands and ranches sprawling like animals at rest." Nice.
May 5, 2020
3.5 stars
A fine collection of short stories dragged down a bit by a rather shapeless, over-long novella at the end.
If you're anything like me, you've probably read the two best stories in this collection. 'Dead Air' and 'The Shape of My Name' in one of the many best Science Fiction/Fantasy/Horror anthologies published last year (probably multiple times in fact, as they were good enough to be featured by different editors catering to very different markets). While the other tales in this volume are mostly very good, none of them reach the heights set by those two and if you've already read them, this collection may feel like a bit of a let down.
The first stories here, "A Silly Love Story" and "What Super Little Dead Girl Are You?" are fresh, lively and charming, if rather slight, and display Cipri's sense of humour and general warmth, while the following "Dead Air" and "She Hides Sometimes" showcase a darker, more melancholy voice. "Let Down, Set Free" was nice enough but not particularly memorable: almost as light and evanescent as the giant seedpods it describes. "The Shape of My Name" is a superb story of time-travel, family, and identity; in my opinion it's the best story in this collection and worthy of the recognition it's received from editors and prizes everywhere. Later stories are so-so and the final novella, despite an initially interesting premise and intriguing individual voices, is kind of a drag (too long, too soapy, too lacking a real genre kick).
So, in the end, this is a mixed bag by a very promising writer who I look forward to reading more from in the very near future.
A fine collection of short stories dragged down a bit by a rather shapeless, over-long novella at the end.
If you're anything like me, you've probably read the two best stories in this collection. 'Dead Air' and 'The Shape of My Name' in one of the many best Science Fiction/Fantasy/Horror anthologies published last year (probably multiple times in fact, as they were good enough to be featured by different editors catering to very different markets). While the other tales in this volume are mostly very good, none of them reach the heights set by those two and if you've already read them, this collection may feel like a bit of a let down.
The first stories here, "A Silly Love Story" and "What Super Little Dead Girl Are You?" are fresh, lively and charming, if rather slight, and display Cipri's sense of humour and general warmth, while the following "Dead Air" and "She Hides Sometimes" showcase a darker, more melancholy voice. "Let Down, Set Free" was nice enough but not particularly memorable: almost as light and evanescent as the giant seedpods it describes. "The Shape of My Name" is a superb story of time-travel, family, and identity; in my opinion it's the best story in this collection and worthy of the recognition it's received from editors and prizes everywhere. Later stories are so-so and the final novella, despite an initially interesting premise and intriguing individual voices, is kind of a drag (too long, too soapy, too lacking a real genre kick).
So, in the end, this is a mixed bag by a very promising writer who I look forward to reading more from in the very near future.
September 8, 2019
This gorgeous and eerie collection captured me completely, from the opening story "A Silly Little Love Story" in which the main character believed an art appreciating ghost had taken up residence in his closet, through to the second-to-last story “Presque Vu,”, in which spirits begin walking an apocalyptic earth and humans find themselves visited with their own very strange and specific hauntings.
While each story doesn't contain ghosts perse, they do all interweave a paranormal element. A childhood home begings to shift and change as a mother succumbs to her dementia in "She Sometimes Hides"; "Let Down Set Free" features floating trees; "The Shape of My Name" features time travel.
Though these are my favorite within the bunch, every single story just impressed the living hell out of me. Nino is an amazing storyteller and a force to be reckoned with.
While each story doesn't contain ghosts perse, they do all interweave a paranormal element. A childhood home begings to shift and change as a mother succumbs to her dementia in "She Sometimes Hides"; "Let Down Set Free" features floating trees; "The Shape of My Name" features time travel.
Though these are my favorite within the bunch, every single story just impressed the living hell out of me. Nino is an amazing storyteller and a force to be reckoned with.
November 19, 2019
Certainly great to learn about queer characters, like the bigender Merion in the opening story--hadn't heard that term before--lovely to learn about someone who inhabits male and female at will being loved for who they are. It's of course of vital importance to read the writing of people who understand these characters and this emerging terminology, which is definitely the biggest plus of this collection. (As someone who is technically "queer", a little odd to see the word used in blurbs as a compliment. It speaks to where we are, I guess, though I look forward to the day when it's neither a compliment nor a disadvantage, it just is.)
But apart from that opener, I didn't get the sense that any of the other stories were quite done yet.
Compare Gwendolyn Kiste's "Ten Things to Know About the Ten Questions" with Cipri's "Which Super Little Dead Girl™ Are You?" (Both quiz-likes published in Nightmare Magazine.) Kiste's story integrates a psychology quiz into a compelling narrative, whereas Cipri's story is arguably just a quiz--I guess there's nothing wrong with that but there was scope to do much more with it--and hey, maybe they will one day do more with it--I do hope so. I'd love to know more about the Super Little Dead Girliverse xD
I wouldn't accept the answer that the incompleteness of these stories is part of their mystery. For example, "Dead Air" had the most potential for me, and I've actually read/listened to it a few times--listened to the Nightmare Magazine podcast, read it on their website, then again in this collection. Really interesting format, a collection of audio recordings. I wondered each time what I thought of how it doesn't wrap up with a neat explanation--I think it was meant to be brave/interesting, but ultimately felt like a cop out and a way of forcing a sense of mystery/depth where there wasn't one. (And the milennial dialogue might be sorta realistic but it's, like, totally grating. A character describes where she grew up as "very David Lynch"--there are a number of cringeworthy lines like this that hopefully speak of a young author still finding themself.)
I don't at all mean to say this isn't an author filled with potential whose career I will continue to follow--but I await them writing something substantial, and overall this collection didn't grab me.
But apart from that opener, I didn't get the sense that any of the other stories were quite done yet.
Compare Gwendolyn Kiste's "Ten Things to Know About the Ten Questions" with Cipri's "Which Super Little Dead Girl™ Are You?" (Both quiz-likes published in Nightmare Magazine.) Kiste's story integrates a psychology quiz into a compelling narrative, whereas Cipri's story is arguably just a quiz--I guess there's nothing wrong with that but there was scope to do much more with it--and hey, maybe they will one day do more with it--I do hope so. I'd love to know more about the Super Little Dead Girliverse xD
I wouldn't accept the answer that the incompleteness of these stories is part of their mystery. For example, "Dead Air" had the most potential for me, and I've actually read/listened to it a few times--listened to the Nightmare Magazine podcast, read it on their website, then again in this collection. Really interesting format, a collection of audio recordings. I wondered each time what I thought of how it doesn't wrap up with a neat explanation--I think it was meant to be brave/interesting, but ultimately felt like a cop out and a way of forcing a sense of mystery/depth where there wasn't one. (And the milennial dialogue might be sorta realistic but it's, like, totally grating. A character describes where she grew up as "very David Lynch"--there are a number of cringeworthy lines like this that hopefully speak of a young author still finding themself.)
I don't at all mean to say this isn't an author filled with potential whose career I will continue to follow--but I await them writing something substantial, and overall this collection didn't grab me.
June 9, 2023
a pretty solid collection of queer short stories!
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July 25, 2019Saving this for a longer review! Also a Tiptree eligible book, so I’ll need to think about how to do this. (I'm on the jury this year.)
Source of the book: Print ARC from the publisher
Source of the book: Print ARC from the publisher
June 18, 2021
Everyone needs to put Nino Cipri's work on their radar because it's damn good.
What I love about these stories is how gentle and humane they feel. There are poltergeists and flying trees and disappearing houses and time travel, but in every one of these stories the fantastical never overtakes the human; Cipri's work reminds me of Kij Johnson's At the Mouth of the River of Bees and Sofia Samatar's Tender in that regard. The first story in this collection, I think, encapsulates everything that Homesick embodies. It's titled "A Silly Love Story" and it is indeed a love story, just with a poltergeist thrown in. And it's a wonderful way to begin this collection, which is all about the many ways in which characters respond to ruptures in their world, whether minor or major, simply inconvenient or profoundly transformative. "Not the Ocean, But the Sea," for example, begins with this paragraph,
Cipri's stories are so clearly invested in the humanity of their characters, and it is for that reason that they are in the end so moving. The collection's longer stories stand out in particular, impressive in how fleshed out and substantial they feel within such a relatively short span of pages. I'm thinking especially of "The Shape of My Name" and "Before We Disperse Like Star Stuff," the latter of which acts as such a kickass and poignant end to the collection.
I'd also be remiss not to mention Cipri's writing chops here. All of Homesick's stories are well written, but where Cipri always shines is in the dialogue. "Dead Air" in particular is a tribute to Cipri's skill with dialogue, as it's a story written entirely as a transcript of voice recordings from two characters who start dating each other. Even outside that story though, the dialogue is always pitch perfect: organic, funny, and current without feeling like it's trying too hard.
(Favourite stories include "A Silly Love Story," "Dead Air," "The Shape of My Name," and "Before We Disperse Like Star Stuff," which was by far the best of the collection.)
Carmen Mario Machado calls these stories "deliciously queer and dark and playful," and there's little more that I can add to that, really. She's right on the money.
Thanks so much to Dzanc Books for sending me a review copy of this in exchange for an honest review!
What I love about these stories is how gentle and humane they feel. There are poltergeists and flying trees and disappearing houses and time travel, but in every one of these stories the fantastical never overtakes the human; Cipri's work reminds me of Kij Johnson's At the Mouth of the River of Bees and Sofia Samatar's Tender in that regard. The first story in this collection, I think, encapsulates everything that Homesick embodies. It's titled "A Silly Love Story" and it is indeed a love story, just with a poltergeist thrown in. And it's a wonderful way to begin this collection, which is all about the many ways in which characters respond to ruptures in their world, whether minor or major, simply inconvenient or profoundly transformative. "Not the Ocean, But the Sea," for example, begins with this paragraph,
"Nadia found the ocean behind the Swedish assholes' couch during her weekly cleaning. She had followed a small trail of sand to the eastern wall with the vacuum, and when she'd moved the couch to vacuum underneath it, there was the ocean, snuggled right up to the wall. A fresh wind blew off it, stirring the curtains: the smell of salt and mud."
Cipri's stories are so clearly invested in the humanity of their characters, and it is for that reason that they are in the end so moving. The collection's longer stories stand out in particular, impressive in how fleshed out and substantial they feel within such a relatively short span of pages. I'm thinking especially of "The Shape of My Name" and "Before We Disperse Like Star Stuff," the latter of which acts as such a kickass and poignant end to the collection.
I'd also be remiss not to mention Cipri's writing chops here. All of Homesick's stories are well written, but where Cipri always shines is in the dialogue. "Dead Air" in particular is a tribute to Cipri's skill with dialogue, as it's a story written entirely as a transcript of voice recordings from two characters who start dating each other. Even outside that story though, the dialogue is always pitch perfect: organic, funny, and current without feeling like it's trying too hard.
(Favourite stories include "A Silly Love Story," "Dead Air," "The Shape of My Name," and "Before We Disperse Like Star Stuff," which was by far the best of the collection.)
Carmen Mario Machado calls these stories "deliciously queer and dark and playful," and there's little more that I can add to that, really. She's right on the money.
Thanks so much to Dzanc Books for sending me a review copy of this in exchange for an honest review!
March 26, 2020
Amazing! An instant favorite short story collection that I just could not stop reading. In these eight short stories and one longer novella, Cipri introduces the reader to their awesome creativity and a slew of unforgettable queer and trans characters. While these stories were naturally slightly uneven in my enjoyment, the highs of this collection were so phenomenally high.
Shades of horror reminding me of Machado’s Her Body and Other Parties abounded in the stories Dead Air, which tells the most creepy story I’ve read in ages through audio recording transcripts, and Presque Vu, a weirdly timely feeling story about a haunted world where wraiths stalk the streets, normal people insist on wearing Halloween costumes well past the end of the holiday, and the protagonist wakes up each morning choking up keys. Somehow this surreal tale felt so of the current moment to me, despite feeling anxious when the characters had a lovely potluck. Other favorites for me were A Silly Love Story, about an artist grappling with a poltergeist in his closet alongside a swelling crush on his bigender best friend, and The Shape of My Name, a gorgeous story about a trans guy in a family of time travelers.
The collection closes with a novella entitled Before We Disperse Like Star Stuff, which was an absolute treat to read. The story imagines the discovery of a written language developed by a prehistoric species of weasels, through the lense of a documentary being produced following the trio responsible for the discovery. Damian, Min, and Ray are thrust back into contact by the documentary’s production after differences of opinion on how to handle the discovery tore their relationships apart. The story bursts with big ideas and small moments between these vibrant, flawed characters.
Highly recommended to fans of speculative fiction, magical realism/fabulism, horror, and/or queer and trans literature.
Shades of horror reminding me of Machado’s Her Body and Other Parties abounded in the stories Dead Air, which tells the most creepy story I’ve read in ages through audio recording transcripts, and Presque Vu, a weirdly timely feeling story about a haunted world where wraiths stalk the streets, normal people insist on wearing Halloween costumes well past the end of the holiday, and the protagonist wakes up each morning choking up keys. Somehow this surreal tale felt so of the current moment to me, despite feeling anxious when the characters had a lovely potluck. Other favorites for me were A Silly Love Story, about an artist grappling with a poltergeist in his closet alongside a swelling crush on his bigender best friend, and The Shape of My Name, a gorgeous story about a trans guy in a family of time travelers.
The collection closes with a novella entitled Before We Disperse Like Star Stuff, which was an absolute treat to read. The story imagines the discovery of a written language developed by a prehistoric species of weasels, through the lense of a documentary being produced following the trio responsible for the discovery. Damian, Min, and Ray are thrust back into contact by the documentary’s production after differences of opinion on how to handle the discovery tore their relationships apart. The story bursts with big ideas and small moments between these vibrant, flawed characters.
Highly recommended to fans of speculative fiction, magical realism/fabulism, horror, and/or queer and trans literature.
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May 24, 2020
Many thanks to Michelle at Dzanc Books for sending me a copy in exchange for an honest review
3.5 stars for...
Okay, that may not be 100% accurate but I came here for the gays and I got gays.
Homesick is a collection of nine stories full of sci-fi, horror, and gays (of course). I was very pleasantly surprised by each story. They were all super creative and unsettling in their own special way. I think my favorite part about this anthology (all anthologies really) is that I could just read a story here... and then read a story there. I could just pick this book up and put it down because it was divided into nine distinct stories.
Overall, this collection was full of creative and unique stories that managed to unsettle or scare me everytime. Also, gays.
P.S. My favorite story was She Hides Sometimes
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gay science fiction
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January 29, 2020
Small-press short story collections really are some of the best writing out there and this book absolutely proves my point. FANTASTIC collection that I swallowed in three gulps while wishing I had enough discipline to pace myself the whole time. I’d recommend this to anyone, but especially readers who loved Carmen Maria Machado’s Her Body & Other Parties.
September 6, 2019
I received an ARC from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
"Homesick" delivers the promise stated in the title: the nine stories all bring a sense of unfamiliarity, strangeness, and the wish to belong. And the strangeness is only partially related to the speculative element. Most often, the estrangement came from society, family, love, expectations of the outside world. The way Cipri writes this juxtaposition of subtle supernatural and weird or even unfriendly mundane is superb. And it is not surprising that this theme is so prevalent in a collection by a queer author: it did resonate with my own queer feelings about moving through the world.
I still have no good words for the melancholy this book left me with, but I can tell you - Cipri's prose is outstanding. Precise, empathetic, quietly beautiful. I've read some of their stories before, but this collection grabbed my heart and held it tight until it started oozing emotions I didn't know I had.
"Homesick" delivers the promise stated in the title: the nine stories all bring a sense of unfamiliarity, strangeness, and the wish to belong. And the strangeness is only partially related to the speculative element. Most often, the estrangement came from society, family, love, expectations of the outside world. The way Cipri writes this juxtaposition of subtle supernatural and weird or even unfriendly mundane is superb. And it is not surprising that this theme is so prevalent in a collection by a queer author: it did resonate with my own queer feelings about moving through the world.
I still have no good words for the melancholy this book left me with, but I can tell you - Cipri's prose is outstanding. Precise, empathetic, quietly beautiful. I've read some of their stories before, but this collection grabbed my heart and held it tight until it started oozing emotions I didn't know I had.
February 28, 2020
Homesick: Stories by Nino Cipri is an extremely versatile, creative, and enjoyable collection from the author. One of the things that really sets this collection apart from others of its genre is the diverse formats and genres the stories take on. There are some that are your run of the mill medium length short stories and some that read like plays. "Dead Air" in particular is one I would love to hear performed as a podcast. There are some stories that are scifi, some that are supernatural horror, and some that are just very very Queer. I actually found myself enjoying the stories with supernatural elements the most, even though the other realms are often more what I lean toward. The aforementioned "Dead Air" as well as "Presque Vu" were two of my favorites.
A diverse cast of Queer and/or trans characters show up throughout the book in a variety of ways. I am a Queer and trans person who doesn't particularly have a taste for stories where the whole thing is about someone's Queerness or transness. I do think there are a couple of places where Cipri explains too much for my liking. But, that's a personal thing. I imagine a cishet* person reading may appreciate the explanation of something someone like me understands from experience. There are plenty of stories though where the characters' identities are woven throughout seamlessly. This is the way I like to see LGBTQ characters written. Many of the characters are relatable in both their identities and their flaws and virtues.
A variety of themes are explored throughout the book including obviously gender and sexuality as well as race, class, colonialism, personhood, and species. The novella that makes up the last third or so of the book follows a group of researchers who have discovered an ancient species with human-like intelligences. The discussions of academics and museum curators long history of colonialist grave robbing were perfectly placed. It's true that we don't see the dead bodies of pilgrims in museums, but to this day there are the corpses and bones of Inuit, Egyptian, and other Indigenous people whose graves were robbed as well as dead (and often alive) animals who were wiped out by colonialist collectors of dead creatures. It makes it difficult to attend museums and not either be angry the entire time or be indoctrinated into the othering and exploitation of the marginalized to entertain our fascination with the unknown.
There is some exploration of personhood and species membership relative to nonhuman animals, but I do wish Cipri would have taken it a bit further to include more present day species. There is discussion of "intelligent" species that exist today, but I really could have used that final push for the researchers to understand that all animals have their own intelligences, many of which far outshine our own. There is loving discussion of zoos and eating animals in this story that I can't help but noticing when reading. This is not to say it's not a well constructed and accurate picture of a group of researchers in a story like this. We all know that being a scientist or academic most assuredly does not make someone knowledgeable about everything in the world. If anything, the extreme specialization and focus increasingly required in graduate studies isolates people from wider knowledge of the world. Plenty of scientists who admire one species are cruel to vast numbers of equally sentient others due to their own interests and prejudices. But, I would not be a good animal lib proponent if I did not mention that I would have liked these particular researchers of intelligent weasels to also recognize the other intelligent rodents that make up most of the animals in laboratory cages (with no protections by law to boot.) I would have liked recognition that more recent research argues that many species have advanced communication and languages, not just humans (or fictional prehistoric weasels.) I'll step off the soapbox now. Do not let this repel you from reading this story. It is an excellent novella with an interesting premise, believable and relatable trans characters, important discussions of indigenous peoples and colonialism in academia, and many great discussions about species membership and personhood, regardless of if they met my high bar. It made me think a lot while reading it and I enjoyed it greatly.
I tossed a few criticisms out in this review, but I am still giving this book a high rating and recommendation. Many of my arguments here are things that good speculative fiction inspires us to think about. Homesick is an excellent introduction to Cipri's wide range of talents and creativity making it another book on my shelf by a QT author that I definitely look forward to more from.
This was also posted to my blog.
*cishet means cisgender heterosexual. Cisgender people are those who identify with the sex and gender assigned to them at birth, aka people who are not trans.
A diverse cast of Queer and/or trans characters show up throughout the book in a variety of ways. I am a Queer and trans person who doesn't particularly have a taste for stories where the whole thing is about someone's Queerness or transness. I do think there are a couple of places where Cipri explains too much for my liking. But, that's a personal thing. I imagine a cishet* person reading may appreciate the explanation of something someone like me understands from experience. There are plenty of stories though where the characters' identities are woven throughout seamlessly. This is the way I like to see LGBTQ characters written. Many of the characters are relatable in both their identities and their flaws and virtues.
A variety of themes are explored throughout the book including obviously gender and sexuality as well as race, class, colonialism, personhood, and species. The novella that makes up the last third or so of the book follows a group of researchers who have discovered an ancient species with human-like intelligences. The discussions of academics and museum curators long history of colonialist grave robbing were perfectly placed. It's true that we don't see the dead bodies of pilgrims in museums, but to this day there are the corpses and bones of Inuit, Egyptian, and other Indigenous people whose graves were robbed as well as dead (and often alive) animals who were wiped out by colonialist collectors of dead creatures. It makes it difficult to attend museums and not either be angry the entire time or be indoctrinated into the othering and exploitation of the marginalized to entertain our fascination with the unknown.
There is some exploration of personhood and species membership relative to nonhuman animals, but I do wish Cipri would have taken it a bit further to include more present day species. There is discussion of "intelligent" species that exist today, but I really could have used that final push for the researchers to understand that all animals have their own intelligences, many of which far outshine our own. There is loving discussion of zoos and eating animals in this story that I can't help but noticing when reading. This is not to say it's not a well constructed and accurate picture of a group of researchers in a story like this. We all know that being a scientist or academic most assuredly does not make someone knowledgeable about everything in the world. If anything, the extreme specialization and focus increasingly required in graduate studies isolates people from wider knowledge of the world. Plenty of scientists who admire one species are cruel to vast numbers of equally sentient others due to their own interests and prejudices. But, I would not be a good animal lib proponent if I did not mention that I would have liked these particular researchers of intelligent weasels to also recognize the other intelligent rodents that make up most of the animals in laboratory cages (with no protections by law to boot.) I would have liked recognition that more recent research argues that many species have advanced communication and languages, not just humans (or fictional prehistoric weasels.) I'll step off the soapbox now. Do not let this repel you from reading this story. It is an excellent novella with an interesting premise, believable and relatable trans characters, important discussions of indigenous peoples and colonialism in academia, and many great discussions about species membership and personhood, regardless of if they met my high bar. It made me think a lot while reading it and I enjoyed it greatly.
I tossed a few criticisms out in this review, but I am still giving this book a high rating and recommendation. Many of my arguments here are things that good speculative fiction inspires us to think about. Homesick is an excellent introduction to Cipri's wide range of talents and creativity making it another book on my shelf by a QT author that I definitely look forward to more from.
This was also posted to my blog.
*cishet means cisgender heterosexual. Cisgender people are those who identify with the sex and gender assigned to them at birth, aka people who are not trans.
Read
August 14, 2019I received an ARC from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
I encountered Nino Cipri’s stories twice recently – in the Transcendent anthology of best transgender-themed speculative fiction and in Capricious magazine’s Gender Diverse Pronouns issue. In both cases Cipri’s stories were among the highlights for me, so I didn’t hesitate much before requesting Homesick. They are a writer I want to read more of.
Homesick is a very tight collection. It doesn’t just present every story the author’s written up to publication – the nine stories contained in the book share some thematic concerns, as well as a general emotional vibe of unsettling strangeness. More than science fiction or fantasy, Homesick brings to mind ghost stories or weird fiction: sure, there is a time machine in one of the stories or superhero/magical girls in another. But more often than not, the characters have to contend with something inexpicable: a poltergeist in the closet, vomitting up iron keys, the ocean behind their clients’ couch – and the magical girls have all been resurrected after meeting tragic fates.
When I think of homesickness, I think of profound unfamiliarity; of being in a place or situation that is not mine; of not having any company I could rely on for help or comfort. That is the vibe I largely got from Cipri’s stories, where the characters are frequently lonely and have to deal with alienation in their professional and personal lives, as well as in a larger existential sense. The best example might be Presque Vu, where the protagonist’s job as a driver for an Uber-like company leaves him shunning the company of most people, and where all the characters are haunted, both by strange objects turning up out of nowhere (keys you have to throw up, cassette tape tangled in your hair when you wake up, strange phone calls) and by mysterious wraiths that crowd the streets of their city.
This is not to say that the stories are necessarily always sad or cynical. While they are often fairly unnerving and frequently end before a complete resolution, the characters do sometimes manage to achieve some connection, however temporary, that provides them with a measure of comfort. There is also a lot of humour in dialogues (which sometimes sounds like the characters speak nothing but one-liners, but not frequently). And playing with form! One story is a magazine quiz, one a trascript of audio recordings, one contains excerpts from documentary interviews. This also imbued the collection with a sense of playfulness that relieved the often difficult emotional content.
Homesick is a very strong collection that offers a wonderful dose of speculative fiction from the more literary, border-blurring end of the spectrum. If you enjoyed stuff like Carmen Maria Machado’s Her Body and Other Parties, I think you will enjoy Homesick as well.
PS. I also want to mention that the collection offers some wonderful trans and queer representation, where transness and queerness of the characters are openly mentioned, but also seamlessly weaved into the narrative. For someone who struggles sometimes with writing LGBTQ+ rep due to internalised prejudice and societal norms, Cipri’s collection provided some inspiration for how to write queer characters with skill and confidence.
I encountered Nino Cipri’s stories twice recently – in the Transcendent anthology of best transgender-themed speculative fiction and in Capricious magazine’s Gender Diverse Pronouns issue. In both cases Cipri’s stories were among the highlights for me, so I didn’t hesitate much before requesting Homesick. They are a writer I want to read more of.
Homesick is a very tight collection. It doesn’t just present every story the author’s written up to publication – the nine stories contained in the book share some thematic concerns, as well as a general emotional vibe of unsettling strangeness. More than science fiction or fantasy, Homesick brings to mind ghost stories or weird fiction: sure, there is a time machine in one of the stories or superhero/magical girls in another. But more often than not, the characters have to contend with something inexpicable: a poltergeist in the closet, vomitting up iron keys, the ocean behind their clients’ couch – and the magical girls have all been resurrected after meeting tragic fates.
When I think of homesickness, I think of profound unfamiliarity; of being in a place or situation that is not mine; of not having any company I could rely on for help or comfort. That is the vibe I largely got from Cipri’s stories, where the characters are frequently lonely and have to deal with alienation in their professional and personal lives, as well as in a larger existential sense. The best example might be Presque Vu, where the protagonist’s job as a driver for an Uber-like company leaves him shunning the company of most people, and where all the characters are haunted, both by strange objects turning up out of nowhere (keys you have to throw up, cassette tape tangled in your hair when you wake up, strange phone calls) and by mysterious wraiths that crowd the streets of their city.
This is not to say that the stories are necessarily always sad or cynical. While they are often fairly unnerving and frequently end before a complete resolution, the characters do sometimes manage to achieve some connection, however temporary, that provides them with a measure of comfort. There is also a lot of humour in dialogues (which sometimes sounds like the characters speak nothing but one-liners, but not frequently). And playing with form! One story is a magazine quiz, one a trascript of audio recordings, one contains excerpts from documentary interviews. This also imbued the collection with a sense of playfulness that relieved the often difficult emotional content.
Homesick is a very strong collection that offers a wonderful dose of speculative fiction from the more literary, border-blurring end of the spectrum. If you enjoyed stuff like Carmen Maria Machado’s Her Body and Other Parties, I think you will enjoy Homesick as well.
PS. I also want to mention that the collection offers some wonderful trans and queer representation, where transness and queerness of the characters are openly mentioned, but also seamlessly weaved into the narrative. For someone who struggles sometimes with writing LGBTQ+ rep due to internalised prejudice and societal norms, Cipri’s collection provided some inspiration for how to write queer characters with skill and confidence.
February 8, 2020
trans power (or how more people should absolutely be writing about trans time travellers and trans scientists)
October 20, 2019
I received an e-ARC of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
One of the best short story collections I've read in ages. I'd already read some of these stories in the publications they originally appeared in, but they are so great they absolutely deserved a reread. And there were many stories I hadn't read at all!
Favourites I'd previously read: Dead Air, and The Shape of My Name. Both beautiful, sad, and very queer. Ah, I love Nino Cipri's stories. The speculative elements in these are often delightfully weird, and I love how many of them feature interesting and well-crafted formal conceits like being a transcript or quiz or such. Wonderful stuff.
Also wonderful: so many queer characters, trans characters, characters of colour living their lives, being flawed, being utterly human.
The final novelette/novella (am unsure where it falls length-wise), Before We Disperse Like Star Stuff, is glorious. An absolutely compelling read, and with such emotional depth in the characters that I was utterly riveted all through. Also: a historical linguist as a character! This never happens, and it delights me.
Basically: this collection is amazing. Please do yourself a favour and get a copy.
One of the best short story collections I've read in ages. I'd already read some of these stories in the publications they originally appeared in, but they are so great they absolutely deserved a reread. And there were many stories I hadn't read at all!
Favourites I'd previously read: Dead Air, and The Shape of My Name. Both beautiful, sad, and very queer. Ah, I love Nino Cipri's stories. The speculative elements in these are often delightfully weird, and I love how many of them feature interesting and well-crafted formal conceits like being a transcript or quiz or such. Wonderful stuff.
Also wonderful: so many queer characters, trans characters, characters of colour living their lives, being flawed, being utterly human.
The final novelette/novella (am unsure where it falls length-wise), Before We Disperse Like Star Stuff, is glorious. An absolutely compelling read, and with such emotional depth in the characters that I was utterly riveted all through. Also: a historical linguist as a character! This never happens, and it delights me.
Basically: this collection is amazing. Please do yourself a favour and get a copy.
March 16, 2025
This is a WONDERFUL short story collection, nine stories, each with some kind of speculative or fantasy element, and nearly all with a queer or trans main character. The stories gained momentum as they went a long, many of them making me exclaim "how did you think of that?" A few of the longer pieces are particular standouts- "The Shape of My Name", in which a trans man recons with his family's history of time travel; "Presque Vu", in which the inhabitants of a town connect over their shared personal hauntings (the main character coughs up old keys); and "Before We Disperse Like Star Stuff" in which a queer friend group of academics deals with the fall out of a massive archeological discovery, and the way one of them ran away with the story to publish without the other two, leading a breakup and also a Smithsonian documentary. Nino Cipri is on my immediate-read list!
December 31, 2024
After reading Nino Cipri's Finna, I was hungry for more. Defekt wasn't out yet, so I got this collection of their short stories on the idea of 'Home'.
Haunted houses, childhood homes, the security you make within yourself, or the comfort you feel with another. And the need, someday, to leave it behind.
Oh - and it's queer <3
Like Finna, here Cipri leans towards the horror genre, stopping just shy of it, often explaining what is happening, but leaving us to theorise why.
(I hear horror will return with their upcoming Dead Girls Don't Dream).
This collection also contains their famous short "The Shape of my Name", which is some breathtaking queer sci-fi I don't want to spoil for you.
It's not as capital-H "HORROR" as other collections, but for the squeemish this is a wonderful intro to the genre.
Haunted houses, childhood homes, the security you make within yourself, or the comfort you feel with another. And the need, someday, to leave it behind.
Oh - and it's queer <3
Like Finna, here Cipri leans towards the horror genre, stopping just shy of it, often explaining what is happening, but leaving us to theorise why.
(I hear horror will return with their upcoming Dead Girls Don't Dream).
This collection also contains their famous short "The Shape of my Name", which is some breathtaking queer sci-fi I don't want to spoil for you.
It's not as capital-H "HORROR" as other collections, but for the squeemish this is a wonderful intro to the genre.
October 27, 2021
Nino Cipri is one of my new favorite authors. Their imagination is stunning, and I like the light, humorous tone. This is a first-rate collection. It probably should get 5 stars, but a couple stories were more horror-ish than my taste (but funny!) and a couple had not-exactly-resolved endings, where I prefer more resolution. Then again, if those were expanded to longer stories, I'd definitely read them.
December 25, 2022
if the scott street outro was a book
February 12, 2023
An absolute yes! Queer horror stories that will stick with me for a while.
Very excited to dive into more of Nino Cipri’s work.
Very excited to dive into more of Nino Cipri’s work.
January 7, 2024
Me encantó. Historias Queer de Horror/misterio /incomodidad, originales, profundas. Siempre algunas mejores qué otras, pero las buenas buenas hicieron que fuera un excelente libro para mí.
March 25, 2024
4.5/5
Nino’s writing just works for me so much. Time travel? Anthropology / digs? Queer stories? Yeah.
Nino’s writing just works for me so much. Time travel? Anthropology / digs? Queer stories? Yeah.
Read
June 8, 2024i went into this totally blind and was pleasantly surprised. queer short stories about relationships and identity, many of them with a bit of a weird/spooky (?) twist. thoroughly enjoyed!
October 10, 2024
Some ended too abruptly for me, or maybe I wasn’t smart enough to understand what they were saying. I love Cirpri’s voice and these delicate stories with sparsely but deeply drawn characters. Looking forward to their next book.
June 22, 2025
4.5 stars rounded up!
Finished in one afternoon. I wanted to swim in these stories and let them wash over all the things.
Great collection of queer short stories exploring home, sense of self, and finding a place in this world. The dark edge and unique exploration of relationships that highlight nonbinary, trans, and bi individuals add so much value to this anthology.
“You can’t trust words. They have too many rules, and too many ways to break the rules.”
Deducted .5 star for pacing. The last story was longer than I expected and didn’t feel like it fit into this anthology. I enjoyed the story itself and could see it as a stand alone book!
Finished in one afternoon. I wanted to swim in these stories and let them wash over all the things.
Great collection of queer short stories exploring home, sense of self, and finding a place in this world. The dark edge and unique exploration of relationships that highlight nonbinary, trans, and bi individuals add so much value to this anthology.
“You can’t trust words. They have too many rules, and too many ways to break the rules.”
Deducted .5 star for pacing. The last story was longer than I expected and didn’t feel like it fit into this anthology. I enjoyed the story itself and could see it as a stand alone book!
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