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Speculative Los Angeles
The debut title of a new city-based anthology series featuring stories with speculative, sci-fi, and paranormal themes.
"Speculative Los Angeles is a thrill ride of grand ideas and warnings. Take a place that already defines the future of culture, add fourteen unbound minds, and you get a collection that wows the imagination like no other."
--Michael Connelly, author of the best-selling Harry Bosch series
As an incubator of the future, Los Angeles has long mesmerized writers from Philip K. Dick to Aldous Huxley. With its natural disasters, Hollywood artifice, staggering wealth and poverty, urban sprawl, and diversity, one can argue that Los Angeles is already so weird, surreal, irrational, and mythic that any fiction emerging from this place should be considered speculative.
So, best-selling author Denise Hamilton commissioned some stories and did exactly that. In Speculative Los Angeles, fourteen of the city’s most prophetic voices reimagine the city in very different ways. In these pages, you’ll encounter twenty-first-century changelings, dirigibles plying the suburban skies, black holes and jacaranda men lurking in deep suburbia, beachfront property in Century City, walled-off canyons and coastlines reserved for the wealthy, psychic death cults, robot nursemaids, and an alternate LA where Spanish land grants never gave way to urbanization.
As with our city-based Akashic Noir Series, each story in Speculative Los Angeles is set in a distinct neighborhood filled with local color, landmarks, and flavor. Since the best speculative fiction provides a wormhole into other worlds while also commenting on our own, that is exactly what you’ll find here.
Featuring brand-new stories by: Aimee Bender, Lisa Morton, Alex Espinoza, Ben H. Winters, Denise Hamilton, Lynell George, Stephen Blackmoore, Francesca Lia Block, Charles Yu, Duane Swierczynski, Luis J. Rodriguez, A.G. Lombardo, Kathleen Kaufman, and S. Qiouyi Lu.
"Speculative Los Angeles is a thrill ride of grand ideas and warnings. Take a place that already defines the future of culture, add fourteen unbound minds, and you get a collection that wows the imagination like no other."
--Michael Connelly, author of the best-selling Harry Bosch series
As an incubator of the future, Los Angeles has long mesmerized writers from Philip K. Dick to Aldous Huxley. With its natural disasters, Hollywood artifice, staggering wealth and poverty, urban sprawl, and diversity, one can argue that Los Angeles is already so weird, surreal, irrational, and mythic that any fiction emerging from this place should be considered speculative.
So, best-selling author Denise Hamilton commissioned some stories and did exactly that. In Speculative Los Angeles, fourteen of the city’s most prophetic voices reimagine the city in very different ways. In these pages, you’ll encounter twenty-first-century changelings, dirigibles plying the suburban skies, black holes and jacaranda men lurking in deep suburbia, beachfront property in Century City, walled-off canyons and coastlines reserved for the wealthy, psychic death cults, robot nursemaids, and an alternate LA where Spanish land grants never gave way to urbanization.
As with our city-based Akashic Noir Series, each story in Speculative Los Angeles is set in a distinct neighborhood filled with local color, landmarks, and flavor. Since the best speculative fiction provides a wormhole into other worlds while also commenting on our own, that is exactly what you’ll find here.
Featuring brand-new stories by: Aimee Bender, Lisa Morton, Alex Espinoza, Ben H. Winters, Denise Hamilton, Lynell George, Stephen Blackmoore, Francesca Lia Block, Charles Yu, Duane Swierczynski, Luis J. Rodriguez, A.G. Lombardo, Kathleen Kaufman, and S. Qiouyi Lu.
298 pages, Hardcover
First published February 2, 2021
45 people are currently reading
346 people want to read
About the author
Denise Hamilton
32 books117 followersDenise Hamilton is a Los Angeles-based writer-journalist whose work has appeared in the Los Angeles Times, Wired, Cosmopolitan, Der Spiegel, and New Times. A reporter for the L.A. Times for ten years, she covered not only L.A. stories, but also the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe, the breakup of the Soviet Union, and burgeoning youth movements in Japan. A Fulbright scholar, she taught in the former Yugoslavia during the Bosnian War. She lives in a Los Angeles suburb with her husband and two young children. Her first novel, The Jasmine Trade, received wide acclaim and was a finalist for the Edgar, Anthony, Macavity, and WILLA Awards.
Series:
* Eve Diamond Mystery
Series:
* Eve Diamond Mystery
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 38 reviews
May 28, 2024
Akashic Books, which might be running out of cities or regions to cultivate their wonderful noir anthologies, is branching out into the speculative fiction genre. Published in 2021, Speculative Los Angeles is based in L.A. Speculative fiction deals with extraterrestrial settings, magic, futurism, alternate history, or characters with unusual powers. The improbable, quixotic, or unreal.
I found most of the fourteen stories obtuse or difficult to pry open. My favorites:
+ "Peak TV," by Ben H. Winters. A wildly successful television writer/ producer in Culver City is pitched what he considers a bad idea for a paranormal TV show, until he begins being haunted in a similar fashion.
+ "Purple Panic," by Francesca Lia Block. A woman recalls growing up--surviving, actually--her childhood in Studio City/ the San Fernando Valley of the 1970s and her childhood's friend tale of how a visitor from another dimension helped get her through. This is the least science fiction story in the book, more literary fiction, something that always gets my attention in these collections.
+ "Maintenance," by Aimee Bender. Despite the pedestrian title, this is my favorite story in the collection. In Miracle Mile, two girls note the disappearance of the sculpture woolly mammoths from the La Brea Tar Pits Museum, which start turning up all over L.A. I've had Bender's collection The Girl in the Flammable Skirt on my radar for some time and now understand why.
+ "Jaguar's Breath," by Luis J. Rodriguez. The Big One ushers in totalitarian rule, which a guerilla movement called Jaguar's Breath fights back from their underground bases in the Angeles National Forest. Dystopia is not my favorite sub-genre because there's so much of it, particularly of the ecological disaster or immigration crackdown variety. It's not a matter of how well it's written, I like reading something different, but I could at least follow this one.
One of my discoveries in the ten years I've been on Goodreads is Akashic Books. They had a booth at the L.A. Times Festival of Books, so I was happy to give them my business, purchasing this title and Beirut Noir. As a writer, I find it fascinating how a dozen authors interpret the same assignment. For readers, these anthologies are a wonderful way to discover local authors, as well as learn about other parts of the world.
I found most of the fourteen stories obtuse or difficult to pry open. My favorites:
+ "Peak TV," by Ben H. Winters. A wildly successful television writer/ producer in Culver City is pitched what he considers a bad idea for a paranormal TV show, until he begins being haunted in a similar fashion.
+ "Purple Panic," by Francesca Lia Block. A woman recalls growing up--surviving, actually--her childhood in Studio City/ the San Fernando Valley of the 1970s and her childhood's friend tale of how a visitor from another dimension helped get her through. This is the least science fiction story in the book, more literary fiction, something that always gets my attention in these collections.
+ "Maintenance," by Aimee Bender. Despite the pedestrian title, this is my favorite story in the collection. In Miracle Mile, two girls note the disappearance of the sculpture woolly mammoths from the La Brea Tar Pits Museum, which start turning up all over L.A. I've had Bender's collection The Girl in the Flammable Skirt on my radar for some time and now understand why.
+ "Jaguar's Breath," by Luis J. Rodriguez. The Big One ushers in totalitarian rule, which a guerilla movement called Jaguar's Breath fights back from their underground bases in the Angeles National Forest. Dystopia is not my favorite sub-genre because there's so much of it, particularly of the ecological disaster or immigration crackdown variety. It's not a matter of how well it's written, I like reading something different, but I could at least follow this one.
One of my discoveries in the ten years I've been on Goodreads is Akashic Books. They had a booth at the L.A. Times Festival of Books, so I was happy to give them my business, purchasing this title and Beirut Noir. As a writer, I find it fascinating how a dozen authors interpret the same assignment. For readers, these anthologies are a wonderful way to discover local authors, as well as learn about other parts of the world.
May 30, 2020
Akashic Books has criss-crossed the entire world twice over with their Akashic Noir series, each one focusing on a particular geographic area with mystery/crime/noir stories by various local authors, some well known and some barely discovered. Stop the presses! Akashic Books has just previewed the start of a brand new series of geographically-based speculative fiction (what we used to call science fiction) with the first one centered in La-La Land (Los Angeles). These stories take us through LA's various neighborhoods, divided into four topics or sections: (1) CHANGELINGS, GHOSTS, AND PARALLEL WORLDS; (2) STEAMPUNKS, ALCHEMISTS, AND MEMORY ARTISTS; (3) A TEAR In The FABRIC OF REALITY, and (4) COPS AND ROBOTS IN THE FUTURE RUINS OF LA.
Stories range from alternate timelines, breaks in realities, mysterious children, valley girls and elves or leprechauns, and body cams on skid row. Favorites include Antonia and the Stranger Who Came to Los Felix and Garbo on the Skids. Others deserve honorable mention and enough were worthwhile and thought provoking to make this a recommended read. Here's the entire cast:
LISA MORTON Antonia and the Stranger Who Came to Rancho Los Feliz
ALEX ESPINOZA Detainment El Sereno
BEN H. WINTERS Peak TV Culver City
DENISE HAMILTON Past the Mission Encino
S. QIOUYI LU Where There Are Cities, These Dissolve Too La Puente
LYNELL GEORGE If Memory Serves Echo Park
STEPHEN BLACKMOORE Love, Rocket Science, and the Mother of Abominations Pasadena
FRANCESCA LIA BLOCK Studio City Purple Panic
AIMEE BENDER Miracle Mile Maintenance
CHARLES YU West Torrance West Torrance 2BR 2BA w/Pool and Black Hole DUANE SWIERCZYNSKI Walk of Fame Hollywood
LUIS J. RODRIGUEZ Jaguar’s Breath Angeles National Forest
A.G. LOMBARDO Garbo on the Skids Downtown Los Angeles
KATHLEEN KAUFMAN Sailing That Beautiful Sea Century City
Stories range from alternate timelines, breaks in realities, mysterious children, valley girls and elves or leprechauns, and body cams on skid row. Favorites include Antonia and the Stranger Who Came to Los Felix and Garbo on the Skids. Others deserve honorable mention and enough were worthwhile and thought provoking to make this a recommended read. Here's the entire cast:
LISA MORTON Antonia and the Stranger Who Came to Rancho Los Feliz
ALEX ESPINOZA Detainment El Sereno
BEN H. WINTERS Peak TV Culver City
DENISE HAMILTON Past the Mission Encino
S. QIOUYI LU Where There Are Cities, These Dissolve Too La Puente
LYNELL GEORGE If Memory Serves Echo Park
STEPHEN BLACKMOORE Love, Rocket Science, and the Mother of Abominations Pasadena
FRANCESCA LIA BLOCK Studio City Purple Panic
AIMEE BENDER Miracle Mile Maintenance
CHARLES YU West Torrance West Torrance 2BR 2BA w/Pool and Black Hole DUANE SWIERCZYNSKI Walk of Fame Hollywood
LUIS J. RODRIGUEZ Jaguar’s Breath Angeles National Forest
A.G. LOMBARDO Garbo on the Skids Downtown Los Angeles
KATHLEEN KAUFMAN Sailing That Beautiful Sea Century City
April 19, 2021
This was a little uneven, as would be expected from a hodgepodge of different writerly styles and stories in various subcategories of speculative fiction, but only a little uneven. Most of them I liked very much and thought it far superior as a collection to editor Denise Hamilton’s previous anthology, Los Angeles Noir . But I knew I really couldn’t go wrong with this one when I saw an Eve Babitz quote in the front of the book: “. . . everybody who really lived in L.A. was linked into the trance.” [L.A. Woman]
Stories are divided into four categories titled Changelings, Ghosts, and Parallel Worlds; Teampunks, Alchemists, and Memory Artists; A Tear in the Fabric of Reality; and Cops and Robots in the Future Ruins of L.A. Some capsule summaries and my opinions follow.
The first story, “Antonia and the Stranger Who Came to Rancho Los Feliz,” was a weak start and what I would call silly-sci-fi. A multiverse portal links a 20th century agrarian Los Angeles with a post-apocalyptic urban L.A., much to the consternation of the Los Feliz residents who have to deal with the fallout from a trespasser from the doomed realm.
In the second, “Detainment,” there is a radical shift in tone. Here a mother and small son are re-united after the boy is kidnapped by ICE for six months and the narration tracks the mother’s concern as she observes disturbing changes in her son’s behavior since the separation. He’s not at all like her kid.
The quality of writing took a giant leap with Ben H. Winters’ satirical “Peak TV,” which was entertaining and cathartic as I have recently been dealing with media people in my work life. And it had the kind of ending I didn’t see coming, but which, when it arrived, felt completely right.
Denise Hamilton’s “Past the Mission” was the stand-out in the first section. Wonderful writing tells the story of Talina, an exploited Native Californian, having a #MeToo moment. She has to make some thoughtful choices about vengeance.
“Where There are Cities, These Dissolve Too,” was one I loved unabashedly, much to my surprise. The grim dystopian environment, full of aggression, violence and betrayal, didn’t mar the love story told in the 2nd person. I like the 2nd person in some situations and S. Qiouyi Lu handled it beautifully here.
I absolutely loved Lynell George’s beautifully written “If Memory Serves,” where the narrator, Alondra, has watched Los Angeles disintegrate into one hot mess. She is a little obsessed with reconstructing knowledge about the former landscape of the city and its people, keenly aware of the importance of history and how we ache for connections to a vanishing past. As a sort of counselor, she helps the elderly recover their own personal fading memories. “See, this is your story,” I coach my clients: “This is the shape of your story.”
I was introduced to writer Steven Blackmore through “Love, Rocket Science, and the Mother of Abomination,” a tech-centered noir set Downtown circa 2055, featuring prose so good it made me forget I don’t know anything about technology.
While most of the stories are stylistically more mainstream, or literary/mainstream, some are more experimental, philosophical and poetic, such as “West Torrance: 2 BR 2BA w/Pool and Black Hole,” by Charles Yu, whose new novel, Interior Chinatown, I am about to start.
The collection gets a dose of satire with “Walk of Fame,” a send-up of Hollywood with landmark name-checking that’s fun for us locals, in an alternative reality where Musso & Frank’s serves vegan food and memory-altering cocktails. But I have to admit I didn’t get the ending. Can somebody explain it to me, please?
I liked A.J. Lombardo’s 2019 novel Graffiti Palace, a retelling of The Odyssey set in South L.A., better than his story here, called “Garbo on the Skids,” although atmospherically it was similar, set as it was in the dark underbelly of ruined neighborhoods full of extreme poverty, crime and corruption. I did kind of like the ending though.
The final entry, "Sailing that Beautiful Sea,” wins Best Name Award for a character called Abtonius Crowninshield. But beyond that accolade, the story was a moving account of a dying woman as she contemplates a fading world from a bot-run hospice. Kelsie seems to be the last human on earth and spends her final days making art in a world now run solely by bots. Benevolent bots, but bots nonetheless, who will not have the capacity to appreciate anything as human as art.
I think this collection will be especially fun for Angelenos – I know I always enjoy the place names and being able to visualize vividly the settings referenced and sense the atmosphere of the various neighborhoods – but it’s good enough on other levels to be appealing to anyone open to the speculative genre.
Stories are divided into four categories titled Changelings, Ghosts, and Parallel Worlds; Teampunks, Alchemists, and Memory Artists; A Tear in the Fabric of Reality; and Cops and Robots in the Future Ruins of L.A. Some capsule summaries and my opinions follow.
The first story, “Antonia and the Stranger Who Came to Rancho Los Feliz,” was a weak start and what I would call silly-sci-fi. A multiverse portal links a 20th century agrarian Los Angeles with a post-apocalyptic urban L.A., much to the consternation of the Los Feliz residents who have to deal with the fallout from a trespasser from the doomed realm.
In the second, “Detainment,” there is a radical shift in tone. Here a mother and small son are re-united after the boy is kidnapped by ICE for six months and the narration tracks the mother’s concern as she observes disturbing changes in her son’s behavior since the separation. He’s not at all like her kid.
The quality of writing took a giant leap with Ben H. Winters’ satirical “Peak TV,” which was entertaining and cathartic as I have recently been dealing with media people in my work life. And it had the kind of ending I didn’t see coming, but which, when it arrived, felt completely right.
Denise Hamilton’s “Past the Mission” was the stand-out in the first section. Wonderful writing tells the story of Talina, an exploited Native Californian, having a #MeToo moment. She has to make some thoughtful choices about vengeance.
“Where There are Cities, These Dissolve Too,” was one I loved unabashedly, much to my surprise. The grim dystopian environment, full of aggression, violence and betrayal, didn’t mar the love story told in the 2nd person. I like the 2nd person in some situations and S. Qiouyi Lu handled it beautifully here.
I absolutely loved Lynell George’s beautifully written “If Memory Serves,” where the narrator, Alondra, has watched Los Angeles disintegrate into one hot mess. She is a little obsessed with reconstructing knowledge about the former landscape of the city and its people, keenly aware of the importance of history and how we ache for connections to a vanishing past. As a sort of counselor, she helps the elderly recover their own personal fading memories. “See, this is your story,” I coach my clients: “This is the shape of your story.”
I was introduced to writer Steven Blackmore through “Love, Rocket Science, and the Mother of Abomination,” a tech-centered noir set Downtown circa 2055, featuring prose so good it made me forget I don’t know anything about technology.
While most of the stories are stylistically more mainstream, or literary/mainstream, some are more experimental, philosophical and poetic, such as “West Torrance: 2 BR 2BA w/Pool and Black Hole,” by Charles Yu, whose new novel, Interior Chinatown, I am about to start.
The collection gets a dose of satire with “Walk of Fame,” a send-up of Hollywood with landmark name-checking that’s fun for us locals, in an alternative reality where Musso & Frank’s serves vegan food and memory-altering cocktails. But I have to admit I didn’t get the ending. Can somebody explain it to me, please?
I liked A.J. Lombardo’s 2019 novel Graffiti Palace, a retelling of The Odyssey set in South L.A., better than his story here, called “Garbo on the Skids,” although atmospherically it was similar, set as it was in the dark underbelly of ruined neighborhoods full of extreme poverty, crime and corruption. I did kind of like the ending though.
The final entry, "Sailing that Beautiful Sea,” wins Best Name Award for a character called Abtonius Crowninshield. But beyond that accolade, the story was a moving account of a dying woman as she contemplates a fading world from a bot-run hospice. Kelsie seems to be the last human on earth and spends her final days making art in a world now run solely by bots. Benevolent bots, but bots nonetheless, who will not have the capacity to appreciate anything as human as art.
I think this collection will be especially fun for Angelenos – I know I always enjoy the place names and being able to visualize vividly the settings referenced and sense the atmosphere of the various neighborhoods – but it’s good enough on other levels to be appealing to anyone open to the speculative genre.
May 3, 2021
EXCELLENT SCIENCE FICTION/FANTASY STORY COLLECTION
This collection of science fiction/fantasy/horror stories is top drawer.
Each is set in a different LA neighborhood.
They’re written by a diverse group of authors.
I loved this collection, even though I’ve never
been to LA.
Of course, as with any anthology, some stories
were better than others. I disliked a couple.
This is always a matter of taste. It’s
rare that every story in an anthology will
appeal to every reader.
GREAT AUDIO NARRATORS
The multiple audio readers were also terrific,
for a change (Not the usual audio narrator who
can barely read). Heavy hitters, like Stefan Rudnicki.
All the audio readers were good, although I did like some better
than others. Sadly, we never know which reader is
reading which story (although I can always recognize
Rudnicki’s deep voice).
The audio readers were: Stefan Rudnicki, Gabrielle de Cuir, Judy Young, John Rubinstein, Justine Eyre, Roxanne Hernandez, Janina Edwards, Paul Boehmer, Kate Orsini
ANTONIA AND THE STRANGER WHO CAME TO RANCHO LOS FELIZ by Lisa Morton
4
Great and moving story about an injured stranger disrupting the idyllic
life of a kind lady who runs a ranch.
Audio perfectly read by ?
DETAINMENT by Alex Espinoza
4
Chilling story of a child and mother, fleeing an unspecified Latin American country.
They separated at the U.S. border by ICE and then reunited. But the kid has
changed.
Audio beautifully read by ?
PEAK TV by Ben H. Winters
4
Creepy horror story about an arrogant, successful TV show
runner, his innocent son, and his son’s dog.
Audio read flawlessly by Stefan Rudnicki, one of my favorite audio
narrators.
PAST THE MISSION by Denise Hamilton
3.5
A woman who, for a long time, has been nursing a desire for
vengeance against an ex, finally has a chance
to act on it.
I found this a bit melodramatic for my taste. Also,
the main character’s vengefulness became grating.
The characters were not sympathetic or well developed.
Still, the story was well crafted.
WHERE THERE ARE CITIES, THESE DISSOLVE TOO by S. Qiouyi Lu
4
A moving story about two Chinese
American female lovers
whose hobby is battling in “chompers”,
fighting machines built from junkyard parts.
One of the two, Winnie, has PTSD.
Beautifully read by audio reader ?
IF MEMORY SERVES by Lynell George
4
A meandering and lovely meditation on memory.
Not much of a plot to this story, really. Takes place in an
LA in some indeterminate future. Climate
change is a fixture. There’s little public
property left, especially property accessing
bodies of water. The rich have that access.
Transportation has become really problematic.
Audio wonderfully read by ?
LOVE, ROCKET SCIENCE, AND THE MOTHER
OF ABOMINATIONS by Stephen Blackmoore
2
Yuck.
Dark sex magic, Aleister Crowley. Thelema. Murder.
Not my cuppa at all. I started tuning this out towards
the tale’s end. Entirely too creepy for me.
Jack Parsons, at the story’s center, was a real person, a local rocket scientist at Jet
Propulsion Laborotory in the 1940s. He was a fascinating, if
repulsive character. He was very handsome, apparently drug addled, sex crazed,
and insane. He was a dedicated follower of Aleister Crowley.
He was defrauded of his life savings by the founder of Scientology.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Pa...
Parsons was an unsavory character and there was
a bit more info about him (some speculative) than
I really wanted.
The historical research was the best part of this story.
The story itself I could have lived without. The characters
are just cardboard cut outs, chess pieces in service of
the plot.
The title is pretty accurate .
It’s very sensationalistic material. So some readers
may enjoy this.
The sleazy sensationalism seems very L.A., somehow.
Still, the story was imaginative and well plotted.
But I’m not the right reader for it. It was just too
creepy for me.
PURPLE PANIC by Francesca Lia Block
4
Haunting tale about a 1970s Valley girl and
her encounter with a strange being among
the jacarandas.
MAINTENANCE by Aimee Bender
4
Wonderful story. The mammoth statues in
the La Brea tar pits go missing. A young
child sees this as a symbol of her alcoholic
mother who abandoned her family.
WEST TORRANCE 2BR 2BA W/POOL AND BLACK HOLE by Charles Yu
4
A mournful, bittersweet and poignant meditation on family,
parenting, the unbridgeable distances between
people and the transitory nature of intimacy.
Beautifully read by Stefan Rudnicki, in his usual
understated way.
W*LK OF F*ME by Duane Swierczynski
4
Lots of very dry humor here, poking sly fun at
Hollywood celebrities, Hollywood in general,
and detective novels.
P.S. The story is written like a movie script. Each
character has lines and stage directions.
JAGUAR’S BREATH by Luis J. Rodriguez
3.5
A future in which Jaguar’s Breath, a guerilla
group hiding in tunnels like the Viet Cong,
battles the White Supremacist America First
Party, which controls the government.
Interesting story, but the ending and plot
are a bit disappointing.
GARBO ON THE SKIDS by A.G. Lombardo
4.5
Great, surprising.and very unsettling..noir crime story set
in the future.
Takes place in a future where California is
divided into four countries, the East Coast’s
free states have seceded from the U.S.,
and the Midwest is an isolated republic,
Great America, with Kid Rock as its President.
The less said about the actual story, the better.
SAILING THAT BEAUTIFUL SEA by Kathleen Kaufman
4
A touching and poignant story about the death of the last
surviving human in a world run by bots.
This collection of science fiction/fantasy/horror stories is top drawer.
Each is set in a different LA neighborhood.
They’re written by a diverse group of authors.
I loved this collection, even though I’ve never
been to LA.
Of course, as with any anthology, some stories
were better than others. I disliked a couple.
This is always a matter of taste. It’s
rare that every story in an anthology will
appeal to every reader.
GREAT AUDIO NARRATORS
The multiple audio readers were also terrific,
for a change (Not the usual audio narrator who
can barely read). Heavy hitters, like Stefan Rudnicki.
All the audio readers were good, although I did like some better
than others. Sadly, we never know which reader is
reading which story (although I can always recognize
Rudnicki’s deep voice).
The audio readers were: Stefan Rudnicki, Gabrielle de Cuir, Judy Young, John Rubinstein, Justine Eyre, Roxanne Hernandez, Janina Edwards, Paul Boehmer, Kate Orsini
ANTONIA AND THE STRANGER WHO CAME TO RANCHO LOS FELIZ by Lisa Morton
4
Great and moving story about an injured stranger disrupting the idyllic
life of a kind lady who runs a ranch.
Audio perfectly read by ?
DETAINMENT by Alex Espinoza
4
Chilling story of a child and mother, fleeing an unspecified Latin American country.
They separated at the U.S. border by ICE and then reunited. But the kid has
changed.
Audio beautifully read by ?
PEAK TV by Ben H. Winters
4
Creepy horror story about an arrogant, successful TV show
runner, his innocent son, and his son’s dog.
Audio read flawlessly by Stefan Rudnicki, one of my favorite audio
narrators.
PAST THE MISSION by Denise Hamilton
3.5
A woman who, for a long time, has been nursing a desire for
vengeance against an ex, finally has a chance
to act on it.
I found this a bit melodramatic for my taste. Also,
the main character’s vengefulness became grating.
The characters were not sympathetic or well developed.
Still, the story was well crafted.
WHERE THERE ARE CITIES, THESE DISSOLVE TOO by S. Qiouyi Lu
4
A moving story about two Chinese
American female lovers
whose hobby is battling in “chompers”,
fighting machines built from junkyard parts.
One of the two, Winnie, has PTSD.
Beautifully read by audio reader ?
IF MEMORY SERVES by Lynell George
4
A meandering and lovely meditation on memory.
Not much of a plot to this story, really. Takes place in an
LA in some indeterminate future. Climate
change is a fixture. There’s little public
property left, especially property accessing
bodies of water. The rich have that access.
Transportation has become really problematic.
Audio wonderfully read by ?
LOVE, ROCKET SCIENCE, AND THE MOTHER
OF ABOMINATIONS by Stephen Blackmoore
2
Yuck.
Dark sex magic, Aleister Crowley. Thelema. Murder.
Not my cuppa at all. I started tuning this out towards
the tale’s end. Entirely too creepy for me.
Jack Parsons, at the story’s center, was a real person, a local rocket scientist at Jet
Propulsion Laborotory in the 1940s. He was a fascinating, if
repulsive character. He was very handsome, apparently drug addled, sex crazed,
and insane. He was a dedicated follower of Aleister Crowley.
He was defrauded of his life savings by the founder of Scientology.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Pa...
Parsons was an unsavory character and there was
a bit more info about him (some speculative) than
I really wanted.
The historical research was the best part of this story.
The story itself I could have lived without. The characters
are just cardboard cut outs, chess pieces in service of
the plot.
The title is pretty accurate .
It’s very sensationalistic material. So some readers
may enjoy this.
The sleazy sensationalism seems very L.A., somehow.
Still, the story was imaginative and well plotted.
But I’m not the right reader for it. It was just too
creepy for me.
PURPLE PANIC by Francesca Lia Block
4
Haunting tale about a 1970s Valley girl and
her encounter with a strange being among
the jacarandas.
MAINTENANCE by Aimee Bender
4
Wonderful story. The mammoth statues in
the La Brea tar pits go missing. A young
child sees this as a symbol of her alcoholic
mother who abandoned her family.
WEST TORRANCE 2BR 2BA W/POOL AND BLACK HOLE by Charles Yu
4
A mournful, bittersweet and poignant meditation on family,
parenting, the unbridgeable distances between
people and the transitory nature of intimacy.
Beautifully read by Stefan Rudnicki, in his usual
understated way.
W*LK OF F*ME by Duane Swierczynski
4
Lots of very dry humor here, poking sly fun at
Hollywood celebrities, Hollywood in general,
and detective novels.
P.S. The story is written like a movie script. Each
character has lines and stage directions.
JAGUAR’S BREATH by Luis J. Rodriguez
3.5
A future in which Jaguar’s Breath, a guerilla
group hiding in tunnels like the Viet Cong,
battles the White Supremacist America First
Party, which controls the government.
Interesting story, but the ending and plot
are a bit disappointing.
GARBO ON THE SKIDS by A.G. Lombardo
4.5
Great, surprising.and very unsettling..noir crime story set
in the future.
Takes place in a future where California is
divided into four countries, the East Coast’s
free states have seceded from the U.S.,
and the Midwest is an isolated republic,
Great America, with Kid Rock as its President.
The less said about the actual story, the better.
SAILING THAT BEAUTIFUL SEA by Kathleen Kaufman
4
A touching and poignant story about the death of the last
surviving human in a world run by bots.
October 13, 2020
4 stars... though it's difficult to rate anthologies because each individual story deserves its own individual rating. A couple of the stories I didn't really care for, most were pretty good, and a few I loved! This anthology covers monsters, black holes, vaqueros, psychic terrorists, noir, parallel dimensions, gods, robots, and more! My favorite story was "Walk of Fame" by Duane Swierczynski. As soon as I finished it, I immediately read it again. I imagine there will be future rereads as well. It's the story of a future in which psychic terrorists can (and do) target for murder anyone with a name connected to a face, simply by using the powers of their mind. Ergo, anonymity is EVERYTHING. This short reads like a detective interview, and oh man I was right there sweating in the chair beside the two main characters.
As a Los Angeles County native, I loved the tastes of color and culture and life that are pure LA and nowhere else in the world. I appreciated the map in the beginning with the location of each story. This was so much fun and one I can't wait to revisit it during future ventures back to my home turf.
Thank you so, so much Edelweiss and Consortium Book Sales & Distribution for the ARC! I'm so happy to have read this.
As a Los Angeles County native, I loved the tastes of color and culture and life that are pure LA and nowhere else in the world. I appreciated the map in the beginning with the location of each story. This was so much fun and one I can't wait to revisit it during future ventures back to my home turf.
Thank you so, so much Edelweiss and Consortium Book Sales & Distribution for the ARC! I'm so happy to have read this.
April 17, 2023
The Los Angeles of the future through a cracked mirror — a series of dark visions of Los Angeles divided spatially, racially, socially, technologically. Part of a venerable tradition of writing Los Angeles in the mode of darkness, that the real Los Angeles consists of its demimondes and back stage behaviors, that its pleasures and beauties are all at best simulacras underwritten by the exploitation of nature and other people, justified by deceptions trite and grand. Each story is set in a different neighborhood of Los Angeles — a schizoid city that famously consists of a series of separate villages that have agglomerated into an endless megalopolis — and each contribution is attentive to place.
January 24, 2021
The first in a new city-based series from Akashic Books, Speculative Los Angeles is a triumph. Going into this, I clearly had no concept of the breadth of genre that the term "speculative fiction" encompassed. The stories in this collection range from magical realism, to Sci-Fi, to noir, to pure horror. These are not happy stories by any stretch of the imagination, but rather they will reach inside you, grab hold of your heart, your lungs, your stomach, and tear you apart. The first few were some of the hardest to read, for me. I sobbed almost the entire way through Alex Espinoza's "Detainment", and "Peak TV" by Ben H. Winters scared me so much I almost tossed the entire book in my freezer. The collection ends with "Sailing that Beautiful Sea" by Kathleen Kaufman, which was hauntingly beautiful and bittersweet. As for the tales in between, they were gray and desolate, exquisitely constructed stories of alternate realities, AI, and climate disasters. I'm a huge fan of the Akashic Noir series and I cannot wait to see what Akashic comes up with next.
Out February 2, 2021. Thank you to Akashic Books and LibraryThing for the Advance Uncorrected Proof in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are entirely my own.
Out February 2, 2021. Thank you to Akashic Books and LibraryThing for the Advance Uncorrected Proof in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are entirely my own.
May 28, 2021
“If Memory Serves” by Lynell George is the best story in here. Way more high-concept than the rest, and much more skillfully written. Similar to the other stories, George weaves in critiques of widening class inequality, gentrification, and environmental degradation. Hers is a much more intimate voice though, and that’s where the difference is. The prisms of memory and limited geography lend a texture and specificity to her voice which most of the other narratives lack.
“West Torrance 2BR 2 BA W/Pool and Black Hole” and “Detainment” are provocative, but not as engrossing as George’s piece. And the Ben H. Winters story has an absolutely inane ending. Charles Yu was the reason I bought the book, and I enjoyed the experimental range of his story.
I like the idea of the four thematic divisions of the collection—ghosts/parallel realities, steampunk, tears in space, and cops and robots—but the quality of the writing is so uneven, the intended thematic resonance just doesn’t come across. What differentiates spec fic as a genre from sci-fi is the uncanny—the imagined world is very close to ours, but with differences that are rooted and project from dystopian elements that already exist. Most of the stories in here, especially in the cops and robots section, are too far-flung and sci-fi, and homogeneously so, to qualify as spec fic in my opinion.
Also, I get sick of hearing about how hot everything is and the Santa Ana winds. These are interesting and hellish things, but not if you read about them described in the same way by five different writers in a row.
“West Torrance 2BR 2 BA W/Pool and Black Hole” and “Detainment” are provocative, but not as engrossing as George’s piece. And the Ben H. Winters story has an absolutely inane ending. Charles Yu was the reason I bought the book, and I enjoyed the experimental range of his story.
I like the idea of the four thematic divisions of the collection—ghosts/parallel realities, steampunk, tears in space, and cops and robots—but the quality of the writing is so uneven, the intended thematic resonance just doesn’t come across. What differentiates spec fic as a genre from sci-fi is the uncanny—the imagined world is very close to ours, but with differences that are rooted and project from dystopian elements that already exist. Most of the stories in here, especially in the cops and robots section, are too far-flung and sci-fi, and homogeneously so, to qualify as spec fic in my opinion.
Also, I get sick of hearing about how hot everything is and the Santa Ana winds. These are interesting and hellish things, but not if you read about them described in the same way by five different writers in a row.
October 24, 2024
This collection was incredible. I didn’t know the authors going in, or the previous installments in the city anthology series, which I think was to my benefit. You can always tell when a writer is from Southern California in works set there, in these pieces especially, intimately woven into every dirty crevice of the city. Besides being the most accurate depiction I’ve read in fiction of LA in all its odoriferous glory, the stories can support themselves without the city’s steel scaffolding, building their own gorgeously rich worlds. “Sailing that Beautiful Sea” hit particularly close to me right now for reasons I won’t spoil, but all of the works were about equal in amazing quality. *Highly* recommend.
April 9, 2021
I’m a sucker for well-done speculative fiction and this collection was right up my alley. I’m also a resident of California, and although I do not live in Los Angeles, I did live there for five years. I loved the variety of stories, how they took a different slant on speculative, from magical realism to sci-fi to horror. I particularly enjoyed the stories by Aimee Bender, Ben Winters, Denise Hamilton, S. Qioyyi Lu, Francesca Lia Block, Stephen Blackmoore, and Duane Swiercynski. Now I'm going to drop the paperback off in my downtown Community Book Box so hopefully someone else will enjoy it.
May 9, 2023
3.5 stars. If you read only one story from this collection, make it Garbo on the Skids.
November 6, 2024
Awesome concepts, though some stories fall flat
December 17, 2023
Absolutely fantastic anthology featuring stories all set in various locations in Los Angeles with speculative, sci-fi, dystopian, horror, magical, supernatural, cyberpunk themes. The stories definitely hit a lot of my favorite genres and were very creative! Great writing and so entertaining-I didn’t want this book to end-I wanted more stories!! I think my favorite story (among the many that I loved) was the last one, “Sailing That Beautiful Sea”, so thoughtful and poignant. Top, top, top anthology collection of the year. I definitely recommend it!!
September 19, 2023
Rec. by: MCL, and pride of place
Rec. for: Angelenos, former Angelenos, and anyone who's ever wanted to burn the whole place down and start over
I lived in Los Angeles myself for five long years, 'way back in the 1990s, and I can attest to this: it's fun to think about tearing the whole place down and starting over. El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Ángeles might have been a great idea at its inception, but the sprawling metropolis that L.A. has become exhibits, let's say, some significant downsides.
Speculative Los Angeles, from prolific editor and writer Denise Hamilton, doesn't shy away from that impulse. Many of the stories in this anthology deal with the destruction or downfall of the City of Angels. There's even one where Ellay never existed at all. But these stories also show a great deal of affection for the place, or for places within the place. Hamilton's anthology of originals, featuring so many authors who are new to me, is on the whole a good, solid read.
The book is divided into four parts, with three or four stories in each section:
Part I: Changelings, Ghosts, and Parallel Worlds
“Antonia and the Stranger Who Came to Rancho Los Feliz” by Lisa Morton (Los Feliz)
This one's set in the Los Feliz neighborhood, just north of where I lived (in a section once called Koreatown that is now labeled "Little Bangladesh"), but it's a pastoral view of the place, an alternative tlmeline in which the city was never built... Sadly, we all know such an idyll cannot last forever. When Jack Parsons shows up, everything changes.
The name "Alta California" also shows up in Annalee Newitz's The Future of Another Timeline, by the way.
“Detainment” by Alex Espinoza (El Sereno)
Too much truth makes this changeling tale hard to read.
“Peak TV” by Ben H. Winters (Culver City)
Jack Avril will hear your pitch now. Just as long as it's not about... floats.
“Past the Mission” by Denise Hamilton (Encino)
The editor's own story, but it's a pretty good one, even so.
Part II: Steampunks, Alchemists, and Memory Artists
“Where There Are Cities, These Dissolve Too” by S. Qiouyi Lu (La Puente)
“If Memory Serves” by Lynell George (Echo Park)
While I'm not sure that a rideshare company would call itself "GIPSI" these days, this poetic and wistful story otherwise hit all the right notes for me—I have watched the same skies bloodied by the same fires feeding off the winds of "that saint's name" (p.136).
“Love, Rocket Science, and the Mother of Abominations” by Stephen Blackmoore (Pasadena)
Jack Parsons pops up again, like... an unwanted erection. But this time... maybe he was right? Diana thinks so, anyway.
Part III: A Tear in the Fabric of Reality
“Purple Panic” by Francesca Lia Block (Studio City)
So TIL that "purple panic" is not a nickname for a kind of cannabis, but for the jacaranda that periodically perfume much of Los Angeles. This story escalates from there...
“Maintenance” by Aimee Bender (Miracle Mile)
Literalizing a metaphor; this one is intensely localized, to a place I've seen and wondered at myself.
“West Torrance 2BR 2BA w/Pool and Black Hole” by Charles Yu (West Torrance)
Make. Believe. This one's typical Yu, using the language of physics to talk about love and loss. Or vice versa.
Part IV: Cops and Robots in the Future Ruins of LA
“W★lk of F★me” by Duane Swierczynski (Hollywood)
A gripping tale energized by its totally loopy premise—get enough telepathetics (heh) into a room and they can assassinate someone just by focusing on 'em. Fame becomes a liability in this scenario. And only the SPCA (Special Patrol, California division) can stop them.
“Jaguar’s Breath” by Luis J. Rodríguez (Angeles National Forest)
The Big One shook the city down, finally, but in many ways nothing changed. Rodríguez observes, as have so many others, that the weakest link in digital security measures is and has always been the humans involved.
“Garbo on the Skids” by A.G. Lombardo (Downtown Los Angeles)
Some things never change. Officer Travis' bodycam footage is proof enough of that.
“Sailing That Beautiful Sea” by Kathleen Kaufman (Century City)
(Table of Contents modified this time from Akashic Books' website.)
Rec. for: Angelenos, former Angelenos, and anyone who's ever wanted to burn the whole place down and start over
I lived in Los Angeles myself for five long years, 'way back in the 1990s, and I can attest to this: it's fun to think about tearing the whole place down and starting over. El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Ángeles might have been a great idea at its inception, but the sprawling metropolis that L.A. has become exhibits, let's say, some significant downsides.
Speculative Los Angeles, from prolific editor and writer Denise Hamilton, doesn't shy away from that impulse. Many of the stories in this anthology deal with the destruction or downfall of the City of Angels. There's even one where Ellay never existed at all. But these stories also show a great deal of affection for the place, or for places within the place. Hamilton's anthology of originals, featuring so many authors who are new to me, is on the whole a good, solid read.
The book is divided into four parts, with three or four stories in each section:
Part I: Changelings, Ghosts, and Parallel Worlds
“Antonia and the Stranger Who Came to Rancho Los Feliz” by Lisa Morton (Los Feliz)
This one's set in the Los Feliz neighborhood, just north of where I lived (in a section once called Koreatown that is now labeled "Little Bangladesh"), but it's a pastoral view of the place, an alternative tlmeline in which the city was never built... Sadly, we all know such an idyll cannot last forever. When Jack Parsons shows up, everything changes.
The name "Alta California" also shows up in Annalee Newitz's The Future of Another Timeline, by the way.
“Detainment” by Alex Espinoza (El Sereno)
Too much truth makes this changeling tale hard to read.
“Peak TV” by Ben H. Winters (Culver City)
Jack Avril will hear your pitch now. Just as long as it's not about... floats.
“Past the Mission” by Denise Hamilton (Encino)
The editor's own story, but it's a pretty good one, even so.
Part II: Steampunks, Alchemists, and Memory Artists
“Where There Are Cities, These Dissolve Too” by S. Qiouyi Lu (La Puente)
PTSD is a perpetual engine that powers you across space and time at the cost of splitting your being in two, astral-projecting one half while anchoring the other to a touchstone of trauma.QFT, as the kids say.
—p.123
“If Memory Serves” by Lynell George (Echo Park)
While I'm not sure that a rideshare company would call itself "GIPSI" these days, this poetic and wistful story otherwise hit all the right notes for me—I have watched the same skies bloodied by the same fires feeding off the winds of "that saint's name" (p.136).
Sometimes the color at this time of day gives me a headache.
—p.137
“Love, Rocket Science, and the Mother of Abominations” by Stephen Blackmoore (Pasadena)
Jack Parsons pops up again, like... an unwanted erection. But this time... maybe he was right? Diana thinks so, anyway.
Part III: A Tear in the Fabric of Reality
“Purple Panic” by Francesca Lia Block (Studio City)
So TIL that "purple panic" is not a nickname for a kind of cannabis, but for the jacaranda that periodically perfume much of Los Angeles. This story escalates from there...
In some ways, my whole life since had been an exercise in forgetting.Block's tale is devoid of (almost) all SFnal elements... but it's one of the most affecting in Speculative Los Angeles, even so.
—p.189
“Maintenance” by Aimee Bender (Miracle Mile)
Literalizing a metaphor; this one is intensely localized, to a place I've seen and wondered at myself.
“West Torrance 2BR 2BA w/Pool and Black Hole” by Charles Yu (West Torrance)
Make. Believe. This one's typical Yu, using the language of physics to talk about love and loss. Or vice versa.
Part IV: Cops and Robots in the Future Ruins of LA
“W★lk of F★me” by Duane Swierczynski (Hollywood)
A gripping tale energized by its totally loopy premise—get enough telepathetics (heh) into a room and they can assassinate someone just by focusing on 'em. Fame becomes a liability in this scenario. And only the SPCA (Special Patrol, California division) can stop them.
“Jaguar’s Breath” by Luis J. Rodríguez (Angeles National Forest)
The Big One shook the city down, finally, but in many ways nothing changed. Rodríguez observes, as have so many others, that the weakest link in digital security measures is and has always been the humans involved.
“Garbo on the Skids” by A.G. Lombardo (Downtown Los Angeles)
Some things never change. Officer Travis' bodycam footage is proof enough of that.
“Sailing That Beautiful Sea” by Kathleen Kaufman (Century City)
The problem with bots was their inability to understand the concept of not giving a fuck.A strong finish for Speculative Los Angeles.
—p.284
(Table of Contents modified this time from Akashic Books' website.)
February 15, 2021
An excellent collection of speculative tales set in and around Los Angeles, CA. Those familiar with the area, though, might find a great many things have changed, particularly in the future-set and alternate reality entries.
My favorite piece was "Where There are Cities, These Dissolve Too" , involving a future in which the disenfranchised pick useful garbage from the landfill by day and turn it into fighting mechs by night, but more because of the relationship that unfolded against that backdrop.
If I had to pick a least favorite, I'd say it was "Garbo on the Skids" where a cop freaks out about an inappropriate action he took while his body camera was on. The story itself was really quite well-written, though; I think it just made me uncomfortable.
I strongly recommend this book to fans of sci-fi shorts and am eagerly looking forward to future entries in this series as the publisher, Akashic, previously released quite a few collections of short noir set in various locations. Could we get one for Minneapolis, please?
My favorite piece was "Where There are Cities, These Dissolve Too" , involving a future in which the disenfranchised pick useful garbage from the landfill by day and turn it into fighting mechs by night, but more because of the relationship that unfolded against that backdrop.
If I had to pick a least favorite, I'd say it was "Garbo on the Skids" where a cop freaks out about an inappropriate action he took while his body camera was on. The story itself was really quite well-written, though; I think it just made me uncomfortable.
I strongly recommend this book to fans of sci-fi shorts and am eagerly looking forward to future entries in this series as the publisher, Akashic, previously released quite a few collections of short noir set in various locations. Could we get one for Minneapolis, please?
May 15, 2023
Part I: Changelings, Ghosts, and Parallel Worlds
“Antonia and the Stranger Who Came to Rancho Los Feliz” by Lisa Morton (Los Feliz) 3.5*
“Detainment” by Alex Espinoza (El Sereno) 3*
“Peak TV” by Ben H. Winters (Culver City) 3*
“Past the Mission” by Denise Hamilton (Encino) 3*
Part II: Steampunks, Alchemists, and Memory Artists
“Where There Are Cities, These Dissolve Too” by S. Qiouyi Lu (La Puente) 3*
“If Memory Serves” by Lynell George (Echo Park) 3*
“Love, Rocket Science, and the Mother of Abominations” by Stephen Blackmoore (Pasadena) 2.5*
Part III: A Tear in the Fabric of Reality
“Purple Panic” by Francesca Lia Block (Studio City) 3*
“Maintenance” by Aimee Bender (Miracle Mile) 3.5*
“West Torrance 2BR 2BA w/Pool and Black Hole” by Charles Yu (West Torrance) 3*
Part IV: Cops and Robots in the Future Ruins of LA
“Walk of Fame” by Duane Swierczynski (Hollywood) 4*
“Jaguar’s Breath” by Luis J. Rodriguez (Angeles National Forest) 3*
“Garbo on the Skids” by A.G. Lombardo (Downtown Los Angeles) 3*
“Sailing That Beautiful Sea” by Kathleen Kaufman (Century City) 3*
“Antonia and the Stranger Who Came to Rancho Los Feliz” by Lisa Morton (Los Feliz) 3.5*
“Detainment” by Alex Espinoza (El Sereno) 3*
“Peak TV” by Ben H. Winters (Culver City) 3*
“Past the Mission” by Denise Hamilton (Encino) 3*
Part II: Steampunks, Alchemists, and Memory Artists
“Where There Are Cities, These Dissolve Too” by S. Qiouyi Lu (La Puente) 3*
“If Memory Serves” by Lynell George (Echo Park) 3*
“Love, Rocket Science, and the Mother of Abominations” by Stephen Blackmoore (Pasadena) 2.5*
Part III: A Tear in the Fabric of Reality
“Purple Panic” by Francesca Lia Block (Studio City) 3*
“Maintenance” by Aimee Bender (Miracle Mile) 3.5*
“West Torrance 2BR 2BA w/Pool and Black Hole” by Charles Yu (West Torrance) 3*
Part IV: Cops and Robots in the Future Ruins of LA
“Walk of Fame” by Duane Swierczynski (Hollywood) 4*
“Jaguar’s Breath” by Luis J. Rodriguez (Angeles National Forest) 3*
“Garbo on the Skids” by A.G. Lombardo (Downtown Los Angeles) 3*
“Sailing That Beautiful Sea” by Kathleen Kaufman (Century City) 3*
October 19, 2021
purchased this book as soon as it became available for preorder in late 2020. i'm working on an anthology of speculative fiction short stories by queer, trans and non-binary asian writers, and one of my friends posted about this anthology. it appealed to me since i happen to be working on a similar project and i grew up in the 626.
for folks interested in this book, here's some trigger warnings to note:
- violence (gun violence, murder, war, police brutality)
- child sexual abuse
- sexual assault
giving this anthology a 2.5/5 rating overall since there were only a few stories that i liked or stood out to me. here are the ones i liked:
🔧 "where there are cities, these dissolve too" by s. qiouyi liu 🔧
- loved the steampunk world: liu's writing made the characters and scenes come to life. the story felt realistic while providing a look into an alternate vision of la puente where it takes place
- this story gets 10/10 for the ~bisexual/queer asian~ representation woohoo
🦀 "sailing that beautiful sea" by kathleen kaufman 🦀
- the last story in the anthology, included in the section under the theme of "cops and robots in the future ruins of LA", this piece differs from the other ones in that it's less action-driven and more reflective. main character is essentially the last human alive on a planet run by robots designed to care for her. much of the narrative moves between her present and the past.
- wish there was more development around the protagonist kelsie's family and wife
- bonus points for the compassionate depiction of a person living with/dying from cancer
📺 "peak tv" by ben h. winters 📺
- this story's ending genuinely took me by surprise which made it memorable long after i finished it
- points for the dark satire about the impact of the hollywood/tv industry on young people
things i didn't like about this anthology:
👀 when the editor denise hamilton said in the intro: "from the moment our ancestors founded el pueblo de nuestra señora la reina de los ángeles del río porciúncula, we began to conjure up a fictional utopian past that suited us better than the blood-and-genocide-soaked reality of our western frontier" ---> uh who is "we"??? 🤔 sounds kinda colonizer/settler-y to me.
👀 i didn't see how a.g. lombardo's story quite fit in with the rest of the stories which mostly focused on people struggling vs. his main character who was a sexually predatory cop. the repetitive descriptions of the body cam footage were overkill. was this a reference to the state-sanctioned murders of black folks that drew public outcry after body cam/eyewitness footage went viral? i think not because 90% of this story focused on the cop's obsession with violating every woman he comes across. did i need to read two different sex scenes where he fucked his wife and nutted in her? no, but a.g. lombardo clearly did not have feminists in mind when he wrote this for publication. the ending just reinforced the injustice that survivors and victims have to face in a police state. kind of appalling that this story made it into this anthology.
👀 most of the stories have a dystopian/post-apocalyptic feel, which makes sense given they're set in LA, but would've liked to see more variety on speculative fiction besides predictable climate disasters and black mirror-esque societies.
for folks interested in this book, here's some trigger warnings to note:
- violence (gun violence, murder, war, police brutality)
- child sexual abuse
- sexual assault
giving this anthology a 2.5/5 rating overall since there were only a few stories that i liked or stood out to me. here are the ones i liked:
🔧 "where there are cities, these dissolve too" by s. qiouyi liu 🔧
- loved the steampunk world: liu's writing made the characters and scenes come to life. the story felt realistic while providing a look into an alternate vision of la puente where it takes place
- this story gets 10/10 for the ~bisexual/queer asian~ representation woohoo
🦀 "sailing that beautiful sea" by kathleen kaufman 🦀
- the last story in the anthology, included in the section under the theme of "cops and robots in the future ruins of LA", this piece differs from the other ones in that it's less action-driven and more reflective. main character is essentially the last human alive on a planet run by robots designed to care for her. much of the narrative moves between her present and the past.
- wish there was more development around the protagonist kelsie's family and wife
- bonus points for the compassionate depiction of a person living with/dying from cancer
📺 "peak tv" by ben h. winters 📺
- this story's ending genuinely took me by surprise which made it memorable long after i finished it
- points for the dark satire about the impact of the hollywood/tv industry on young people
things i didn't like about this anthology:
👀 when the editor denise hamilton said in the intro: "from the moment our ancestors founded el pueblo de nuestra señora la reina de los ángeles del río porciúncula, we began to conjure up a fictional utopian past that suited us better than the blood-and-genocide-soaked reality of our western frontier" ---> uh who is "we"??? 🤔 sounds kinda colonizer/settler-y to me.
👀 i didn't see how a.g. lombardo's story quite fit in with the rest of the stories which mostly focused on people struggling vs. his main character who was a sexually predatory cop. the repetitive descriptions of the body cam footage were overkill. was this a reference to the state-sanctioned murders of black folks that drew public outcry after body cam/eyewitness footage went viral? i think not because 90% of this story focused on the cop's obsession with violating every woman he comes across. did i need to read two different sex scenes where he fucked his wife and nutted in her? no, but a.g. lombardo clearly did not have feminists in mind when he wrote this for publication. the ending just reinforced the injustice that survivors and victims have to face in a police state. kind of appalling that this story made it into this anthology.
👀 most of the stories have a dystopian/post-apocalyptic feel, which makes sense given they're set in LA, but would've liked to see more variety on speculative fiction besides predictable climate disasters and black mirror-esque societies.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 14, 2021
Speculative Los Angeles seems like the start of another fabulous Akashic series. I hope it is. Akashic publishes a series of noir anthologies focused on different cities around the world. Speculative Los Angeles is a similar anthology focused on speculative and science fiction stories centered on L.A.
There are fourteen stories grouped into four sections: Changelings, Ghosts, and Parallel Worlds; Steampunks, Alchemists, and Memory Artists; A Tear in the Fabric of Reality; and Cops and Robots in the Future Ruins of LA. The section titles give you a good idea of the sort of stories you will find.
The first story, “Antonia and the Stranger Who Came to Rancho Los Feliz” by Lisa Morton is also excellent and sets our expectations high, a dangerous and risky thing, but it pays off because the stories remained excellent and memorable throughout. There is the strangely satisfying “Past the Mission” by Denise Hamilton, the series editor. The final story, “Sailing That Beautiful Sea” by Kathleen Kaufman, devastated me. If it were the only worthy story, the anthology would be worth your time, but it is just one of many.
“Detainment” by Alex Espinoza seems like tomorrow’s story while others are more fantastical, such as “Love, Rocket Science, and the Mother of Abominations” and “Purple Panic” by Francesca Lia Block. “Jaguar’s Breath” by Luis J. Rodriguez was too frighteningly real. “Garbo on the Skids” by A.G. Lombardo was a wonderful vindication.
Speculative Los Angeles was a wonderful book and I hope the beginning of a new series that will take us on a speculative tour of the world. What is so profound about this anthology is whether we go to an alternative universe, a future Los Angeles, or a multiverse city, the essential ingredients of the story are the human imperatives remain the same, love, family, and survival, and maybe a touch of vengeance here and there.
I received an ARC of Speculative Los Angeles from the publisher through LibraryThing.
Speculative Los Angeles at Akashic Books
Denise Hamilton author site
https://tonstantweaderreviews.wordpre...
There are fourteen stories grouped into four sections: Changelings, Ghosts, and Parallel Worlds; Steampunks, Alchemists, and Memory Artists; A Tear in the Fabric of Reality; and Cops and Robots in the Future Ruins of LA. The section titles give you a good idea of the sort of stories you will find.
The first story, “Antonia and the Stranger Who Came to Rancho Los Feliz” by Lisa Morton is also excellent and sets our expectations high, a dangerous and risky thing, but it pays off because the stories remained excellent and memorable throughout. There is the strangely satisfying “Past the Mission” by Denise Hamilton, the series editor. The final story, “Sailing That Beautiful Sea” by Kathleen Kaufman, devastated me. If it were the only worthy story, the anthology would be worth your time, but it is just one of many.
“Detainment” by Alex Espinoza seems like tomorrow’s story while others are more fantastical, such as “Love, Rocket Science, and the Mother of Abominations” and “Purple Panic” by Francesca Lia Block. “Jaguar’s Breath” by Luis J. Rodriguez was too frighteningly real. “Garbo on the Skids” by A.G. Lombardo was a wonderful vindication.
Speculative Los Angeles was a wonderful book and I hope the beginning of a new series that will take us on a speculative tour of the world. What is so profound about this anthology is whether we go to an alternative universe, a future Los Angeles, or a multiverse city, the essential ingredients of the story are the human imperatives remain the same, love, family, and survival, and maybe a touch of vengeance here and there.
I received an ARC of Speculative Los Angeles from the publisher through LibraryThing.
Speculative Los Angeles at Akashic Books
Denise Hamilton author site
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December 15, 2021
Denise Hamilton, who previously edited two collections of LA noir--Los Angeles Noir and Los Angeles Noir 2--The Classics--has now commissioned 14 writers to think about alternative LAs. The result is a collection of extremely high quality which deserves wide readership.
Los Angeles embodies all the contradictions of California, and more broadly, the United States as a whole. These are patent in the stories here. Some deploy old, rather tired tropes about the city's future as a dystopian hell hole--the four stories in the last section called "Cops and Robots in the Future Ruins of LA"--but add new and creative twists. Others draw on LA history in all its weirdness, like Stephen Blackmore's tale of John Parsons, the rocket scientist obsessed with witchcraft and the supernatural, or Aimee Bender's "Maintenance," which considers the tableau of mammoths at the La Brea Tar Pits. Ben H. Winters's "Peak TV" is a story of revenge set in the corrupt world of Hollywood.
Every story here is very well-written and conceptualized; there's not a clunker. Hamilton deserves praise for bringing out the best in her contributors, and they for producing work of the highest quality. We can only hope that Hamilton continues this project of recovering and uncovering the City of the Angels.
Los Angeles embodies all the contradictions of California, and more broadly, the United States as a whole. These are patent in the stories here. Some deploy old, rather tired tropes about the city's future as a dystopian hell hole--the four stories in the last section called "Cops and Robots in the Future Ruins of LA"--but add new and creative twists. Others draw on LA history in all its weirdness, like Stephen Blackmore's tale of John Parsons, the rocket scientist obsessed with witchcraft and the supernatural, or Aimee Bender's "Maintenance," which considers the tableau of mammoths at the La Brea Tar Pits. Ben H. Winters's "Peak TV" is a story of revenge set in the corrupt world of Hollywood.
Every story here is very well-written and conceptualized; there's not a clunker. Hamilton deserves praise for bringing out the best in her contributors, and they for producing work of the highest quality. We can only hope that Hamilton continues this project of recovering and uncovering the City of the Angels.
January 14, 2022
A very disappointing collection that fails to live up to its promise. So many authors live and writer about LA, and it's such a rich vein for speculative possibilities, that it's a shame this wasn't better, more intriguing, with better stories. The individual ones are desperately uneven, and to some degree, it feels...well, lazily edited. In the sense that they didn't seek out any variety of stories, really (with the notable exception of Aimee Bender's).
The primary outlet for this is the sheer volume of stories (like 75% playing, with mixed success, on the dystopian LA theme. Look, that's a big trope, for sure, but 3 or even 4 stories that interrogate a dark, sinister future of Los Angeles is interesting, 14 stories that do it is boring. Where are the stories about the Unseelie Court that lives underneath Bunker Hill? Aliens who have am embassy in Lancaster? The alternate history where Marineland in Palos Verdes turned into a place of first contact with cetacean intelligences (these stories don't exist, I'm just giving examples of the breath of possible speculative fictions that could be written about the city - feel free to steal these pitches).
The unfortunate truth, is that this volume of imaginative works about Los Angeles...sadly lacks imagination.
The primary outlet for this is the sheer volume of stories (like 75% playing, with mixed success, on the dystopian LA theme. Look, that's a big trope, for sure, but 3 or even 4 stories that interrogate a dark, sinister future of Los Angeles is interesting, 14 stories that do it is boring. Where are the stories about the Unseelie Court that lives underneath Bunker Hill? Aliens who have am embassy in Lancaster? The alternate history where Marineland in Palos Verdes turned into a place of first contact with cetacean intelligences (these stories don't exist, I'm just giving examples of the breath of possible speculative fictions that could be written about the city - feel free to steal these pitches).
The unfortunate truth, is that this volume of imaginative works about Los Angeles...sadly lacks imagination.
June 22, 2022
I've read quite a few of Akashic Books [City] Noir books and have written lately that I've gotten bored with them as, oftentimes, the location seems to be an add on, with authors name dropping streets, locations, and landmarks without adding much to the story. In this newest series, while still set in a city, stories are speculative, which provides a whole new approach to the stories. While the opening up the location, it also allows the authors to intertwine locations more closely with the story. This first book, focusing on LA, perhaps one of the most noirish and speculative cities in the US. A perfect setting for a wide variety of stories, involving parallel realities, dystopian futures, and AI takeovers. As with any anthologies, there are strong stories and weaker one. The book ends on a perfect note with Kathleen Kaufman's "Sailing that Beautiful Sea."
January 9, 2025
This book was such a hard read. I had to force myself to pick it up and then convince myself to keep at it. Most of these stories were hard to grasp, hard to indulge myself in, but the choice to save “Sailing That Beautiful Sea” by Kathleen Kaufman for last, was this book’s only saving grace.
Besides confusion, apathy, and all around boredom, Kaufman’s story was the only piece that made me genuinely sit up straight and eat up every word.
It was beautiful, gut wrenching, and utterly human. I cried so much while reading this story, and then continued to cry for another half hour after I closed the book.
Never in my life has a story like Kaufman’s wrung me out of all my tears, just to fill me back up again with anger and betrayal—angry at the fact that it happened, betrayed that the story was so short.
Besides confusion, apathy, and all around boredom, Kaufman’s story was the only piece that made me genuinely sit up straight and eat up every word.
It was beautiful, gut wrenching, and utterly human. I cried so much while reading this story, and then continued to cry for another half hour after I closed the book.
Never in my life has a story like Kaufman’s wrung me out of all my tears, just to fill me back up again with anger and betrayal—angry at the fact that it happened, betrayed that the story was so short.
February 15, 2022
Very Meh. I got the sense that these stories were rushed out to fulfill this anthology's premise and most of them were really bad - rife with SF cliches plus an overemphasis on up-to-the-minute social and political problems, and just cheesy bad writing.
The only ones I'd recommend here, for being unexpected within the "speculative" prompt or having nice prose, are:
"If Memory Serves" Lynell George
"Purple Panic" Francesca Lia Block
"Maintenance" Aimee Bender
"Sailing that Beautiful Sea" Kathleen Kaufman
The only ones I'd recommend here, for being unexpected within the "speculative" prompt or having nice prose, are:
"If Memory Serves" Lynell George
"Purple Panic" Francesca Lia Block
"Maintenance" Aimee Bender
"Sailing that Beautiful Sea" Kathleen Kaufman
May 22, 2024
Definitely a mixed bag. Some of the stories are brilliant (S. Qiouyi Lu's alone is worth the cost of the anthology). Some are...not great. One, I wish had had a content warning (the second-to-last story).
But overall, worth the read. Friends who know me know of my deep love of Los Angeles, and while that plays in here, it must also be said: Los Angeles is a perfect place to set an anthology of weird stories. I just wish the entire second half of the anthology hadn't been so dark.
But overall, worth the read. Friends who know me know of my deep love of Los Angeles, and while that plays in here, it must also be said: Los Angeles is a perfect place to set an anthology of weird stories. I just wish the entire second half of the anthology hadn't been so dark.
March 19, 2021
Really enjoyed this collection. I am struck by how so many of the writers envisioned that our very much reliant tech-future also comes hand in hand with an environmental dystopia. It makes for an unnerving feeling about our future!
April 9, 2021
An engaging collection of dystopian, post-apocalyptic, paranormal, quantum tales that kept me engaged from beginning to end. Each story simultaneously captured the inherent creepiness and magic of the City of Angels and its surrounding environs.
April 14, 2021
Interesting concept. Fourteen authors
with future tales around the city.
Most were very entertaining and
I look forward to another spec city.
with future tales around the city.
Most were very entertaining and
I look forward to another spec city.
June 30, 2021
4.5 stars! As usual, Akashic has compiled an excellent ensemble of writers for this mind-bending compilation.
January 17, 2022
The anthology contains a diverse blend of speculative fiction: science fiction, horror, mystery/crime, urban fantasy. I particularly enjoyed Alex Espinoza’s “Detainment.”
March 8, 2022
Sci Fi shorts
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