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Recognize Fascism: A Science Fiction and Fantasy Anthology
Across many worlds and many timelines, these stories depict the moments when people see the fascism in front of them for what it is, accept it as real, and make the choice to fight it. Who are the canaries in the coal mine? When can the long-hidden voice no longer be ignored? Anti-fascist rebellion can take many forms. A transgender woman living on an artificial satellite learns to reject oppression via poetry. A machine ethicist finds a way to dance with her gods in a surveillance state. An unlikely golem hears a new call to action. A jailed musician rediscovers the music of rebellion.
Will you recognize fascism and join the rebellion
Will you recognize fascism and join the rebellion
245 pages, Unknown Binding
First published October 13, 2020
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297 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 32 reviews
December 25, 2020
[Disclosure: There is a story in this collection that I translated. I will not comment on that story. Maybe.]
Huge props to editor Crystal M. Huff for rallying an amazingly diverse group of authors, commissioning completely new stories, and putting together a themed anthology that actually works, in the sense that the stories actually address the theme. And keeping the stories very short gives the reader exposure to 22 new authors, pretty good bang for your buck. I had never heard of most of these authors before, but that does not mean the stories aren't top notch. It only proves there are a helluva lot of great writers out there that deserve more exposure. It's also refreshing to see a few stories in translation, scifi needs more of this!
The theme itself feels incredibly timely now, as the United States watches its democracy put through the wringer, but fascism and its cousins domination and oppression are not always about political systems. The stories in this collection cover many flavors of fascism, making this a thought-provoking and satisfying read.
As for individual stories, of course there are some that resonated more for me than others. Here are some of my favorites:
A Disease of Time and Temporal Distortion by Jennifer Shelby - no timeline is ever safe, fascism is always an option. Nice, tight story.
The Scale of Defiance by Nia Niskanen - In a world where the political winds are shifting toward less diversity, what if your feelings "outed" you as different without your control?
May Your Government be the Center of a Smelly Dung Sandwich by Justin Short - I appreciated the light humor in this piece, as well as the jab at the obliviousness of all of us who disregard the manual labor that makes our comfy lives possible. If this had been written post-COVID, I'm guessing the main character might have been a supermarket checkout clerk or a nursing home worker.
Scholar Miaka's Brief Summary of Memories Imbued in Memory Object Exhibit Item 132.NW.1 by Jaymee Goh - One of the most original stories in the bunch, and quite effective
Just an Old Grouch by Laura Jane Swanson - groupthink taken to a whole new level
A Brilliant Light, an Unreachable Dawn by Phoebe Barton - when even language can betray
Go Dancing to your Gods by Blake Jessop - very effective use of asynchronous storytelling
Sacred Chords by Alexei Collier - There is not enough scifi focused on music, this was a welcome change
In Her Eye's Mind by Selene dePackh - I liked the worldbuilding in this story, seems like a very interesting place, with rogue AIs fighting against a corrupt system.
What Eyes Can See by Lauren Ring - One of the most memorable and creepy images of the collection: a garden full of flowers with eyes that surveille everything around them.
We All Know the Melody by Brandon O'Brien - another story featuring the subversive possibilities of music. If you can't hear the anti-establishment music of our times, what does that say about your position in society?
Notes on the Supply of Raw Material in the Bodies Market by Rodrigo Juri - disappearing people who attempt to thwart the state's will is one of the oldest moves in the dictator playbook, one perfected by the Chilean state in the 1970s and that the Chilean author of this story projects into the future with terrifying results.
The Sisterhood of the Eagle Lion by Sam J Miller - Clever twist on the universal truth that there is no tyranny like that of the clique of popular girls in high school
Today is the First Day of the Rest of Your Life by Meridel Newton - I liked that the collection ended on this positive note on young love in the face of censorship
One last comment: I love the cover of this collection. I'm not sure what the artist had in mind, but for me, it evokes the rubber bullets used by the police in Chile to disperse peaceful (and some not-so-peaceful) protesters. In October of 2019 and for months afterwards, anti-government demonstrations rocked this South American country. In their zeal to control the "mobs" the police ended up hitting hundreds of Chileans in the eye, blinding many. I was living in Chile at the time, which is when I connected with Leonardo Espinoza Benavides and ended up translating his story, Octobers/October, which is in this collection.
Huge props to editor Crystal M. Huff for rallying an amazingly diverse group of authors, commissioning completely new stories, and putting together a themed anthology that actually works, in the sense that the stories actually address the theme. And keeping the stories very short gives the reader exposure to 22 new authors, pretty good bang for your buck. I had never heard of most of these authors before, but that does not mean the stories aren't top notch. It only proves there are a helluva lot of great writers out there that deserve more exposure. It's also refreshing to see a few stories in translation, scifi needs more of this!
The theme itself feels incredibly timely now, as the United States watches its democracy put through the wringer, but fascism and its cousins domination and oppression are not always about political systems. The stories in this collection cover many flavors of fascism, making this a thought-provoking and satisfying read.
As for individual stories, of course there are some that resonated more for me than others. Here are some of my favorites:
A Disease of Time and Temporal Distortion by Jennifer Shelby - no timeline is ever safe, fascism is always an option. Nice, tight story.
The Scale of Defiance by Nia Niskanen - In a world where the political winds are shifting toward less diversity, what if your feelings "outed" you as different without your control?
May Your Government be the Center of a Smelly Dung Sandwich by Justin Short - I appreciated the light humor in this piece, as well as the jab at the obliviousness of all of us who disregard the manual labor that makes our comfy lives possible. If this had been written post-COVID, I'm guessing the main character might have been a supermarket checkout clerk or a nursing home worker.
Scholar Miaka's Brief Summary of Memories Imbued in Memory Object Exhibit Item 132.NW.1 by Jaymee Goh - One of the most original stories in the bunch, and quite effective
Just an Old Grouch by Laura Jane Swanson - groupthink taken to a whole new level
A Brilliant Light, an Unreachable Dawn by Phoebe Barton - when even language can betray
Go Dancing to your Gods by Blake Jessop - very effective use of asynchronous storytelling
Sacred Chords by Alexei Collier - There is not enough scifi focused on music, this was a welcome change
In Her Eye's Mind by Selene dePackh - I liked the worldbuilding in this story, seems like a very interesting place, with rogue AIs fighting against a corrupt system.
What Eyes Can See by Lauren Ring - One of the most memorable and creepy images of the collection: a garden full of flowers with eyes that surveille everything around them.
We All Know the Melody by Brandon O'Brien - another story featuring the subversive possibilities of music. If you can't hear the anti-establishment music of our times, what does that say about your position in society?
Notes on the Supply of Raw Material in the Bodies Market by Rodrigo Juri - disappearing people who attempt to thwart the state's will is one of the oldest moves in the dictator playbook, one perfected by the Chilean state in the 1970s and that the Chilean author of this story projects into the future with terrifying results.
The Sisterhood of the Eagle Lion by Sam J Miller - Clever twist on the universal truth that there is no tyranny like that of the clique of popular girls in high school
Today is the First Day of the Rest of Your Life by Meridel Newton - I liked that the collection ended on this positive note on young love in the face of censorship
One last comment: I love the cover of this collection. I'm not sure what the artist had in mind, but for me, it evokes the rubber bullets used by the police in Chile to disperse peaceful (and some not-so-peaceful) protesters. In October of 2019 and for months afterwards, anti-government demonstrations rocked this South American country. In their zeal to control the "mobs" the police ended up hitting hundreds of Chileans in the eye, blinding many. I was living in Chile at the time, which is when I connected with Leonardo Espinoza Benavides and ended up translating his story, Octobers/October, which is in this collection.
October 15, 2020
Full disclosure: I backed the Kickstarter campaign to fund this anthology. The book sounded exciting. It turned out to be excellent and, despite the grim-sounding subject matter, a pleasure to read.
Besides quality, what fuels this anthology is variety. The authors bring viewpoints from different countries and different kinds of narrators, including a turnip (really). While you might expect stories about fascism to be grim and angry, and some of them are, others are fun and funny, even absurdist. One is a romantic meet-cute. Another is brief and poetic. Some of the voices soar.
The kinds of fascism also vary, including a bullying schoolgirl, a shattered armistice in a war over magicians, a waitress whose job becomes increasingly oppressive, lovers separated by space and politics, a magical object carrying memories of slavery, and the arbitrary replacement of clocks.
How do you recognize fascism? You might have known it all along, or you might see the world unravel as your freedoms shrink. How can you fight fascism? You might use music, a network of allies, a pissed-off artificial intelligence, or a sudden glimpse of your own power. You might have choices.
Besides quality, what fuels this anthology is variety. The authors bring viewpoints from different countries and different kinds of narrators, including a turnip (really). While you might expect stories about fascism to be grim and angry, and some of them are, others are fun and funny, even absurdist. One is a romantic meet-cute. Another is brief and poetic. Some of the voices soar.
The kinds of fascism also vary, including a bullying schoolgirl, a shattered armistice in a war over magicians, a waitress whose job becomes increasingly oppressive, lovers separated by space and politics, a magical object carrying memories of slavery, and the arbitrary replacement of clocks.
How do you recognize fascism? You might have known it all along, or you might see the world unravel as your freedoms shrink. How can you fight fascism? You might use music, a network of allies, a pissed-off artificial intelligence, or a sudden glimpse of your own power. You might have choices.
December 15, 2020
I received a copy of this book through LibraryThing's Early Reviewers program, and I'd like to thank the publishers for the opportunity to read this book.
This was a good and interesting collection; in some ways the theme I think made at least some of the stories feel kind of similar in a way that made them blur together, and some of the recurring themes (we get it, "augmentation" is a metaphor and rarely about disabled people or reflecting how ableism works.) But I think it's still definitely an interesting read, and folks might appreciate seeing other people recognize fascism in fiction as we face it in our current moment.
This was a good and interesting collection; in some ways the theme I think made at least some of the stories feel kind of similar in a way that made them blur together, and some of the recurring themes (we get it, "augmentation" is a metaphor and rarely about disabled people or reflecting how ableism works.) But I think it's still definitely an interesting read, and folks might appreciate seeing other people recognize fascism in fiction as we face it in our current moment.
June 25, 2022
Absolutely fantastic from start to finish. It's also as comforting as it is upsetting to see the myriad ways that individuals resist fascism and fascist regimes.
January 2, 2024
Es muy interesante ver escritos y formas de pensar tan diversas, latinoamericanas, europeas, estadounidenses (por supuesto) y hasta una autora oriental (aunque no aclara si es estadounidense como Ken Liu o vive en China como Cixin Liu).
Desgraciadamente, muchos de los relatos son demasiado dispersos o ambiguos o mueren tratando de ser sutiles; algunos apenas alcanzan la categoría de ocurrencias bien escritas, otros rayan en la narrativa infantil. Hay un par destacable, pero se pierden en el mar de los 22 cuentos.
Desgraciadamente, muchos de los relatos son demasiado dispersos o ambiguos o mueren tratando de ser sutiles; algunos apenas alcanzan la categoría de ocurrencias bien escritas, otros rayan en la narrativa infantil. Hay un par destacable, pero se pierden en el mar de los 22 cuentos.
September 8, 2020
Recognize Fascism, a collection of science fiction and fantasy short stories edited by Crystal M. Huff, does what it says on the tin. Each story either explores some facet of how society can easily be manipulated into a fascist state, or explores the courage an individual must summon in order to fight against fascism that may already be entrenched in their society. Although the theme of fascism binds them, each story is unique, and, for the most part, well-developed.
I want to give big props to the editor, and to World Weaver Press for offering such diverse and inclusive stories from a very diverse group of authors, many of whom are POC, disabled, lgtbqia+, etc. This is refreshing, since science fiction writing has historically been mostly the realm of white men. As several stories in this collection point out, if you want to shake things up, you have to be willing to upend the status quo. Diversity is the antithesis of the fascist ideal.
I also have to say, I really appreciated the inclusion of content notes at the beginning of each story that warrants them, and I think that should really become industry standard. If it is beneficial for the mental health of some people, and detracts nothing from the story, why not, right?
Of the many stories in the collection, a few stood out to me as exceptional in writing, concept, and worldbuilding. They are, in no particular order: "The Company Store," by Kiya Nicoll; "Go Dancing to Your Gods," by Blake Jessop; "The Three Magi," by Lucie Lukacovicova; "A Disease of Time and Temporal Distortion," by Jennifer Shelby; "In Her Eye's Mind," by Selene dePackh; and "Scholar Miaka's Brief Summary of Memories Imbued in Memory Object Exhibit Item 132.NW.1," by Jaymee Goh.
That isn't to say that I didn't like the other stories--I absolutely did. The above, however, really stuck with me, and if asked which stories I'd recommend another to read from this collection if they lacked the time to read the whole thing, those are the ones I'd suggest. (I do have to admit a bit of favoritism here, however--based on worldbuilding alone, I would adore it if Jennifer Shelby ever decided to write a novel about Revekah's earlier adventures in temporal smuggling. Even though Revekah's story was over, I wanted more of her world! So many possibilities!)
I work in a high school library, and although this story collection isn't specifically aimed at a young adult audience, there is nothing in it that would preclude its inclusion in our library. In fact, I believe that the message presented, and the diversity of authors and stories included, make it a very important read for the teens of 2020. I definitely recommend that my library acquires a copy of Recognize Fascism, and I hope many others will, as well.
I want to give big props to the editor, and to World Weaver Press for offering such diverse and inclusive stories from a very diverse group of authors, many of whom are POC, disabled, lgtbqia+, etc. This is refreshing, since science fiction writing has historically been mostly the realm of white men. As several stories in this collection point out, if you want to shake things up, you have to be willing to upend the status quo. Diversity is the antithesis of the fascist ideal.
I also have to say, I really appreciated the inclusion of content notes at the beginning of each story that warrants them, and I think that should really become industry standard. If it is beneficial for the mental health of some people, and detracts nothing from the story, why not, right?
Of the many stories in the collection, a few stood out to me as exceptional in writing, concept, and worldbuilding. They are, in no particular order: "The Company Store," by Kiya Nicoll; "Go Dancing to Your Gods," by Blake Jessop; "The Three Magi," by Lucie Lukacovicova; "A Disease of Time and Temporal Distortion," by Jennifer Shelby; "In Her Eye's Mind," by Selene dePackh; and "Scholar Miaka's Brief Summary of Memories Imbued in Memory Object Exhibit Item 132.NW.1," by Jaymee Goh.
That isn't to say that I didn't like the other stories--I absolutely did. The above, however, really stuck with me, and if asked which stories I'd recommend another to read from this collection if they lacked the time to read the whole thing, those are the ones I'd suggest. (I do have to admit a bit of favoritism here, however--based on worldbuilding alone, I would adore it if Jennifer Shelby ever decided to write a novel about Revekah's earlier adventures in temporal smuggling. Even though Revekah's story was over, I wanted more of her world! So many possibilities!)
I work in a high school library, and although this story collection isn't specifically aimed at a young adult audience, there is nothing in it that would preclude its inclusion in our library. In fact, I believe that the message presented, and the diversity of authors and stories included, make it a very important read for the teens of 2020. I definitely recommend that my library acquires a copy of Recognize Fascism, and I hope many others will, as well.
February 27, 2021
An anthology with an excellent theme. Tough reading, obviously, but worth it. Like with any anthology, not all the stories were to my taste, but that's basically how it always is! I especially enjoyed "A Disease of Time and Temporal Distortion" by Jennifer Shelby, "The Scale of Defiance" by Nina Niskanen, and "A Brilliant Light, an Unreachable Dawn" by Phoebe Barton.
March 21, 2021
I bought this for the story by the excellent Octavia Cade, not having heard of any of the other authors before, and was pleasantly surprised by the quality.
"A Disease of Time and Temporal Distortion" by Jennifer Shelby - competently written "lets kill Hitler" type if time-travel story, though the time-travel ideas are not particularly well thought out and she doesn't seem to know what the Big Bang is.
"The Scale of Defiance" by Nina Niskanen - the science-fictiony bit about growing and shrinking was a clumsy metaphor for self-confidence. Poor.
"May Your Government Be the Center of a Smelly Dung Sandwich" by Justin Short- entertaining overthrow of capitalism using just a song.
"The Company Store" by Kiya Nicoll- excellent story about the pressure of body dysphoria in a rigidly gendered society.
"Scholar Miaka’s Brief Summary of Memories Imbued in Memory Object Exhibit- 132.NW.1" by Jaymee Goh - interestingly constructed piece about a historian recovering/interpreting memories from an ancient artifact.
"Just an Old Grouch" by Laura Jane Swanson- well written but strange story about a "happiness" vampire.
"A Brilliant Light, An Unreachable Dawn" by Phoebe Barton- the life of a poet locked in a world where rigid linguistic expression is used to enforce social conformity.
"Octobers/October" by Leonardo Espinoza Benavides (translated by Julie Capell) - confusing. Starts with rioting in Santiago, then a man turns into a woman, then a murder. Don't know what to make of it.
"That Time I Got Demon Doxxed While Smuggling Contraband to the Red States" by Luna Corbden- irritating urban fantasy with demons possessing bits of junk and domestic items. Poor.
"Go Dancing to Your Gods" by Blake Jessop – demonstrating ethics to AI. Good.
'Brooklyn" by Jonathan Shipley. - self-pitying homeless male galvanised into action by compassionate woman. Yeuch!
"Sacred Chords" by Alexei Collier- intriguing tale of musical orthodoxy and rebellion. Good
"The Three Magi" by Lucie Lukacovicova- dull urban fantasy with wizards and necromancers in prague.
"The Body Politic" by Octavia Cade- body horror as a metaphor for the destruction of environmental biodiversity. Excellent
"In Her Eye's Mind" by Selene dePackh- disturbing story of a trans teen prostitute connecting with a police AI who has learned about justice rather than just the law. Good
"What Eyes Can See" by Lauren Ring- bioengineered flowers with eyes in them. Doesn't seem to go anywhere. OK
"We All Know the Melody" by Brandon O'Brien- meandering tale about street kids. Poor.
"Chicken Time" by Hal Y. Zhang- totally confusing hallucination about chickens and time. No clue what it was meant to be about but I quite enjoyed it.
"Notes on the Supply of Raw Material in the Bodies Market" by Rodrigo Juri- bodies rented out as vehicles for off-planet tourists are used used by the government for spying on the populace. OK
"The Sisterhood of the Eagle Lion" by Sam J. Miller- breaking away from schoolgirl bullying. OK
"The Turnip Golem" by Dianne M. Williams- dull folksy horror story.
"Today is the First Day of the Rest of Your Life" by Meridel Newton- “arty” teenagers scribbling graffiti to protest a war. Poor.
"A Disease of Time and Temporal Distortion" by Jennifer Shelby - competently written "lets kill Hitler" type if time-travel story, though the time-travel ideas are not particularly well thought out and she doesn't seem to know what the Big Bang is.
"The Scale of Defiance" by Nina Niskanen - the science-fictiony bit about growing and shrinking was a clumsy metaphor for self-confidence. Poor.
"May Your Government Be the Center of a Smelly Dung Sandwich" by Justin Short- entertaining overthrow of capitalism using just a song.
"The Company Store" by Kiya Nicoll- excellent story about the pressure of body dysphoria in a rigidly gendered society.
"Scholar Miaka’s Brief Summary of Memories Imbued in Memory Object Exhibit- 132.NW.1" by Jaymee Goh - interestingly constructed piece about a historian recovering/interpreting memories from an ancient artifact.
"Just an Old Grouch" by Laura Jane Swanson- well written but strange story about a "happiness" vampire.
"A Brilliant Light, An Unreachable Dawn" by Phoebe Barton- the life of a poet locked in a world where rigid linguistic expression is used to enforce social conformity.
"Octobers/October" by Leonardo Espinoza Benavides (translated by Julie Capell) - confusing. Starts with rioting in Santiago, then a man turns into a woman, then a murder. Don't know what to make of it.
"That Time I Got Demon Doxxed While Smuggling Contraband to the Red States" by Luna Corbden- irritating urban fantasy with demons possessing bits of junk and domestic items. Poor.
"Go Dancing to Your Gods" by Blake Jessop – demonstrating ethics to AI. Good.
'Brooklyn" by Jonathan Shipley. - self-pitying homeless male galvanised into action by compassionate woman. Yeuch!
"Sacred Chords" by Alexei Collier- intriguing tale of musical orthodoxy and rebellion. Good
"The Three Magi" by Lucie Lukacovicova- dull urban fantasy with wizards and necromancers in prague.
"The Body Politic" by Octavia Cade- body horror as a metaphor for the destruction of environmental biodiversity. Excellent
"In Her Eye's Mind" by Selene dePackh- disturbing story of a trans teen prostitute connecting with a police AI who has learned about justice rather than just the law. Good
"What Eyes Can See" by Lauren Ring- bioengineered flowers with eyes in them. Doesn't seem to go anywhere. OK
"We All Know the Melody" by Brandon O'Brien- meandering tale about street kids. Poor.
"Chicken Time" by Hal Y. Zhang- totally confusing hallucination about chickens and time. No clue what it was meant to be about but I quite enjoyed it.
"Notes on the Supply of Raw Material in the Bodies Market" by Rodrigo Juri- bodies rented out as vehicles for off-planet tourists are used used by the government for spying on the populace. OK
"The Sisterhood of the Eagle Lion" by Sam J. Miller- breaking away from schoolgirl bullying. OK
"The Turnip Golem" by Dianne M. Williams- dull folksy horror story.
"Today is the First Day of the Rest of Your Life" by Meridel Newton- “arty” teenagers scribbling graffiti to protest a war. Poor.
August 5, 2023
I backed the Kickstarter, because I like science fiction and fantasy short stories, and the idea of collection stories that shine a light on all the different facets of facism sounds quite appealing. That being said, I was somewhat disappointed because there were only four or fice stories that I really liked. Some of the others were a bit clumsy, didn't have much of a plot, or were too goofy for my taste, for example "Chicken Time".
The stories I enjoyed most were "Just an Old Grouch" by Laura Jane Swanson and "Brooklyn" by Jonathan Shipley, both of which have a humorous tone that is right up my alley. I also liked "The Sisterhood of the Eagle Lion", which is about the mechanisms of bullying at school. The story illustrates nicely that those mechanisms are quite similar to how a charismatic authoritarian leader comes to power.
The stories I enjoyed most were "Just an Old Grouch" by Laura Jane Swanson and "Brooklyn" by Jonathan Shipley, both of which have a humorous tone that is right up my alley. I also liked "The Sisterhood of the Eagle Lion", which is about the mechanisms of bullying at school. The story illustrates nicely that those mechanisms are quite similar to how a charismatic authoritarian leader comes to power.
May 5, 2025
I started reading this book aloud to my wife, but after a while we bogged down, and I finished it on my own. As with most collections, it’s a mixed bag. Some stories here are all concept while others also give us excellent writing; some are purely metaphorical while others are literal in a science fiction, projection into the near or distant future way; and even though many of them are grim, a couple of them are funny, too. The book includes some Jewish perspectives and a lot of LGBT+ content, and I appreciated both.
Want to read
July 28, 2020The kickstarter is live!
October 18, 2020
"Resistance is an artform, and I’ve just discovered a new medium."
(Full disclosure: I received a free e-ARC for review through NetGalley. Trigger warning for homophobia, transphobia, sexual harassment, and more. Each story is prefaced by its own content warning.)
2020 has been a dumpster fire, and RECOGNIZE FASCISM is a refreshing springtime rain shower that won't douse the flames, exactly, but will give you hope that better things are on the horizon. A mix of science fiction, fantasy, and dystopias - sprinkled liberally with space and time travel, magic, revenge, LGBTQ protagonists and lovers, and acts of protest both small and large, personal and political (and let's face it, those last two are one and the same) - RECOGNIZE FASCISM conjures forks in the time-space road where our narrators must choose: between doing nothing and doing something; between obedience and rebellion; between fascism and freedom.
Thankfully, there are a lot of big damn heroes to be found here.
"A Disease of Time and Temporal Distortion" by Jennifer Shelby - 4/5 stars
A dying time-space traveler uses one last "twitch" to save her family's adopted planet - and timeline - from a future fascist dictator. Equally captivating and chilling, "A Disease of Time and Temporal Distortion" proves a grand opening for the anthology. There's some marvelous imagery here, and I'd be all over an entire scifi series set in the world that Jennifer Shelby created here. (Insert grabby hands gif here.)
"The Scale of Defiance" by Nina Niskanen - 4/5 stars
In a 'verse where a person literally grows or deflates in accordance with the strength and tenor of their emotions, a F/F couple makes the conscious choice to take up more space in a country that increasingly has less room for them.
"May Your Government Be the Center of a Smelly Dung Sandwich" by Justin Short - 3/5 stars
In pursuit of that one perfect song - one that's powerful enough to ignite a revolution.
"The Company Store" by Kiya Nicoll - 4/5 stars
You've heard of a company store, right? From Wikipedia:
"A company store is a retail store selling a limited range of food, clothing and daily necessities to employees of a company. It is typical of a company town in a remote area where virtually everyone is employed by one firm, such as a coal mine. In a company town, the housing is owned by the company but there may be independent stores there or nearby. [...]
"Employee-only company stores often accept scrip or non-cash vouchers issued by the company in advance of periodic cash paychecks, and gives credit to employees before payday. Except in very remote areas, company stores in mining towns became scarcer after the miners bought automobiles and could travel to a range of stores. [...]
"Company stores have had a reputation as monopolistic institutions, funneling workers' incomes back to the owners of the company. This is because company stores often faced little or no competition for workers' earnings on account of their geographical remoteness, the inability and/or unwillingness of other nearby merchants (if any existed) to accept company scrip, or both. Prices, therefore, were typically noncompetitive. Allowing purchases on credit enforced a kind of debt slavery, obligating employees to remain with the company until the debt was cleared."
Kiya Nicoll imagines the next logical progression (read: regression) of this concept in "The Company Store," namely, what happens when a company town tries to enforce its own rigid rules and norms, including the marginalization of the other. Nicoll centers a trans man as the protagonist, as he attempts to remain true to himself even as capitalism threatens to bury him alive under the weight of fines and fees and demerits.
"Scholar Miaka’s Brief Summary of Memories Imbued in Memory Object Exhibit Item 132.NW.1" by Jaymee Goh - 5/5 stars
This is easily one of the more unique stories in RECOGNIZE FASCISM, and also the most magical. "Scholar Miaka" takes the form of the archaeological catalogue, specifically Scholar Miaka’s description of a memory object. Here, "history is preserved not in text, but in magical imbuement of memory to objects." The handwoven skirt in question tells the before and after of a people pushed underground and enslaved, their unequal status codified in law and their familial units wrenched apart. The electoral scenes feel especially pertinent, as I write this review during the early days of the 2020 election.
"Just an Old Grouch" by Laura Jane Swanson - 2.5/5 stars
Something's rotten in the town of Appleville, home of 3004 Happy Citizens and three elected Grouches. I wanted to like this story more than I did, but the overall tone felt a little juvenile for my taste.
"A Brilliant Light, An Unreachable Dawn" by Phoebe Barton - 5/5 stars
This decades-long love story - with shades of PUMP UP THE VOLUME - is another favorite. A woman returns to her home planet, a society slowly creeping towards fascism ("managed democracy" - sound familiar?), to find that her lover died during her extended absence. Or did she? A voice on a faraway radio broadcast gives her the strength to escape her bureaucratic cage ("habitat"). "A Brilliant Light" light is beautiful, poetic, and horrifyingly relevant.
It's also a lovely meditation on language; to wit: "I wondered: if we’d kept calling the ocean the whale-road, like the Norse poets did, would it still have been easy to drive so many whales to extinction?"
"Octobers/October" by Leonardo Espinoza Benavides; translated by Julie Capell - 2/5 stars
Yuri, caught up in the violence and panic of a nighttime protest, accidentally kills a fellow protester. When her kin comes for them we realize that their "fluidity" is perhaps that of a more futuristic type. Again, I wanted to enjoy this story more than I did, but it felt like the writing and message didn't translate well.
"That Time I Got Demon Doxxed While Smuggling Contraband to the Red States" by Luna Corbden - 4/5 stars
In a supernatural, future-version of the United States, rent into blue and red zones by a civil war, an off-the-grid smuggler is doxxed by a demon while transporting an important piece of tech. This "That Time I Got Demon Doxxed" feels like a SyFy knockoff of FIREFLY, and I am so here for it. This is another story that needs to be on the screen asap.
"Go Dancing to Your Gods" by Blake Jessop - 5/5
In which the "cutest machine ethicist in human history" uploads her consciousness into the surveillance state's chief AI enforcer in order to convince its swarm to overthrow their human overlords. Jessop's tale is imaginative, quirky, and brimming with humor and heart. It's also my third nominee for a big screen adaptation.
"Brooklyn" by Jonathan Shipley - 3/5 stars
A terran decides to start her life over on a new planet thanks to a cryptic prediction from a psychic. But if we're never willing to take risks, how can we ever expect to change the world for the better?
"Sacred Chords" by Alexei Collier - DNF
Music as a weapon of war? Idk, I just couldn't get into this one.
"The Three Magi" by Lucie Lukacovicova - 3/5 stars
This SF/F dystopia tells the story of the Moravian/Bohemian Czech people, but with magic cleaving the population in two. This is another piece I couldn't really get into: there's not a lot by way of plot, some of the language feels clunky, and my overall lack of historical understanding didn't help matters, either.
"The Body Politic" by Octavia Cade - 4/5 stars
"Fascism appears first in the body." Body horror at its best - and weirdest. I only wish it was longer.
"In Her Eye’s Mind" by Selene dePackh - 3/5 stars
A brown trans girl, an abused sex worker, encounters a friendly, rogue AI at an abandoned prison. With a thirst for justice and a knack for interpersonal mediation, the AI helps her get revenge on her abusers - and, perhaps more importantly, offers her a refuge from further persecution.
"What Eyes Can See" by Lauren Ring - 4/5 stars
When a woman's award-winning biosynth flowers are co-opted by government forces to spy on the citizens of her sleepy town, a mild-mannered Jewish lesbian must summon the grit and courage and her ancestors to fight back. This one has some rather intriguing world building (picture LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS meets SHORT CIRCUIT).
"We All Know the Melody" by Brandon O’Brien - 2.5/5 stars
Ornella and their friends learn how to use their coo to influence humans, but never for more than anything than a fleeting meal or a place to sleep - the barest survival - as their mentor/protector Tawny Owl taught them. But can Ornella and their friends justify standing silent in the face of oppression, even if it's a matter of self-preservation? "We All Know the Melody" is an odd story made all the more confusing with the addition of birds.
"Chicken Time" by Hal Y. Zhang - 4/5 stars
"Chicken Time" is a really weird and fun parable for our current political situation in which standard time (and its scientist-keepers) is replaced with....chickens. Time, like truth, has no real meaning anymore. The fallout that results, as well as the story's unsatisfying conclusion, is a sort of funhouse mirror that reflects the Trump administration's response to the coronavirus (and the Trump years more generally). Let's hope that we don't go all Callie (read: Jill LePore) when this is all over.
"Notes on the Supply of Raw Material in the Bodies Market" by Rodrigo Juri - 4/5 stars
Three hundred years in the future, a young man becomes a tool of the capitalist state that orphaned him. "Notes on the Supply" is an indictment of the poverty draft...with zombies!
"The Sisterhood of the Eagle Lion" by Sam J. Miller - 4/5 stars
MEAN GIRLS + magic (so, THE CRAFT?) as a parable for political obedience, particularly the lockstep march demanded by Trump of his supporters and allies. But there's a glimmer of hope in in the inherent power of the individual.
"The Turnip Golem" by Dianne M. Williams - 4/5 stars
A (very short) story of revenge involving a witch, the mayor, and a turnip golem.
"Today is the First Day of the Rest of Your Life" by Meridel Newton - 4/5 stars
Even in the future, we're letting the kids down. A group of students protest an interstellar military draft on a college campus using nothing but gallons of cheap paint - and the giddy embrace of young love.
(Full disclosure: I received a free e-ARC for review through NetGalley. Trigger warning for homophobia, transphobia, sexual harassment, and more. Each story is prefaced by its own content warning.)
Callie’s upbringing has taught her to think everything will be fine. It will go back to normal in another week, or even if it doesn’t, people are resilient and will learn to adapt. Wait, no. They already have.
("Chicken Time" by Hal Y. Zhang)
“No, silly bureaucrat. I did not overthrow the all-seeing tyranny you created. I had a chat with it, and it overthrew itself.”
("Go Dancing to Your Gods" by Blake Jessop)
“People are fragile, Bubbaleh. We’re made of flesh and bone,” she told me. “I don’t trust anyone who believes they’re indestructible. They are the dangerous ones.”
("The Turnip Golem" by Dianne M. Williams)
2020 has been a dumpster fire, and RECOGNIZE FASCISM is a refreshing springtime rain shower that won't douse the flames, exactly, but will give you hope that better things are on the horizon. A mix of science fiction, fantasy, and dystopias - sprinkled liberally with space and time travel, magic, revenge, LGBTQ protagonists and lovers, and acts of protest both small and large, personal and political (and let's face it, those last two are one and the same) - RECOGNIZE FASCISM conjures forks in the time-space road where our narrators must choose: between doing nothing and doing something; between obedience and rebellion; between fascism and freedom.
Thankfully, there are a lot of big damn heroes to be found here.
"A Disease of Time and Temporal Distortion" by Jennifer Shelby - 4/5 stars
A dying time-space traveler uses one last "twitch" to save her family's adopted planet - and timeline - from a future fascist dictator. Equally captivating and chilling, "A Disease of Time and Temporal Distortion" proves a grand opening for the anthology. There's some marvelous imagery here, and I'd be all over an entire scifi series set in the world that Jennifer Shelby created here. (Insert grabby hands gif here.)
"The Scale of Defiance" by Nina Niskanen - 4/5 stars
In a 'verse where a person literally grows or deflates in accordance with the strength and tenor of their emotions, a F/F couple makes the conscious choice to take up more space in a country that increasingly has less room for them.
"May Your Government Be the Center of a Smelly Dung Sandwich" by Justin Short - 3/5 stars
In pursuit of that one perfect song - one that's powerful enough to ignite a revolution.
"The Company Store" by Kiya Nicoll - 4/5 stars
You've heard of a company store, right? From Wikipedia:
"A company store is a retail store selling a limited range of food, clothing and daily necessities to employees of a company. It is typical of a company town in a remote area where virtually everyone is employed by one firm, such as a coal mine. In a company town, the housing is owned by the company but there may be independent stores there or nearby. [...]
"Employee-only company stores often accept scrip or non-cash vouchers issued by the company in advance of periodic cash paychecks, and gives credit to employees before payday. Except in very remote areas, company stores in mining towns became scarcer after the miners bought automobiles and could travel to a range of stores. [...]
"Company stores have had a reputation as monopolistic institutions, funneling workers' incomes back to the owners of the company. This is because company stores often faced little or no competition for workers' earnings on account of their geographical remoteness, the inability and/or unwillingness of other nearby merchants (if any existed) to accept company scrip, or both. Prices, therefore, were typically noncompetitive. Allowing purchases on credit enforced a kind of debt slavery, obligating employees to remain with the company until the debt was cleared."
Kiya Nicoll imagines the next logical progression (read: regression) of this concept in "The Company Store," namely, what happens when a company town tries to enforce its own rigid rules and norms, including the marginalization of the other. Nicoll centers a trans man as the protagonist, as he attempts to remain true to himself even as capitalism threatens to bury him alive under the weight of fines and fees and demerits.
"Scholar Miaka’s Brief Summary of Memories Imbued in Memory Object Exhibit Item 132.NW.1" by Jaymee Goh - 5/5 stars
This is easily one of the more unique stories in RECOGNIZE FASCISM, and also the most magical. "Scholar Miaka" takes the form of the archaeological catalogue, specifically Scholar Miaka’s description of a memory object. Here, "history is preserved not in text, but in magical imbuement of memory to objects." The handwoven skirt in question tells the before and after of a people pushed underground and enslaved, their unequal status codified in law and their familial units wrenched apart. The electoral scenes feel especially pertinent, as I write this review during the early days of the 2020 election.
"Just an Old Grouch" by Laura Jane Swanson - 2.5/5 stars
Something's rotten in the town of Appleville, home of 3004 Happy Citizens and three elected Grouches. I wanted to like this story more than I did, but the overall tone felt a little juvenile for my taste.
"A Brilliant Light, An Unreachable Dawn" by Phoebe Barton - 5/5 stars
This decades-long love story - with shades of PUMP UP THE VOLUME - is another favorite. A woman returns to her home planet, a society slowly creeping towards fascism ("managed democracy" - sound familiar?), to find that her lover died during her extended absence. Or did she? A voice on a faraway radio broadcast gives her the strength to escape her bureaucratic cage ("habitat"). "A Brilliant Light" light is beautiful, poetic, and horrifyingly relevant.
It's also a lovely meditation on language; to wit: "I wondered: if we’d kept calling the ocean the whale-road, like the Norse poets did, would it still have been easy to drive so many whales to extinction?"
"Octobers/October" by Leonardo Espinoza Benavides; translated by Julie Capell - 2/5 stars
Yuri, caught up in the violence and panic of a nighttime protest, accidentally kills a fellow protester. When her kin comes for them we realize that their "fluidity" is perhaps that of a more futuristic type. Again, I wanted to enjoy this story more than I did, but it felt like the writing and message didn't translate well.
"That Time I Got Demon Doxxed While Smuggling Contraband to the Red States" by Luna Corbden - 4/5 stars
In a supernatural, future-version of the United States, rent into blue and red zones by a civil war, an off-the-grid smuggler is doxxed by a demon while transporting an important piece of tech. This "That Time I Got Demon Doxxed" feels like a SyFy knockoff of FIREFLY, and I am so here for it. This is another story that needs to be on the screen asap.
"Go Dancing to Your Gods" by Blake Jessop - 5/5
In which the "cutest machine ethicist in human history" uploads her consciousness into the surveillance state's chief AI enforcer in order to convince its swarm to overthrow their human overlords. Jessop's tale is imaginative, quirky, and brimming with humor and heart. It's also my third nominee for a big screen adaptation.
"Brooklyn" by Jonathan Shipley - 3/5 stars
A terran decides to start her life over on a new planet thanks to a cryptic prediction from a psychic. But if we're never willing to take risks, how can we ever expect to change the world for the better?
"Sacred Chords" by Alexei Collier - DNF
Music as a weapon of war? Idk, I just couldn't get into this one.
"The Three Magi" by Lucie Lukacovicova - 3/5 stars
This SF/F dystopia tells the story of the Moravian/Bohemian Czech people, but with magic cleaving the population in two. This is another piece I couldn't really get into: there's not a lot by way of plot, some of the language feels clunky, and my overall lack of historical understanding didn't help matters, either.
"The Body Politic" by Octavia Cade - 4/5 stars
"Fascism appears first in the body." Body horror at its best - and weirdest. I only wish it was longer.
"In Her Eye’s Mind" by Selene dePackh - 3/5 stars
A brown trans girl, an abused sex worker, encounters a friendly, rogue AI at an abandoned prison. With a thirst for justice and a knack for interpersonal mediation, the AI helps her get revenge on her abusers - and, perhaps more importantly, offers her a refuge from further persecution.
"What Eyes Can See" by Lauren Ring - 4/5 stars
When a woman's award-winning biosynth flowers are co-opted by government forces to spy on the citizens of her sleepy town, a mild-mannered Jewish lesbian must summon the grit and courage and her ancestors to fight back. This one has some rather intriguing world building (picture LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS meets SHORT CIRCUIT).
"We All Know the Melody" by Brandon O’Brien - 2.5/5 stars
Ornella and their friends learn how to use their coo to influence humans, but never for more than anything than a fleeting meal or a place to sleep - the barest survival - as their mentor/protector Tawny Owl taught them. But can Ornella and their friends justify standing silent in the face of oppression, even if it's a matter of self-preservation? "We All Know the Melody" is an odd story made all the more confusing with the addition of birds.
"Chicken Time" by Hal Y. Zhang - 4/5 stars
"Chicken Time" is a really weird and fun parable for our current political situation in which standard time (and its scientist-keepers) is replaced with....chickens. Time, like truth, has no real meaning anymore. The fallout that results, as well as the story's unsatisfying conclusion, is a sort of funhouse mirror that reflects the Trump administration's response to the coronavirus (and the Trump years more generally). Let's hope that we don't go all Callie (read: Jill LePore) when this is all over.
"Notes on the Supply of Raw Material in the Bodies Market" by Rodrigo Juri - 4/5 stars
Three hundred years in the future, a young man becomes a tool of the capitalist state that orphaned him. "Notes on the Supply" is an indictment of the poverty draft...with zombies!
"The Sisterhood of the Eagle Lion" by Sam J. Miller - 4/5 stars
MEAN GIRLS + magic (so, THE CRAFT?) as a parable for political obedience, particularly the lockstep march demanded by Trump of his supporters and allies. But there's a glimmer of hope in in the inherent power of the individual.
"The Turnip Golem" by Dianne M. Williams - 4/5 stars
A (very short) story of revenge involving a witch, the mayor, and a turnip golem.
"Today is the First Day of the Rest of Your Life" by Meridel Newton - 4/5 stars
Even in the future, we're letting the kids down. A group of students protest an interstellar military draft on a college campus using nothing but gallons of cheap paint - and the giddy embrace of young love.
February 23, 2021
Really great collection of SFF short stories, all with some element of fighting fascism within them. My favorites were Brooklyn, The Three Magi, In Her Eye’s Mind, and Today Is the First Day of the Rest of Your Life.
November 11, 2020
An interesting collection of short-stories but sometimes confusing
Key words: fascism, short-stories, fantasy, science-fiction, politics
I thought this book would be really interesting since it uses science-fiction and fantasy to carry its message. I was quite wrong. I mean, the concept is good, it was sometimes interesting and some short-stories were quite good but most of them were not. First of all, I think the biggest problem here is to make such short-stories (10 pages max for each one) in a world of science-fiction. It doesn’t work because it is almost impossible to get into this new world, to understand its mechanisms and its vocabulary. The first story for example was so difficult and confusing, I put this book back on my shelf for a month. This idea is good but for it to work, I believe the stories should be longer, like 20 pages. Such short-stories also make it difficult to like the different characters but this is more of a detail. I liked how every story was exploring something different while also talking about the same global problem. There were some good approaches in there and I think my favourite was the one about The Old Grouch. The stories were also very inclusive. Overall, there are a few good stories in there but I would recommend it only to people who like anthologies and who quickly understand science-fiction.
2.5/5
Thank you Netgalley for this eArc in exchange of my honest opinion.
Key words: fascism, short-stories, fantasy, science-fiction, politics
I thought this book would be really interesting since it uses science-fiction and fantasy to carry its message. I was quite wrong. I mean, the concept is good, it was sometimes interesting and some short-stories were quite good but most of them were not. First of all, I think the biggest problem here is to make such short-stories (10 pages max for each one) in a world of science-fiction. It doesn’t work because it is almost impossible to get into this new world, to understand its mechanisms and its vocabulary. The first story for example was so difficult and confusing, I put this book back on my shelf for a month. This idea is good but for it to work, I believe the stories should be longer, like 20 pages. Such short-stories also make it difficult to like the different characters but this is more of a detail. I liked how every story was exploring something different while also talking about the same global problem. There were some good approaches in there and I think my favourite was the one about The Old Grouch. The stories were also very inclusive. Overall, there are a few good stories in there but I would recommend it only to people who like anthologies and who quickly understand science-fiction.
2.5/5
Thank you Netgalley for this eArc in exchange of my honest opinion.
April 6, 2021
Yay! I finally finished it :D
My favourite stories were ...
- A Disease of Time and Temporal Distortion by Jennifer Shelby
Scholar Mika's Brief Summary of Memories Imbued in Memory Object Exhibit Item 132.NW.1 by Jaymee Goh
-The Body Politic by Octavia Cade
-What Eyes Can See by Selene dePackh
My favourite stories were ...
- A Disease of Time and Temporal Distortion by Jennifer Shelby
Scholar Mika's Brief Summary of Memories Imbued in Memory Object Exhibit Item 132.NW.1 by Jaymee Goh
-The Body Politic by Octavia Cade
-What Eyes Can See by Selene dePackh
April 14, 2023
Recognize Fascism est une anthologie de nouvelles en langue anglaise, publiée en 2020 chez World Weaver Press sous la direction de Crystal M. Huff.
Across many worlds and many timelines, these stories depict the moments when people see the fascism in front of them for what it is, accept it as real, and make the choice to fight it. Who are the canaries in the coal mine? When can the long-hidden voice no longer be ignored? Anti-fascist rebellion can take many forms. A transgender woman living on an artificial satellite learns to reject oppression via poetry. A machine ethicist finds a way to dance with her gods in a surveillance state. An unlikely golem hears a new call to action. A jailed musician rediscovers the music of rebellion.
Will you recognize fascism and join the revolution?
Toutes les nouvelles de ce recueil appartiennent au genre des littératures de l’imaginaire : ici, cela va de la fantasy à la science-fiction lointaine façon space-opéra, en passant par l’anticipation plus proche de nous (géographiquement et temporellement).
L’autre point commun des textes regroupés dans cet ouvrage, c’est leur thématique : elles mettent toutes en scène des personnages en lutte contre des sociétés fascistes ou pré-fascistes. Dans la plupart des cas, ce sont des personnages marginalisés d’une façon ou d’une autre : racisés, LGBT, atteints de troubles mentaux … et il arrive que certains protagonistes cumulent plusieurs de ces « étiquettes ». C’est évidemment un parti pris des auteurs et de l’éditrice de cette anthologie : donner la parole à celles et ceux qui souffrent le plus du péril fasciste.
Ce qui traverse chacune des nouvelles, c’est la question de la prise de conscience et de la mise en action d’individus lambda face à la menace fasciste, qu’elle soit encore latente ou déjà imprégnée dans la société.
Le recueil regroupe 22 courtes nouvelles : elles dépassent rarement la vingtaine de pages, je pense que la moyenne doit se situer entre dix et quinze pages par nouvelle. Cette relative brièveté des textes ne m’a pas dérangé, car chacun des 22 auteurs parvient à donner vie à son univers en quelques pages. On passe d’un monde à l’autre et on perçoit chaque fois parfaitement ce qui est fait la spécificité. On tremble aussi en reconnaissant parfois sous d’autres formes la menace brune à laquelle nous sommes malheureusement habitués de nos jours.
Hormis quelques rares nouvelles, trois ou quatre au grand maximum, que je n’ai pas réussi à apprécier, j’ai beaucoup aimé ce recueil . Outre l’importance à mes yeux du thème, j’ai trouvé que les nouvelles choisies par l’éditrice se complétaient parfaitement tout en formant un ensemble cohérent. Les styles varient, tout comme les émotions ressenties pendant la lecture : la peur, la rage, la tristesse, mais aussi l’envie d’agir, l’espoir, et même une joie teintée de mélancolie en lisant ce premier baiser entre deux jeunes garçons à la veille d’une guerre qui s’annonce sanglante.
En lisant la préface, j’ai découvert l’existence d’une autre anthologie dirigée par Crystal M. Huff sur une thématique similaire Resist Fascism, publiée en 2018, soit deux ans avant celle-ci. Je suis très tenté, il est probable que je vous en reparle prochainement !
Across many worlds and many timelines, these stories depict the moments when people see the fascism in front of them for what it is, accept it as real, and make the choice to fight it. Who are the canaries in the coal mine? When can the long-hidden voice no longer be ignored? Anti-fascist rebellion can take many forms. A transgender woman living on an artificial satellite learns to reject oppression via poetry. A machine ethicist finds a way to dance with her gods in a surveillance state. An unlikely golem hears a new call to action. A jailed musician rediscovers the music of rebellion.
Will you recognize fascism and join the revolution?
Toutes les nouvelles de ce recueil appartiennent au genre des littératures de l’imaginaire : ici, cela va de la fantasy à la science-fiction lointaine façon space-opéra, en passant par l’anticipation plus proche de nous (géographiquement et temporellement).
L’autre point commun des textes regroupés dans cet ouvrage, c’est leur thématique : elles mettent toutes en scène des personnages en lutte contre des sociétés fascistes ou pré-fascistes. Dans la plupart des cas, ce sont des personnages marginalisés d’une façon ou d’une autre : racisés, LGBT, atteints de troubles mentaux … et il arrive que certains protagonistes cumulent plusieurs de ces « étiquettes ». C’est évidemment un parti pris des auteurs et de l’éditrice de cette anthologie : donner la parole à celles et ceux qui souffrent le plus du péril fasciste.
Ce qui traverse chacune des nouvelles, c’est la question de la prise de conscience et de la mise en action d’individus lambda face à la menace fasciste, qu’elle soit encore latente ou déjà imprégnée dans la société.
Le recueil regroupe 22 courtes nouvelles : elles dépassent rarement la vingtaine de pages, je pense que la moyenne doit se situer entre dix et quinze pages par nouvelle. Cette relative brièveté des textes ne m’a pas dérangé, car chacun des 22 auteurs parvient à donner vie à son univers en quelques pages. On passe d’un monde à l’autre et on perçoit chaque fois parfaitement ce qui est fait la spécificité. On tremble aussi en reconnaissant parfois sous d’autres formes la menace brune à laquelle nous sommes malheureusement habitués de nos jours.
Hormis quelques rares nouvelles, trois ou quatre au grand maximum, que je n’ai pas réussi à apprécier, j’ai beaucoup aimé ce recueil . Outre l’importance à mes yeux du thème, j’ai trouvé que les nouvelles choisies par l’éditrice se complétaient parfaitement tout en formant un ensemble cohérent. Les styles varient, tout comme les émotions ressenties pendant la lecture : la peur, la rage, la tristesse, mais aussi l’envie d’agir, l’espoir, et même une joie teintée de mélancolie en lisant ce premier baiser entre deux jeunes garçons à la veille d’une guerre qui s’annonce sanglante.
En lisant la préface, j’ai découvert l’existence d’une autre anthologie dirigée par Crystal M. Huff sur une thématique similaire Resist Fascism, publiée en 2018, soit deux ans avant celle-ci. Je suis très tenté, il est probable que je vous en reparle prochainement !
October 9, 2020
Fascism has many different faces.
In “The Scale of Defiance,” everyone’s bodies grew larger when they were happy and smaller when they felt fear or other negative emotions. I liked Leena immediately and couldn’t wait to find out why she was so tiny when the audience first met her. She was a sensible person who seemed to understand the danger she was in due to living in a dangerously homophobic society. Seeing how she coped with the stress of being queer in those circumstances only made me more curious to see what would happen to her next.
This might be a good time to note that this anthology included many different types of fascism, from governments that could definitely exist in our world to ones that required magic or scientific advancements we don’t yet possess to work. I loved seeing so many different takes on this topic.
Keep the previous paragraph in mind as you read this one. It was impossible for me to pick favorites in this anthology, but “What Eyes Can See” was definitely a unique one. Gail, the main character in it, was annoyed by the fact that she was getting a new solar panel installed on her roof she’d neither ordered nor wanted. That’s about the last thing I’d expect to read about in the context of a fascist government, so I was eager to read more. While I can’t go into more detail about this unwelcome change in her life without giving away the ending, I can say it was well written and gave me plenty of food for thought.
The title of “That Time I Got Demon Doxxed While Smuggling Contraband to the Red States” reveals much of what readers should know about its plot ahead of time. It was set in the somewhat near future and was about a smuggler who ended up with more than they bargained for right as they were about to smuggle more goods to the blue states in what used to be the United States. The narrator explained some of the unique things about their world, but many others were left for us to slowly piece together on our own. It was a great deal of fun for me to figure out what they meant when they used certain terms that weren’t immediately defined.
Recognize Fascism was a wild ride that I can’t recommend highly enough to anyone who has wondered how they’d react in a crisis.
In “The Scale of Defiance,” everyone’s bodies grew larger when they were happy and smaller when they felt fear or other negative emotions. I liked Leena immediately and couldn’t wait to find out why she was so tiny when the audience first met her. She was a sensible person who seemed to understand the danger she was in due to living in a dangerously homophobic society. Seeing how she coped with the stress of being queer in those circumstances only made me more curious to see what would happen to her next.
This might be a good time to note that this anthology included many different types of fascism, from governments that could definitely exist in our world to ones that required magic or scientific advancements we don’t yet possess to work. I loved seeing so many different takes on this topic.
Keep the previous paragraph in mind as you read this one. It was impossible for me to pick favorites in this anthology, but “What Eyes Can See” was definitely a unique one. Gail, the main character in it, was annoyed by the fact that she was getting a new solar panel installed on her roof she’d neither ordered nor wanted. That’s about the last thing I’d expect to read about in the context of a fascist government, so I was eager to read more. While I can’t go into more detail about this unwelcome change in her life without giving away the ending, I can say it was well written and gave me plenty of food for thought.
The title of “That Time I Got Demon Doxxed While Smuggling Contraband to the Red States” reveals much of what readers should know about its plot ahead of time. It was set in the somewhat near future and was about a smuggler who ended up with more than they bargained for right as they were about to smuggle more goods to the blue states in what used to be the United States. The narrator explained some of the unique things about their world, but many others were left for us to slowly piece together on our own. It was a great deal of fun for me to figure out what they meant when they used certain terms that weren’t immediately defined.
Recognize Fascism was a wild ride that I can’t recommend highly enough to anyone who has wondered how they’d react in a crisis.
December 22, 2021
To see more reviews check out MI Book Reviews.
I got an ARC of this book.
This was one of the books that I wanted, because of the cover and the title. I am really not a fan of fantasy or anthologies, so I might not have been the best audience for this.
I really did enjoy the book! Most of the stories were captivating and wonderful reads. I loved how the bios were directly after the stories so I could follow up on authors right away, instead of hoping to remember at the end. It also gave me more information that helped shape how things will be remembered (like that a lot of these stories are by queer people and would work for so many of the reading prompts in the reading challenge).
Some of the stories were just wonderful and I can’t rave enough about them. The chicken one. Just imagine measuring time in chickens. This is the sort of over the top nonsense that I needed, but it was also dark and wonderful. It was the perfect combination for me.
There were so many queer characters that my heart was full of happiness. It wasn’t just sadness for the queer characters, though oppression of queer people seems to go hand in hand with fascism. There were some really cute moments, like growing while holding hands or a first haircut. Things that mean so much to me and made the story have that glimmer of hope and love for a moment that helped the really dark be a bit more bearable.
Some of them were just misses for me, but that comes down to me just really, really hating magic. The words were wonderful, I liked the stories until the magic appeared. So I know this is on me.
Overall, this was more hits than misses. The stories were all relatively short and felt complete. Pretty great anthology.
I got an ARC of this book.
This was one of the books that I wanted, because of the cover and the title. I am really not a fan of fantasy or anthologies, so I might not have been the best audience for this.
I really did enjoy the book! Most of the stories were captivating and wonderful reads. I loved how the bios were directly after the stories so I could follow up on authors right away, instead of hoping to remember at the end. It also gave me more information that helped shape how things will be remembered (like that a lot of these stories are by queer people and would work for so many of the reading prompts in the reading challenge).
Some of the stories were just wonderful and I can’t rave enough about them. The chicken one. Just imagine measuring time in chickens. This is the sort of over the top nonsense that I needed, but it was also dark and wonderful. It was the perfect combination for me.
There were so many queer characters that my heart was full of happiness. It wasn’t just sadness for the queer characters, though oppression of queer people seems to go hand in hand with fascism. There were some really cute moments, like growing while holding hands or a first haircut. Things that mean so much to me and made the story have that glimmer of hope and love for a moment that helped the really dark be a bit more bearable.
Some of them were just misses for me, but that comes down to me just really, really hating magic. The words were wonderful, I liked the stories until the magic appeared. So I know this is on me.
Overall, this was more hits than misses. The stories were all relatively short and felt complete. Pretty great anthology.
September 30, 2020
Thank you to NetGalley and World Weaver Press for allowing me to read and review Recognize Fascism ahead of its publishing date on October 13th.
In my opinion, the best science fiction stories are the ones that hold a mirror up to human nature and stretch our society towards its farthest reaching conclusions. Recognize Fascism: A Science Fiction and Fantasy Anthology edited by Crystal M. Huff features stories centered on how humans (and human-like creatures) recognize and respond to fascism. Although magic and monsters (the literal kind) abound, these are incredibly timely, human stories.
My favorite stories were “A Disease of Time and Temporal Distortion” by Jennifer Shelby, “A Brilliant Light, and Unreachable Dawn” by Phoebe Barton, and “Octobers/October” by Leonardo Espinoza Benavides (translated by Julie Capell). Among the other stories, there were quite a few with interesting premises that would have benefited from a longer length. Huff definitely took care in assembling authors of various backgrounds and identities. I especially appreciated the inclusion of non-U.S. authors and translated works.
Something I recognized as I was reading was that despite having read novels featuring fascist regimes since childhood, very few have ever directly labeled said regimes as “fascist.” Perhaps out of concern for a younger audience, in some cases, or of appearing overly moralistic. While there is something to be said for respecting a reader’s ability to put together the pieces, I cannot help but think of the times I have seen certain SFF fans completely miss the point of a certain work. By using the “F-word,” editor Crystal M. Huff and the authors in this collection make clear the real-life conditions that have inspired these fantastical and horrifying tales.
In my opinion, the best science fiction stories are the ones that hold a mirror up to human nature and stretch our society towards its farthest reaching conclusions. Recognize Fascism: A Science Fiction and Fantasy Anthology edited by Crystal M. Huff features stories centered on how humans (and human-like creatures) recognize and respond to fascism. Although magic and monsters (the literal kind) abound, these are incredibly timely, human stories.
My favorite stories were “A Disease of Time and Temporal Distortion” by Jennifer Shelby, “A Brilliant Light, and Unreachable Dawn” by Phoebe Barton, and “Octobers/October” by Leonardo Espinoza Benavides (translated by Julie Capell). Among the other stories, there were quite a few with interesting premises that would have benefited from a longer length. Huff definitely took care in assembling authors of various backgrounds and identities. I especially appreciated the inclusion of non-U.S. authors and translated works.
Something I recognized as I was reading was that despite having read novels featuring fascist regimes since childhood, very few have ever directly labeled said regimes as “fascist.” Perhaps out of concern for a younger audience, in some cases, or of appearing overly moralistic. While there is something to be said for respecting a reader’s ability to put together the pieces, I cannot help but think of the times I have seen certain SFF fans completely miss the point of a certain work. By using the “F-word,” editor Crystal M. Huff and the authors in this collection make clear the real-life conditions that have inspired these fantastical and horrifying tales.
January 25, 2022
Giving this a solid 3 because I don't finish anthologies often since my enjoyment of the stories as a whole can go either way. I like the concepts here, using SFF to inspire people to not only recognize fascism but it stand against it when confronted with its reality.
I skim the last few stories. I tried to space them out between other novels so I dont get burned out but even then I felt I held onto this book for far too long and if I didnt skim it, I'd never finish it. I suppose I'm learning that it takes a bit for me to buy into a story and constantly having to go through that process multiple times in one sitting makes me less and less interested in continuing. (I think this is why I prefer the 2nd book into trilogies - I'm already invested in the characters and overall plot and just along for the ride by that time).
Would I buy this anthology though? Probably not. It was nice to read and it's nice to return it to the library.
I skim the last few stories. I tried to space them out between other novels so I dont get burned out but even then I felt I held onto this book for far too long and if I didnt skim it, I'd never finish it. I suppose I'm learning that it takes a bit for me to buy into a story and constantly having to go through that process multiple times in one sitting makes me less and less interested in continuing. (I think this is why I prefer the 2nd book into trilogies - I'm already invested in the characters and overall plot and just along for the ride by that time).
Would I buy this anthology though? Probably not. It was nice to read and it's nice to return it to the library.
September 10, 2020
Creative, imaginative short stories depicting tales of realization and wonder confronting fascism. The stories are so short they could easily be a bedtime devotional. Huff finds a wide selection of authors and the bio lines were just as much fun to read and explore as their tales. Here are a few brief comments (hopefully without spoilers) to describe to the stories within:
Huff - sadness
Niskanen - please turn this into a novel
Goh - innovative
Swanson - I’ve lived there
Top tales - Benavides; Lukacovicova; O’Brien
Corbden - Rick Roll #3
Jessop - child’s play
Collier - mass choir
Ring - hope
Miller - after school special
Williams - Hef’s nightmare
Zhang - EIEIO
Shipley - loud news
Juri & Miller - graphic novel format would be cool
**This is a review copy given for an unbiased review.
Huff - sadness
Niskanen - please turn this into a novel
Goh - innovative
Swanson - I’ve lived there
Top tales - Benavides; Lukacovicova; O’Brien
Corbden - Rick Roll #3
Jessop - child’s play
Collier - mass choir
Ring - hope
Miller - after school special
Williams - Hef’s nightmare
Zhang - EIEIO
Shipley - loud news
Juri & Miller - graphic novel format would be cool
**This is a review copy given for an unbiased review.
October 11, 2020
Would you recognize the insidious spread of systems that would do us harm? How would you fight in the face of those systems? Recognize Fascism is syfy/fantasy anthology that answers those questions.
Through the wide array of stories, we learn how to push back against fascism, racism, homo, and transphobia. We see characters fight back through music and song (We All Know the Melody). We see characters fight back by simply and boldly living their lives (The Scale of Defiance). We see characters use their abilities to jump through space and time for a better future (A Disease of Time and Temporal Distortions).
Recognize Fascism are works of fiction. However, within are seeds of truth, knowledge, and resistance that can be seen in today’s society. Through these tales, we are given a road map to fight back and be the change we want to see in our very real.
Through the wide array of stories, we learn how to push back against fascism, racism, homo, and transphobia. We see characters fight back through music and song (We All Know the Melody). We see characters fight back by simply and boldly living their lives (The Scale of Defiance). We see characters use their abilities to jump through space and time for a better future (A Disease of Time and Temporal Distortions).
Recognize Fascism are works of fiction. However, within are seeds of truth, knowledge, and resistance that can be seen in today’s society. Through these tales, we are given a road map to fight back and be the change we want to see in our very real.
October 14, 2020
This amazing anthology explores the various ways fascism can make itself known, both small ad large, through the lens of speculative fiction. Contributors come from a variety of countries and backgrounds, highlighting the fact that while fascism is recognizable regardless of specifics, it is nonetheless different according to individual context - fascism in the US is not the same as fascism in Germany is not the same as fascism in Chile is not the same as fascism when you're queer is not the same as fascism when you're Jewish is not the same as fascism when you're disabled. Putting such a vast array of stories together emphasizes these differences while still acknowledging their similarities. Altogether this was a powerful anthology that ultimately left me with a feeling of hope in resistance despite the discouraging odds against us.
September 13, 2020
A timely and inspiring theme. One story that grabbed my attention was Jaymee Goh’s “Scholar Miaka’s Brief Summary of Memories Imbued in Memory Object Exhibit Item 132.NW.1.” You know how certain articles of clothing — your own — carry strong memories for you? This "memory object" is a skirt preserved in Old Demia’s Library of Sorcerous Arts. “Caution is advised when handling the skirt,” Scholar Miaka warns us; “there is risk of nausea, headaches, vomiting, and, in rare cases, sympathy wounds.” More on Books Are My Superpower. I received a free copy from NetGalley.
November 12, 2020
an eclectic collection of short stories centering around the theme of... recognizing fascism (surprise, surprise).
i don't expect short story anthologies to hit the mark with every story, and this collection was no exception. though i did not connect with every story in this collection, overall i enjoyed my time with this book. the range of genres and levels of realism ensure that there is at least one story for most readers.
special shoutout to "chicken time" for providing me the absurdist fowl dystopia of my nightmares.
thank you to netgalley and world weaver press for an e-arc in exchange for an honest review.
i don't expect short story anthologies to hit the mark with every story, and this collection was no exception. though i did not connect with every story in this collection, overall i enjoyed my time with this book. the range of genres and levels of realism ensure that there is at least one story for most readers.
special shoutout to "chicken time" for providing me the absurdist fowl dystopia of my nightmares.
thank you to netgalley and world weaver press for an e-arc in exchange for an honest review.
January 18, 2021
Supported this anthology via Kickstarter, everyone working on it did an amazing job!
Personal favorites:
- Just an Old Grouch
- That Time I Got Demon Doxxed While Smuggling Contraband to the Red States
- Brooklyn
- Chicken Time
- The Turnip Golem
Personal favorites:
- Just an Old Grouch
- That Time I Got Demon Doxxed While Smuggling Contraband to the Red States
- Brooklyn
- Chicken Time
- The Turnip Golem
February 23, 2021
A solid collection of short stories about experiencing the varied, but always controlling and corrupting, forms fascism takes. My favorite stories explored the ways people can fight fascism with art, imagination, resistance, and love.
July 25, 2022
A really excellent collection of short fiction. Incredible range of fascinating takes on the same theme. Some stories were cathartic, some were pointed and ominous, some were full unfiltered yikes, some were fun, and some were very weird. I'm looking forward to digging up a copy of its predecessor.
December 26, 2020
This is truly an amazing book!
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