Broken Fevers

by Tenea D. Johnson, Nettrice Gaskins (Cover Art)

From humor to horror, the speculative fiction in Broken Fevers has a gleaming edge. This new collection by award winner Tenea D. Johnson features 14 tales. Though many are dark, they pull one through the light, if only for a moment, to visit the next vista, a new world, or this one recast in an uncertain future. Whether it be the lengths a woman will go to for performance art or how best to communicate the Middle Passage's horrors to the privileged, darkness has room to breathe here and bring wonder. Social commentary and genetic adaptation exist alongside fairy crises, alien liminalities, and the responsibilities of those holding up the world and those who communicate with the next. Broken Fevers shares the heart in the hurt, the courage in a cataclysm, and the connections that we make wherever we find ourselves.
Tenea D. Johnson’s debut novel, Smoketown, won the Parallax Award. R/evolution received an honorable mention the same year. Her short work appears in anthologies like  Tales of Afrofuturism and Beyond and Sycorax’s Daughters. She’s performed her musical stories at venues including The Public Theater and The Knitting Factory and is the founder of Progress By Design, an arts and empowerment enterprise. Her virtual home is teneadjohnson.com. Stop by anytime.

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction

142 pages, Paperback

Published March 2, 2021

Reviews

[Tzu-Mainn Chen · Rating 3 out of 5]

“Broken Fevers” is a collection of short stories that are filled with passion and anger. Johnson’s stories have strong ideas and startling images that, combined, create remarkable and memorable scenes. However these scenes don’t always feel like stories. Some of her 2-3 page works feel like a still portrait rather than an examination of a person on the move. Some of her longer works are elliptically - but beautifully - written, and feel like a meandering journey without a destination. And some of her rage-filled works examining the racial horrors in America lack key elements of a well-told story, such as evolving characters or a strong protagonist/antagonist tension. In other words these tales have a strong beating heart, but are missing a lot of the accoutrements of a truly engaging piece of fiction.

That being said the stories near the end of the collection address many of these flaws, resulting in stories that are haunting and powerful. I suspect “Broken Fevers” charts the evolution of a memorable voice, and I hope to read what comes next.

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

So glad to find Tenea D. Johnson! Thanks to Tombolo Books for bringing this writer to our attention. The stories are so inventive - check out "Bare," the first story; "Foundling," the second; and "Lopsided World," the third. And yes, let's talk about reparations. Speculative fiction is a good place to start this conversation. See "The Taken." Also, we read stories of our lives and those of other beings in realms we don't know about or in our near future - "Punishable Regrets," "Sugar Hill," and "Deep Night." I look forward to reading more from this author.

[Mimi Marie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful. These stories are captivating, some are sci-fi futuristic, others based in a kind of post-apocalyptic world, but all are interesting.

[Idkiley · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5ish. Some of the stories were cool. Not written for me necessarily but still enjoyed it. Very interesting concepts that were right up my alley, but at times got too confusing for me to fully follow. Still interesting tho

fire escape - aeseaes

[kendall · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful and bold stories. Love this collection!!!

[Luke · Rating 3 out of 5]

Speculative, creative, gruesome, queer and color across a wide spectrum of precarious dystopias.

[E.F. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Johnson breaks more than fevers with this vivid collection of genre-bending speculative stories. Sometimes humorous and often searing, Johnson's gripping tales move the reader from science fiction, mythic, to horror. Wrapped in an engaging premise and delivered with a quick punch, "Bare" (one of my favorites) offers a potent critique of the male gaze. What makes the individual pieces work makes this a great collection: as in"Bare," Johnson delivers big insights and layered meanings within crisp plots and strong narratives. Readers that enjoyed the fantastic worlds in collected works like Her Body and Other Parties (Carmen Maria Machado), She Said Destroy (Nadia Bulkin), and Lady Bits (Kate Jonez) will love Broken Fevers.