The Sisters Sputnik: A Novel

by Terri Favro

“It does what readers ask of a keeps things fast-moving and entertaining. It’s a breezy joy.” ―  Publishers Weekly “Together, the Sisters Sputnik are the badassest kickass duo since Tank Girl and Jet Girl. If you like your speculative fiction sardonic, weird, sprightly, and intelligent, you will love this splendid book.” ― Candas Jane Dorsey, author of  Black Wine and Ice and Other Stories An odyssey wrapped in a love story, set in a near-future of artificial people The Sisters Sputnik are a time-traveling trio of storytellers-for-hire who are much in demand throughout the multiverse of 2,052 alternate worlds. Each world was created by the detonation of a nuclear bomb in Earth Standard Time, home of the Sisters’ leader, aging comic book creator Debbie Reynolds Biondi, her 20-something apprentice Unicorn Girl, and their pop culture–loving AI, Cassandra. Tales of Earth Standard Time-That-Was, from World Wars to the space race to Hollywood celebrities, have turned the Sisters into storytelling rock stars. In a distant reality where books and music have disappeared, Debbie finds herself in bed with an old Earth Standard Time lover who begs her to tell him a story. Over one long, eventful night, she spins the epic of the Sisters’ adventures in alternate realities, starting with the theft of a book of evil comic strips in a post-pandemic Toronto full of ghost kitchens and robot-worshipping lost children known as junksters, to a disco-era purgatory where synthetic people are sending humans into the past through a reverse-engineered Statue of Liberty, to a version of the 1950s where the Sisters meet a rising star named Frank Sinatra and his girlfriend, the once-and-future Queen of England.

Genres: Science Fiction, Canada

416 pages, Paperback

Published May 17, 2022

About the author

Growing up in an immigrant neighbourhood in Canada's Niagara region, Terri Favro was always told that "if there's a nuclear war, we'll be the first to go", due to the proximity of the Niagara hydroelectric station. Her earliest influences were superhero comics, Warner Brothers cartoons, robots, MAD magazine, Narnia, Middle Earth, her Nonno’s deliciously violent Italian fairytales and the Atomic Bomb. Her life’s ambition was to write satirical comics while living under a lunar geodesic dome.

Not much has changed. Terri is now the author of three novels, a pop-science book about robots, and comic books she creates with her visual artist husband. She’s fond of red wine, cycling, cats, Sinatra standards from the ‘50s and her sons.

Although the lunar dome thing didn’t pan out, Terri enjoys stargazing in east end Toronto whilst sipping a wet dirty martini. Or two.

Terri is currently completing edits to "The Sisters Sputnik", the sequel to her critically acclaimed speculative fiction novel "Sputnik's Children" (ECW ) which was longlisted for 2020 CBC Canada Reads and chosen as one of the Globe & Mail's 100 Best Books of 2017, CBC Books Top 10 Canadian Fiction Books of 2017, and Quill & Quire Best Books of 2017.

Reviews

[Jacqueline Langille · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoy Terri Favro's writing style. I zoomed through this book which is always a good sign for me. I liked the characters but my tired pandemic brain found the multiverse and the time travel a bit confusing. I'll take this opportunity to recommend Favro's Sputnik's Children, which is still one of my favorite books of the past decade.

[Geonn Cannon · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was so borderline that I went back and forth a few times trying to decide on a grade. In the end, I decided middle of the road was best. It was difficult to get into the story, being thrown into the narrative with very little prepation (the author has another novel called Sputnik's Children, which may have been required reading, but I didn't see anything indicating this was a sequel) but I thought maybe once I got into the swing of things it would settle down. Unfortunately it never seemed to find its stride and almost seemed to be tripping over itself at points.

I'm torn on pop culture references in novels. A few can be fine, but this felt too try-hard. "Like Stan Lee, you know, the guy who created Marvel Comics, do you get the reference?" It dropped references in the same way The Big Bang Theory did, for the "Oh hey I know that reference!" It was like a less obnoxious/obvious Ready Player One (people who liked Ready Player One will probably love this one).

By the end, I think the idea is good, the writing and worldbuilding is decent, but the story stringing it all together just failed to work for me.

The narrator was perfect for playing the lead. She was authentic and really brought the character to life for me.

[Lata · Rating 4 out of 5]

Debbie Reynolds Biondi bops around the multiverse, creating comics relating the story of Sputnik Chick (a thinly veiled version of her); the comics eventually spin off a successful tv show.

Debbie’s originally from an alternate version of Earth, Atomic Mean Time (AMT), and only arrived in Earth Standard Time (ours) because she destroyed her Earth, after pulling everyone she could from AMT into Earth Standard Time (EST). These people merged with those of EST, changing their memories and life trajectories (Debbie lost her husband this way.)

Years later, suffering from time sickness because of her tendency to slide between different time periods and Earths, Debbie needs to keep writing Sputnik Chick stories but realizes she needs help, and employs an intern, Unicorn Girl, to help her generate new stories for the show.

Years later, in an alternate reality where there are no stories, Debbie encounters a man she used to know in a yet another reality, a dystopia whose genesis was a racist, homophobic comic book Debbie stole years earlier. Debbie needs to find and get rid of this comic book so she can prevent the dystopia, which is filled with cyborg children and evil AIs using the comic to send people "back to where they came from", even if it means sending them back in time.

This book is weird, horrifying, bonkers bizarre at times, and wryly, darkly funny. Terri Favro walks a fine line balancing many things together: immigration to North America, robots, time travel, the art and power of storytelling, body augmentations and alternations, pandemics, and evolving languages. It's a fantastic mix that could have fallen into incoherency, but Favro keeps everything together to tell a story about prejudice, nostalgia, society, and love.

Thank you to Netgalley and to ECW Press for this ARC in exchange for my review.

[Kristenelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a bizarre story. I'm really not sure how I feel about it and I'm also not sure I completely followed what happened. It is very nonlinear storyline with multiple timelines and parallel worlds. Ultimately, this was a story about xenophobia, bigotry, and the immigrant experience. It was very imaginative and had interesting villains and robots. I liked how the known and unknown were mixed up. We get to see both the familiar (Niagara Falls, Frank Sinatra, etc.) and the unfamiliar (cyborgs, alternate worlds, etc). The author manages to show bigotry and xenophobia on a spectrum from bad to extreme. But while it is discussing some heavy issues, this feels like a romp. There is a silliness to it that mingles with the seriousness. This was a really unique reading experience.

I listened to the audio and the reader did a nice job.

Thank you to NetGalley for an advanced reader copy.

Sexual violence? Yes. Other content warnings? Xenophobia, bigotry, eugenics, kidnapping, torture, misogyny.

[Krista · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well, that was unusual.
Its an outrageous, twisty plot worthy of a sci fi comic strip or graphic novel, which is the point. The protagonist is a comic book artist whose plot comes to life. An ode to stories and storytellers that asks what comes first? The story or the world?

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

My thanks to both NetGalley and ECW Press for an advance copy of this science fiction work.

The idea of alternate worlds is both a fascinating concept and a great comfort to me. The more I look at Twitter, or the occasional Facebook reminds me of that old joke, "Beam me up Scotty, there is no intelligent life down here". The idea of a happy world, a happy me, and happy everybody is a nice idea. Terri Favro in her book The Sisters Sputnik takes the idea of alternate worlds, adds a lot of twists and makes them well not all happy people running around but weird realities where memory, music and media are dying, things have changed a lot, and maybe it's not just one world running out of time but all of them.

Debbie Reynolds Bondi, comic book creator, and Unicorn Girl, her younger apprentice, traveling companion and partner in The Sputnik Sisters, are a time- traveling world skipping duo who share stories, songs and pop culture memories throughout the multiverse. Created when an atomic war on Earth Standard Time created ripples of new dimension, 2,052 alternate worlds, all with different histories, different people, but slowly fading. While traveling the two come across an old love of Debbie's from Earth Standard Time, who asks for story. Debbie does so telling a story that crosses time, space social and entertainment history, and features the Sisters attempt to change what has happened, and what might happen.

The book is good, with ideas that fill every page, so many that other writers would have entire series made from them, but Terri Favro just writes them and moves on. That takes a lot of skill. The book is a bit of a struggle to get into, finding the mindset and the writing style might e difficult, but is rewarding. I have not read the previous book Sputnik's Children, so that might have helped. However not reading the book did not hinder my enjoyment at all. What I did find interesting was the role our previous pandemic played in the book. Mentions of mask, mask etiquette and idiots who did not wear masks and the effects are mentioned, and this is the first book that I have seen this new normal been included in a book.

Science fiction with a lot of thought, and a lot of plot. As I stated there is a lot of ideas, and a lot of work put into this book. Recommended for people who like their science fiction with a lot of weird, and a million interesting ideas, and for people who like strong women characters. Also those familiar with the works of Mark Leyner, just for the outrageous ideas, and Steve Erickson, for the rules of the different worlds and how the whole system works will enjoy this. This is the first book that I have read of the authors, but plan to go back and read the first one. A very fun read.

[Jen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Traveling storytellers offer tales to entertain people throughout the multiverse in Terri Favro’s The Sisters Sputnik.

To read this, and other book reviews, visit my website: http://makinggoodstories.wordpress.com/.

Creator of the comic book series Sputnik Chick: A Girl With No Past, Debbie Biondi used the outlet to document her life in Atomic Mean Time; in Earth Standard Time, Debbie, her apprentice Unicorn Girl, and Cassandra, an AI that makes pop culture references, serve as the Sisters Sputnik, traveling the multiverse telling tales of what had occurred in Earth Standard Time, including everything from the seriousness of the World Wars to the more fun exploits of Hollywood celebrities. As the trio make their way to their next storytelling engagement, they spend the night with one of Debbie’s Earth Standard Time lovers and she gives in to his pleas to tell a story. Over the course of the night, she regales him with the Sisters’ adventures in alternate realities and their attempt to correct the changes that were stirred in to action by an evil book of comic strips, which includes a post-pandemic Toronto with robot-worshipping children, a disco-era filled with synthetic beings bent on sending people to their historic familial “homes”, and a deviated 1950s where Frank Sinatra and the woman meant to be the Queen of England have a fling.

Told using a framing tale narrative method, the adventures in different times and versions of reality are woven together with Debbie as the common thread tying it together in a cohesive whole, allowing for the futuristic and sci-fi as well as the nostalgic and historical, however outdated some of the sentiments conveyed therein by select characters are. A sequel to Sputnik’s Children, it is set up well to be able to be read as a stand alone or as a companion story as it describes pertinent details that provide helpful context while continuing to further Debbie’s entertaining adventures. The inclusion of a pandemic, mask etiquette, and social wariness, as well as the dangerous and prejudicial attitudes that drove much of the action forward in this novel, was eerily relevant to recent events in society while also reflecting history, demonstrating the strange and cyclical nature of time and reality.

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

[Daniel · Rating 4 out of 5]

This review originally published in Looking For a Good Book. Rated 3.5 of 5

Debbie Reynolds Biondi is the creator of a comic book series called Sputnik Chick: A Girl With No Past. Debbie lives in different timelines. The comic book series has been an outlet for Debbie to detail her experiences in Atomic Mean Time. In Earth Standard Time, Debbie travels with her apprentice, Unicorn Girl, and Cassandra - an AI who knows all about pop culture.
There are over 2,000 alternate timelines - each created by the detonation of an atomic bomb in Earth Standard Time - and Debbie and Unicorn Girl and Cassandra travel through them, collectively known as the Sisters Sputnik. Debbie's storytelling skills has her treated with celebrity status throughout the realities and in one particular world, where all books and music have disappeared, Debbie is in bed with an old Earth Standard lover, and he begs her to tell him a story.

This book is ... really unusual; highly unique; a pop-culture jambalaya; a literary paella; psychedelic fiction. Think Harlan Ellison and Thomas Disch meet Ernest Cline and Charlie N. Holmberg and the four of them write a story.

I really liked the characters here and the general concept is fabulous. But at times I found this a little hard to follow ... and I like off-the-wall unusual sci-fi with mind-bending, time-wrenching concepts. The story-within-a-story ... was that really necessary? As a reader, it felt like author Terri Favro had a short story in the Sputnik universe, and to make it a novel, added a little bit around it.

This is, however, one of the books that I think about long after I've read it. A moment will strike and I'll remember something in the book and wonder about it. Because of this, this is likely one of the few books I will read a second time, but I' think I need to re-read Favro's Sputnik's Children again before I do. It's been almost five years since I read and reviewed that book - a pre-cursor to this.

Looking for a good book? The Sisters Sputnik by Terri Favro is a unique, adventurous fantasy, but it might be good to read/re-read Sputnik's Children, by the same author, first.
I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

[Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

In 2019 I first picked up Sputnik’s Children as a Canada Reads longlisted book. With alternate Earth timeline/multiverses, an unreliable (and not super likable) MC, and a thrilling plotline, I devoured it. Sister’s Sputnik is a sequel, but also its own story.

Once again following our reluctantly heroic, occasionally unlikable, unreliable narrator, Debbie Reynolds Biondi, as well as a new character, Unicorn Girl . Together, they travel the 2,052 multiverses as “The Sisters Sputnik” telling stories to eager listeners. In a world referred to as “Cozy Time”, they retell the story of an alternate timeline of a racist, backwards, Toronto filled with AI and their human acolytes, and how, when Debbie stole a print book from the library for research, she unwittingly unleashed a literally viral ideology espoused by the book. The book, which wistfully looks back on the 1950s as the epitome of Western life, transports anybody who comes into contact with it into a timeless shadow universe where the book is reality and people are sent back to *when* they came (that is, the time and place their ancestors first left their home) via a wormhole in a perverse inversion of the Statue of Liberty. And, as the super hero of her own life, it is up to Debbie, assisted by Unicorn Girl, to save the world as she knows it.

Parts of this book are certainly dark. Post-pandemic, with long shadows of nationalism, suspicion of “outsiders”, and discrimination rampant, the book felt a little too realistic at times. Particularly the reflection by Unicorn Girl that society seems to be “moving backwards” through time (read only a day before the Roe V Wade ruling). But the premise and the story is engaging and ultimately hopeful. Full of time-travel and multiverses, the story starts tangled (Sinatra is dating the queen?!) and only by reading on do the assorted threads straighten out and start to match our own recollection of history. Once I got in and immersed fully in the story, I couldn’t put the book down.

[Paul Sutter]

To say THE SISTERS SPUTNIK is a most unusually inventive book may seem an understatement. It is a book unlike many you may ever read in your lifetime. It is packed with so much of everything that at times it seems overwhelming. Terri Favro as the book notes, grew up in a home where her father built his own robots. It gave her an appreciation for science fiction and space exploration, generally a love for the fantastic and far out, which is what you will find in the book from start to finish.
The book features Debbie Reynolds Biondi and her younger apprentice Unicorn Girl. They also travel with Cassandra an AI who knows all about pop culture and what makes it so popular. Debbie is a writer of comic books, who also loves to travel through time and into the vast multiverses out there. There are supposedly 2,052 such worlds where a lot can happen and what may be the norm in one world, is vastly different in the others.
These timelines have been spawned from countless nuclear explosions. They come from Earth Standard Time and head to Atomic Mean Time. Suddenly Debbie finds herself with a former romantic partner she believed long dead. She lets him know about the other world, and how life keeps evolving whether she wants it or not.
There are a lot of references to famous people such as Elvis, Milton Berle, Frank Sinatra, and a woman who Frank was interested in romantically, who grew to be the Queen of England. Debbie finds a comic book with the story of Futureman, that seems to revitalize her comic book passion, and creates more diversions from the worlds around her that are filled with threats of future war and other wild encounters.
The book pivots from world to world, and situation to situation, where while some seem to make little sense, the sheer enormity of the story and the way Favro presents it, is what keeps us turning pages, rather than scratching our heads.
Any book that can blend pop culture past, present and future is definitely not that bad at all.

[Steph VanderMeulen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed Sputnik’s Children, and this successor… what a mind-bender! I mean, there are over 2,000 timelines—not that all of them are visited, so don’t worry. Interestingly I kept trying to anchor myself somewhere and couldn’t, which is actually kind of genius because it is perhaps intentional. The death of some timelines and sometimes involuntary time-jumping the protagonist does causes us too to be somewhat homeless and searching for somewhere to put down roots.

Entertaining, wildly imaginative, and with a cast of characters as diverse as a Star Wars bar crowd, The Sisters Sputnik sweeps us across the multiverse to witness bursts of historical significance, some based on real events in our world (like the horrific and tragic event of the 2018 Toronto van attack). The constraints of life and death and, of course, time are stretched in true comic book fashion. Historical figures, like dating couple Sinatra and Princess Elizabeth before she becomes queen, are humorously reimagined.

I’d love to read the trilogy (a third book is planned) as a series of graphic novels and see it done as a TV show. And these books need a much larger readership! Favro knows what she’s doing when she takes on the complicated task of writing AI, alternative universes, and time travel.

I look forward to book three. The Sisters Sputnik is so visually rich that it felt like a jolt out of another world when I finished the last page, and I want to jump back in.

[Stacy · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Sisters Sputnik are a trio of very different women traveling in time and among 2052 parallel universes, each created by the detonation of an atomic bomb. Debbie, leader of the Sisters Sputnik, finds herself in bed with an old lover who asks her to tell him a story. Over the course of the night, she tells him the saga of what the Sisters Sputnik have been through together.

I did not realize this was a sequel to Favro’s prior book Sputnik’s Children until I had almost finished this book. However, this can easily be read as a standalone novel, as the backstory is filled in. This was such a captivating story; any time I had to put the book down, I couldn’t wait to get back to it to find out what came next. It was definitely a unique story. Shannon McDonough did a nice job with the audiobook narration.

Many thanks to NetGalley for providing me an audio ARC of this book.

[Opal Edgar · Rating 3 out of 5]

An energetic jumble of pop culture references and joyous alternate universe novel populated with colorful characters.
I love our unconventional comic-writing grandma hero and her unicorn-girl side-kick. I think if you like the Umbrella Academy this might talk to you - less gun-happy, but it has a similar unorthodox irreverent feel.
What made me take off stars was the beginning which reads like a voiceover. I don't like that form of telling, no matter how interesting the voice might be, it just doesn't grab my interest enough. But it is a very personal criticism - I think I would have liked more happening at the beginning and having the world explanation and history of the characters sprinkled more lightly throughout the novel. Prepare to be served a dissected, criticized modernity full of humanity and warnings about the future.

[Tina · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Sisters Sputnik was just okay for me. It kinda reminded me of Sleepwalk by Dan Chaon. They’re both speculative fiction set in the not too distant future and feature a character named Flip and a heavy presence of AI. I rated both books 3 stars. I don’t think I’ll be reading this genre again for a while.
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This novel is about a woman, Debbie, who’s a comic book writer and travels through time in an alternate reality. There’s a lot going on and it can get confusing at times. I liked how one of the settings is Toronto. It was fun how celebrities like Frank Sinatra and the Queen of England were characters. I just found this meandering storyline to be too all over the place. The multiverse aspect was pretty well defined but I didn’t care enough for Debbie as a character. My fave parts were all the times they mentioned the little free library!! I love little free libraries!
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Thank you to ECW Press for my gifted review copy and ECW Press Audio via NetGalley for my ALC!

[Pauline · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fans of comic book superheroes, sci-fi adventure, and insightful, intelligent speculative fiction will love Terri Favro’s sequel to Sputnik’s Children. Favro has a phenomenal imagination - I could never guess where the next twist would lead. And she absolutely nails the time periods through vivid, brilliant descriptions. The book is fast-paced and darkly humorous as she takes us on a mind-bending journey through time and a multitude of worlds. It's a thoroughly entertaining, wacky, page-turning extravaganza.

[Allen · Rating 1 out of 5]

I saw this book in the library and picked it up. I got to the end of the intro, and I stopped. There is no coherent plot. It's loaded with social commentary and relies heavily on political correctness to carry the book. The main characters are insufferable because all the conflict in just the intro is them correcting their and other people's language use.

It's a product of modern-age writing while referencing far better works of art in the literary world. No wonder this novel had no summary.

[Seana Zimmer · Rating 2 out of 5]

Every time a nuclear bomb is tested, another parallel universe is formed. The main characters shift between two or three or four of them...it got quite confusing at times. If I just read along and didn't worry about the thread of each plot lone being finished, it was enjoyable enough. It was truly an escape into different worlds.

[Debby · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was not the sci-fi multiverse romp I was expecting; it was a sci-fi multiverse dystopia. Publication of the audio edition is expected June 30. Read my full review here.

#NetGalley #ECWPressAudio #TheSistersSputnik

[Ingrid H · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a fun, fun book! I haven't been bored even once, and you just want to keep reading to find out what happens next!
I haven't read the Sputnik's Children yet, so I'm hoping they're okay to read out of order, because I hope to read the first book in the series as well.

[Cam · Rating 2 out of 5]

Could have been about 33% shorter with some good editing. Multiverse story that just didn’t connect with me. Each iteration just came off as flatly repetitive.

[Mary · Rating 2 out of 5]

Just not my bag... too convoluted, too many characters, trying too hard to be clever.

[Heather Babcock · Rating 5 out of 5]

Imaginative and exciting, The Sisters Sputnik is a tribute to pop culture and the art of storytelling. I loved it!

[Amy · Rating 5 out of 5]

So very weird and confusing at times, but I absolutely love the originality. And I'm always a sucker for a time travel story. Always. The audiobook was really well read/performed.

[Kelsey · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNF at 60%. Starts with a great premise and characters and then continues to break down for the FMC and anyone trying to follow the plot.

[Jen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a hoopla Bonus Borrow that I might not have picked up otherwise. I did enjoy this while reading it, but I'm not sure it will stick with me over time.

[Melanie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really didn't connect with this book. It was more sci-fi than what is normally in my imagination wheelhouse.

How did this book find me? It was a Hoopla recommendation and I liked the title.

[Laura Hill · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thank you to ECW Press Audio and NetGalley for providing an advance copy of this audiobook in exchange for my honest review. The audiobook will be released on June 30th, 2022 (the printed book was released on May 17th)

Broad, sweeping story that spans all 2058(!) worlds in the multiverse (and some time shifts to boot) — starring Sputnik Chick: A Girl With No Past. Debbie Reynolds Biondi is Sputnik Chick — and the comic book artist and storyteller bringing her to life for others. What I loved about this book — and I really did love listening to it — was the way the author brought every one of the various worlds to life with each fully developed (and different) culture resulting from differences in the world’s timeline. Synthetic humanoids, AIs brought to life, mutations, language deterioration, and Cozy World — where pandemics had converted the populace into retiring hermits terrified of human interaction. I’ve been reading science fiction since I was 5 (really) and this book constantly surprised me with both new ideas and many old ideas morphed and molded into unrecognizable emerging customs and habits. There is plenty of action and adventure — which I can find boring — but it was all enveloped in such interesting philosophy, reflection, and world building that I never had to skim.

Highly recommended for those interested in a more human-centric, creative type of science fiction.