Monday, February 18, 2019

Six of Victor LaValle's favorite recent books

Victor LaValle is the author of the short story collection Slapboxing with Jesus, four novels, The Ecstatic, Big Machine, The Devil in Silver, and The Changeling and two novellas, Lucretia and the Kroons and The Ballad of Black Tom. He is also the creator and writer of a comic book Victor LaValle's DESTROYER.

LaValle is co-editor of A People's Future of the United States: Speculative Fiction from 25 Extraordinary Writers.

At The Week magazine he recommended six favorite recent books, including:
An Unkindness of Ghosts by Rivers Solomon (2016).

The closest to a true work of science fiction on this list, Solomon's novel tells the story of the HSS Matilda, a spaceship that carries humanity's survivors through the stars following the destruction of Earth. Within the ship's walls, people are divided into masters and slaves. Aster is a sharecropper who wishes to escape, but to do so she must foment rebellion. It's one hell of a debut novel.
Read about another entry on the list.

An Unkindness of Ghosts is among Joel Cunningham's top 11 sci-fi & fantasy books or series with a powerful message of social justice.

--Marshal Zeringue