Janelle Monáe

I was intrigued by [b:The Memory Librarian: And Other Stories of Dirty Computer|58677491|The Memory Librarian And Other Stories of Dirty Computer|Janelle Monáe|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1638463376l/58677491._SY75_.jpg|91732990] as I really like Janelle Monáe's music and the visual storytelling in her videos. It is a collection of stories co-written by Monáe and set in the future world(s) of her music. I'm familiar with only one of the co-writers, [a:Sheree Renée Thomas|3385008|Sheree Renée Thomas|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1443831589p2/3385008.jpg], who edited the groundbreaking black sci-fi collection [b:Dark Matter: A Century of Speculative Fiction from the African Diaspora|510342|Dark Matter A Century of Speculative Fiction from the African Diaspora|Sheree Renée Thomas|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1344265438l/510342._SY75_.jpg|498352].

Each story is pretty substantial, between 40 and 80 pages long. The characters and exact settings vary, although I think all are somewhere in a future USA. Recurring themes include queerness, anti-racism, community-building, memory, privilege, creativity, and utopian dreams. I liked the balance of dystopian and utopian elements. Each tale focuses on spaces of resistance to oppression and the joy and companionship that can be found within them. The emphasis, to my mind, was on world-building over plot, which is understandable given all are playing in the same sandbox (as it were). As good world-building is my favourite component of sci-fi, I found the whole collection involving and original.

The first story, which the book is named after, is full of interesting details but a bit slow to get going. The second contains more picaresque incident and has an important message: don't trust TERFs. The third is the most existentially and psychologically unsettling, verging perhaps on horror. The fourth is my favourite as it is a great combination of weird magical technology, appealing characters, and tight plotting. The final story is a well-chosen, uplifting note to end on as it follows children having an adventure and reads like magical realism. I'm not sure how interconnected the stories would appear to a reader unfamiliar with Monáe's music. Nonetheless, I think any sci-fi reader would appreciate their vividness and sense of joy.… (more)

Five novellas and long short stories explore a dystopia created in the music album "Dirty Computer" (2018). There are some elements that are further explored - such as Pynk - and others that are new. In this dystopia, apparently the U.S. sometime in the future, though the location is never spelled out, there are "clean" and "dirty" people, and the "dirty computers" tend to be Black and queer. The state keeps its power chillingly, altering people's memories with drugs and making them docile and straight, if at all possible. But some resist, and others dream of a better future.

"The Memory Librarian" with Alaya Dawn Johnson
Tells the story of Seshet, who works the people of power in the dystopia where these stories are set. Seshet is a memory librarian who works to keep things going right at New Dawn, making sure that the populations' memories are what they should be. But random things - not memories - start clogging up the system, and she investigates. At the same time, she meets Alethia and starts a romance, questioning if her own memories are suspect and whether she's really done enough good to outweigh the harm.

"Nevermind" with Danny Lore
At the Pynk Hotel, all women and women-aligned are welcome - or are they? Jane and her lover have put down roots here, sometimes quite literally as she puts her hands in the dirt and tries to remember what's been memory wiped by the drug Nevermind. When a trap on the hotel perimeter is found tampered with, enemies from outside are suddenly a threat even while, on the inside, some refuse to accept the trans, non-binary resident, Neer.

"Timebox" with Eve L. Ewing
This one was in a sense the most tame but to me had the most chilling ending. Two women, Raven and Akilah, are dating and get a new apartment together but frays in the relationship soon become apparently, primarily because of class differences where Akilah came from privilege and Raven did not. They discover that their pantry allows them a little extra time, and have very different ideas of how to use it.

"Save Changes" with Yohanca Delgado
Sisters Amber and Larry live with their mother, Diana, who had been part of the Resistance but now after her reconditioning she can't live on her own, doing such things as pickling Twinkies in Windex. When Larry brings Amber to an illegal party, Amber considers using the stone her father gave her that allows her to turn back time - but only once, and then she can pass it on to her oldest child.

"Timebox Altar(ed)" with Sheree Renee Thomas
On their birthday, Bug runs into a ghost town and puts together a sculpture they call an ark with their brother and two friends. Then, Bug disappears for a time. Each of the children have an experience in another time and place, realizing that there is hope for their world, and that each of them have a part to play. A little heavy-handed in its theme, but nice to end on a happier note.

Overall, an intriguing collection.… (more)

I have been a massive fan of Janelle Monae since her first EP. Still my favorite. I love how consistently on point she has been with her whole deal, the story of Jane 57821 that inhabits her first ep, three albums and emotion picture. All so good! I was elated that she decided to write a book of stories from this world she has built. I didn't really know what to expect, but was definitely interested to see what the multi-talented Monae could/would write. I didn't expect a Pulitzer prize winning book here... I don't expect her to do EVERYTHING so well. But I was ultimately impressed! Each of the stories in the book has a different collaborator, which I am okay with. This is Monae saying to people who have the experience of writing books: "help me out" which I can appreciate. Bring in other writers to expand her ideas. I love that the stories have little easter eggs to things mentioned in her songs. The stories are black future, dystopia, sci-fi, speculative. I'm definitely a fan of this type of story to begin with, so I was probably going to read and like this even without already being a fan of Janelle Monae. I always liked that Monae has had so many influences. I think all five stories here are equally strong. I think it stands up to other fiction of this type. I'm glad she wrote this, I'm glad I read it, I'm glad I was aware of her music so long ago! Go, Janelle, go!… (more)

https://fromtheheartofeurope.eu/the-memory-librarian-ed-janelle-monae/

Five stories set in the world of Monáe’s Dirty Computer, about women caught up in the near-future totalitarian state of New Dawn, where those who don’t fit in, especially in terms of gender and sexuality, face memory wiping by the powerful state. It’s rooted in her Hugo finalist album and film from a few years back.

All five stories are billed as being co-written by Monáe and a series of other writers. They all take the fictional society in new and slightly different directions; my favourite was the third, “Timebox”, co-written with Chicago activist Eve L. Ewing, in which two women discover a room in their apartment which sits outside time, and react to it very differently. But these are all good and thought-provoking, and recommended.… (more)