January 30, 2023
Hyde (Eleutheria) continues in the vein of her previous dystopian fiction with an inventive speculative collection. In “The Future Is a Click Away,” Hyde considers the trade-offs of online shopping, imagining an algorithm that knows everything about everyone and anticipates people’s needs in advance. “Loving Homes for Lost & Broken Men” explores an alternate universe where husbands are taken in and fostered by caretakers, who reform them so they can have a chance to find “forever houses.” “Democracy in America,” a highlight, explores the consequences of a skin-grafting treatment that promises older people the chance to look young again. In "Colonel Merryweather's Intergalactic Finishing School for Young Ladies of Grace & Good Nature," the rich find solace in space and try to populate other planets after Earth is destroyed by “unchecked industrialization.” Some of the shorter entries, however, feel like filler, with underdeveloped postapocalyptic settings. Sometimes the prose radiates (during a heat wave in “Disruptions,” naked mothers “jiggle and lumber through town”), but elsewhere it lands as didactic (a refrain at the beginning and end of the collection: “We were consumers to the core. We were always doomed.... We are all culpable”). Whenever Hyde commits to her creative ideas, these stories take off. Agent: Erin Harris, Folio Literary Management.
June 10, 2024
From Earth to the farthest reaches of the solar system, Hyde's (Eleutheria) new short story collection ponders how humans cope with climate change, social disruptions, and technology. Here, listeners will find glimpses into an unsettling future. In "Chevalier," a girl's friendships are put to the test when she grows a unicorn horn. In "Colonel Merryweather's Intergalactic Finishing School for Young Ladies of Grace & Good Nature," a young woman tries to evade an arranged marriage with the help of her AI warden. Each story reminds listeners of what can happen if climate change, capitalism, and exploitation continue unchecked. Natalie Naudus, Kristen Sieh, and Kirby Heyborne lead a cast of narrators who present the stories from varying perspectives, helping listeners to know when one story ends and the next begins. The characters range in age and social class and come from a staggering array of locales, making this full-cast narration an excellent choice. VERDICT Fans of speculative fiction, The Twilight Zone, and Black Mirror should enjoy. Although listeners can relish this chilling and timely collection one story at a time, some may find that they can't put this one down.--Elyssa Everling
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