Synopses & Reviews
Philip K. Dick Award finalist
Praise for Vandana Singh:
“A most promising and original young writer.” Ursula K. Le Guin
“Lovely! What a pleasure this book is…full of warmth, compassion, affection, high comedy and low.” Molly Gloss, author of The Hearts of Horses
“Vandana Singh’s radiant protagonist is a planet unto herself.” Village Voice
“Sweeping starscapes and daring cosmology that make Singh a worthy heir to Cordwainer Smith and Arthur C. Clarke.” Chris Moriarty, Fantasy & Science Fiction
“I’m looking forward to the collection…everything I’ve read has impressed me — the past and future visions in ‘Delhi’, the intensity of ‘Thirst’, the feeling of escape at the end of ‘The Tetrahedron’…” Niall Harrison, Vector (British Science Fiction Association)
“…the first writer of Indian origin to make a serious mark in the SF world…she writes with such a beguiling touch of the strange.” Nilanjana Roy, Business Standard
In her first North American collection, Vandana Singh’s deep humanism interplays with her scientific background in stories that explore and celebrate this world and others and characters who are trying to make sense of the people they meet, what they see, and the challenges they face. An eleventh century poet wakes to find he is as an artificially intelligent companion on a starship. A woman of no account has the ability to look into the past. In "Requiem," a major new novella, a woman goes to Alaska to try and make sense of her aunt’s disappearance.
Singh's stories have been performed on BBC radio, been finalists for the British SF Association award, selected for the Tiptree award honor list, and oft reprinted in Best of the Year anthologies. Her dives deep into the vast strangeness of the universe without and within and with her unblinking clear vision she explores the ways we move through space and time: together, yet always apart.
Review
"The best science fiction requires a protagonist who normalizes the fantastic to tell their story....Ambiguity Machines and Other Stories achieves this and more, with a bold collection of stories about fate, worth, and inner magic." Foreword Reviews
Review
“Singh defies expectation with every exquisite turn of phrase. She gives you strange, powerful visions that move the heart and challenge the mind.” Ken Liu, author of The Grace of Kings and The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories
Review
“Ranging in scale from the smallest life to far-ranging interplanetary adventures, and drawing upon both science and mythology, Vandana Singh’s stories are luminous and compassionate.” Yoon Ha Lee, author of Ninefox Gambit
Synopsis
A book of stories of how uncertainly we move through space and time by ourselves and with others.
About the Author
Vandana Singh was born and raised mostly in New Delhi, India, and currently lives in the United States near Boston, where she teaches physics and writes. Her short stories have appeared in numerous venues and several Best of Year anthologies, including the Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy, and she is a recipient of the Carl Brandon Parallax award. She is the author of the ALA Notable book Younguncle Comes to Town and a previous short story collection, The Woman Who Thought She Was a Planet and Other Stories (Zubaan, Penguin India).
Vandana Singh on PowellsBooks.Blog
Greetings! I am honored and somewhat terrified to be standing in front of you. I am here wearing three hats — although I am a science fiction writer, my identity as a physicist and educator, and my journey toward transdiciplinary scholarship of climate change, are not distinct from each other...
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