Synopses & Reviews
An immersive, rich collection from an author whose work reaches across time and continents to explore unexpected and untold stories.
In Reconstruction, award-winning writer and musician Johnson delineates the lives of those trodden underfoot by the powerful, and how they rise up. Meet the humans who serve a coterie of vampires in Hawai’i, explore the taxonomy of anger with Black Union soldiers and the woman who travels with them during the American Civil War. Consider what you would give up for a better life in a place that you have never been. Johnson maps the people in these and other, stranger landscapes.
Review
“Johnson is one of the few writers in the genre who handles high emotion without preciousness, and she brings an almost unbearable pathos to many of these stories.” Simon Ings, The Times of London
Review
“Beginning with the stunning, Nebula-award-winning vampire story ‘A Guide to the Fruits of Hawai’i,’ (I’m currently rereading this story and am again astounded by its depth and perfection) the collection carries a theme of characters navigating their humanity in inhumane conditions.” Lyndsie Manusos, Book Riot, 10 Speculative Short Story Collections to Enjoy in 2021
Review
“Vivid, imaginative, and often brutal prose.” Jake Casella Brookins, Chicago Review of Books
About the Author
Alaya Dawn Johnson (@alayadj) is the author of seven novels for adults and young adults. Her most recent novel for adults is Trouble the Saints. Her young adult novel The Summer Prince was longlisted for the National Book Award and Love Is the Drug won the Norton Award. Her short stories have appeared in many magazines and anthologies, including Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy. She lives in Mexico City where she received a master’s degree with honors in Mesoamerican Studies at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, for her thesis on pre-Columbian fermented food and its role in the religious-agricultural calendar.
Rhianna Walton on PowellsBooks.Blog
A lot of people dislike short stories, but it’s Short Story Month and time to reevaluate how you feel about the form. For one thing, short stories are the perfect length for waiting in line, reading before bed, or taking a bath; if you struggle with attention span, short stories are generous in their brevity...
Read More»