Chana Porter

"A unique alien invasion story that focuses on the human and the myriad ways we see and don't see our own world. Mesmerizing." --Jeff VanderMeer A blend of searing social commentary and speculative fiction, Chana Porter's fresh, pointed debut explores a strange new world in the wake of a benign alien invasion. Trina FastHorse Goldberg-Oneka is a fifty-year-old trans woman whose life is irreversibly altered in the wake of a gentle--but nonetheless world-changing--invasion by an alien entity called The Seep. Through The Seep, everything is connected. Capitalism falls, hierarchies and barriers are broken down; if something can be imagined, it is possible. Trina and her wife, Deeba, live blissfully under The Seep's utopian influence--until Deeba begins to imagine what it might be like to be reborn as a baby, which will give her the chance at an even better life. Using Seeptech to make this dream a reality, Deeba moves on to a new existence, leaving Trina devastated. Heartbroken and deep into an alcoholic binge, Trina follows a lost boy she encounters, embarking on an unexpected quest. In her attempt to save him from The Seep, she will confront not only one of its most avid devotees, but the terrifying void that Deeba has left behind. A strange new elegy of love and loss, The Seep explores grief, alienation, and the ache of moving on.

The Seep

As usual, I went into this book completely blind and not knowing what it was about, and boy, did it take routes I couldn’t even have conjured up in my imagination. I have so many mixed feelings about this, a majority of which are unfortunately leaning toward the negative.

I thought the plot and setting was super interesting. A post-apocalyptic world where all problems are solved, you can be whatever you want to be from a doctor to a bird at whim, and infinite amount of time to be those things and everything in between. The writing could be really beautiful at times, my favorite line was: “She would still feel sorrow, hurt, anger at that great gaping loss. But she wouldn’t flagellate herself for those feelings. And eventually, eventually, those, too, would pass. She stood up a little straighter. Eventually, Trina would move on.”

I really appreciate what the book was trying to explore, but it could have come across so much better and in a more meaningful way if the author had just paced things out properly and developed the goddamned characters!! At the beginning we get introduced to a group of people right away who aren’t even integral to the story and disappear for a good chunk of it, only for the character that was essential to the story, not only as a whole but also to the main character’s own personal history, to get barely any development or establishment. Really important characters and relationships are never established or properly explored so all the hard hitting moments in the book fall extremely flat. Something huge happens and you’re like “Wait, should I care about this, is this important?” You can tell moments in the story are supposed to hit these emotional beats, but you’re not invested enough to care when it happens.

The plot itself, while interesting and cool, was filled with inconsistencies and details that didn’t make sense. The catalyst for the whole story, the seep, wasn’t even properly explored or explained. The main character embarks on this journey when the book starts to pick up, and it is wrapped up in the most anti-climactic and unsatisfying way possible. I understand that the main point of the story was to explore Trina’s grief and loneliness, and this quest she gives herself was just an excuse to ignore all the bad things in her life, but I still wanted it to mean something in the end, or at least be wrapped up nicely. The pacing was so all over the place, important things start happening one after another in rapid succession before you’re even invested in the characters and the story. It’s like the author leaves you behind.

All in all, I really wanted to like this book. It was such an interesting and cool concept, I really wish it had been written better. It’s so frustrating to think about how much potential this book had to be genuinely touching, but the author just fumbles it. While this book left me with a lot of negative feelings, it was mainly because I really would have loved it if it had just been… better. I did like the closing line at least.

“You are an everyday miracle. Enjoy life. Because even with the promise of forever, nothing lasts.”

bel 

As usual, I went into this book completely blind and not knowing what it was about, and boy, did it take routes I couldn’t even have conjured up in my imagination. I have so many mixed feelings about this, a majority of which are unfortunately leaning toward the negative.

I thought the plot and setting was super interesting. A post-apocalyptic world where all problems are solved, you can be whatever you want to be from a doctor to a bird at whim, and infinite amount of time to be those things and everything in between. The writing could be really beautiful at times, my favorite line was: “She would still feel sorrow, hurt, anger at that great gaping loss. But she wouldn’t flagellate herself for those feelings. And eventually, eventually, those, too, would pass. She stood up a little straighter. Eventually, Trina would move on.”

I really appreciate what the book was trying to explore, but it could have come across so much better and in a more meaningful way if the author had just paced things out properly and developed the goddamned characters!! At the beginning we get introduced to a group of people right away who aren’t even integral to the story and disappear for a good chunk of it, only for the character that was essential to the story, not only as a whole but also to the main character’s own personal history, to get barely any development or establishment. Really important characters and relationships are never established or properly explored so all the hard hitting moments in the book fall extremely flat. Something huge happens and you’re like “Wait, should I care about this, is this important?” You can tell moments in the story are supposed to hit these emotional beats, but you’re not invested enough to care when it happens.

The plot itself, while interesting and cool, was filled with inconsistencies and details that didn’t make sense. The catalyst for the whole story, the seep, wasn’t even properly explored or explained. The main character embarks on this journey when the book starts to pick up, and it is wrapped up in the most anti-climactic and unsatisfying way possible. I understand that the main point of the story was to explore Trina’s grief and loneliness, and this quest she gives herself was just an excuse to ignore all the bad things in her life, but I still wanted it to mean something in the end, or at least be wrapped up nicely. The pacing was so all over the place, important things start happening one after another in rapid succession before you’re even invested in the characters and the story. It’s like the author leaves you behind.

All in all, I really wanted to like this book. It was such an interesting and cool concept, I really wish it had been written better. It’s so frustrating to think about how much potential this book had to be genuinely touching, but the author just fumbles it. While this book left me with a lot of negative feelings, it was mainly because I really would have loved it if it had just been… better. I did like the closing line at least.

“You are an everyday miracle. Enjoy life. Because even with the promise of forever, nothing lasts.”

Nice universe. Think it could be fleshed out a little more, and the short story helps with it, i think there is potential for more stories from that universe 

This book should’ve stayed in the drafts or at least spent more time there.

Nothing in this story felt like it was actually thought about and the premise felt like an excuse for whatever fever dream, heavy-handed metaphor they felt like writing about in that moment. Don't expect any explanation beyond “the aliens” (aka the Seep) for things like a magic wand that can re-attach toes, people getting body modifications like antlers & wings, a talking bear-person, and a grown woman turning into a baby again. Every time you think you might understand the direction of this story, it will change. 

If you like being spoon-fed facebook level politics then you might enjoy this. 

(I don’t want to be a hater but I truly have not disliked a book this much - maybe ever. Idk how you have a premise like this and fumble so bad.)

Alli

This book should’ve stayed in the drafts or at least spent more time there.

Nothing in this story felt like it was actually thought about and the premise felt like an excuse for whatever fever dream, heavy-handed metaphor they felt like writing about in that moment. Don't expect any explanation beyond “the aliens” (aka the Seep) for things like a magic wand that can re-attach toes, people getting body modifications like antlers & wings, a talking bear-person, and a grown woman turning into a baby again. Every time you think you might understand the direction of this story, it will change. 

If you like being spoon-fed facebook level politics then you might enjoy this. 

(I don’t want to be a hater but I truly have not disliked a book this much - maybe ever. Idk how you have a premise like this and fumble so bad.)

Plus never-before-seen short story featuring an expanded ending to the novel... Trina Goldberg-Oneka is a fifty-year-old trans woman whose life is irreversibly altered in the wake of a gentle—but nonetheless world-changing—invasion by an alien entity called The Seep. Through The Seep, everything is connected. Capitalism falls, hierarchies and barriers are broken down; if something can be imagined, it is possible. Trina and her wife, Deeba, live blissfully under The Seep’s utopian influence—until Deeba begins to imagine what it might be like to be reborn as a baby, which will give her the chance at an even better life. Using Seeptech to make this dream a reality, Deeba moves on to a new existence, leaving Trina devastated. Heartbroken and deep into an alcoholic binge, Trina follows a lost boy she encounters, embarking on an unexpected quest. In her attempt to save him from The Seep, she will confront not only one of its most avid devotees, but the terrifying void that Deeba has left behind. A strange new elegy of love and loss, The Seep explores grief, alienation, and the ache of moving on.

Lindy

Not as developed as it should have been, leading to it often reading as a critique of transhumanism first and a novel second and the conclusions being not necessarily supported by the text (for example, (view spoiler)[ the whole thing being transgender is valid while being transracial is not because experiences making the person, but there is no discussion of being transgender experience in the text; it pretty much only comes up to introduce this point. (hide spoiler)]). The experience of reading this book could be recreated by listening to  this song, dropping acid, and scrolling twitter.

I really liked the idea of a peaceful alien invasion and it’s influence on the evolution of individual human beings and mankind alike. However, I feel like the story couldn’t tap its full potential: I couldn’t sympathize with the protagonist, world-building was mostly left to lengthy dialogues between more or less irrelevant characters and the story arch was somehow anti-climactic. This could have probably worked as a play on stage, but as a novel, it didn’t really work for me.

The bonus short story in my edition didn’t change that impression.

Nezumi

I really liked the idea of a peaceful alien invasion and it’s influence on the evolution of individual human beings and mankind alike. However, I feel like the story couldn’t tap its full potential: I couldn’t sympathize with the protagonist, world-building was mostly left to lengthy dialogues between more or less irrelevant characters and the story arch was somehow anti-climactic. This could have probably worked as a play on stage, but as a novel, it didn’t really work for me.

The bonus short story in my edition didn’t change that impression.

A bizarre first contact alien book where the aliens aren’t so much a thing as they are a vibe. It’s like “we are the weirdos mister” but also the weirdos are also us, and also could be baby again if you want to be, or maybe an otter, or your exes face… it’s all in the pamphlet. 

I mean I liked it, everyone will not like it, but I am admittedly a sucker for that weird weird shit. And add queer couples and trans folks and white men acting like d-bags and you got me. I’m invested. 

A quick read. Not especially high stakes. Definitely kind of funny sometimes. Often amusing. 

Apiecalypse Jen

A bizarre first contact alien book where the aliens aren’t so much a thing as they are a vibe. It’s like “we are the weirdos mister” but also the weirdos are also us, and also could be baby again if you want to be, or maybe an otter, or your exes face… it’s all in the pamphlet. 

I mean I liked it, everyone will not like it, but I am admittedly a sucker for that weird weird shit. And add queer couples and trans folks and white men acting like d-bags and you got me. I’m invested. 

A quick read. Not especially high stakes. Definitely kind of funny sometimes. Often amusing. 



Joy Bush

Read for trans read a thon week. 
MC is a 50 yr old trans woman 
Short sci-fi novella

Anyaconda

Not sure what the goal of this novel was. 
On one hand we're exploring a dystopian world where everyone is high on the Seep, a sort of alien psychedelic. On the other hand we're dealing with Trina's loss/anger/grief of losing her wife Deeba. Deeba chose to be set back to a baby and wanted Trina to be her mother (pretty messed up).

This should have been my jam, but it wasn't. It felt confusing, I had about 1000 questions and I didn't enjoy the ending either. Not for me.

Christine Bruce

When the aliens invaded, they offered a new way of life. They ended suffering, they ended negative emotions and made everything imaginable a possibility. Trina is living a beautiful life thanks to The Seep, with a loving wife and a group of good friends. All artists who pushed the boundaries of art. Then Trina's wife decides she wants to be reborn. She wants Trina to raise her and "experience all the ways we can love each other" And none of their friends understand Trina's horror at losing her wife. 
She spirals out of control and is soon told she will lose access to her house- no one owns anything and because she isn't taking care of it, it will be given to a family that can. She has neighbors who help her without asking for anything in return as long as she gets help and moves on. But Trina doesn't want to and soon runs into a runaway boy. In an effort to help him, she starts truly asking questions about what The Seep is offering humanity, and if there can be a compromise between a 'perfect' world and a world without suffering. 
A really amazing inspection on utopia and loss. If we life in a perfect utopian world, with no hardships, what art will be created? How do you grow as an artist, as a person. And why bother learning more? Why do we make art? What purpose does it serve? The Seep doesn't answer that question, it only asks more. What is loss? What is the purpose of it? Why should we have to feel such a terrible pain? If you could get rid of grief, know you never have to feel it ever again- would you? What's the real purpose of any of it? Of the pain we feel, of the happiness others bring you, of the curiosity that is triggered when you see something new- what is the purpose of any of it? If we can establish a utopia, what do we lose? What do we gain? would it be worth it? 
The best utopian scifi I've ever read. Its a TRUE utopia, but there's still questions about the goodness of the world. If the world is perfect, how do we define perfection? If the world is perfect, how to we learn and grow, and why would we?

Isabel Ortiz

I loved the concept of The Seep! I thought it was such a cool exploration of capitalism and societal transformations, especially when it comes to how we choose to move forward in an ever changing world. I could not put it down and I was really enchanted by the world Porter created. The only thing I wish was different is that it felt more like a think piece than a flushed out narrative and I would have loved to explore the themes and ideas brought up in the book through more of a developed story and interaction with more characters. Overall this was a really fun read and one I may come back to in the future!

Olivera Mitić

Casie Blevins

DNF'ed. Interesting premise. Focused on the boring details for the story. I had high hopes and they were dashed.

Diana

I knew this book would be strange, but I still wasn't prepared for how strange. Ultimately, I loved the conversations on social issues this book focused on, but it was definitely on the weird side. I didn't hate it, but it's also not my new fave, either.

The Seep

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