{"product_id":"an-unkindness-of-ghosts-9781617759246","title":"An Unkindness of Ghosts","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eA Best Book of 2017: NPR, The \u003ci\u003eGuardian\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eLibrary Journal\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eBustle\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eBookish\u003c\/i\u003e, Barnes \u0026amp; Noble, Chicago Public Library, \u003ci\u003eBook Scrolling\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eCLMP Firecracker Award Winner\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eA Stonewall Book Award Honor Book\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFinalist for the 2018 Locus Award, John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer, and the Lambda Literary Award.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eNominated for the 2018 Hurston\/Wright Legacy Award for Debut Novel\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"What Solomon achieves with this debut--the sharpness, the depth, the precision--puts me in mind of a syringe full of stars. I want to say about this book, its only imperfection is that it ended. But that might give the wrong impression: that it is a happy book, a book that makes a body feel good. It is not a happy book. I love it like I love food, I love it for what it did to me, I love it for having made me feel stronger and more sure in a nightmare world, but it is not a happy book. It is an antidote to poison. It is inoculation against pervasive, enduring disease. Like a vaccine, it is briefly painful, leaves a lingering soreness, but armors you from the inside out.\"\u003cbr\u003e--\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eNPR\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"In Rivers Solomon's highly imaginative sci-fi novel \u003ci\u003eAn Unkindness of Ghosts, \u003c\/i\u003e eccentric Aster was born into slavery on--and is trying to escape from--a brutally segregated spaceship that for generations has been trying to escort the last humans from a dying planet to a Promised Land. When she discovers clues about the circumstances of her mother's death, she also comes closer to disturbing truths about the ship and its journey.\"\u003cbr\u003e--\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eBuzzFeed\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"What Solomon does brilliantly in this novel is in the creation of a society in which dichotomies loom over certain aspects of the narrative, and are eschewed by others...Hearkening back to the past in visions of the future can hold a number of narrative purposes...The past offers us countless nightmares and cautionary tales; so too, I'm afraid, can the array of possible futures lurking up ahead.\"\u003cbr\u003e--\u003cb\u003eTor.com\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"This book is a clear descendent of Octavia Butler's Black science fiction legacy, but grounded in more explicit queerness and neuroatypicality.\"\u003cbr\u003e--\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eAutoStraddle\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"Ghosts are 'the past refusing to be forgot, ' says a character in this assured science-fiction debut. That's certainly the case aboard the HSS \u003ci\u003eMatilda, \u003c\/i\u003e a massive spacecraft arranged along the cruel racial divides of pre-Civil War America.\"\u003cbr\u003e--\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eToronto Star\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAster has little to offer folks in the way of rebuttal when they call her ogre and freak. She's used to the names; she only wishes there was more truth to them. If she were truly a monster, she'd be powerful enough to tear down the walls around her until nothing remains of her world.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAster lives in the lowdeck slums of the HSS \u003ci\u003eMatilda, \u003c\/i\u003e a space vessel organized much like the antebellum South. For generations, Matilda has ferried the last of humanity to a mythical Promised Land. On its way, the ship's leaders have imposed harsh moral restrictions and deep indignities on dark-skinned sharecroppers like Aster. Embroiled in a grudge with a brutal overseer, Aster learns there may be a way to improve her lot--if she's willing to sow the seeds of civil war.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Akashic Books\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 06\/29\/2020\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN:\u003c\/b\u003e 9781617759246\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 282\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 1.29lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.00h x 6.00w x 0.75d\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Rivers Solomon","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":36662365356188,"sku":"9781617759246","price":33.96,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0473\/0804\/6492\/products\/img_7a980817-6d51-48e5-8bfe-6386c02cebc9.jpg?v=1603901729","url":"https:\/\/pastforward.org\/products\/an-unkindness-of-ghosts-9781617759246","provider":"Past Forward","version":"1.0","type":"link"}