{"product_id":"skin-elegies-9781950539352","title":"Skin Elegies","description":"\u003ci\u003eSkin Elegies\u003c\/i\u003e uses the metaphor of mind-upload technologies to explore questions about the relationship of the cellular brain to the bytes-entity to which it gives rise; memory and our connection to the idea of pastness; refugeeism (geographical, somatic, temporal, aesthetic); and where the human might end and something else begin.\u003cp\u003e At the center stands an American couple who have fled their increasingly repressive country, now under the authoritarian rule of the Reformation Government, by transferring to a quantum computer housed in North Africa. The novel's structure mimics a constellation of firing neurons--a sparking collage of many tiny narraticules flickering through the brain of one of the refugees as it is digitized. Those narraticules comprise nine larger stories over the course of the novel: the Fukushima disaster; the day the Internet was turned on; the final hours of the Battle of Berlin; John Lennon's murder; an assisted suicide in Switzerland; the Columbine massacre; a woman killed by a domestic abuser; a Syrian boy making his way to Berlin; and the Challenger disaster.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e With his characteristic brilliance and unrivaled uniqueness, Lance Olsen delivers an innovative, speculative, literary novel in the key of Margaret Atwood, Stanislaw Lem, and J.G. Ballard.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Dzanc Books\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 11\/09\/2021\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN:\u003c\/b\u003e 9781950539352\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.70lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 8.40h x 5.40w x 0.90d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eReview Citations: \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e 09\/06\/2021\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eKirkus Reviews\u003c\/i\u003e 09\/15\/2021\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Lance Olsen","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":41229693386933,"sku":"9781950539352","price":14.41,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0473\/0804\/6492\/products\/img_56e79939-93e5-4386-b67c-e81361831be6.jpg?v=1634042320","url":"https:\/\/pastforward.org\/products\/skin-elegies-9781950539352","provider":"Past Forward","version":"1.0","type":"link"}