Notes Towards A Post-2008 Slipstream Reading List
In the comments to this 2008 review of Feeling Very Strange, I’ve been asked for some updated slipstream recommendations. Alas, my reading rate and memory have both declined in the intervening period so I can’t really make any recommendations. I did think it would be interesting to try and build up a reading list though. In collaboration with a secret slipstream accomplish, here are some initial thoughts:
- Rana Dasgupta, Solo (2009)
- Sarah Moss, Cold Earth (2010)
- Helen Oyeymi, Mr Fox (2011)
- Craig Thompson, Habibi (2011)
- Johanna Sinisalo, Birdbrain (2008, translated 2010)
- Ruth Ozeki, A Tale For The Time Being (2013)
- Nina Allan, The Race (2014)
- Deji Bryce Olukotun, Nigerians In Space (2014)
- Hanya Yanagihara, The People In The Trees (2014)
- Tom McCarthy, Satin Island (2015)
I should stress I have not read all of these works and would probably argue against some of them. But I now open the floor for comments.
Everything Is Nice 
Comments? How retro.
You prompted me to go and look at my own review, and I think my sense of what slipstream is remains broadly the same: “In my argument, “slipstream or not” is basically orthogonal to “fantastic or not”; the two properties are independent.” For slipstream I look for stories that feel very specific to the present moment — not in a ripped-from-the-headlines way, but in a tone-and-feeling way. I think of the books listed above, I’d point to Ozeki as the one that is most centrally slipstream to me — there is a fantastic element, but that’s not the point; it is about world-systems, but that’s not really the point either; it’s about the condition of living within world-systems, if anything.
NH
20 October 2015 at 09:25
Have you read the latest Yanagihara? Shame it did make it to the shortlist.
Ray Garraty
25 October 2015 at 10:29
This is a great website with lots of useful and informative posts. Please keep posting more
Don’t forget to visit
win a ride philippines
OKBET
17 March 2023 at 07:51