ephemeral entries

• Introduction by andré m. carrington: Good intro, evocative almost lyrical at points. I appreciated the reference to the history and to other anthologies, the idea of what's different about this one (almost all from last 10 years), and the acadamic-ish tone. But my Nook won't display the middle page of the footnotes.  
• "Herbal" by Nalo Hopkinson: She's not going to get that rental deposit back. For the elephant in the room, I don't know why she wants it back, and it clearly doesn't want her touching it, much less rubbing lotion into it. I'm a little icked by her wanting it back and kind of trying to magic it back or at least create a sympathetic atmosphere by getting another potted plant like the one it ate.  OTOH, this story did remind me to lotion up my hands, which I've done now. I did like that she researched elephants enough to figure out it was an Indian, not African, elephant. 
• "All That Touches the Air" by An Owomoyela: I loved this, it may be my favorite from this book club so far. Colonists interact / try not to interact with the "dominant species" that can take over bodies and may kill original hosts (murky), told from POV of one colonist who is more safety-conscious than others (some think, to an ill degree). Reminds me of 1) Some of Michael W. Lucas's Aidan Redding portal universe stories, re interactions and colonization 2) I was thinking of Adrian Tchaikovsky last night, too, but I feel like it may have been something else than *Alien Clay*.  
• "Bludgeon" by Thaddeus Howze: First contact (human anthropologist), alien invasion/enslavement, baseball saves the day, cultural exchange, rude President Fox gets his comeuppance. 
• "A Guide to the Fruits of Hawai'i" by Alaya Dawn Johnson: Another vampire apocalypse story. Dumb girl lets vampire live, loves her vampire master, helps them harvest from humans, finally decides she doesn't want to be turned, is turned anyway. Like other exploitation stories from previous collection, this story doesn't show why we should care about the protagonist.

Next four: I didn't write these up in time, so see pauraque's entry.

• Sanford and Sun by Dawolu Jabari Anderson
• A Song For You by Jennifer Marie Brisett
• Tender by Sofia Samatar
• The Malady of Need by Kiini Ibura Salaam

• The Venus Effect by Violet Allen: 4th-wall breaking author attempts to write a simple superhero story / space opera where ACAB keeps messing up the story so she tries switching things around multiple times. I've seen this sort of thing before; I think this one is done pretty well with some funny parts and perserverance valiantly trying to balance the tragedy and anger. 
• The Secret Lives of the Nine Negro Teeth of George Washington by Phenderson Djèli Clark: My recollection is that GW did have false teeth from slaves, but like a set of uppers and lowers, not one tooth at a time, but hey, it's a story with some fun variations.  Similar re balance. For anyone wanting to do a little more Washington-hating, I recommend the feminist ~history Vulgar History podcast's episodes about him and his escaped enslaved person: Ona Judge pt. 1 and Ona Judge Pt. 2
• The Hospital Where by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah: Partly a story about writing and being a writer: "I wanted to tell the family that they mattered and weren't just grim decor." Fantasy or insanity?
• The Ones Who Stay and Fight by N. K. Jemison: Without even reading it yet, I know it'll be yet another Omelas take, and yes multi-Hugo-winning Jemison is good, but ...
• The Final Flight of the Unicorn Girl by Alex Smith: Dropped in the middle of a dystopia where a lot of the superheroes joined the fascists and the holdouts (who seem to have been careless with others' lives, so I don't have full sympathy for them) keep getting killed, from the POV of an older man who used to be their team captain, but was retired by the Powers That Be? I liked the energy of this and didn't mind that not everything was explained, but it seemed to just stop at a sad point.  
• Calendar Girls by Justina Ireland: Yay to the feminist resistance and all that, but I didn't believe it. I mean, I believe folks would resist, but it all seemed too easy, and I didn't care about the MC.  
• Shape-Ups at Delilah's by Rion Amilcar Scot: I loved how the haircutter started picking people to date based on the shape of their heads, and I was interested by whatever was causing the Hairpocalypse. I didn't mind how MC kept changing her name, but I didn't think the time jumps added anything to the story, and I didn't care enough try try to map out the chronology.  
• Habibi by Tochi Onyebuchi: Mysterious epistolary exchange between two boys, one in a US prison, one in Gaza. Sad, angering, hope and love. I'm rooting for Quincy and Omar (forlorn hope).  

Last batch:

• Spyder Threads by Craig Laurance Gidney
• The Orb by Tara Campbell
• We Travel the Spaceways by Victor La Valle
• Ruler of the Rear Guard by Maurice Broaddus

• Spyder Threads by Craig Laurance Gidney:  Fashion wars and a transcendental experience. Cool-enough opening ... and ?
• The Orb by Tara Campbell:  Nice Lovecraftian story, except they're creating their own being. Why are people so willing to believe someone else will fix the world.  Magical thinking, in the worst way, but I thought the protagonist was interesting, and the cult mechanics/end, for that matter.
• We Travel the Spaceways by Victor La Valle.  Oh, Victor, I haven't read a story by you I haven't liked. Of course I'm squeamish on the sabotage of the protagonist, but I think I get the ~logic. Anyone who finds the protagonist interesting should try *The Devil in Silver*. 
• Ruler of the Rear Guard by Maurice Broaddus: I read this and couldn't remember it the next day.  Turns out I'd blocked it out: it's about a tourist who's in vociferous denial that she's a tourist and has a lot of entitlement that belonging in her dream world she's traveled to will be easy but sneers at the local guide until she finally grasps a little bit of the mystic and thinks she can get there, "maybe tomorrow".  Bleah.