Gaby Wood

The book references the novel 'The Future Eve' (1886) by Auguste Villiers de l'Isle-Adam. A quote from Future Eve goes: "If our gods and our hopes are now all scientific, then is there any reason why our love should not be scientific as well?" This quote appears on the screen in the beginning of the cyberpunk anime film 'Ghost in the Shell: Innocence.'

This is a necessary book if you want to understand the connections between cyberpunk, gothic fiction, and the production of modern automata. This is where I first learned of the concept of 'the uncanny.'

It is an awesome book simply because of how it connects all these various things. Also the book's cover with the mechanical hand all opened-up is very apt.… (mehr)

It takes a while to get into this book of short (quite short) stories by Latin American writers. Their subject matter varies widely--from slice of life to horror to science fiction. Some suffer from being excerpts of novels. But each one takes us to a world a bit different, not just in form, but in outlook from our own (unless perhaps you are Latin American....) After a while, the clarity of the writing (and/or the excellent translations) begins to build up a bit of a spell that you just sink into and enjoy. Perhaps with a bit of alarm.… (mehr)

This book is a great introduction to a variety of Latin American authors. The only problem I had with it was, they were not all fully completed short stories. Several were simply a handful of pages taken from a finished novel. I understand the purpose, but it is hard to invest time into something that is not published in its entirety. On the other hand, the completed short stories provided me with a list of several LA writers I look forward to exploring in the future. Kudos for the effort and wonderful writing!… (mehr)

For the most part, I enjoyed this anthology of work by some of Latin America's young (under forty) fiction writers. All but a couple of the authors were new to me. As with any such grouping, some of the stories and excerpts from novels were more to my liking than others. And I have to admit, there were a few I really just skimmed through. But there were also several that made me want to read more by those authors -- and for that I'm very grateful. Very rewarding introduction to some really intriguing voices.… (mehr)