Future Feeling

An LGBTQ Reads Most Anticipated Book of the Year
One of The Turnaround’s Most Anticipated Books of the Year
One of The Millions’ Most Anticipated Books of the Year

"Queers reconstructing and shaping their stories, including getting it wrong and needing some guidance, are at the core of this novel . . . The futuristic New York and Los Angeles that form the backdrop for a modern and youthful queer culture make for stimulating immersion." —Booklist

"A trans man armed with the power of self-reflection embarks on a hero’s journey . . . akin to a queer millennial version of The Alchemist, complete with proverbs and personal growth . . . This is a modern allegory with a unique voice—searching, questioning, vulnerable, witty." —Kirkus Reviews

"Who is this Joss Lake who seems to have peered into my mind? I loved this weird fun book and now I want to bite Joss Lake’s hypnotic style or maybe live in this book for a time. Or maybe we already do? If you want to feel better or worse about the time you spend on the internet, take my advice and buy this very book and then go post about it on Instagram. Joss Lake’s Future Feeling is turning everything upside down. I think I might still be buzzed from reading it." —Andrea Lawlor, author of Paul Takes the Form of a Mortal Girl

"A wildly imaginative, subversively futuristic romp through the depths of the trans psyche, Future Feeling's rendering of the forces that converge upon queer lives not only provokes while it entertains, but ultimately leaves us so much more hopeful for the world to come." —Meredith Talusan, author of Fairest: A Memoir

"In this brilliant and breathtakingly inventive debut, Lake captures the nuances, pain, and absurdity of obsession and idolization as we follow this refreshingly original narrator navigating the all-too-relatable process of feeling comfortable in one's own skin and becoming a self. I couldn't put this book down." —Zaina Arafat, author of You Exist Too Much

"Future Feeling marks a delightful contribution to the ultra contemporary sci-fi canon. Like (and unlike) the best of cyberpunk, Lake transforms the alienation and flatness of technoculture into a fully dimensional and absorbing alternate reality complete with sprawling queer resistance movements, t4t flirting/obsessions, and sexy magic plant life. And like the best humor writing, Future Feeling is ridiculously fun and smart, and accomplishes that rare and difficult goal: the conversion of anxiety into laughter. I loved this book. It is about the internet, but it is more fun than the internet!" —Jordy Rosenberg, author of Confessions of the Fox

“Smartly set in a strange, yet familiar American offscape, Lake’s novel weaves a tantric tale that measures the timelessness of trans identities not in well-intentioned DSM diagnoses, civil rights movements, or social media pedantries, but by cherishing the fissures in the rock wall of intersectionality. For as Feeling Future proves, it’s in these misalignments, misunderstandings, and inappropriate joking where we have space to be ourselves.” —Paul Beatty, author of The Sellout

“Set in the near future, Lake’s quirky, chaotic debut follows trans man Penfield Henderson as he wrestles with his self-destructive impulses and stumbles his way toward finding a queer community . . . This coming-of-age journey through the surreality of gender will please readers seeking speculative queer fiction.” —Publishers Weekly

“Future Feeling will fit on your shelf right next to Paul Takes the Form of a Mortal Girl . . . Lake has constructed a wonderful world where trans identity is celebrated and centered, where trans characters are allowed to be messy and complicated and human. It’s, quite honestly, the kind of book I’ve been waiting for for a really long time. I’m so glad it’s finally here.” —Christina Orlando, Tor

“Weird and wondrous, Lake’s eye-popping debut recalls the transgressive gender- and genre-bending of Jeanette Winterson and Samuel R. Delaney but fashions something entirely original.”—Michelle Hart, O, The Oprah Magazine

“I devoured this funny, charming book of trans friendships and sly cultural commentary; a story about what truly matters for those of us lost in the maelstrom of identity and media. Here’s how unable I was to put it down: I accidentally dropped it in the toilet, fished it out, and kept right on reading.” —Torrey Peters, author of Detransition, Baby

“The uneasy future conjured by Joss Lake is really a naked readout on our crumbling present moment. Like every ambitious literary visionary, Lake uses his delirious imagination and potent narrative gifts to sharpen the mirror on how we live and feel now.” —Ben Marcus, author of The Flame Alphabet and Notes from the Fog