Jamaica Ginger and Other Concoctions
by Nalo Hopkinson
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Pub Date Oct 29 2024 | Archive Date Not set
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Description
Caribbean-Canadian author Nalo Hopkinson (Brown Girl in the Ring, Falling in Love with Hominids) is an internationally renowned storyteller. This long-awaited new collection of her deeply imaginative short fiction offers striking journeys to far-flung futures and fantastical landscapes. Hopkinson is at the peak of her powers, moving effortlessly between art, folklore, science, and magic.
[STARRED REVIEW] “A commanding short story collection, Caribbean Canadian Nalo Hopkinson’s Jamaica Ginger and Other Concoctions blends ecological awareness, cultural heritage, and fantastical happenings.
—Foreword
Hailed by the Los Angeles Times as having “an imagination that most of us would kill for,” Nalo Hopkinson and her Afro-Caribbean, Canadian, and American influences shine in truly unique stories that are gorgeously strange, inventively subversive, and vividly beautiful.
In Hopkinson's first collection since 2015, a woman and her cyborg pig eke out a living in a future waterworld; two scientists contemplate the cavernous remains of an alien lifeform; and an artist creates nanotechnology that asserts Blackness where it is least welcome.
A Note From the Publisher
Advance Praise
“Each story in Jamaica Ginger surprises and delights. Nalo Hopkinson repeatedly draws on wild magic to examine human experiences so familiar that the tales feel like they’re shaped from collective memories.”
—Emily Pohl-Weary, author of Not Your Ordinary Wolf Girl and How to Be Found
[STARRED REVIEW] “Obliterating the boundary between science and folk knowledge, this collection of 15 speculative shorts from SFWA Grandmaster Hopkinson (Blackheart Man) rewards and challenges readers in equal measure. In the beautifully multilayered ‘Clap Back,’ an artist uses nanotechnology and bacterial reproduction to reclaim racist memorabilia. The cheerfully gruesome ‘Inselberg,’ follows vacationers on an unexpected island tour, narrated in patois by their guide. In the title story, cowritten with Nisi Shawl, a young woman transcends the path laid out for her in an alternate version of post-emancipation New Orleans. Hopkinson’s singular voice shines throughout these thought-provoking flights of imagination. In centering the historically marginal experiences of Black and queer workers, islanders, mothers, the old and the very young, she articulates the prevalent fears and concerns of those communities, including sea level rise, the distribution of power, and degradations of industry. Complete with contextual notes from the author and a loving foreword from Nisi Shawl, this is a joyous celebration of Hopkinson’s abiding legacy as a titan of both speculative fiction and Caribbean literature.
—Publishers Weekly
“This carefully curated collection is a tapestry of Nalo’s mastery and truly displays what a master of the form can do.”
—John Jennings, New York Times bestselling author and Hugo Award-winning comics creator
[STARRED REVIEW] “A commanding short story collection, Caribbean Canadian Nalo Hopkinson’s Jamaica Ginger and Other Concoctions blends ecological awareness, cultural heritage, and fantastical happenings.... Climate change is a recurring theme: there are diseased, parched landscapes and ravaging floods. Many of the characters are resourceful women of color who are determined to improve their troubled environments; they summon remarkable scientific, technological, and mechanical abilities to heal others and solve problems. Enriched with a marrow of emotion, the short stories of Jamaica Ginger and Other Concoctions move beyond bleak dystopian landscapes into a curious universe marked by damage and possibility.”
—Foreword
“In the engaging Jamaica Ginger and Other Concoctions, the reader takes a journey both through story and the art of writing, as Hopkinson (Blackheart Man, 2024) shares the genesis of each tale in the story's introduction. Most stories reflect the author’s Caribbean heritage and were previously published in various anthologies and magazines, but are collected together here for the first time. ‘Covenant’ provides hope for a world affected by climate change by showing what humanity can build when we work together, while the disturbing ‘Inselberg’ shows what happens when the waters rise unchecked. In ‘Ally,’ a funeral brings together a trans woman and her friend, who might just be haunted by more than bad memories. The creepy ‘Clap Back’ ensures that the story of the African diaspora will be told, across all types of mediums. And the title story, cowritten with Nisi Shawl, mixes steampunk, Pullman porters, and a deadly drink into an adventure-filled romp. This is only scratching the surface of this wildly inventive collection, perfect for fans of Karen Lord, Tobias S. Buckell, and Tananarive Due.”
—Booklist
“A treasure box, a mojo pot of stories to break your heart and mend it too!”
—Andrea Hairston, author of Archangels of Funk
“Sitting with Nalo Hopkinson’s Jamaica Ginger and Other Concoctions is the rapturous experience of a child peering into a kaleidoscope for the first time.”
—Kimberly Bain, writer and critic
“I had encountered some of Nalo Hopkinson’s stories before starting this collection and admired them. So it’s with pleasure I can say this is another varied set with which she shows a talent for making strange and thought-provoking tales with concerns including Western and Caribbean cultures, gender, climate change and adaptation and resilience.”
—Too Many Fantasy Books
“A mélange of stories that spins together roots, dreams, and powerful tales the way only Nalo can. It’s easy to get lost in the verses and images that drip from the page. A must read.”
—Tobias Buckell, author of A Stranger in the Citadel
“Hopkinson throws a bowling ball down the middle of the genre. She strikes and strikes and strikes again.”
—Green Man Review
“A true grandmaster. This collection of marvelous, delicious concoctions is a joy to read.”
—Mondo Ernesto
5/5 stars. “A Caribbean/Canadian author, (who also spent time in Trinidad and Guyana), Nalo offers up stories of beauty and wonder, often with an environmental slant.”
—Chars Horror Corner
“This collection was a treat.”
—Booklover’s Boudoir
“It’s time to celebrate! Nalo Hopkinson, author of Brown Girl in the Ring and The Salt Roads, returns with her first story collection in almost a decade.”
—Book Riot
Praise for Nalo Hopkinson
“A major talent.” —Karen Joy Fowler, author of We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves
“Like Samuel R. Delany and Octavia E. Butler, [Hopkinson] forces us to consider how inequities of race, gender, class and power might be played out in a dystopian future.” —The News Magazine of Black America
“Hopkinson’s stories dazzle” —NPR Books
“Caribbean science fiction? Nalo Hopkinson is staking her claim as one of its most notable authors.” —Caribbean Travel and Life
“Hopkinson’s prose is a distinct pleasure to read: richly sensual, with high-voltage erotic content and gorgeous details.” —SCIFI.com
Praise for the short story collection Falling in Love with Hominids
“A must read for fantasy and short story fans” —Portland Book Review
“Falling In Love With Hominids by Nalo Hopkinson introduced me to speculative fiction with Black queer characters.” —Wear Your Voice
“In this collection of luminous stories, Nalo Hopkinson writes with an observant intensity.” —World Literature Today
“Overflows with originality, beauty, and Hopkinson’s trademark depiction of human decency.” —Women’s Review of Books
Marketing Plan
- Prepublication endorsements and reviews from leading authors, review, and media outlets in the U.S. and Canada, and general publications for literary, fantasy, science fiction, Black, and LGBTQIA+ audiences
- Print and digital advance reader copies to be distributed and available upon request
- Author tour to include book launch events in U.S. and Canada; appearances at the World Science Fiction convention and SF in SF
- Online features to include Instagram tour, reviews, interviews, Reddit AMA, and social media campaign
Available Editions
| EDITION | Paperback |
| ISBN | 9781616964269 |
| PRICE | $15.95 (USD) |
| PAGES | 208 |
Links
Available on NetGalley
Featured Reviews
Anita S, Librarian
Hopkinson is one of my literary idols and has the rare combination of both her short stories being distinctive and amazing, as well as longer forms, including novellas and novels.
When I heard that she was releasing a new collection of short stories called “Jamaica Ginger and Other Concotions,” I leapt for joy, because her short stories are often little universes onto their own.
While I won’t be reviewing each and every individual story, I would like to highlight some of them that spoke to me more than others. These included:
* “Ally” which comes with a helpful note from the author at the start that gives more context particularly as this story features a trans woman protagonist.
* “Broad Dutty Water: A Sunken Story” which I previously read and enjoyed when it first came out
* “Clap Back,” which uses very interesting narrative devices to tell the story.
* The title story, “Jamaica Ginger,” of course, which was something for an anthology celebrating Samuel R. “Chip” Delaney, who was one of Hopkinson’s instructors when she attended Clarion.
* “Repatriation”
* “Propagation”
Peony P, Reviewer
This was wonderful: my first foray into Nalo Hopkinson's body of work but definitely not my last. I really enjoyed taking my time with this collection: each story invited attention and consideration, and I really appreciated the notes from the author on the developing of the stories. I would heartily recommend this to fans of scifi of Ursula le Guin variety: thoughtful, original, really inviting the reader to take the time and explore.
Ernest H, Reviewer
“They,” the people who run the publishing business, keep saying that no one cares about single author short story collections. I disagree. I love them. Guess I’m nobody.
I kinda understand when a degenerate like me does one and it gets ignored, but you’d think the world would stop and take notice when a SFWA grandmaster has one come out. Come on, folks, where’s the social media buzz? The cultural groundswell of excitement? The dancing in the streets?
We’ve still got some time before the release, so let me tell you about Jamaica Ginger and Other Concoctions by Nalo Hopkinson and how wonderful it is.
The fifteen stories—one co-written by Nisi Shawl—were all originally published in the 21st century and are prime examples of what is, and is becoming. And if you haven’t noticed, there’s been a whole lot of becoming going on. None of the usual cornball sci-fi is here. Nalo can’t help but be different, original. This book just had to be diverse.
She’s Caribbean-Canadian, outside of the usual boundaries of traditional English-language science fiction that are centered around New York, and sometimes goes on field expeditions to far-off London. Both the fantastic worlds she imagined and real-world elements she uses are richly textured.
Rising sea levels creates a new world with, among other things, cyborg pigs. An alien life form crossed the line between living and dead. Stereotypes become real in an unexpected way. A cruise ship is hacked into a tool for decolonization. Queer love and relationships abound. No sign of the all-white future I grew up reading about.
She’s hip to what’s happening on the cutting edges of science and technology, but delivers far more than the usual hard-science take on things. The human element is always present. Sometimes things other than human. There is anger, but also optimism.
This volatile mix often steps out of the restrictions of the science fiction genre and becomes other kinds of storytelling. Some of these are more like folklore and fables, the literature you are more likely to overhear being told into a smart phone on public transportation and in performance art than in a book. Genres are just marketing gimmicks–we need to set our imaginations free to soar beyond the temporary, artificial cultural borders.
She is a true grandmaster. This collection of marvelous, delicious concoctions is a joy to read.
Those dopes who don’t like story collections don’t know what they’re missing.
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