COSMOGRAMMA

A grab bag of speculative stories by British author Newland that stress themes of freedom, oppression, and obligation.

These 15 deeply imagined (if sometimes knotty) stories generally turn on humanity at risk of being undermined, either by technology or its own worst instincts. The title story is rich with imagery of children who can produce colors when they sing, until the story's ending suggests how that talent is ripe for dystopian exploitation. In “Percipi,” the makers of humanoids that are “more human than humankind” hubristically lose their grip on their creation, prompting both a civil war and ethical debate over who counts as a homo sapien. In “Seed,” the Earth is overwhelmed by giant plants, stoking violent responses that backfire. In the strongest stories, Newland wrestles at length with the moral consequences of these predicaments. “Nommo” centers on a couple on a relaxed island vacation who are summoned to help save a failing mutant underwater species, if they’re not too self-interested for the task. (“We do not make decrees or threats,” they’re told. “We are not human.”) And in “The Sankofa Principle,” a spaceship goes through a time warp that sends it to Earth in 1794, opening the question of what its crew can do to eliminate slavery. Newland’s writing is in league with a host of SF subgenres, from pulpy space opera to N.K. Jemisin–style Afrofuturism to Jeff VanderMeer–esque eco-fiction. But his chief skill is weaving those tropes into stories that are both wildly speculative and on the news, as in the Brexit allegory “The Difference Between Me and You” or the harrowing “Control,” which shows the grim endgame of anti-immigrant law enforcement policies.

Wide-ranging and deeply imaginative; Newland is equally at home in council flats and deep space.