Publishers Weekly Spring 2024 Top-10 SF Fantasy and Horror
Electric Lit
What You Should Be Reading This Winter According to Indie Booksellers
Gizmodo 40 New Sci-Fi, Fantasy, and Horror Books Hitting Shelves in March
Esquire Best Sci-Fi Books of 2024 (So Far)
[STARRED REVIEW] DEBUT “A trans woman confronts her past along with the person she might have been in this queer, noir technothriller set in a near-future, dystopian Kansas City. Dora’s ex-girlfriend is dead, and her old commune expects her to return and solve the crime. But it’s not merely a murder, and it’s not a result of any of the standard motives, nor is the perpetrator any of the usual suspects. Instead, Dora finds a scientist operating an illegal cloning facility, trying to create easily programmable, disposable lab rats and super soldiers while also creating additional versions of Dora the way he wants her to be: obedient, worshipful, and unequivocally male. Dora has to literally plumb the depths of her city, her past relationships, and her present psyche in order to eliminate a threat she never imagined. The murder case is the best kind of technothriller, getting deeper into the guts of the tech and the skulls in the corporate skullduggery while putting the reader into the heart and soul of an investigator who can’t stop trying to save the day for everybody else.VERDICT Recommended for SF readers who love a good mystery, can’t resist a queer romance, and adore seeing a corporate conspiracy unraveled and undone.” —Library Journal
“This fast-paced novella blends a pitch-perfect noir voice with all the excitement and grit of an action movie, but at its core, it is ultimately a tale of community, identity, and connection.” —Emma Törzs, author of Ink Blood Sister Scribe
“These Fragile Graces is at once a stylish noir and an exploration of identity, gender, selfhood, control, consent, and intimacy. Wasserstein more than pulls it off.” —Esquire
“With a complex and enjoyably flawed trans protagonist and a portrayal of queer life that goes deeper than casual representation, this marks Wasserstein as a voice to watch out for in LGBTQ science fiction.” —Publishers Weekly
“Within a twisted conspiracy thriller is a compelling slice-of-queer-life, uninterested in simple representation. An irresistible afterword will leave readers eager for more from Wasserstein.This book is perfect for anyone interested in community politics, body politics, the craft of writing, or a page-turning thriller.” —Kirkus
“Wasserstein’s debut novella does not give easy answers, but instead urges us to remember: the moment we lose sight of love—for our communities and for ourselves—is the moment we risk harming everything we hold dear.” —Naseem Jamnia, author of The Bruising of Qilwa
“A work of astonishing heart. It bridges isolation and belonging, hate and forgiveness, riveting tension and emotional nuance, to fearlessly explore the chasm between who we are and who we were expected to be.” —Elly Bangs, author of Unity
“At one level,These Fragile Places, This Fugitive Heart works just fine as an efficient and fast-moving thriller in a gritty urban setting, but just as efficient is the manner in which Wasserstein layers in issues of trans acceptance.” —Locus
“Just like all of Izzy Wasserstein’s work, this story is complex, well-written, heartfelt.” —Natalia Theodoridou, World Fantasy Award winner and Nebula finalist
“From anarchist decision making to the difficulties of self-definition to clone sex, this small book has it all.” —Bogi Takács, editor of Transcendent 2
“With an anarchist’s eye for flipping all the old tropes, Wasserstein makes her propulsive, stylish cyberpunk murder mystery sing on every page.” —Karen Osborne, author of Architects of Memory
“Izzy Wasserstein is a gifted writer, and this is a wonderful debut.” —Josh Rountree, author of The Legend of Charlie Fish
“If you like queer dystopian thrillers, don't miss These Fragile Graces, This Fugitive Heart.” —Reviews that Burn
“Some books feel like they were written as a special treat just for me. This trans, queer techno-noir follows an unlikely detective after she learns her ex-girlfriend was murdered in the radical commune where they met. It asks the kinds of questions that queer SF excels at, like ‘what are the ethical considerations of fucking a clone?’ and ‘what happens when our well-earned paranoia butts up against collective liberatory praxes?’” —Nino Cipri, author of Dead Girls Don’t Dream
“This is a murder mystery, yes; but mostly it is a story about how we can live together and love one another without using force or doing violence to those we love in the name of creating a better world. —Interzone
“This book is incredible . . . I love seeing trans people writing trans stories. It has a drastically different feel. I feel safer. I fall for the characters so much harder.” —MI Book Reviews
“I was gripped from start to finish.” —Book Lover’s Boudoir
“Through succinct writing, Izzy Wasserstein beautifully explores what a clone of a trans woman may be like, the choices they could make, the people they could become, and in an extreme citation, how they might come to be, and a relationship that may spark between them.” —Armed with a Book
Praise for Izzy Wasserstein
“I want to listen to Izzy Wasserstein tell stories all day and all night.” —Annalee Newitz, author of The Terraformers
“Across every genre and tone, Izzy Wasserstein imbues her stories with a unique power.” —Elly Bangs, author of Unity
“Izzy Wasserstein’s stories wrestle with ideas of home, grief, and apocalyptic violence with a stunning urgency and clarity of vision.” —Nino Cipri, author of Finna and Defekt
“Wasserstein writes brilliantly about loss, revolution, change, and community.” —R. B. Lemberg, author of The Four Profound Weaves
★ 01/26/2024
DEBUT A trans woman confronts her past along with the person she might have been in this queer, noir technothriller set in a near-future, dystopian Kansas City. Dora's ex-girlfriend is dead, and her old commune expects her to return and solve the crime. But it's not merely a murder, and it's not a result of any of the standard motives, nor is the perpetrator any of the usual suspects. Instead, Dora finds a scientist operating an illegal cloning facility, trying to create easily programmable, disposable lab rats and super soldiers while also creating additional versions of Dora the way he wants her to be: obedient, worshipful, and unequivocally male. Dora has to literally plumb the depths of her city, her past relationships, and her present psyche in order to eliminate a threat she never imagined. The murder case is the best kind of technothriller, getting deeper into the guts of the tech and the skulls in the corporate skullduggery while putting the reader into the heart and soul of an investigator who can't stop trying to save the day for everybody else. VERDICT Recommended for SF readers who love a good mystery, can't resist a queer romance, and adore seeing a corporate conspiracy unraveled and undone.—Marlene Harris
2024-01-20
In this gritty thriller set in a future Kansas City, a trans woman named Dora investigates the death of her ex-girlfriend Kay.
The book begins as an effective murder mystery, with Dora—a security specialist and unofficial detective—suspecting Kay was killed by someone in the tightknit commune Dora had been part of years ago. But it turns into much more as her investigation progresses and visions of the past resurface. To find out what happened to Kay, Dora must regain the trust of community members she left behind following a furious disagreement over her proposed security measures, which conflicted with the community’s guiding principles of anarchic self-determination. Before Dora can get a handle on anything, a new drug circulates in the community, more people go missing, a feud between major corporations threatens the commune, and she is confronted with a most unexpected assailant—Theo, a clone of her pre-transition self. Classic genre tropes, including an impulsive, damaged detective and noir-style dialogue, are expanded through a trans protagonist and the complex relationship she develops with her pre-transition clone—a most delightful surprise of a character. Dora’s rogue independence and search for answers are problematized by Theo’s existence and strong will to live. Within a twisted conspiracy thriller is a compelling slice of queer life, uninterested in simple representation. An irresistible afterword will leave readers eager for more from Wasserstein. This book is perfect for anyone interested in community politics, body politics, the craft of writing, or a page-turning thriller.
A noir that explores crime, security, gender, and selfhood.
