My first read from the Scotiabank Giller Prize 2022 finalists, it was Lesser Known Monsters of the 21st Century that truly piqued my interest in the finalists. Reading the synopsis for the first time, I thought, “this seems like a treasure chest of thought provoking ideas… I wonder what the other books have to offer”. We will get to all those too but let’s begin here.
Lesser Known Monsters of the 21st Century
By Kim Fu | Goodreads
In the twelve unforgettable tales of Lesser Known Monsters of the 21st Century, the strange is made familiar and the familiar strange, such that a girl growing wings on her legs feels like an ordinary rite of passage, while a bug-infested house becomes an impossible, Kafkaesque nightmare. Each story builds a new world all its own: a group of children steal a haunted doll; a runaway bride encounters a sea monster; a vendor sells toy boxes that seemingly control the passage of time; an insomniac is seduced by the Sandman. These visions of modern life wrestle with themes of death and technological consequence, guilt and sexuality, and unmask the contradictions that exist within all of us.
Mesmerizing, electric, and wholly original, Kim Fu’s Lesser Known Monsters of the 21st Century blurs the boundaries of the real and fantastic, offering intricate and surprising insights into human nature.
Content notes include domestic abuse, toxic relationship, death, suicidal thoughts, suicide, violence, child death, death of parent, body horror, sexual content.
Lesser Known Monsters of the 21st Century – Review of the stories
Lesser Known Monsters of the 21st Century is an evocative collection of twelve scifi short stories. Their range is quite versatile, covering a wide array of scenarios. Let’s take a look at what each of them was about and what I took away from them.
Pre-Simulation Consultation XF007867
The very first story in the collection, this one got me hooked! It alludes to a technology where a person can experience a simulation like it’s reality. Before they can go into the simulation, however, they have to meet with the operator. The protagonist in this story wants to see their mother and the operator’s probing questions reveal that she is dead. What follows is the operator’s changing stance on which simulations are allowed and the client’s pushback on the ridiculous things that can be simulated and yet their request to see their dead parent cannot. Through their discussion, I explored the mechanics of funding such an event, the harmfulness of the technology and the little things that operators can do to give the clients the experience they want.
This story alludes to the risks we are willing to take with certain technologies because of the things we want – the moments of joy, the need for more time with someone we love. I thought this was a powerful story to begin the collection!
Liddy, First to Fly
This one is about four young girls in early puberty whose bodies are changing. They are still holding on to their friendship but they know that with time, they will grow apart. This story shows the keen observations that girls make about adult life as well as the way women support each other. I loved when all the moms showed up for Liddy. Her wings are a right of passage and I could see a whole book written about this world.
Time Cubes
This one takes place in a dystopian post-apocalyptic society with small living communities and the people are labelled with titles like ‘Depressive insiders’. The superstar of the story is the technology of Time Cube which controls growth and death. I liked this story for the wonder of the machine. Alice (the depressive insider protagonist of this tale), wants to break free of existence. I really liked the ending as it leaves it open to interpretation for what happened to Alice and how would a Time Cube even work if someone controlled their own dial?
#ClimbingNation
April went to college with Travis who became an Instagram sensation. Sadly, he passed away while coming down a mountain and #ClimbingNation is about his funeral. April looks up the obituary and decides to go. What unfolds in front of her is grief for a life lost too young and the speculations and secrets weighing on the family due to the death. An interesting read.
Sandman
Having watched Sandman on Amazon Prime, I found this story easy to imagine. Kelly is a thirty-something woman who can’t sleep. She meets a guy at her office and follows his sleep hygiene steps. A visit from Sandman helps her sleep but without Sandman, she can’t seem to get any rest. I enjoyed the descriptions in this story, the heaviness of sleep and the challenges in creating a good sleep routine. Loneliness is deeply rooted in this one.
Twenty Hours
Twenty hours is the time it takes to print a new body. I love this story! A man killed his wife and she is printing upstairs. Within a day, she will be alive again, her mind downloaded from the last body. The story goes into the history of the technology and why the couple chose to buy it. The man ponders what it reflects on their relationship and the two of them use the machine to show their love for each other. A dark tale with a loving underlayer.
The Doll
I wasn’t prepared for a haunting in this collection! This is the story of a doll that some kids found. Each of them takes turns spending time with the doll and realises that it is uncanny and passes it on. I have never imagined young kids finding haunted objects but I think this is how they would react. I liked seeing the situation from their point of view and how deeply superstition got rooted in them.
In This Fantasy
This is a collection of fantasies that a woman has. She is a mother to a toddler and there are a few different fantasies that she shares. This is a cool story because it is a collection of stories itself – places that the woman wants to be, the person she projects herself to be in the fantasies.
Scissors
This was the hardest for me to read! The story is about a live performance: a woman, Dee, performs on stage with her lover, El. She is blindfolded and helpless, strapped to a chair. She has unshakable belief in El but there comes a breaking point when all she can do is silently plead to be free from the touches of random strangers. Very hard to read.
June Bugs
This one was very cringy. It has a house infested with bugs and a renter taking care of it by herself in the middle of horrible winter. I shudder every time I think of this one. This is also the longest story in the collection.
The woman rents an old house from an old lady and is left to take care of it. She finds the place infested with bugs and thought they are harmless, the sheer number of them is gross. Going back in time, I learned about the abusive relationship that the woman was in, the boundaries she had to set with her partner and the insecurities that drop her away. I hope it had a satisfying end from her perspective.
Bridezilla
The story is about an accidental bride who happens to be getting married on a boat. The backdrop of a monster in the water kept this story interesting.
Do you remember Candy?
This one is about a changing world and a sadness that envelops people when they realize that in a few more years, no one else will know what they felt. The protagonist is Allie, a web designer, and single mom. She loses her sense of taste. As does everyone else in the world.
Imagine a world where food doesn’t taste like anything. Where food is still needed for nutrition but you cannot taste it for its flavour. Allie starts to create experiences for people to rekindle their memory for a particular food they loved the taste of. Would you go see her?
On the Collection as a Whole
I love speculating on the titles of books and Lesser Known Monsters of the 21st Century takes a look at what advances in technology, loss and grief expose within us. What are the things we would strive for if we could live even when we have died? What would we experience if we could control time? There are stories in this collection that will stay with me forever.
The writing is fantastic and I found Kim to be masterful writing, describing people and emotions with beautiful words. Doesn’t “the hunch of his back, the shape of diminished dreams” paint a picture? If even one of these stories appeals to you, go ahead and give this book a try. Add it to your Goodreads shelf or find a copy at your local library.
I will for sure be reading similar collections in the future. I can already think of one I got from an indie author a couple months back – Mixed Realities: 7 Stories That Will Make You Question the Universe by Naomi Augustine. Check it out on Goodreads.
Wow! Sci-fi is not my usual style but this collection sounds intriguing. Thanks Kriti.
I hope you like this one, Angela! 🙂