Book rec time: The Space Between Worlds by Micaiah Johnson.

2022 has been a year of speculative fiction challenging racial and social inequities. There's been some amazing premises from a legion of diverse and talented story tellers. It's been wonderful to see some of these stories making waves on mainstream best-seller lists.

I'll probably post something in the next week or so along the lines of Cat's Books of the Year,  but the year's not over yet. If you're a scifi/spec reader with one more slot on the 2022 dance card,  I'd highly commend The Space Between Worlds to fill it. 

“Micaiah Johnson’s debut is a punk album, presenting a world where even our possibilities are colonized. I loved every twisting minute of it.” (Alex White)

Travel is possible between worlds - but only if your counterpart is dead in the destination world. Suddenly corporate capitalism finds value in the forgotten and marginalised who have slipped through the cracks in more worlds than most - the more the better. Of course,  it's just another way to exploit those that have always been exploited. 

This is not hard scifi by any means - there's a bit of technical hand waving that might annoy some readers. Personally I find that a breath of fresh air compared to 'shows their working' sci-fi authors where for me at least the science can get in the way of the story.

Micaiah demands the reader's trust in what is a thoroughly ambitious multiverse world building exercise with a distinct Mad Max vibe - and delivers on it.  Cara is a compelling (queer!) narrator taking you on a roller-coaster ride that will at once enthrall, confuse, seduce and amaze you.  She is flawed and believable,  and I was rooting for her the whole time.