Sunspot Jungle, Volume 2

July 27, 2020
Campbell capably continues Rosarium’s celebration of contemporary speculative fiction, bringing together 53 stories that span genres and continents. Several standouts reimagine history, as in P. Djèlí Clark’s clever, compassionate “The Mouser of Peter the Great;” Indrapramit Das’s “The Little Begum,” which transforms the Taj Mahal into a steampunk machine; and Emmi Itäranta’s Sherlock Holmesian “The Bearer of the Bone Harp,” translated from the Finnish by Sarianna Silvonen. Others offer speculative looks at contemporary social issues: immigration in Sabrina Vourvoulias’s magical realist “Sin Embargo,” corporate greed in Walter Dinjos’s afrofuturist “The Soulless,” and ethical consumption in Walidah Imarisha’s tongue-in-cheek “Portrait of a Young Zombie in Crisis.” And superstars Rebecca Roanhorse and Ken Liu analyze the intersection of identity and technology in “Welcome to Your Authentic Indian Experience™,” and “Simulacrum,” respectively. Among the less successful are Nick Harkaway’s trite “Attenuation,” Lavie Tidhar’s jargon-heavy “The Memcordist,” and Nisi Shawl’s cryptic “Slippernet.” Still, the wide variety of stories on offer makes this anthology ideal for any SFF fan hoping to diversify their reading. Agent: Jennifer Udden, New Leaf Literary.