Out There: Into the Queer New Yonder edited by Saundra Mitchell features characters diverse in gender, sexuality, ethnicity, and even species (it is speculative fiction, after all), and tackles topics like racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, and classism. But while there are some real gems in this collection, the quality of the writing is a mixed bag.
The best story in the anthology is “H O M E” by K. Ancrum (The Wicker King). Two teens — a human girl and an intersex alien (he/him) — are trapped in a time loop on what is essentially an interplanetary airport, but with relativistic “time crunches” rather than planes.
As Mira and Tovah grow old together — while remaining physically identical to the day the loop started and surrounded by frozen passengers, including their parents — the story examines questions of connection, perception, humanity, and existence itself. Ancrum deftly uses sci-fi concepts to reveal very human truths, and her wistful prose and the captivating romance will leave readers’ hearts aching.
Another gripping story is “The Rift” by Claire Kann (Let’s Talk About Love), in which Kiara, a Chosen One™️ who saved two worlds and no longer has a place in the one she’s living in — largely due to sexism and racism as a Black teen girl, grants wishes (whether the person deserves it or not) in exchange for mysterious future favors.
The world-building in this story is fantastic. Kann offers a look into Kiara’s character and her parallel realities that is simultaneously satisfying and too brief. It could easily be expanded into a full novel but doesn’t feel incomplete.
Several other stories also compellingly strike this balance. “Renaissance” by Emma K. Ohland (Funeral Girl) is a dreamy tale in which two teen girls fall in love, with the knowledge that one is trapped on a dying Earth while the other is among those rich enough to escape to the stars. Readers will root for these (literally) star-crossed lovers, while Ohland leaves their future open to the imagination.
And in one of the more unsettling stories, “The Undeniable Price of Everything” by Z. Brewer (The Chronicles of Vladimir Tod series), readers are left with more questions than answers but will find satisfaction in pondering the possibilities. Nonbinary teen Pax’s world is very small — the upper floors of a building surrounded by an ominous fog. Several people have descended the stairs never to return, but one day… a stranger appears from the mist and begins to climb.
Other highlights include “Reshadow” by Adam Sass (a boy is trapped in an existentially terrifying escape room with the boy he wants but is afraid to have), “Aesthetically Hungry” by Mato J. Steger (a trans man and the Indigenous street racer he has a crush on, in a cyberpunk future where technology can change your body at will in minutes), and “The Department of Homegoing Affairs” by Kalynn Bayron (a sapphic girl tries to free her grandmother from limbo in a world full of restless spirits).
However, a few of the stories are clunky and unpolished (“Beauty Sleep”, “Fractal Eyes”, “Concerto”) or are heavy-handed with their message (“Nick and Bodhi”, “Crash Landing”), while others feel a bit pointless (in “Present: Tense” all the straight people in the world disappear, but nothing is really done with that concept).
Ultimately, Out There offers a wonderful breadth of representation and genres — sci-fi, dystopian, horror, cyberpunk — and uses futuristic concepts to critique our modern society. But while some of the stories are definitely worth the read, others can be safely skipped.
Out There: Into the Queer New Yonder edited by Saundra Mitchell was released on June 7, 2022, and is available now wherever books are sold.
Into the queer new yonder!
To conclude the trio of anthologies that started with the critically acclaimed All Out and Out Now, Out There features seventeen original short stories set in the future by fantastic queer YA authors.
Explore new and familiar worlds where the human consciousness can be uploaded into a body on Mars…an alien helps a girl decide if she should tell her best friend how she feels…two teens get stuck in a time loop at a space station…people are forced to travel to the past or the future to escape the dying planet…only a nonbinary person can translate the binary code of a machine that predicts the future…everyone in the world vanishes except for two teen girls who are in love.
This essential and beautifully written collection immerses and surprises with each turn of the page.
With original stories from:
Ugochi M. Agoawike
K. Ancrum
Kalynn Bayron
Z Brewer
Mason Deaver
Alechia Dow
Z.R. Ellor
Leah Johnson
Naomi Kanakia
Claire Kann
Alex London
Jim McCarthy
Abdi Nazemian
Emma K. Ohland
Adam Sass
Mato J. Steger
Nita Tyndall
