Teen Creeps

This week Kelly and Katai read INTERCEPTSby T.J. Payne, the story of a man who gets counterintelligence by way of disembodying people's consciousness who is seemingly surprised to learn there are personal consequences! They talk feeling nothing for the book, wanting some goddamn angst from Joe, really liking one scene (lol), Riley being the entire beating heart of the story and yet a non-entity, and yet overall being willing to read more of this guys' work (lol in a different way).

This week Kelly and Katai read THE SIX DEATHS OF THE SAINT by Alix E. Harrow, a short story from Amazon’s “Into Shadow” series that asks the question, what if your terrible college relationship was in the Dark Ages instead? They talk power structures, Ambrosius!, who knew what and when in terms of religion and colonialism, and more!

This week Kelly and Katai read PROJECT HAIL MARY by Andy Weir, the story of a Swiss cheese brained scientist who wakes up in space and has to save humanity. They talk losing time, perfect casting, the stories we tell ourselves in order to be cowards, alien besties, and more!

This week Kelly and Katai read MAKING SPACE by R.F. Kuang, a short story for Amazon's Time Traveler's Passport series about a woman finding a boy in the woods, bringing him home, and her terrible husband being terrible. They talk A LOT about Goodreads reviewers NOT GETTING IT, the nuance of intersectional apologies, not engaging with material you know you will hate, there being lines in the sand on opinions, and how this story broke their hearts and they loved it.

This week Kelly and Katai read BAT EATER AND OTHER NAMES FOR CORA ZENG by Kylie Lee Baker, a pandemic era tale of a serial killer attacking East Asian women and the insecure, germ obsessed woman who finally stops it. They talk lack of nuance on Cora's mixed ethnic background, tragedy porn, loving the characters, not nailing the mystery genre, and RIP Cuomo.

This week Kelly and Katai read I WHO HAVE NEVER KNOWN MEN by Jaqueline Harpman, a speculative fiction about a woman raised in a cage with 39 other women on a probable alien planet and how she adapts. They talk the Child's endearing oddness, theorize on why the hell they were being imprisoned, speculate why the women get stuck in despair, and throw a little posthumous shade on RBG.