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A review by fisk42
The Assimilated Cuban's Guide to Quantum Santeria by Carlos Hernandez
5.0
What a wonderful and wholly engrossing collection of stories.
But first let me tell you that I typically do not read short stories. The idea of getting invested in characters and entering into their world for 20-30 pages at a time seems senseless. So much so that originally when I saw Quantum Santeria profiled on io9 I simply skipped past. However after seeing a chance to read it on NetGalley I decided to try it on a lark.
This book offers about a dozen meditations on the blurred lines of science fiction and fantasy, and a glimpse at a world where life and death are similarly blurred. In one story unicorns appear after the LHC opens up black holes to other dimensions. In another, someone's mother appears and disappears several times after her death.
An added bonus to these stories is that they all have a delightful Cuban/Latino flavor. One Hispanic reporter shows up across several of the tales. This lent substance to the world and had me thinking of the tales as a cohesive depiction of another world not too far from ours in the multiverse. This feeling gave a satisfactorily feeling of completeness to the whole ordeal.
But first let me tell you that I typically do not read short stories. The idea of getting invested in characters and entering into their world for 20-30 pages at a time seems senseless. So much so that originally when I saw Quantum Santeria profiled on io9 I simply skipped past. However after seeing a chance to read it on NetGalley I decided to try it on a lark.
This book offers about a dozen meditations on the blurred lines of science fiction and fantasy, and a glimpse at a world where life and death are similarly blurred. In one story unicorns appear after the LHC opens up black holes to other dimensions. In another, someone's mother appears and disappears several times after her death.
An added bonus to these stories is that they all have a delightful Cuban/Latino flavor. One Hispanic reporter shows up across several of the tales. This lent substance to the world and had me thinking of the tales as a cohesive depiction of another world not too far from ours in the multiverse. This feeling gave a satisfactorily feeling of completeness to the whole ordeal.