Review: The Future is Blue

The Future is Blue by Catherynne M. Valente
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

For me, reading Cat Valente's work has always been a wonderous submersion into language, one in which she allows you to revel in lush, excited prose and then socks you a punch with some point she wished to make that is poignant or powerful and, while not unexpected, she always catches you slightly off-guard. This is a collection of short stories largely dedicated to that experience. A gathering of some of her recent shorter work packaged in a stunning hardcover with a beautiful cover illustration by Galen Dara and paper of a quality that you are drawn to touch. This is the first collection of Cat Valente's short work in about five years if I have my dates right. I previously bought another volume of her collected stories from SubPress, The Bread We Eat in Dreams and love that book still.

I have not read all of the stories in this collection as of yet. A few have been published previously on Cat's blog. The short story that gives this book its title, The Future is Blue is a searing story of a post-apocalyptic future in which oceans have overtaken land and the central character Tetley struggles to survive in Garbagetown. Down and Out in R'lyeh is set in a Lovecraftian world unlike any you've seen (trust me on this one) and, as an aside, slyly takes a slap at racism with the author's characteristic humor, ("A goatsnake, a Yith, and a Ghast walk into a bar. Stop me if you've heard this one.") while a dead and dreaming Cthulhu is 0ff-center stage during all the action. The rumor is that humans (gasp) are afoot. The Limitless Perspective of Master Peek, or, The Luminescence of Debauchery gives us a central character who makes wonderous glass eyes but in secret makes a paired eye that allows him to see the lives of his clients. The Beasts Who fought for Fairyland Until the Very End and Further Still is a short story that Cat wrote right after the 2016 election. It was, and remains, a cathartic metaphor for resistance. The Long Goodnight of Violet Wild is a longer story that is a synesthetic death adventure.

Three stories in this collection have never been printed before. Major Tom, Two and Two is Seven, and the novelette Flame, Pearl, Mother, Autumn, Virgin, Sword, Kiss, Blood, Heart, and Grave can only be found in this volume.

I'm looking forward to wending my way through this collection, savoring it. This is another beautiful volume from Subterranean Press and Cat Valente.

I received a Digital Review Copy of this book from SubPress via NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review. I also received my hardcover copy a full week early. Yay!

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