“Uncertain Sons and Other Stories” by Thomas Ha

Uncertain Sons and Other Stories by Thomas Ha is a truly excellent collection of short stories. Creepy and weird in the best kinds of ways, while also having a lot of interesting things to say.

It's a hard book to classify - I'd say it kind of straddles the line between New Weird and Horror. Definitely reminds me of VanderMeer in places, but also veering into darker and bloodier directions in others. It's a short book, only 12 stories, most of which can be started and finished in the time it takes to enjoy a cup of coffee. Not a one of them was less than good.

But what really struck me was just how topical they all were - not to sound pretentious, but I've seldom read a book that so effectively captured the zeitgeist of the times while being explicitly about none of it. Climate change. AI. Disconnect from the real world/being too plugged in. Less specific stuff, like how easy it is to convince yourself that someone else will fix it (whatever "it" is), or it'll fix itself - you just need to keep your head down and take care of you and yours. How tempting it is to just say "fuck it" and look at memes while everything falls apart, because who fucking cares any more.

And yet, bleak as I just made it sound, this book was also somehow heartening. If I had to put my finger on why/how, I’d say it’s because this book emphasizes that no matter how terrible things go, people will still be people for worse and for better - we’ll still care about each other and try to help each other.

All in all this was a weird one, and one I think I’ll be pondering for a good while. I don’t feel like I really even began to address this book, but I also don’t feel like I have anything more to say. Strongly recommended.