The Memory Librarian: And Other Stories of Dirty Computer

(Hardback)

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Description

In The Memory Librarian music, fashion, film and futurist icon Janelle Mone returns to the Afrofuturistic world of her critically acclaimed album, Dirty Computer, to explore how different threads of liberation queerness, race, gender plurality, love become tangled in a totalitarian landscape and to discover costs of unravelling them.
Whoever controls our memories controls the future.

Janelle Mone and an incredible array of talented collaborating creators have written a collection of tales comprising the bold vision and powerful themes that have made Mone such a compelling and celebrated storyteller.Dirty Computer introduced a world in which thoughts as a means of self-conception could be controlled or erased by a select few. And whether human, A.I., or other, your life and sentience was dictated by those whod convinced themselves they had the right to decide your fate.

That was until Jane 57821 decided to remember and break free.
Expanding from that mythos, these stories fully explore what its like to live in such a totalitarian existence and what it takes to get out of it. Building off the traditions of speculative writers such as Octavia Butler, Ted Chiang, Becky Chambers, and Nnedi Okoraforand filled with the artistic genius and powerful themes that have made Mone a worldwide icon in the first place The Memory Librarian serves readers tales grounded in the human trials of identity expression, technology, and love, but also reaching through to the worlds of memory and time within, and the stakes and power that exists there.

Reviews

THE MEMORY LIBRARIAN might not be the answer to the social and political upsets of our time, but it is an answer, and a fiercely inspiring one: a deepening of Afrofuturisms potential to weaponize our dreams for a freer, more joyous world.
WIRED

Each story in this collection is a searing but ultimately hopeful glimpse into how marginalized groups can hope and create in a world set against them
BUZZFEED

A reminder for those whove ever been told they dont fit in that theres a world beyond this harsh one
WASHINGTON POST

A poignant commentary on the power of technology, the preservation of queer identity, and the commodification of time
USA TODAY

Blistering, hopeful, and richly written. . . All readers will finish the book craving more
BOOKLIST (starred review)

A moving, triumphant collectionThis is a knockout
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY (starred review)

Highly recommended for readers of conspiracy and thought-control sf or of Afrofuturist works by the likes of Octavia Butler, Nalo Hopkinson, N.K. Jemisin, and Nnedi Okorafor
LIBRARY JOURNAL (starred review)

A celebration of queer and Afrofuturist science fiction saluting creativity in difference
KIRKUS

This one is sure to leave an impression
BUST MAGAZINE

A glorious representation and celebration of a spectrum of sexuality and gender, each written with pure empathy
TOR.COM

A vivid, visceral text with as much of a hook as the album the stories were inspired by
LOCUS

It confirms Mones incredible power of imagination and creativity whatever medium shes working in, and the ability and talent of her co-writers in bringing her vision alive on the page
FANTASY HIVE

Author Bio

Janelle Mone is widely celebrated as an American singer/song writer, actress, producer, and futurist with a globally successful career spanning over a decade. With her highly theatrical and stylized concept albums, she has garnered eight Grammy nominations and has her own label imprint, Wondaland Arts Society. Mone has also earned great success as an actor, starring in critically acclaimed films including Moonlight, Hidden Figures, Harriet, The Glorias, and the 2020 horror film Antebellum. She is also currently in production for the highly anticipated sequel Knives Out 2.