An Unexpected Party (ed by Seth Malacari, Fremantle)

The queer experience is immensely diverse, too vast and evolving as a space to be summed up by any one representation, but An Unexpected Party—an anthology of queer speculative short stories—aims to capture a good portion of it. Editor Seth Malacari writes in their introduction, ‘[t]here are two versions of the queer experience in mainstream media: rainbows and pride parades, or violence and death’, however, they argue that ‘[t]he queer experience is every minute of every day for us’. In this array of short stories for readers aged 14+, queer trauma is told through fantastical imaginings, informing but not central to the narrative. From augmented reality to aliens, time travel, ghosts and fairy tales, the stories speak to the constant queer yearning for a world where we belong. These stories evoke this frustration with the restraints of reality, pursuing escapism and desire realised through fantasy: the desire to change one’s form, gender, time or place. The limitations of short stories generate a creativity and space for experimentation that hooks the reader in a way that longer-form writing can struggle to do. A woman living in a haunted house literally flirts with death; a sci-fi action romp explores gender dysphoria through the character’s disgust in their own corporeal form; a body turns to water as a metaphor for gender confusion and trauma. While a couple of stories are reminiscent of Dry by Jarrod and Neal Shusterman, and Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir, this anthology is truly unique. An Unexpected Party is unapologetically for queers, by queers, with an earnestness and relatability that will capture the hearts of queer teens and adults dreaming of a different world.

Books+Publishing reviewer: George Banach-Salas is a queer, non-binary teacher, writer and former bookseller living in Tāmaki Makaurau, Aotearoa. Books+Publishing is Australia’s number-one source of pre-publication book reviews.

Category: Friday Unlocked reviews Reviews