Space Story
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- $12.99
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
A quietly powerful graphic novel of hope, separation, and perseverance in the journey to reunite with those you love.
"Set in a near future of apocalyptic threat and space colonization, Fiona Ostby's debut graphic novel, Space Story, is a queer love story full of wistful longing. . . Refreshingly, most characters are women or nonbinary and are matter-of-factly represented as queer. Many particularly touching spreads create parallels: a left-hand panel in red, opposite one in blue, show Leah and Hannah in separate beds, facing each other across an impossible divide. The simple layouts and focus on relationships turn a cosmic dystopia into something universal."
—Shelf Awareness, featured as one of the Best Books of the Week
"This is a story filled with bitter-sweet moments (but with a happy ending), and I am in love with it."
—BookRiot
"Economical and poignantly told, Ostby’s debut graphic novel sets a queer family’s separation drama against an apocalyptic backdrop. . . This is a touching love story for hard times."
—Publishers Weekly
Two women fall in love and start a family on a dying Earth.
Only one escapes to space.
Her family is still on the planet.
They won't give up until they find each other again.
From debut author Fiona Ostby, Space Story weaves an interstellar tale of discovering love and finding strength, courage, and hope—even in the darkest moments.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Economical and poignantly told, Ostby's debut graphic novel sets a queer family's separation drama against an apocalyptic backdrop. In yellow-hued flashbacks, Hannah and Leah meet in school and begin a shy romance. Their planet's ailments are unnamed, but earthquake-like "Events" are common and their friends await passports to escape to a space station. The present-day narratives are split in two: Hanna has jetted ahead of her family, and in her blue-toned scenes she adjusts to life in space with only strangers for company, contrasted with Leah's bright red pages, in which she and Hanna's daughter Bird try to engineer a path to space. If there are sociopolitical reasons behind who escapes and who stays, Ostby doesn't explain them, choosing instead to focus on difficult choices and mental endurance. Val, an older butch barber at the station, gives Hannah a packet of seeds and says, "Ya gotta have somethin' to keep you alive when you don't wanna be." Drawn with simple, sure strokes, Ostby's characters sport thick limbs and body hair, bringing warmth and imperfection to the coldness of space. Juxtapositions pack a punch, as when Hannah's tiny blue plant grows across from Leah's red launchpad. This is a touching love story for hard times.
