Inversion
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- $9.99
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
On a mysterious green planet renewed by fire, vibrant collectivist communities have long lived in harmony with both its strange ecosystem and each other—until the day imperialist forces arrive.
Raised in one of the non-hierarchical nomadic societies on the planet of Germinal, young Char and her family tend to this commons, rich in culture and biodiversity, through principles of reciprocity, ritual, and attention to the balance of their ecosystem. But they must forever travel to stay just ahead of the natural phenomenon that marks their world: a wall of fire that approaches like clockwork, bringing both loss and renewal with it. She is the first to spot the arrival of landing vessels, and soon her way of life is upended by militaristic invaders whose intentions are far beyond her worldview.
Graft is a captive “servitor” and personal attendant to the Conquis, the leader of the vanguard forces in the campaign to seize control of the distant planet. As the last survivor of a culture annihilated by conquest, Graft sees how unprepared Char and her people are to deal with the invasion. When one unsettling discovery leads to another, the newcomers find the nature of this new land troubling and its denizens odd—perhaps even nonhuman. The mission soon turns into something more menacing, and the inhabitants of the violated utopia must learn how to defend themselves or lose everything.
Flowering with possible new ways of life, Inversion is a tale of social struggle set in a completely unique universe, whose unexpected nature will surprise and delight. Aric McBay weaves a tale in the visionary spirit of Ursula Le Guin’s The Dispossessed and Octavia Butler’s Wild Seed.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In the impressive fifth installment of AK Press's Black Dawn series, which aims to "center queerness, Blackness, antifascism, and celebrate voices previously disenfranchised," McBay (Kraken Calling) takes readers to the utopic planet Germinal. There, peacefully coexisting factions share both renewable resources and a worldview centered on kindness. Char of the Ami—one of said factions—is just starting to seek her place in the world when everything changes with an invasion of colonizers from space. The rest of the story centers on the question of whether it's possible for a peaceful people to survive attack without losing some of what makes them so special—or stooping to the level of the invaders. McBray handles this ethical quandary nimbly, forcing readers—who come from a world far more similar to that of the invaders—to confront the extent of their own aggressive tendencies, as the Germinal natives consistently make choices that run contrary to what feels most obvious. The setting is truly alien—for instance, on Germinal, one can walk between seasons, from spring to summer and so on—and though it takes some getting used to, it's a masterful worldbuilding feat. Never heavy-handed or preachy, this thought-provoking work of speculative fiction is sure to linger in readers' minds.
