Senaa Ahmad makes a striking literary entrance with her debut collection, The Age of Calamities, published by One at £12.99. This 240-page volume presents nine startling and wonderfully wayward stories that demonstrate a mischievous approach to narrative and history.
Playing Fast and Loose with Historical Figures
Ahmad's collection delights in subverting historical expectations through imaginative leaps. In Not Everything is Ancient History, she creates an unexpected and strangely loving bond between time-travelling American journalist Nellie Bly and Julius Caesar during his campaigns in Gaul. Meanwhile, Our Lady of Resplendent Misfortune presents a remarkable scenario where Joan of Arc takes possession of a woman fleeing from her troubled past.
Standout Subversion in Tudor England
While all of Ahmad's tales demonstrate considerable skill, her subversive talents reach their peak in Let's Play Dead. This particular story features a resolute Anne Boleyn who steadfastly refuses to die despite Henry VIII's determined attempts to eliminate her. The narrative showcases Ahmad's ability to reimagine historical outcomes with both creativity and conviction.
Brian Aldiss: Prescient Science Fiction Visions
Moving to another significant collection, Hello Earth, Are You There? by Brian Aldiss offers readers 320 pages of science fiction mastery from HarperVoyager at £9.99. Born in 1925, Aldiss established himself as an acclaimed writer whose fiction often proved sinisterly prescient, hinting at dystopian futures that feel increasingly relevant today.
His daughter Wendy has curated this collection, selecting 27 of his finest works from the impressive 300 he published during his career. The disconcerting Not For An Age presents a creepy scenario reminiscent of The Truman Show, where hapless Rodney Furnell endlessly repeats his daily routine for an unsettling alien audience.
Perhaps most notably, the eerie Supertoys Last All Summer Long provided the direct inspiration for Steven Spielberg's film A.I. Artificial Intelligence, featuring its unreal boy and his robot teddy companion. Despite the often dystopian themes, an air of hopefulness imbues stories like Softly – As In An Evening Sunrise, where a desolate planet unexpectedly grows 'gorgeous blossom, velvety and slightly ridiculous'.
Juhea Kim's Optimistic Apocalyptic Tales
Juhea Kim's collection A Love Story From The End Of The World, published by The Borough Press at £14.99, presents ten tales that tackle humanity's direst challenges while maintaining a gleam of optimism. Across 224 pages, Kim addresses climate catastrophe, rioting cities, and islands inundated by enormous rubbish spoils.
Characters Seeking Connection Amid Crisis
Kim creates vivid characters who, while fully recognising the planet's escalating plight, continue their search for love and human connection. The opening eco-fable, Biodome, follows an engineer questioning the limitations of an artificial environment and its strictly regulated existence.
The moving title story, A Love Story From The End Of The World, witnesses the emotional reunion of a polar bear cub with its mother, while a scientist contemplates the 'hard, ugly, broken and beautiful world' unfolding before her. Kim's collection ultimately suggests that even in the face of environmental collapse, human resilience and affection persist.
