On the bedside tables of our booksellers

Throughout the month of July, booksellers tell us what their current must-reads are. This week: Mathieu Lauzon-Dicso and Ilya Razykov, co-owners of the bilingual bookstore Saga, specializing in science fiction and imaginary literature, who introduce us to the hope punk.

Laila Maalouf
The Press

Learn, if by luck

” [L’autrice] is a bit like the great queen of hope punk currently in the United States; it is presented as the solution to the ambient gloom in science fiction. the hope punk shows that there are always possible solutions, that we can rebuild and that there is something to tell after the end of the world. There, it is the captain of the vessel who writes her logbook; its crew is super endearing, with completely atypical characters in their diversity. They have an observation mission, so instead of going to colonize, transform other worlds, they are going to observe other planets and it is the crew that is transformed in order to be able to adapt. It’s science fiction on a human scale. »

Learn, if by luck

Becky Chambers (translated by Marie Surgers)

Atalanta

The fiery book

“It’s a slow novel, a bit difficult to start because it’s not clear what’s going on, in the first pages, but it’s like a flower bud opening, then towards the end , we understand the whole story. It takes place on a distant planet, where a plant has destroyed almost everything. There are two peoples who find themselves in a race for resources and procreation — because one of them cannot procreate. There are many layers to the book, but the most important plot is how the two peoples can co-exist. […] It is a quiet and soothing book. »

The fiery book

Andrea Renaud-Simard

VLB

The Annual Migration of Clouds

“We are here in a post-cataclysm future; it is understood to be in Alberta. The urban environment is completely evacuated, there is no longer any society, but pockets of survivors have found refuge in campuses and museums. […] In addition to the environmental cataclysms that have decimated everything, there is a species of parasite that is transmitted from mother to daughter. We are in the three days when, after having received a letter, the main character, a young girl, enters into a process of remorse, of desire, of the need to leave and of the maturity that he will have to acquire in order to leave. But at the same time, there’s a lot of light through it all. »

The Annual Migration of Clouds

Premee Mohamed

ECW Press