How to Dispatch a Human: Stories and Suggestions

Allen (A Failure to Communicate) crafts a venturesome but uneven collection of speculative shorts centered on the lives of Black lesbian and queer women and the unexpected danger lurking in the seemingly mundane. Each of these 11 stories presents a strange alternate world and explores subtly disquieting events, though the initial premises are frequently stronger than the execution. “Moji,” one of the standouts, follows a white woman choosing Black features for her new digital avatar, with unexpected consequences. A writer lies to her girlfriend to go get coffee with a beautiful fan who turns out to be an alien predator in “Coffee Date.” In “Coral D. Cat, or How to Dispatch a Human” a spoiled cat plots the murder of its owner’s best friend. The concepts are original and exciting, but Allen doesn’t always stick the landing, with pacing issues and inconsistent, ambiguous endings undermining the stories’ intensity. The ideas are strong enough, however, that readers will be musing on them long after the final page is turned. This is a worthwhile pick for anyone interested in idea-driven speculative fiction. (Mar.)