The Bicyclist’s Guide to the Galaxy: Feminist, Fantastical Tales of Books and Bikes

Blue brings together 10 tales centering bikes, books, and feminism in the escapist 10th installment of the Bikes in Space anthology series (after Bicycles & Broomsticks). Though the tone remains lighthearted throughout, many of these stories deal with intense and timely subject matter, such as Avery Vanderlyle’s “The Princess Book,” in which a book containing the digital essence of a princess must be smuggled out of a library in order for the princess to testify at the Interstellar Council’s biennial meeting to end a resource blockade on her planet. The contrast between tone and subject matter occasionally works to the anthology’s detriment; it’s hard to take death and destruction entirely seriously when they’re accompanied by in-depth descriptions of VR bike riding videos (Lisa Timpf’s “Down Memory Lane”) or presented alongside characters struggling to make sense of divine scriptures contained within “seed braids” (Taru Luojola’s “The Wheels of False Gods”). More successful are such stories as Shelby Schwieterman’s “The Wild Ride,” which is ethereal and otherworldly in its depiction of the faerie riders who steal tween protagonist Carly’s favorite book one midnight. Returning readers will find just what they’re looking for. (Dec.)