Skin Folk: Stories

The SFWA Grand Master’s award-winning collection “combines a richly textured multicultural background with incisive storytelling” (Library Journal).   In Skin Folk, with works ranging from science fiction to Caribbean folklore, passionate love to chilling horror, Nalo Hopkinson is at her award-winning best, spinning tales like “Precious,” in which the narrator spews valuable coins and gems from her mouth whenever she attempts to talk or sing. In “A Habit of Waste,” a self-conscious woman undergoes elective surgery to alter her appearance; days later she’s shocked to see her former body climbing onto a public bus. In “The Glass Bottle Trick,” the young protagonist ignores her intuition regarding her new husband’s superstitions—to horrifying consequences.   Hopkinson’s unique pacing and vibrant dialogue sets a steady beat for stories that illustrate why she received the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer. Entertaining, challenging, and alluring, Skin Folk is not to be missed.  Praise for Nalo Hopkinson and the World Fantasy Award–winning Skin Folk   “Hopkinson’s prose is vivid and immediate.” —The Washington Post Book World   “An important new writer.” —The Dallas Morning News   “Her descriptions of ordinary people finding themselves in extraordinary circumstances ring true, the result of her strong evocation of place and her ear for dialect.” —Publishers Weekly   “A marvelous display of Nalo Hopkinson’s talents, skills and insights into the human conditions of life, especially of the fantastic realities of the Caribbean . . . Everything is possible in her imagination.” —Science Fiction Chronicle

Amazon.com Review

Award-winning author Nalo Hopkinson's first collection is Skin Folk, and its 15 stories are as strong and beautiful as her novels. "The Glass Bottle Trick" retells the Bluebeard legend in a Caribbean setting and rhythms, for a sharp, chilling examination of love, gender, race, and class. In the myth-tinged "Money Tree," a Canadian immigrant's greed sends him back to Jamaica in pursuit of an accursed pirate treasure. In "Slow Cold Chick," a woman must confront the deadly cockatrice that embodies her suppressed desires. In the postapocalyptic science fantasy "Under Glass," events in one world affect those in another, and a child's carelessness may doom them both. The lightest of fantastic imagery touches "Fisherman," a tropically hot tale of sexual awakening, and one of the five original stories in Skin Folk. --Cynthia Ward

From Publishers Weekly

Caribbean folklore informs many of the 15 stories, ranging from fabulist to mainstream, in this literary first short-fiction collection from Nebula and Hugo awards-nominee Hopkinson (Brown Girl in a Ring; Midnight Robber). Notable in the folk-tale vein is "Riding the Red," about Red Riding Hood, now a grandma, and her primal relationship with the wolf. Unlikable protagonists feature in several remarkable stories. In "Greedy Choke Puppy" a bitter woman discards her skin at night and kills children for their life-force. In "Under Glass," set in a postapocalyptic Earth scoured by glass storms, a girl caught outside during a storm realizes what it means to be too hard-hearted. Other stories celebrate life as characters learn to come to terms with what and who they are. In "A Habit of Waste," Cynthia, formerly black but now in a new, white body, brings food to an indigent man, only to discover that he has unexpected resources. "Slow Cold Chick" follows Blaise, the terrified owner of a rapidly growing cockatrice, as she gains the courage to speak her mind. Hopkinson implies that the extraordinary is part of the fabric of day-to-day life. Her descriptions of ordinary people finding themselves in extraordinarily circumstances ring true, the result of her strong evocation of place and her ear for dialect. Some stories meander, but underneath them all is a sure grasp of humanity, good and bad, and the struggle to understand and to communicate. Agent, Don Maass. (Dec. 1)Forecast: Though marketed as science fiction, this collection should hand-sell to fans of multicultural fiction. Born in Jamaica, Hopkinson grew up in Guyana, Trinidad and Canada, her current home.Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

From a brief but compelling reenvisioning of a classic fairy tale ("Riding the Red") to a haunting tale of a young woman remembering who she really is ("And the Lilies Them A-Blow"), this collection of 15 stories, some of them previously published, demonstrates Hopkinson's lyrical prose and unabashed inventiveness. The author of Brown Girl in the Ring and Midnight Robber, she combines a richly textured multicultural background with incisive storytelling. For most libraries. Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Hopkinson has already captured readers with her unique combination of Caribbean folklore, sensual characters, and rhythmic prose. These stories further illustrate her broad range of subjects, from a Web designer who discovers an unusual ability to alter the pixels of real people to a young girl struggling to survive in a postapocalyptic world where the very air and water are suffused with ground glass. Intensity of feeling, whether familial or sexual, is her stock in trade, and each character's conflict is realized with elegant simplicity. There are several spicy scenes, including one hilarious and alarming encounter between two high-tech bodysuits designed to enhance pleasure for their owners but who discover each other instead. This collection could serve as a delightful introduction to her substantial and entertaining novels, though readers already acquainted with the novels should certainly enjoy the stories, too. Roberta JohnsonCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

The Washington Post Book World

“Hopkinson’s prose is vivid and immediate.”

The Dallas Morning News

“An important new writer.”

Publishers Weekly

“Caribbean folklore informs many of the 15 stories, ranging from fabulist to mainstream, in this literary first short-fiction collection from Nebula and Hugo awards-nominee Hopkinson. Her descriptions of ordinary people finding themselves in extraordinary circumstances ring true, the result of her strong evocation of place and her ear for dialect. . . . Though marketed as science fiction, this collection should hand-sell to fans of multicultural fiction.”

Science Fiction Chronicle

“This 15-story collection is a marvelous display of Nalo Hopkinson’s talents, skills and insights into the human conditions of life, especially of the fantastic realities of the Caribbean. She displays the complexities of the seven deadly sins . . . and perhaps those of the seven deadly virtues. Everything is possible in her imagination.”

About the Author

Nalo Hopkinson is a Jamaican-born Canadian whose taproots extend to Trinidad and Guyana. She has published numerous novels and short stories and occasionally edits anthologies. Her writing has received the John W. Campbell Memorial Award, the Locus Award, the World Fantasy Award, the Sunburst Award for Excellence in Canadian Literature of the Fantastic, and the Andre Norton Award. Hopkinson is a professor of creative writing at the University of California, Riverside. She has taught numerous times at both the Clarion Writers’ Workshop and the Clarion West Writers Workshop. Hopkinson’s short story collection Falling in Love With Hominids will appear in 2015.DIV>

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