The Seep, Chana Porter
The Seep, Chana Porter
List: $28.99 | Sale: $20.29
Club: $14.49

The Seep

Author: Chana Porter

Narrator: Shakina Nayfack

Unabridged: 3 hr 4 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 01/21/2020


Synopsis

“A unique alien invasion story that focuses on the human and the myriad ways we see and don’t see our own world. Mesmerizing.”
—Jeff VanderMeerA blend of searing social commentary and speculative fiction, Chana Porter’s fresh, pointed debut explores a strange new world in the wake of a benign alien invasion.Trina FastHorse Goldberg-Oneka is a fifty-year-old trans woman whose life is irreversibly altered in the wake of a gentle—but nonetheless world-changing—invasion by an alien entity called The Seep. Through The Seep, everything is connected. Capitalism falls, hierarchies and barriers are broken down; if something can be imagined, it is possible. Trina and her wife, Deeba, live blissfully under The Seep’s utopian influence—until Deeba begins to imagine what it might be like to be reborn as a baby, which will give her the chance at an even better life. Using Seeptech to make this dream a reality, Deeba moves on to a new existence, leaving Trina devastated. Heartbroken and deep into an alcoholic binge, Trina follows a lost boy she encounters, embarking on an unexpected quest. In her attempt to save him from The Seep, she will confront not only one of its most avid devotees, but the terrifying void that Deeba has left behind. A strange new elegy of love and loss, The Seep explores grief, alienation, and the ache of moving on.

About Chana Porter

Heralded as “the new Philip K. Dick,” Chana Porter is an author, playwright, teacher, MacDowell fellow, and cofounder of The Octavia Project, a STEM and writing program for girls, trans, and nonbinary youth that uses speculative fiction to envision greater possibilities for our world. She lives in Los Angeles, California, and is also the author of The Seep, a finalist for the Lambda Literary Award. Her newest novel, The Thick and the Lean, was named Best Science Fiction of 2023 by The Times (London).


Reviews

Goodreads review by Racheal on February 18, 2020

I mostly picked this book up because of the gorgeous cover and the Jeff VanderMeer comparison in the blurb, both of which are A+ strategies for getting me interested in reading something.  I'm a total sucker for books that are generally a) strange or surreal in a WTF sort of way, b) have a supernatu......more

Goodreads review by Cece on February 20, 2020

It’s interesting, I wasn’t really loving this book. I read the whole first half feeling somewhat uninterested and unsure of this world. It had more humor and less detailed writing than I expected. And then it had to gnaw at a very fresh wound: my grief. I lost my grandpa only a couple of months ago.......more

Goodreads review by Jessica on May 31, 2019

One of my favorite subgenres is one I call "WTAF?!" It is the kind of book that gives you this response and it isn't a genre with a lot of rules except for the fact that there aren't any rules. The joy of it is not ever knowing what will happen, not quite ever getting oriented. It is also a pretty m......more

Goodreads review by Gerhard on February 11, 2022

Bartleby, the co-op member who had been there the longest, loaned him books, weird books he had never heard of, that spoke of other realities, other times, stranger than this one. Joanna Russ, Samuel Delany, Octavia Butler. It helps having friends on Goodreads with weird reading interests. And when @......more

Goodreads review by Lark on February 11, 2020

This novella is stretched artificially to 202 pages by using a small-book format and near-double spacing, and the story itself feels artificially stretched, as well, like an outline of something that might have been good, with a little more of literally -anything- added to the pages: more event, mor......more


Quotes

“This surreal debut takes on themes of utopia, identity, love, and loss, while readers are pulled into a full experience through Porter’s fluid prose. This unusual story will linger long past the last page.” Library Journal, Starred Review

“[Shakina] Nayfack's gripping performance brings a layer of dimension to this world and the questions our heroine grapples with that will keep listeners riveted.” Booklist, audiobook review

"[Shakina] Nayfack's powerful, sardonic delivery strengthens Porter's narrative, balancing past and present to examine love, societal constructions, the intricacies of utopia, and how past experiences shape identity and selfhood. Nayfack's measured pacing grounds listeners in daily life under the Seep, while her intimate, specific characterizations pull listeners forward during challenging, painful moments." AudioFile Magazine, Earphones Award Winner