In a tour-de-force tapestry of science fiction and historical fiction, Andromeda Romano-Lax presents a story set in Japan and Taiwan that spans a century of empire, conquest, progress, and destruction.
Andromeda Romano-Lax is the author of The Spanish Bow, a New York
Times Editors' Choice that has been translated into 11 languages,
The Detour, and Behave, as well as numerous works of nonfiction.
She teaches creative writing and is a co-founder of 49 Writers, a
statewide literary organization. She has lived in Alaska, Taiwan
and Mexico and is currently on Vancouver Island in
British Columbia.
A 2019 Sunburst Award Winner for Excellence in Canadian Literature
of the Fantastic
A Book Riot Best Book of 2018 Praise for Plum Rains "In Plum Rains,
the world that Romano-Lax engineers is a character in itself,
impossibly complex and daunting in its believability."
--The Paris Review
"Plum Rains is a blistering social commentary of what the
not-so-distant future of the world's fastest-ageing society will
look like--told with quiet contemplation and a lot of heart."
--The Straits Times "A masterpiece . . . This brilliant,
character-driven novel examines individual reactions to threats to
survival and autonomy . . . all too relevant to our present-day
world."
--Sunburst Award Committee "In this profoundly inquisitive and
compelling novel, Romano-Lax sets timeless human dilemmas involving
love, racism, misogyny, violence, grief, and dissent against
environmental decimation, the daunting ethical questions raised by
burgeoning AI, and consideration of the very future of
humanity."
--Booklist, Starred Review
"Andromeda Romano-Lax's near-future novel, Plum Rains, gracefully
explores ethical questions around artificial intelligence with
refreshing humanity. Romano-Lax's latest novel is a gift. Through
its beauty and devastation, its speculation and its certainty, it
will force audiences to confront the truest places within
themselves--the spaces where artifice will never suffice."
--Foreword Reviews, Starred Review
"The secrets we keep and the prejudices we navigate rise to the
surface of Andromeda Romano-Lax's lovely, heartrending near-future
novel . . . Dark realities (including human trafficking) loom, but
it's the vulnerable-but-tough and irreplaceable characters who
stick with you."
--Book Riot "[Romano-Lax's] spin on the genre focuses on an elderly
woman and a male android, a dynamic that provides the novel with
its most original and engaging material. The thoughtful depictions
of old age, memory, and trauma are refreshing. This is a
compelling, enjoyable addition to the genre. A well-written,
entertaining novel that both enacts and subverts the tropes of
android fiction."
--Kirkus Reviews "This quietly thoughtful read sits at the
crossroads of literary and speculative fiction and will attract
readers of both genres, especially those interested in exploring
the consequences of present-day policies and the boundaries of
artificial intelligence and human/robotic relationships."
--Library Journal "Romano-Lax proves herself a gifted writer,
creating beautiful imagery . . . A story of human connection and
finding joy after trauma."
--Publishers Weekly "The writing is so subtle, so effortless, that
your heart doesn't break so much as quietly dissolve into
tears."
--Strange Horizons
Praise for Andromeda Romano-Lax "Impressive and richly
atmospheric."
--The New York Times Book Review "Riveting."
--People Magazine
"With great care and skill, Romano-Lax teases out the human
complexities, exploring the differing values, desires and fears of
the various characters while creating [an] atmosphere of chilling
menace and threat."
-Sydney Morning Herald
"Both shocking and thought-provoking; and the intimate struggles of
a woman weighing her value, utility, and satisfaction both within
and outside the home certainly resonate today."
--The Boston Globe
"Scorching . . . By detailing how the study of human behavior
differs from understanding people, and how smart women can miss the
obvious and make mistakes, Romano-Lax sheds a harsh yet deeply
moving light on feminism and psychology, in theory and in
practice."
--Publishers Weekly, Starred Review
Ask a Question About this Product More... |