The WORD On Reading January 2025

By Vaughn Frantz Miller

Arkdust by Alex Smith

“I’m going to dance in a field of space locusts and swim with star dolphins. I’m going to the Nebula Zoo, to the Enchanted Goddamn Forest of the Outraged Mermen!”

Welcome to the first world in Alex Smith’s collection of dystopian sci-fi short stories, Arkdust promises to take you across space and time through powerful, punching paragraphs. This book holds stories which will send you to worlds previously unimagined, while other chapters will hold chilling parallels to the U.S.

Published in 2022, Smith seems to explore the question so many Americans have been asking themselves the past few years: could things be any worse? Yes, of course they can. Smith illustrates this answer with a woman brainwashed to forget how she stood against a fascist government, or a household who is forced under the rule of a culture-killing robot. While each story varies in its setting and protagonist, there are two consistencies throughout. 

The first is Smith’s visceral writing, which will leave you gasping for air after only a few short pages. He is an incredible storyteller, with some chapters building a story which falls into place only at the final paragraph. Normally I hate rereading, but Smith holds such a talent for both the build of a story and the writing which takes you through it, that the only thing holding me back from rereading multiple chapters of this book were that I had to first catch my breath. His characters are vividly painted, and the interactions feel natural between them. There are tender, even erotic, moments shared between heroes. Sometimes these are light touches and tones of concern by the butch security guard. Sometimes they are the final moments of passion between two men, long ago lovers, saying farewell to the bodies they have shared together. I could never call myself a connoisseur of erotica, but I have read enough to say that sometimes you can feel the author masturbating through the words, and it is truly off-putting. While you’ll likely pick up that Smith has a thing for bears (he mentions his husband is a bear in the acknowledgments section), the relatively few erotic scenes speckled throughout this book feel genuine to the stories at play, instead of an author who is up at 2 am and using writing to make up for a shoddy internet connection.

Through the reading, the second consistency arises: the determination and grit of these characters to survive and make a better world – with varying results. Reading Arkdust will introduce you to a boy trying to survive the cold home of his grisly father through a small world he creates in his privacy, as well as a young man realizing he is meant to travel the stars and free entire planets.

Arkdust is a short book. In its short content, it will carry you across dozens of worlds and characters. Take your time; it is not only a book worth reading, but worth savoring. Though I’d recommend purchasing it to keep on your bookshelf, Arkdust is also available to check out from the University Heights Public Library.

Another Country by James Baldwin

James Baldwin strips his characters down in his 1968 book Another Country. Set mostly in New York City, Baldwin explores the state of a handful of characters and the lives that brought them to where they are. Although his work Giovanni’s Room is more widely known within our community, I recommend Another Country for a reason which defies the year it was published: after a tumultuous time apart, two men end up together.

“Each was, for the other, the dwelling place that each had despaired of finding.” Another Country contains death, despair, and quietly powerful, tender scenes between men. Two of these men, lovers, close the book for us and reunite after separation and introspection. With profound honesty, Baldwin encompasses the yearning, questioning, and the breathtaking exploration with which many of us are familiar.

“The body does not lie about itself; it cannot lie about the force which drives it.” The book is full of frustration, regret, shame, confusion, determination, and love. There is love that is unreciprocated, love that is lost, and love that remains.

On dreary days, I make tea and take out my copy of this book to enjoy the realism of Baldwin’s characters and writing which flows from stark to poetic. If you’d like to dip your toes before making a commitment of purchase, Another Country is available at various San Diego Public Library locations.