Now, if there is one thing that has touched my sensitive fiber, without a doubt, it has been the discovery of an author of the stature of Anna Starobinets.
Here's her second anthology of short stories "The Icarus Gland" , but the Russian writer made a niche in dystopian literature a few years ago when Nevsky edited her first anthology of short stories "A Difficult Age" (2012), which was followed by the novel "The Living One" (2012). I was completely blind and deaf to this Giant of science fiction literature. I didn't know her completely and when I saw her name between the conferences at the festival I decided to try it. Whoever tries Starobinets doesn't let go, I'm warning you. A warning for good if you want to enjoy good science fiction and disturbing psychological stories that revolutionize everything around you. His style is straightforward, as close as his stories. And at the same time, and this is the great thing about her stories, you're hoping that real life never becomes what she seems to be anticipating. Yes, one could classify her genre of what was called anticipation, by the ability to enter into a not so distant future, although a priori, impossible, as "science fiction thing".
I agree with one of my fellow reviewers, who already had the pleasure of reading Starobinets and writing about "A Difficult Age", in which his strength lies in making the reader see himself and others in situations in his real environment as if he had the power to enter into the stories he invents. It goes beyond breaking the fourth wall, which is said in theater; it is not the fictitious world represented that advances towards the audience, but the other way around, we are the ones who are completely immersed in the story. And because of what is narrated there, believe me, it's very scary.
Icarus' gland is subtitled "The Book of Metamorphoses". Here is the element they have in common, the frame that surrounds the seven stories that make up the anthology. The process of change, the metamorphosis as in Kafka, a reference in the Starobinets narrative. Physical and psychological transformations, insects, supplanting of bodies, transformations that produce in us the environment, like cities, technology. Seven short stories -extension where science fiction is best defended, since it is in the concept where it unfolds its virtues-, about the process of change of a beautiful invoice and a great power of attraction; as the master and his compatriot Nabokov used to say about the fact that the good writer is above all a trickster who possesses the three necessary qualities: magic, narration, and lesson.
The story that gives a title to the anthology develops a society in which, male people, by recommendation of the State, are removed the gland that generates hormones that lead to aggressive behavior, primitive, almost animal. In this way, among other things, infidelities, the violence discharged as a result of this hormonal explosion and other bad practices that would be eradicated and would help to promote a healthy and peaceful lifestyle will be avoided. It seems like perfect society. It seems. From one transformation, others arise, such as the most instinctive and irrational: jealousy, insecurities, feelings of guilt, misinformation on the Internet. Great this story.
In order not to shell the rest of the stories too much, I have to say, and by way of closing, that the level of tension for the reader is very high. There was a moment when I had to stop reading and suddenly close the book because I was reading one of the stories in which, and this is no joke, I had to shout: "God! This is happening!"... you will read it. Science fiction literature, and even more so, literature that delves into the sub-genre of anticipation, tends to leave a bitter aftertaste, like the kiss you get when the person you love enters your house and that, a moment before, you realized that he was not wearing your ring. You want to kiss her, you want more of that literature, but hide something dark that will haunt your consciousness for a long time.