An embittered dog walker obsessed with a social media influencer inadvertently puts a curse on a young man--and must adventure into a mysterious dimension in order to save him--in this wildly inventive, delightfully subversive, genre-nonconforming debut novel about illusion, magic, technology, kinship, and the emergent future.
The year is 20__, and Penfield R. Henderson is in a rut. When he's not walking dogs for cash or responding to booty calls from his B-list celebrity hookup, he's holed up in his dingy Bushwick apartment obsessing over holograms of Aiden Chase, a fellow trans man and influencer documenting his much smoother transition into picture-perfect masculinity on the Gram. After an IRL encounter with Aiden leaves Pen feeling especially resentful, Pen enlists his roommates, the Witch and the Stoner-Hacker, to put their respective talents to use in hexing Aiden. Together, they gain access to Aiden's social media account and post a picture of Pen's aloe plant, Alice, tied to a curse:
Whosoever beholds the aloe will be pushed into the Shadowlands.
When the hex accidentally bypasses Aiden, sending another young trans man named Blithe to the Shadowlands (the dreaded emotional landscape through which every trans person must journey to achieve true self-actualization), the Rhiz (the quasi-benevolent big brother agency overseeing all trans matters) orders Pen and Aiden to team up and retrieve him. The two trace Blithe to a dilapidated motel in California and bring him back to New York, where they try to coax Blithe to stop speaking only in code and awkwardly try to pass on what little trans wisdom they possess. As the trio makes its way in a world that includes pitless avocados and subway cars that change color based on occupants' collective moods but still casts judgment on anyone not perfectly straight, Pen starts to learn that sometimes a family isn't just the people who birthed you.
Magnificently imagined, linguistically dazzling, and riotously fun, Future Feeling presents an alternate future in which advanced technology still can't replace human connection but may give the trans community new ways to care for its own.
About the Author :
Joss Lake is a trans writer and educator based in New York whose work has been supported by Queens Council of the Arts, Women and Performance Studies Collective, the Watermill Center, and Columbia University. He runs a literary sauna series called Trans at Rest. Future Feeling is his debut novel.
Review :
"[A] funny, charming book of trans friendships and sly cultural commentary; a story about what truly matters for those of us lost in the maelstrom of identity and media."
-- "Torrey Peters, author of Detransition, Baby"
"A wonderful world where trans identity is celebrated and centered, where trans characters are allowed to be messy and complicated and human."
-- "Tor"
"An original, trippy caper."
-- "Wired"
"Centers trans characters and friendships in ways that will have you laughing, reflecting and relating...A queer hero's journey that is vivid, imaginative, and immersive."
-- "Ms. Magazine"
"In a voice sporting a perfect balance of brash courage and vulnerability, transgender writer and narrator MW Cartozian Wilson playfully captures the life of a dog walker extraordinaire...Full of snarky satire, colorful fantasy, and biting observations."
-- "AudioFile"
"In this brilliant and breathtakingly inventive debut, Lake captures the nuances, pain, and absurdity of obsession and idolization as we follow this refreshingly original narrator navigating the all-too-relatable process of feeling comfortable in one's own skin and becoming a self."
-- "Zaina Arafat, author of You Exist Too Much"
"Lake's quirky, chaotic debut...[is a] coming-of-age journey through the surreality of gender."
-- "Publishers Weekly"
"The futuristic New York and Los Angeles that form the backdrop for a modern and youthful queer culture make for stimulating immersion."
-- "Booklist"
"This book is fun: hexes, moonlit rituals, a pet plant named Alice the Aloe, and well-placed critiques of gender, capitalism, and the alienating nature of advanced technology all abound."
-- "Paris Review"
"This is a modern allegory with a unique voice--searching, questioning, vulnerable, witty."
-- "Kirkus Reviews"
"Ties together millennial hustle-culture ennui, magic, trans identity, and influencer culture (plus about a dozen other themes)."
-- "Vogue"
"Why can't real life be as vivid and glistering and riotous as it is in Lake's novel?"
-- "Refinery29"
