As I was reading Love after the End, I was reminded just how colonialist SFF often is as a genre, whether it’s about “conquering new worlds” and literally establishing colonies, or centring Medieval England in fantasy stories, or just holding up white, straight, cis, male protagonists as the heroes. This collection is such a refreshing change of perspective. These stories include a relationship with the land that isn’t common in science fiction stories. They assume a greater responsibility for p...

This was a really fun speculative anthology with a focus on what happens after the end of the world through a queer indigenous lens. Like all collections some of these stories worked better for me than others but over all I really enjoyed the diversity of experiences in this collection and the different angles that were taken with this focus. My favorite story was the last one, Eloise, which had a very fun black mirror energy.

At first I wasn’t really grabbed by the stories in this book, which is the draw of a short story collection. Normally, the first two stories not really being my style would have me putting a collection like this down, but I picked Love After the End up as part of the 2021 Read Harder challenge so I stuck with it. And I’m glad I did! I really enjoyed ANDWÀNIKÀDJIGAN by Gabrielle Castilloux Calderon and STORY FOR A BOTTLE by Darcie Little Badger (I read the ending for BOTTLE twice!)

“They kissed like the world was ending, but really, wasn’t it already over, and perhaps within this kiss lay a new beginning?”Love After The End is a short anthology of nine stories of speculative fiction, all written by two-spirit and indigiqueer writers, edited by Joshua Whitehead. This was a quick read, but also one that was very bold and creative. It was also filled with a lot of heart, as all of the stories are geared towards endings with utopias both big and small for queer Indigenous peop...

Enjoyed the queerness throughout this short story collection as well as the Indigenous representation! Also felt fascinated by the themes of nature and environmental devastation, what constitutes a utopia versus a dystopia, and AI rights. I did find myself lost in several of the stories after the first two, wanting a bit more in-depth exposure to the characters before jumping into some twisty plots. However I would still recommend to those interested in the voices and stories of Indigenous, quee...

this was like Two-Spirit/queer, Indigenous Black Mirror. very cool.

Abacus by Nathan Adler - 4/5History of the New World by Adam Garnet Jones - 4.5/5The Ark of the Turtle's Back by Jaye Simpson - 5/5How to Survive The Apocalypse for Native Girls by Kai Minosh Pyle - 4/5Andwànikàdjigan by Gabriel Castilloux Calderon - 4.5/5Story for a Bottle by Darcie Little Badger - 4.5/5Seed Children by Mari Kurisato - 3.5/5Nameless by Nazbah Tom - 4.5/5Eloise by David A. Robertson - 5/5

While I didn't always understand what was going on, I don't think that it's my place to understand. And like all anthologies, loved some stories and was cold on others. Overall, a brilliant idea and I would love to see more from these authors.

The introduction alone, to this collection, has given me a lot to think on. From questioning what defines an apocalypse (one idea: Native Americans had theirs with colonialism and today is their dystopia), to understanding a bit more about how Native cultures have non-gender roles in their traditions, and what it means to be LGBTQ+ inside Native cultures. There is a lot to learn in these stories.Story #1 - Abacus by Nathan AdlerA cute little love story between an AI and a human.Story #2 - Histor...

An awesome, well-paced anthology collection! Highly recommend for fans of short fiction, speculative fiction with a hopeful edge (think the opposite of Black Mirror) and tons of queer content! Loved this one.

What does it mean to search for romance at a pipeline protest — can we have intimacy during doomsday?Yes, these stories work to decolonize a genre ripe with settler ideals, centering caretakers instead of explorers, reaching toward the utopia of indigiqueer futurisms. But more than that, they focus on the LOVE and JOY of these communities, and that's what makes them so refreshing. Are they perfect? Nah, but did it matter? Nahhhh.Tomorrow will be kinder.

First and foremost: I am so happy that this anthology exists. I love when underrepresented voices get the chance to be heard. The fact that it was one of the best anthologies I've read this year was just the icing on the cake. On to the stories!1. Abacus, by Nathan Adler.This had to be one of the most creative stories I've ever read. I mean, a bio-AI rat who, via his online avatar, falls in love with another boy? So original!Sadly, there were a couple issues that I'm still puzzling through. Firs...

A Post-Apocalyptic exploration of Indigenous Futurism, Love After the End is a visceral emotional gut-punch that is rendered with epic vision and thriving imagination. As with most short story collections (I imagine, this being my first) some stories worked better than others and the writing varied but that was also part of the magic and thrill of this reading experience.Each of these speculative Sci-Fi themed tales has a personality that is distinctly its own and the overall collection is incre...

A great anthology. Story For a Bottle was my fav!

This is the March read for the Indigenous Reading Circle and I'm looking forward to discussion this weekend. Most of the stories share a theme of the destruction of the earth, from climate change or alien intervention, and how characters from indigenous communities are dealing with circumstances. If you are a guardian of the earth, do you stay to the end? What kind of new communities can be formed? What about AI or VR?Most of the time when I read short stories, I expect every word to matter, for...

I liked some stories more than others, but overall this is a beautiful collection. 4.5.

So consistently good, my favorite stories in this anthology were History of the New World by Adam Garnet Jones, about a family preparing to depart Earth for a new world; Andwànikàdjigan by Gabriel Castilloux Calderon, a story about storytelling in a world where it’s forbidden; and Eloise by David A. Robertson which spins a brilliant tale of virtual reality technology and lost love. Solidly speculative but with doubtlessly broader appeal, I highly recommend this collection.

I really really enjoyed this anthology! I was originally drawn to it because I found out that some stories acted as sequels for stories in LOVE: BEYOND BODY, SPACE, AND TIME and I was intrigued. But I actually ended up enjoying LOVE AFTER THE END more. I really loved the concept of exploring apocalypses through the point of view of Indigenous people and I also ended up really loving the execution! As with any anthology, there were some stories that I loved and some that I didn’t, but my favorite...

Such a cool collection of stories. I'm pretty new to speculative fiction so some of the short stories were more challenging than others, but the ones I liked I really liked!! I didn't end up skipping any which I think is a good sign. So much science fiction & fantasy stories are written in a colonialist style (the ideas of 'conquering' land, intruding into others space) so this collection was refreshing. I picked up my copy from my library but will be buying my own!

4.5/5 stars "Kinship is a two-sided coin, Nigig. You always gotta ask yourself, who is being excluded here?"- Migizi.🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈What caught my attention immediately from the tone of Joshua Whitehead's introduction was the intention of this anthology to be nothing other than deliberate, clear, and personal with the representation of indigiqueerness, the exploration of indigenous people's relationship with self, AI, environment, family, beliefs, violence, and experiences.🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈🏳...