Kate’s 2¢: “We Are Satellites” by Sarah Pinsker

“We Are Satellites” by Sarah Pinsker

Kate’s 2¢: There is a plethora of in-depth biographies of authors and reviews of their books, that state the title, author, published date, and genre; as well as,     describing what the book is about, setting, and character(s), so, Kate’s 2¢ merely shares my thoughts about what I read.  I’m just saying…

   In this futuristic story, the new blended family consists of Ma/Val, Mom/Julie, David conceived via sperm donor and Julie, and Sophie adopted with epilepsy. The major controversy is the brain enhancing implants that everyone is getting. Julie and David get the little blue LED light implanted but Val and Sophie don’t want the ”Pilot” implant.

   The family disintegrates as each keeps bigger and bigger secrets from the others. The turning point comes when David, strung out on too many “Quiet” pills, gets his foot stuck on the train track and his foot is amputated. True confessions abound and the family starts to re-connect as a unit and a force for action to be reckoned with.

From her WEB:

Sarah Pinsker  is the author of over fifty works of short fiction, two novels, and one collection. Her work has won three Nebula Awards (Best Novel, A Song For A New Day; Best Novelette, “Our Lady of the Open Road,” Best Novelette, “Two Truths And A Lie”), a Hugo Award, the Philip K Dick Award, and the Theodore Sturgeon Award, and been nominated for numerous Nebula, Hugo, Locus, and World Fantasy Awards. Her fiction has been published in magazines including Asimov’s, Strange Horizons, Fantasy & Science Fiction, and Uncanny and in numerous anthologies and year’s bests. 

   Sarah’s first collection, the Philip K Dick Award winning Sooner or Later Everything Falls Into the Sea: Stories, was published by Small Beer Press in March 2019, and her first novel, A Song For A New Day, was published by Penguin/Random House/Berkley in September 2019. Her latest book is We Are Satellites, published in May 2021. 

   She is also a singer/songwriter with four albums on various independent labels (the third with her rock band, the Stalking Horses). She lives in Baltimore, Maryland and can be found online at sarahpinsker.com and twitter.com/sarahpinsker. 

From NLS/BARD/LOC:

We are satellites DB106191

Pinsker, Sarah Reading time: 12 hours, 37 minutes.

Bernadette Dunne

Science Fiction

When their son, David, asks for a Pilot brain implant to help with school, Val and Julie reluctantly agree. Soon Julie too faces mounting pressure at work to get the ubiquitous technology. As a societal divide grows around the implants, an anti-Pilot movement rises up. Unrated. Commercial audiobook. 2021.

Download We are satellites DB106191