Emergency Skin (Forward)

Wow! What a disappointment. I am a fan of Jemisin\’s books, but this one was just awful. It\’s just a tedious sermon about equality and sustainability, wrapped up in a tendentious story. Even if you mostly agree with the content of the sermon (which I do), it makes an exceedingly dull story.

In Atlas Shrugged, Ayn Rand imagined a world where corporate leaders tire of being dragged down by lesser people, leave society and form their own civilization hidden away from the world. In Rand\’s view, the world sinks into chaos without the leadership, wisdom, and skill of the elite. In Emergency Skin, the elite have left the Earth for a distant planet. The difference being, their departure at a time when Earth is in an irrevocable decline , actually, causes the world to begin healing. In Ayn Rand selfishness is virtue. Individual achievement is praiseworthy. Altruism is weak. Mercy is weak. Helping each other is counterproductive to society. N. K. Jemison, takes the opposite view. Emergency Skin had the main character, a descendant of the elite humans who left, returning to Earth – expecting to find a hostile dead world. The world found, is not dead, but alive with billions of people, fresh water, stable seasons, and no global warming. It seems that without our elite leaders, we learned to cooperate, share, and solve problems. It is a future of hope without greed. No wonder this novella won a Hugo.

N. K. Jemisin is the TROOF! \”Emergency Skin\” is a 33-page science-fiction story apart of Foward, a six-story collection of futuristic and speculative fiction. The stories featured can be read or listened to in under 45-minutes. \”Emergency Skin\” follows a nameless soldier on a secret mission to ancient Earth. Clueless about bygone Earth the soldier relies on A.I. (artificial intelligence) to successfully complete the mission, but can the A.I. be trusted? \”Emergency Skin\” is written in 2nd person. N.K. Jemisin masterfully delivers in this POV. The reader is involuntarily compelled to analyze the text critically. The nameless soldier serves as a blank canvas. It\’s the A.I. who acts as a repository of information. Page by page the layers of confusion crumble, and the broader picture revealed. Topics of sexism, racism, classism, greed, violence, and agism are prioritized. Fiction can be a critical mirror, bull-dozer or aspirational. N. K. Jemisin does all three! Am I surprised? Nope! One last note – I\’m here for the ode to melanin!

This was my first read by N.K. Jemisin and I can now see why so many people love her works. The writing is fantastic and witty, and the source material, while politically influenced, is a fresh take on coming back to an Earth on the brink of utter chaos. One of the better stories in the Forward Collection.

I\’m a huge fan of the writing of N.K. Jemison, So reading this was an absolute must just for that. However the actual content is truly astounding. This riveting tale contains so much truth and a genius means of expressing the issues that face our planet and the values that have been driven into us. We are very privileged to have a great author with such a keen mind and vast understanding of humanity and its power. The story very simply and entertainingly lays out the foibles of now and hope for the future. I recommend this story to anyone.

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