Defekt

This follow-up to 2020's Finna follows Derek, coworker of Ava and Jules and seemingly the perfect corporate employee at the dimension-spanning LitenVärld furniture store. While incredibly loyal and hardworking, one day Derek wakes up to discover a strange pain in his throat, takes his very first sick day, and finds his entire life and world turned upside down. Assigned to work the overnight "inventory" shift, Derek discovers that the inventory staff not only have to hunt sentient "defective" furniture, but are also all alternate versions of him (or her, or them). As Derek is torn between his first-ever feelings of connection and belonging to a team and his deep empathy for the "defects," he will end up changing not only the lives of his alternate selves but also the status quo of this ruthlessly capitalist, wormhole-ridden furniture chain. Expanding on the universe of their previous novella, Cipri continues to mix queer characters and anti-capitalist themes with energetic, bouncy prose. Highly recommended for readers looking for sf with queer protagonists, or who are interested in a short but exciting trip through some dimension-defying showrooms.

Cipri returns to the IKEA stand-in LitenVärld (first visited in 2020's Finna) to deliver a delightful middle finger to capitalism and conformity. Otherworldly incursions are a common occurrence at LitenVärld, but as a member of the store's new Special Exempt Employee program, Derek takes the supernatural in stride. He also lives in a shipping container in the parking lot, has no interests outside of LitenVärld, and doesn't understand why people find him unsettling. When he coughs up blood from a new mouth that appears at the base of his throat, he takes his first ever sick day--and the next day, Corporate reassigns him to an overnight shift and tasks him with quelling any sentient furniture that might have popped up through the store's latest wormhole. Then things get weirder: the team Derek's supposed to be working with is entirely composed of alternate versions of himself. As Derek unravels LitenVärld's secrets, he slowly figures out who he is beyond Employee of the Month. Though the story wraps up too quickly, the characters and atmosphere are expertly handled. Fans of Finna and new readers alike will be won over by this empathetic, anti-capitalist romp. Agent: DongWon Song, Howard Morhaim Literary. (Apr.)