First published 2021
This anthology launches a new city-based speculative fiction series with Los Angeles as its first subject. Editor Denise Hamilton gathered fourteen writers to transform the city's neighborhoods into strange new worlds. The collection features stories about modern changelings, airships floating over suburbs, mysterious figures made of jacaranda trees, and black holes hidden in residential areas. Writers imagine Century City transformed into beachfront property, wealthy enclaves protected by walls, and an alternate Los Angeles where Spanish land grants prevented urban development. Each story anchors itself in a specific neighborhood, using local landmarks and geography as springboards for speculation. The contributors include Aimee Bender, Charles Yu, Francesca Lia Block, Ben H. Winters, and ten other voices who know the city intimately. These tales explore psychic death cults, robot caretakers, and other strange phenomena emerging from a place already defined by Hollywood illusion, extreme wealth gaps, natural disasters, and sprawling diversity.
Genres: science-fiction, fantasy, alternate-history
Vibes: atmospheric, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: alternate-universe, found-family
Setting: Century City, Los Angeles
298 pages · Hardcover · Akashic Books