Travel Documents 125: Real Sugar Is Hard To Find

by Sim Kern

Genre:  sci-fi, fantasy, near-future, social change, cultural change, anthology

The Dust Cover Copy

Real Sugar is Hard to Find is a collection of stories for reluctant witches, sugar smugglers, and soil thieves exploring the intersections of deep-rooted and timely issues such as climate change, reproductive justice, queer identities, and family trauma. Whether fantasy, science fiction, or terrifyingly close-to-home, the worlds of these stories are inhabited by flawed characters whose lives are profoundly impacted by climate change and environmental degradation.

Arranged in a progression from dystopian to utopian worlds, the stories chart a path from climate despair towards resilience and revolutionary optimism. Even in the bleakest of futures, however, Kern offers reasons to hope, connect, and keep fighting for a better world.

Like Kelly Link’s Magic for Beginners or Karen Russell’s Vampires in the Lemon Grove, Kern's stories are unflinching, intimate explorations of trauma and our deepest fears, rendered irresistible through the infusion of fantastic speculative elements and a dark sense of humor.

The Scene

Worldbuilding

Wow. I have to say it once in this review. Just…wow. Talk about world building? In eleven short stories—none more than a handful of pages—this slim volume takes readers through eleven weird, wonderful, gut-wrenching, heart-breaking and truth-telling worlds. Some stories make your soul soar. Some make your blood boil. Every one of them tells you something you need to know. Even the simplest story, the lessons we learn about what is a good home and what is not by watching nature, tells us something profound about love, perseverance, and personal dignity. When to say ‘I can keep going’, and when to say ‘no, you don’t treat me like this. Enough.’

As usual, my rule on anthologies is to touch lightly, focusing on the overall ability instead of diving deep into specific story setups. I’m not going to make you read a treatise, and I’ll write one if I get started. But the world building here is stellar. Some stories warn us about where we’re headed if we don’t think this through, like The Propagator. That one sent shivers all over me and made me grind my teeth. Others show us that even when things suck, there’s the possibility of incredible things, as in The Lost Roads. And in between are all kinds of stories of getting weird, getting hurt, getting better, and just plain getting through. Though there’s a lot of snark, gallows humor and side-eyeing of the status quo on the surface of these tales, through them all runs an incredible thread of—dare I say it—triumph. These tales tell the reader ‘yeah, you know what? It does suck. And maybe it’ll still suck tomorrow. But the day after? Who knows. Maybe it’ll even be good. You ready to work for that?”

Trigger warning: there is a lot in this work that can bring up old pain if you’ve had it rough. The book will give you that warning up front. But heads up: it’s worth the trip.

The Crowd

Characterization

These characters have really stuck with me, so much so that I’ve done a second read of this little work. Some, as in the cast of What Can’t Be Undone, partake of the parable and folklore tradition of storytelling and aren’t meant to be fleshed out people as much as symbols. Some have all the depths of the ocean written into their personalities. Whether it’s the teen exasperation and raw yearning for a less embarrassing parent and a more fulfilling life showcased in Peter of the titular short, the still and quiet anger flaming in Mary of The Propagator, or the wonderful exploration of angst and empathy in Dr. Goldstein of The End Of The Nuclear Era, each character is worth meeting.

Writing Style

My only niggle with Kern’s work is that, at times, the narrative concepts and their imagery get loose and take off running. They’re gorgeous, but the reader gets left in the bewildering dust. This is particularly true in the more experimental stories like Unwhole. But as complaints go, it’s minor. As a reader, I was most entranced when the author delved deep into the human experience and drew out things that are so real they hurt, then showed them to you in a voice like the kid on the bus telling you how they got the bruise. And when we’re told, in the same matter of fact voice, what a different kind of future could look like, we can really believe in it.

The Moves

Plot

Each story runs like a good punk rock album. It starts strong, hits its middle loud, and leaves you with something to think about later.

Overall Rating

Read every story. Don’t flinch. Don’t look away. Do that, and you’ll be glad you did.