Space Opera

"In any normal year, if you were looking for a book in which a has-been, gender-fluid Brit-pop glam-rock band called Decibel Jones and the Absolute Zeroes has to compete for its collective life in an intergalactic version of the Eurovision Song Contest in order to prove that humans are, in fact, sentient and not just horrible sticky monsters that might (someday) constitute a threat to the greater universal neighborhood, you’d be SOL. But this being 2018 (and Catherynne Valente being the particularly brilliant weirdo that she is), you’re in luck because that happens to be EXACTLY what Space Opera is all about. Reading it is kinda like dropping four hits of acid, breaking into your local department store and rolling around in everything displayed behind the MAC cosmetics counter while Queen’s soundtrack to Flash Gordon plays at full volume. So, you know, be prepared."