15. Automaton Biographies by Larissa Lai
Portions of Automaton Biographies have appeared before in the chapbooks rachel, nascent fashion and ham. Great to read them again in concert with the other material that makes up the biographies automaton(ne). Lai’s language is taut, tricky, punchy, precise.
Phantom police stations. Beloved replicants. Degenerate kin. Stunned classrooms. Imperialism’s imperative. Germs in the machine. Chimps in space. What a mimicry. First infection(s). Perverted science. Biomechanics mutation’s revenge and race relations. History and monkey business return and return. Breathe fire foxily. Aha. A ha. A hmmmmmmm. A home.
-Nikki
