''Dear Cyborgs'' is a 2017 novel with elements of

speculative fiction Speculative fiction is a term that has been used with a variety of (sometimes contradictory) meanings. The broadest interpretation is as a category of fiction encompassing genres with elements that do not exist in reality, recorded history, na ...

by American writer Eugene Lim. Lim wrote two other novels before ''Dear Cyborgs''. Critics gave the novel mostly positive reviews.

Development

Lim wrote the novel before the 2016 presidential election. He nevertheless wrote it in "a state of despair" due to climate change and economic inequality, which he refers to as two “slow apocalypses”. Lim has said that he believes "...superheroes are the central mythology of our collective global era" on their inclusion in the novel.

Influences

A number of works influenced Lim during while writing ''Dear Cyborgs''. Tan Lin's ''Insomnia and the Aunt'' and Yongsoo Park's ''Boy Genius'' both influenced the novel's plot as existing works that subvert tropes in Asian American assimilation plots. Robert Creeley’s ''The Island'' and Eileen Myles’ ''Inferno''—both "poet's novels"—influenced Lim's authorial presence.

Setting

The novel alternates between several settings, including a "white-bread suburban" town in Ohio during the 1980s, and New York City circa 2011, during a fictionalized version of

Occupy Wall Street Occupy Wall Street (OWS) was a protest Social movement, movement against economic inequality and the Campaign finance, influence of money in politics that began in Zuccotti Park, located in New York City's Financial District, Manhattan, Wall S ...

. Lim grew up in small-town Ohio, and later moved to New York.

Publication history

FSG Originals, an imprint of

Farrar, Straus and Giroux Farrar, Straus and Giroux (FSG) is an American book publishing company, founded in 1946 by Roger Williams Straus Jr. and John C. Farrar. FSG is known for publishing literary books, and its authors have won numerous awards, including Pulitzer ...

, published the novel in 2017.

References

2017 American novels American speculative fiction novels Novels set in New York City Novels set in Ohio Superhero novels Farrar, Straus and Giroux books {{2010s-specf-novel-stub