All the Orphans in the Galaxy by Carly Brown
All the Orphans in the Galaxy by Carly Brown
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All the Orphans in the Galaxy follows two parallel and interlocking stories. In the wake of a personal tragedy, a teenage girl in contemporary Texas becomes obsessed with VHS recordings of a 1990’s sci-fi show. At a space station in a distant future, a young woman, who calls herself Carly Simon, plays 1960s’ protest songs on an old acoustic guitar and has an unexpected meeting with a disgraced former soldier. Isolation, grief, personal and political histories weave together in this playful, post-modern novella, which explores the power of storytelling to connect us with each other.
‘Gorgeously geeky and beautifully heartstring-tugging, All the Orphans is a deep space love song to the redemptive power of art.’ - Zoë Strachan
‘Vibrant, pacy…a space narrative which deftly puts ‘being human’ in perspective. A funny, insightful and sometimes poignant tale from a compelling new voice in Science Fiction!’ - Sandra Ireland
'This is a wonderful novella that is simply and exquisitely formed. Two intimate and woven narratives of orphans, with their opinionated and lost narrators, offer us stories of how we make choices. One orphan on earth, another on an inter-planetary station, are each captured in moments of decision and each narrative reveals what we assume we know, and what we can never. It is easy to believe our own experiences to be more difficult and more painful than those of others, and yet if we slow time down and accept invitations that are offered, even if they contain an element of brutality or sentimentality, there’s something arresting where two worlds meet and how we can exists in one, then the other, and carry both with us. Carly Brown has written for us a playful, sad, sexy set of tipping-point stories and I encourage you to drop what you’re doing and treat yourself to All the Orphans in the Galaxy'. - Elizabeth Reeder
"Deep Space Nine was made so special by its characters and the slow unravelling of their stories. Instead of exploring space, it explored the complex relationships between those who filled it - something Carly Brown clearly understands. Her story is intimate, nuanced, and emotionally focused. If they were making DS9 today this story has me convinced Carly Brown should write it!" - Kevin McLean
"Carly Brown’s All the Orphans in the Galaxy intertwines the story of an orphaned sixteen-year-old trying to find her feet in contemporary Texas, with that of a woman on a space station, falling in love with an alien from an occupying race. In each, Brown creates a world which delights all the senses, and is close and complex and real enough to reach out and touch. This is a book which haunted me long after reading." - Katie Hale, author of My Name is Monster
Dr Carly Brown is a poet, author and academic originally from Austin, Texas and now living in Edinburgh. She is the author of a bestselling children’s picture book, I Love St Andrews, and two poetry pamphlets, Grown Up Poetry Needs to Leave Me Alone and Anastasia, Look in the Mirror (commended for the 2021 Callum MacDonald Memorial Award). Known for her lively and witty spoken word poetry, Carly has performed at Glastonbury Festival, StAnza Poetry Festival and the Edinburgh Fringe. She was Scotland’s National Champion of Slam Poetry (2013) and ranked fourth at the World Series of Slam Poetry in Paris. All the Orphans in the Galaxy is her first work of fiction. Website: carlyjbrown.com