In June, we missed the massive news that Janelle Monáe sold an afro futuristic, collaborative story (pitch) to Harper Voyager as an extension of her 2018 album Dirty Computer. According to Publisher’s Weekly, Harper Voyager added that the book “explores how different threads of liberation—queerness, race, gender plurality, and love—become tangled with future possibilities of memory and time in such a totalitarian landscape… and what the costs might be when trying to unravel and weave them into freedoms.”
We were sold at “Janelle Monáe,” and honestly, the word “book” is just a bonus.
Fast forward to yesterday, when the title—The Memory Librarian & Other Stories of Dirty Computer—was shared, as well as the other talented list of collaborators were revealed!
Stacked talent
In addition to Monáe as the lead, literature professor and Wondaland Arts Society books editor Kyle Dargan organized the collection of prose alongside two-time World Fantasy Award (WFA) editor (for Dark Matter: A Century of Speculative Fiction from the African Diaspora) Sheree Renée Thomas.*
The writers include recent WFA winner (for her novel Trouble the Saint) Alaya Dawn Johnson and her story The Memory Librarian.
You guys, I have been sitting on this news for MONTHS, but if you know me at all, you know that I have been living the dream collaborating with Janelle Monae on the title story for this collection. Get ready. 😍 https://t.co/G62W0wSmhD
— Alaya Dawn Johnson (@alayadj) December 2, 2021
Best known for her middle-grade science fiction hit Maya and the Robot, Eve L. Ewing penned Timebox.
[jumps out from behind a bush]
HEY!!!!
sorry did i scare you? my b. anyway
i got to collaborate on a story with one of my most important artistic influences/most admired people and now i finally get to tell you about it. so grateful to @JanelleMonae
https://t.co/lYLkMZ6WEt— Eve L. Ewing used to go by wikipedia brown (@eveewing) December 2, 2021
A writer and editor for publications like Comixology, Dynamite Comics, Black Mask Comics, Marvel, DC, and Dark Horse, Danny Lore wrote Nevermind for the collection. For those keeping track, that is two people who have written for Marvel comics in the last few years!
Sometimes I think that because I worked on something for awhile, I’ll stop having FEELINGS about it
But this announcement? I started crying to see it out in the world.
I’m incredibly blessed and honored to say that I wrote a NOVELLA in @JanelleMonae Dirty Computer universe https://t.co/GFimzp3su2
— Danny Gay-da-Lore-ian (@weredawgz) December 2, 2021
Contributing to the story Save Changes is a science fiction (and non-fiction) writer and scholar Yohanca Delgado.
I HAVEN’T STOPPED SQUEALING (in secret) SINCE WE STARTED THIS PROJECT IN MARCH. https://t.co/74NL2QmMXn
— Yohanca Delgado (@yodelnyc) December 2, 2021
The expansion of Wondaland
The Memory Librarian & Other Stories of Dirty Computer as a book makes total sense. For one, as someone who didn’t find Monáe’s work until early 2017 (yes, after Hidden Figures), I’ve traced over lyrics, read blogs, and found other fans’ theories to place together this loose timeline Monáe built in her work. Right when I thought I had gotten somewhere (like tech), references became almost obsolete as Monáe publicly declared she was Jane 57821 (for Dirty Computer), rather than using proxy Cindy Mayweather (from the Metropolis Suites) to talk about her sexuality and other topics.
Dirty Computer came out with a whole emotion picture, leading Wondaland Arts Society to expand into Wonderland Pictures and Wondaland Records. Now, there is Wondaland’s book!
With Monáe’s involvement looking like more than an endorsement (it is her story and her world), the stories added by the other authors would be considered canon. One lead artist, who serves as CEO of Wondaland Arts Society and is everywhere from movies to fashion to get out the vote efforts, doesn’t have the time to elaborate. However, a group of writers will be up on Twitter, panels, and Zoom events discussing the work—and we are at the ready!
The Memory Librarian & Other Stories of Dirty Computer is available for pre-order now and releases April 19, 2022.
Correction 12/6/2021: Wrote that Thomas’ 2020 collection of short stories Nine Bar Blues earned her one of the two WFA wins, but both wins came from her editing in the 2001 anthology Dark Matter. Thomas did earn a WFA nomination for Nine Bar Blues.
(via People, image: screencap.)
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