Jamaica Ginger and Other Concoctions has convinced me that every short story collection should have small author notes and context to introduce them to the reader. It makes for a truly wonderful reading experience. The title story ‘Jamaica Ginger’ was also a collaboration with the Nisi Shawl, so you get a sprinkling of another lovely author in this collection too.

We get stories ranging from environmental collapse to aliens and mystical monsters. The bonus of an anthology is that the variety of a stories mean that there is likely at least one in here for almost any reader. Regardless of what happens in each story, Hopkinson’s own offbeat and to the left approach to considering “but what if” shines through in the entire collection. Some stories gave me chills, others left me with in deep contemplation, and the introduction to each was delightful. (I now know some facts about Jamaica Ginger.)