Inspired by the author's critically acclaimed album Dirty Computer, this Afrofuturistic collection of five connected stories center around a woman named Jane 57821 who is looking for refuge from the world of the Dirty Computer. The Dirty Computer is what society views as human imperfection, tainted by memory, emotion, and time. Dirty Computers are feared in New Dawn, a totalitarian regime where thoughts are a commodity weaponized by the government, and "clean" computers are those humans who have been captured, cleansed and rehabilitated.
The Memory Librarian of the title story plays an integral role in assessing and cataloging all memories: happy, sad, good or bad. This seems like a cool job, but the idea that whoever controls our memories controls the future is frightening indeed. A surveillance state that monitors race, gender, identity, and love chilled me to the core. I don't read a lot of science fiction, but I felt the same way I did when reading dystopian novels like The Handmaid's Tale, Brave New World, Fahrenheit 451, and 1984 where the government will do anything to maintain power over people. It's that kind of sick to your stomach, uneasy realization that this future is upon us in many ways. However, the final story in the collection, "Timebox Altar(ed)," provides hope and inspiration that not all is lost and a better future awaits.
*From 20th Century philosopher George Santayana, The Life of Reason, 1905