WINNER OF THE SUKENICK INNOVATIVE FICTION PRIZE
A postimperialist future shaped by revolutionary struggle and healing, where plant-based technology reshapes sovereignty and intimacy
Weirdly Tuned Antennae is a coming-of-age adventure story that hums with sensory detail, political force, and the uncanny beauty of nature in a profoundly transformed world. This speculative tale traces one person’s attempt to explore how freedom is embodied, shared, and fought for, and how love can emerge from networks far older and stranger than the self.
Set in the monsoon-soaked Himalayan foothills in a near future, the story follows Navi on their quest to reconnect with their estranged mother, a freedom fighter in the ongoing battles for self-determination. Navi quickly gets entangled with a lineage of healer-witches who possess mastery over the spirit world and over the cell; a ubiquitous plant-based technology that channels energy and information, revolutionizing both political and bodily sovereignty. Navi’s journey is soon distracted by a mysterious lover driven by an interplanetary longing for home that mirrors Navi’s own search for belonging.
Rejecting the familiar arc of Western dystopia, Weirdly Tuned Antennae imagines a postimperialist future rooted in collective struggle, internationalism, and the liberation of human potential. Lush, moody, and deeply character-driven, it will resonate with readers who admire the speculative ethics of Octavia Butler and the quiet emotional force of Kazuo Ishiguro.