Sweetlust
Eleven stories interweave feminist critique and science fiction into an irreverent portrait of our past, present, and future.
In a dystopian world with no men, women are “rehabilitated” at an erotic amusement park. Climate change has caused massive flooding and warming in the Balkans, where one programmer builds a time machine. And a devious reimagining of The Sorrows of Young Werther refocuses to center a sexually adventurous Charlotte.
Asja Bakić deploys the speculative and weird to playfully interrogate conversations around artificial intelligence, gender fluidity, and environmental degradation. Once again Bakić upends her characters’ convictions and identities—as she did in her acclaimed debut Mars—and infuses each disorienting universe with sly humor and off-kilter eroticism. Both visceral and otherworldly, Sweetlust takes apart human desire and fragility, repeatedly framing pleasure as both inviting and perilous.
“In the daring, imaginative short stories of Asja Bakić’s Sweetlust, strong-minded women fight for survival and search for meaning in disturbing dystopian worlds.” —Foreword Reviews, starred review
“Occasionally disturbing and always intoxicating, Sweetlust is well worth the read, and difficult to put down.” —BUST
“Bakić second collection, following Mars, offers spectral, speculative tales of womanhood’s fluidity and ferality. “ —Electric Literature
“In these stories, the fantastic is a dark mirror of our basest desires that looks back at us, giving us just what we want, regardless of the consequences.” —Autostraddle
“These stories find Bakić exploring everything from climate change to society and gender, making for a provocative and emotionally engaging read.” —Tor
“Vivid yet nuanced, mysterious and sexy, each one of Asja Bakić’s stories creates its own dangerous universe. This miraculous collection enraptured me again and again.” —Chana Porter, author of The Seep
“Haunting, funny, and delightfully surreal, Asja Bakić’s stories push fiction into exciting and unexpected realms of imagination. A visceral dive into the perils and pleasures of the human condition.” —Aditi Khorana, author of The Library of Fates
“Sweetlust rollicks and seethes with a rakish energy, part hilarious, part bone-chilling. Translated brilliantly by Jennifer Zoble, these stories zip back and forth across the centuries. Never a dull moment!” —Ellen Elias-Bursać, translator
“As she did in her acclaimed debut Mars, Bakić once again upends her characters’ convictions and identities—and infuses each disorienting universe with sly humor and off-kilter eroticism.” —Sara Luce Look, Charis Books & More
Translated by Jennifer Zoble
Softcover book, 224 pages.
