The Seep

Humanity has been finally united, thanks to the psychedelic transcendence brought by our new alien friends, the collective trip-inducing hivemind goop known as The Seep. War is over, poverty is over, capitalism is over, colonialism is over, no one can tolerate exploitation when they're acutely aware of the feelings of everybody else and all the animals and plants and each individual body cell. Art flourishes, new and strange occupations flourish, property is collective and abundant in every regard, endless possibilities open up before ourselves. Guided by the new, hyperempathetic Seep tech, people are modifying their bodies to be furries and cyborgs and anything else they want. Other animals ascend to linguistic sentience and we can talk to them now. Some people opt to live chill lives crafting or Seeping out to cool art shows, others take to exploring the boundaries of identity and personhood itself.

No catch, really. No hidden dystopia because things are too good. No subtext that wanting things to be better is dangerous. Things are really better. No one in the world disagrees that the Seep made life much better. Well the Seep refusers at the Compound do, but their choice is respected and they're left alone.

Oh and everyone is irrefutably aware of our eternally reborn immortal souls so the weight of mortality, too, is solved forever.

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"The Seep" by Chana Porter asks the question, what if you're still depressed anyway.

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What if you know, not through faith but through direct experience, that our immortal souls are immortal, yet you're still grieving. What if you're still grieving after years and you blocked away everyone and you're living in paradise but your living room is a rotting mess and you can't be bothered to even try. What if you can't enjoy any of this shiny new world because your lesbian girlfriend enjoyed it in a way that took her beyond your reach and the saccharine voice of The Seep only adds to the wound. What if everyone is happy and you want to shoot something. someone? yourself? you found a gun...

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Short, focused novel in the style currently trending. Takes directions I wouldn't expect. Main character is trans and in the world portrayed that almost doesn't matter, except it then does. I like this one quite a bit.

I really enjoyed this queer sci-fi novella – about the softest alien invasion of Earth by The Seep, a hive mind species that merges with nearly every life form on earth, including most of humanity creating a seeming utopia – but I was very frustrated by it all the same. Everything I liked best about it – The Seep itself, the Seep-related technology and the way humans interface with and utilize it – only came in tantalizing glimpses and all-too-brief descriptions. On one hand, I appreciate how The Seep and its (their?) technology are technically secondary to the story itself, which is the journey of a trans woman who loses her wife and, secondarily, their shared community to divergent paths in the Seepified world. However none of that would’ve happened without The Seep, so the fact that we get so tormentingly little of it left me feeling unfulfilled by the story. Had this novella been part of a collection of stories or ongoing series set in this world, meaning I’d learn more about The Seep and Seeptech with each tale, that would’ve made this story able to stand on its own better for me. Nevertheless, it’s fascinating, poignant, and beautifully written, and I will gladly read more of Chana Porter’s work in the future.

Chana Porter's The Seep takes place after an alien invasion that, instead of bringing war and destruction, makes people kinder, more caring and thoughtful. Earth has become a utopia, free of capitalism. Everyone has the ability to be whoever or whatever they feel they need to be, and they are kept happy and soothed. But there's an air of toxic positivity and superficial spirituality, too. The protagonist, Trina, sees through it and struggles with her conflicting, unsatisfied feelings. When her wife Deeba decides to make the ultimate Seep modification, Trina is left to deal with her grief.

The world-building and the storytelling is superb. I don't always do well with fiction on audiobook, which is how I took in this story, but I was hanging on every word. The premise was so cool, executed wonderfully, and brought up a lot of things to think about. I was reminded of the final season of The Good Place, but with a darker tone. What makes humans unique? What makes us human? Where do we find contentment, curiosity, or the will to live? How would we feel if we had access to everything we could ever want or hope for? 

This was a great read that explored the ideas of what culture would look like if the hippies won. I loved the hyper focus on one woman's story and how she explored this new way of life as she grieved the "passing on" of her wife. I felt the focus at the micro level rather than the macro was an interesting structural decision that really paid off in its execution as we learned about the full extent of the world through the limited lens of the jaded protagonist. However if you like alien invasion books, this probably isn't the one for you. This is a book about grief and dealing with one's place in the world with an alien invasion backdrop. Don't go into this expecting a full exploration of the "soft invasion."

I have complicated feelings about the themes of the book, which could be boiled down to the fact that there is value in the preservation of "historical" ideals such as gender, race, age, and sexuality, especially in a post gender, race, age, and sexuality world. That in a society where no one is left in need, we are still benefit from the lessons that were learned in hardship rather than leaving those lessons behind since we have finally achieved true harmony in the universe. I ultimately agree with this overall theme, but I couldn't help but feel that there were undertones of "kids these days" sentimentality that would really make me pause to consider what message the author was trying to portray. Those who might be considered "progressive" in the book are painted to be the ones out of touch while the the traditionalists who often speak about the good ole days (before the world was literally living in paradise) were the ones painted as rational and down to earth. Sometimes I agreed with this sentiment (blackface is bad and should always be considered bad y'all). And sometimes I didn't (your community taking an active interest in your wellbeing is actually good probably).

The writing was fantastic, surreal, and dreamy. The side characters were hit or miss, being written as one note lovable/hateable while the main character has consistent ideals but oddly inconsistent behaviors. The pacing of the book was good considering how short it is, and while there is a loose plot, it takes a backseat to the social commentary which I think works in the books favor. Overall, I really enjoyed this book and it definitely lends itself to a reread.