GRUB

A faux historical note, written in the future (2046), about an event that altered all life on Earth begins the wild romp that is GRUB. From the first sentence of the prologue to the last line of the epilogue, Kate Boyes melds reality and fiction so intricately in poems and notes that readers can be forgiven for feeling deliciously dizzy at times. The event—a rip in the fabric of space in 1946—exposed us to forces beyond our universe. Earth's timeline was switched with that of a very dangerous "Earth" in an alternate universe. Human DNA was altered, allowing those among us predisposed to being ogres, satyrs, ghouls, vampires, etc. to turn into them. A bratty baby, unwelcome on its own world, slipped through the rip before it closed: that child—GRUB—eventually finagled his way into the presidency of the United States. In the world of this book, the only thing remarkable about seeing an interstellar alien and his Medusa-like wife stroll across the White House lawn to greet an ogre, two harpies, and a ghoul is that we, the voters, allowed it to happen. GRUB is political horror writing, but it includes elements of science fiction and fantasy, too, all mixed with biting humor and enough snark to make a dedicated high school mean girl feel inadequate. Although some poems can tear at a reader's heart, Boyes seems to have decided that, in an absurd world where we can choose to either laugh or cry, she prefers to laugh.