Zig Zag Claybourne is the author of The Brothers Jetstream: Leviathan and its sequel Afro Puffs Are the Antennae of the Universe. Other works include By All Our Violent Guides, Neon Lights, and Conversations with Idras. His stories and essays on sci fi, fandom, and howlingly existential life have appeared in Apex, Galaxy's Edge, GigaNotosaurus, Strange Horizons, and other genre venues, as well as the "42" blog at https://www.writeonrighton.com. He grew up watching The Twilight Zone and considers himself a better person for it.

His short story collection Historical Inaccuracies once topped a collection from Neil Himself on Amazon for about 3 seconds, likely due to its barbarian Smurf story, but this is inconclusive.

Afro Puffs Are the Antennae of the Universe by Zig Zag Claybourne

Book 2 in the Brothers Jetstream Universe

No one has time for your BS...but Captain Desiree Quicho and her crew of utter badasses surely don't. Got a universe to save. Again. Commandeer one piece of out-of-this-world tech and suddenly you have an evil billionaire and a corporate queenpin on your ass, factions scrabbling at the power grab to end all power grabs, and an ultimate AI bent on a rampage of healing.

All a captain wanted was a little chill time, a few tunes, and quality barbecue.

Woe to those blocking her groove.

Four women; One machine goddess; a Hellbilly, Saharan elves, the baddest Pacific Octopus this side of Atlantis... and Humanity's balance tilting toward its biggest unknown future yet.

CURATOR'S NOTE

And second book from The Brothers Jetstream Universe won't leave you wanting either. No brothers this time, just Captain Desiree Quicho, her crew, and a universe's fate in the balance, delivered with wit and immersive detail. – Tenea D. Johnson

 

REVIEWS

  • "Start with the absurdity of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Throw in the funkified redemption elements of Janelle Monáe's ArchAndroid and George Clinton's Atomic Dog. Sprinkle in the lyrical richness of James Baldwin and Parliament. Read snuggled on your couch, under blankets, during a time when the world makes no sense and you crave the comfort of women being confronted with insanity and saying, 'Well, guess it's up to us to save the world again.'"

    – LaShawn Wanak, Lightspeed Magazine

  • "An ingenious work… This was my favorite book of the year in 2020. Although a visionary fantasy, it somehow saw straight to the heart of this wicked year."

    – Jeffrey Ford, author of Ahab’s Return

  • "Love love love this book!"

    – Linda Addison, 5-time Stoker Award winner
 

BOOK PREVIEW

Excerpt

One day you'll be interviewed, her subconscious riffed, about what it's like being Desiree Quicho, and you'll try to be this massively erudite Guatemalan Queen of philosophy and measured evaluation, except that won't feel right. Por ejemplo, you've successfully infiltrated a moon base under disguise, stolen top-secret machinery, went back to retrieve an errant crew member who provided the needed distraction for you to load said equipment on board your shuttle, and now find yourself wholly unable to wax philosophical about one person's role in assuring a decent, just world for all, because, in reality, saving the world involves a shitload of footwork.

As in running...