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A Guide to the Fruits of Hawai'i
Novelette originally published in Fantasy & Science Fiction, July/August 2014.
20 pages, ebook
First published July 1, 2014
About the author
Alaya Dawn Johnson
94 books679 followersAlaya Johnson graduated from Columbia University in 2004 with a BA in East Asian Languages and Cultures. She lives in New York City.
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Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews
July 22, 2025
As a Japanese American, this story will never not piss me off. Just because a fetishizing story is written by another POC doesn't make it okay ffs. Remembered it today and upset myself lol.
Also, for shits and giggles and because I'm pissed off rn, F&SF, along with Asimov's, and Analog (all now owned by Must Read Publications) have recently been flagged for--are you ready for this?--using AI to edit and sort their submissions as well as encouraging author's to "waive moral rights". Bam: https://www.sfwa.org/2025/07/14/press...
Also, for shits and giggles and because I'm pissed off rn, F&SF, along with Asimov's, and Analog (all now owned by Must Read Publications) have recently been flagged for--are you ready for this?--using AI to edit and sort their submissions as well as encouraging author's to "waive moral rights". Bam: https://www.sfwa.org/2025/07/14/press...
February 13, 2021
Wow. Not sure how I missed reading this before. BUT. Wow.
The isolation the main character feels resonates oddly in my quarantine brain. The fact that it is almost a year since I have touched another human being... yes, my reaction is almost certainly affected. Still. Really well written. Just the right length. Quite perfect.
The isolation the main character feels resonates oddly in my quarantine brain. The fact that it is almost a year since I have touched another human being... yes, my reaction is almost certainly affected. Still. Really well written. Just the right length. Quite perfect.
March 3, 2016
3.5
Vampiros en Hawai'i: Bastante más interesante de lo que uno esperaría.
Vampiros en Hawai'i: Bastante más interesante de lo que uno esperaría.
December 30, 2023
I am grading this one on a bit of a curve -- it is a short 25 page story that gets in, gets out, gets the job done with a good deal of style. The writing is quite good and the author manages to conjure up a frightening but not over the top image of vampires. And our protagonist is a real piece of work. I like books where our hero(ine) is all shades of grey, veering towards the darker side.
Which brings up the allegory of the subtext or the question that is begged... Is this really about vampires? Reading some Wikipedia type summaries of the author's other works, she seems to write quite a bit about race relations in a fantasy setting. Which, well this novelette doesn't hit you over the head with it but it is really easy to think about slavery, capitulation, the horrific choices made to survive in a world where you are property, etc. It is quite harrowing.
I read this as part of an anthology, "Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2015" and most of the content in the book is so-so at best. Perhaps a good idea (if you are lucky) but with no good through-line and a poor payoff in the end. I was happily surprised to find this story mixed in with the other less impressive stuff.
If there is any fault to be had here I would say the beginning is a little weak. I have no problem being thrown into a new world and being confused and having to piece together things later on in retrospect, but it is important in these situations to make the first few pages really interesting or even riveting, to make the reader need to read on. This one doesn't really have an attention grabbing initial scene, or even any scenes in particular that are cinematic or flashy. I guess that fits the material, when the major theme is complacence? So it is okay, a few pages in and I was satisfyingly hooked. The middle section is much better, and I liked the ending very much.
So yeah. I am teetering between four and five stars and might lower it later but for now, five stars.
Which brings up the allegory of the subtext or the question that is begged... Is this really about vampires? Reading some Wikipedia type summaries of the author's other works, she seems to write quite a bit about race relations in a fantasy setting. Which, well this novelette doesn't hit you over the head with it but it is really easy to think about slavery, capitulation, the horrific choices made to survive in a world where you are property, etc. It is quite harrowing.
I read this as part of an anthology, "Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2015" and most of the content in the book is so-so at best. Perhaps a good idea (if you are lucky) but with no good through-line and a poor payoff in the end. I was happily surprised to find this story mixed in with the other less impressive stuff.
If there is any fault to be had here I would say the beginning is a little weak. I have no problem being thrown into a new world and being confused and having to piece together things later on in retrospect, but it is important in these situations to make the first few pages really interesting or even riveting, to make the reader need to read on. This one doesn't really have an attention grabbing initial scene, or even any scenes in particular that are cinematic or flashy. I guess that fits the material, when the major theme is complacence? So it is okay, a few pages in and I was satisfyingly hooked. The middle section is much better, and I liked the ending very much.
So yeah. I am teetering between four and five stars and might lower it later but for now, five stars.
September 15, 2020
I remember reading this in an anthology and thinking that it was a little long and wordy, but the story seemed curious to me and so I forged ahead and was introduced to an interesting character and decent story. I remember I also thought it was a little sad and I didn't like the ending very much.
That being said, I DO remember the story and I was happy to recognize that I knew the author from at least one other thing besides the book I just finished reading by her.
I am hoping to be introduced into more of her fantasy but also have many others that are first in line.
"So many books, so little time..."
That being said, I DO remember the story and I was happy to recognize that I knew the author from at least one other thing besides the book I just finished reading by her.
I am hoping to be introduced into more of her fantasy but also have many others that are first in line.
"So many books, so little time..."
September 2, 2017
I am blown away.
January 3, 2018
i'm still a sucker for vampire stories, no pun intended
here
here
June 23, 2018
After loving both this story and "Love is the Drug," Alaya Dawn Johnson has me intrigued. More, please!
January 17, 2021
Available online at http://www.alayadawnjohnson.com/a-gui...
March 18, 2021
Ööf this was powerful. But mind those sharp edges. Read it here.
July 1, 2024
A dystopian twist on vampire lore. An entertaining and original short story. While the length did make the story feel a bit rushed, still a highly enjoyable read.
July 18, 2026
Original and very interesting reflections on agency in times of war, love and survival. But a collaborator is a collaborator and that behaviour can’t be justified.
March 5, 2025
3.25/5.0 interesting ideas, good writing, but right now I think the fundamental species divide of humans vs. vampires (ontological differences) diminishes its critiques of racism and/or colonialism among many others. The human blood facility / farm has been directly termed as a “concentration camp” anyways. Complacency and betrayal cuz she had a girl crush on a vampire. I like Jeb and his suicide tho.
September 6, 2023
یک داستان عاشقانه زیبا در ژانر وحشت از فتح جزایر هاوایی توسط خونآشامان.
ترجمه این داستان را، با عنوان «راهنمای میوههای هاوایی»، میتوانید در «فضای استعاره» بخوانید.
لینک به داستان در فضای استعاره»»» فضای استعاره
ترجمه این داستان را، با عنوان «راهنمای میوههای هاوایی»، میتوانید در «فضای استعاره» بخوانید.
لینک به داستان در فضای استعاره»»» فضای استعاره
July 20, 2015
І вкотре маятник вампірської літератури хиляє між романтикою та прагматикою.
Уже відгриміла своє апокаліптична Війна, і Гаваї залишаються філіалом раю на землі. Цього разу - як курорт для вампірів. Кровопивці - господарі Всесвіту, люди - поживний (а за певних умов - ще й смачний) ресурс, а головна героїня повільно й невпевнено намацує межі доступної або ж прийнятної колаборації.
"Гавайські фрукти" - чергова історія про свободу волі та теоретичну чи практичну можливість її реалізувати. Неприємна, похмура, але, по-своєму, дуже переконлива. От тільки флер любовної лінії мені розмив картинку - без неї усе це звучало б ще драматичніше. А от потяг прочитати концепцію елітних "годівниць" як аналог проституції гейшевого типу, схоже, цілком природний - на Фантлабі хтось дбайливо додав позначку "Феминистское". А чом би й ні - вийшов годящий опис об'єктивації:
"Key has grown used to thinking of her fellow humans as food, but now she is forced to reconcile that indelible fact with another, stranger veneer. The vampires who pay so dearly for Grade Gold humans don’t merely want to feed from a shunt. They want to be entertained, talked to, cajoled (...) Key has never seen anything like this before. She thought that most vampires regarded humans as walking sacks of food. What pleasure could be derived from speaking with your meal first?"
Уже відгриміла своє апокаліптична Війна, і Гаваї залишаються філіалом раю на землі. Цього разу - як курорт для вампірів. Кровопивці - господарі Всесвіту, люди - поживний (а за певних умов - ще й смачний) ресурс, а головна героїня повільно й невпевнено намацує межі доступної або ж прийнятної колаборації.
"Гавайські фрукти" - чергова історія про свободу волі та теоретичну чи практичну можливість її реалізувати. Неприємна, похмура, але, по-своєму, дуже переконлива. От тільки флер любовної лінії мені розмив картинку - без неї усе це звучало б ще драматичніше. А от потяг прочитати концепцію елітних "годівниць" як аналог проституції гейшевого типу, схоже, цілком природний - на Фантлабі хтось дбайливо додав позначку "Феминистское". А чом би й ні - вийшов годящий опис об'єктивації:
"Key has grown used to thinking of her fellow humans as food, but now she is forced to reconcile that indelible fact with another, stranger veneer. The vampires who pay so dearly for Grade Gold humans don’t merely want to feed from a shunt. They want to be entertained, talked to, cajoled (...) Key has never seen anything like this before. She thought that most vampires regarded humans as walking sacks of food. What pleasure could be derived from speaking with your meal first?"
October 14, 2015
Part of my quest to read all of the Nebula Short Story and Novelette nominees for this year, A Guide to the Fruits of Hawai'i won the award for Best Novelette. It's also my pick of the group of six.
Set some time in the future, after vampires have taken over, the narrator is a human worker in a vampire-owned concentration camp that holds healthy humans for blood production. We watch her past, as a vampire's ally and pet and the tiny part she played in the undead ascension, catch up with her. We watch her begin truly understand what the vampires have done to humanity. And we watch her come to the understanding that she doesn't really want to be one of them after all, no matter the dreams she's held onto since she was a teenager. Of course, the choice has never actually been hers, anyway. The story pulled me through with a strong sense of itself and a couple of interesting twists on vampires that built the world a little more and added to the experience. Not being particularly a vampire fan most of the time, it isn't likely I would have selected this tale on my own, but I'm glad I read it.
Set some time in the future, after vampires have taken over, the narrator is a human worker in a vampire-owned concentration camp that holds healthy humans for blood production. We watch her past, as a vampire's ally and pet and the tiny part she played in the undead ascension, catch up with her. We watch her begin truly understand what the vampires have done to humanity. And we watch her come to the understanding that she doesn't really want to be one of them after all, no matter the dreams she's held onto since she was a teenager. Of course, the choice has never actually been hers, anyway. The story pulled me through with a strong sense of itself and a couple of interesting twists on vampires that built the world a little more and added to the experience. Not being particularly a vampire fan most of the time, it isn't likely I would have selected this tale on my own, but I'm glad I read it.
May 17, 2016
Read in The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2015
Set in a future world where vampires have taken over and keep humans around only in camps where they feed off them like livestock. One woman tells of her experiences as one of the last humans with some sense of freedom and partnership with the vampires.
I am sorry to say that my preconceived ideas about vampires and vampire stories may have tainted my view of this story. It did bring about some new ideas of vampires and I specifically enjoyed the ideas of different grades of humans blood and how you can evoke different emotions in the humans to give their blood a distinct taste. However, any story that involves romantic or even semi-romantic relationships with vampires hits a sour spot in my brain that I can't seem to overcome.
Set in a future world where vampires have taken over and keep humans around only in camps where they feed off them like livestock. One woman tells of her experiences as one of the last humans with some sense of freedom and partnership with the vampires.
I am sorry to say that my preconceived ideas about vampires and vampire stories may have tainted my view of this story. It did bring about some new ideas of vampires and I specifically enjoyed the ideas of different grades of humans blood and how you can evoke different emotions in the humans to give their blood a distinct taste. However, any story that involves romantic or even semi-romantic relationships with vampires hits a sour spot in my brain that I can't seem to overcome.
June 20, 2015
2015 Nebula Award Novelette Winner.
After reading all the Hugo Award novelette nominees, I wanted to see how they measured up to one of the better reviewed stories of 2014. Short answer: they didn't.
Although there seemed to be some missing backstory of how vampires came to rule Earth, the actual story of a human woman who voluntarily serves the vampires by administering a concentration camp where humans are kept "on tap" because she is in love with one of the vampires is an intriguing one. Her dilemma becomes whether to give herself up to become a vampire or to help her human charges escape their incarceration. While not wholly successful, the story is an interesting character study that examines how one's goals may or may not change with maturity and added knowledge.
After reading all the Hugo Award novelette nominees, I wanted to see how they measured up to one of the better reviewed stories of 2014. Short answer: they didn't.
Although there seemed to be some missing backstory of how vampires came to rule Earth, the actual story of a human woman who voluntarily serves the vampires by administering a concentration camp where humans are kept "on tap" because she is in love with one of the vampires is an intriguing one. Her dilemma becomes whether to give herself up to become a vampire or to help her human charges escape their incarceration. While not wholly successful, the story is an interesting character study that examines how one's goals may or may not change with maturity and added knowledge.
October 18, 2015
This book is set in a near future where vampires have taken over Earth and they keep humans in concentration camps / blood farms. Do not expect a Young Adult Twilight like story. This novella won the Nebula award and it well deserve it for its originality. The narrator is a human worker in one of such facilities. We discover slowly her past, as a vampire's ally and pet and the tiny part she played in the undead ascension. We see her dream of being turned slowly evolve over time as she understand what vampires have done to human culture and history.
February 27, 2016
Read as part of The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2015. Vampires remind me of junior high school; it's when I last liked them, and still, all these years later, seems to be the demographic of fans.
But wow, this was a great story.
But wow, this was a great story.
August 8, 2018
Read as part of the anthology The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2015, and it was the only one that I specifically sought out more information on. A real gem, not at all surprised at the awards it won.
January 8, 2016
What a nifty take on a concept I've seen before, in a wonderful setting! I just wish I could taste the fruits mentioned.
December 4, 2016
Well written vampire story. Very quick read.
Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews