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Night Roll
New mother and climate refugee Aileen Dupree has been abandoned by her partner in post- industrial Detroit. Her neighbor, Virgil, is Aileen’s only connection to the outside world. But then Virgil borrows Aileen’s prized possession — a chrome and leather, royal blue fourteen-speed bike — and disappears. Looking for answers, Aileen hears strange stories of the Elf, a timeless being that always fought the colonizers and capitalists of Detroit, and now leads the Night Roll on a race through the city’s disintegrating streets. It is up to Aileen to brave the strange magic of the Night Roll and bring Virgil back. But what can the Elf teach her about her new life? And what must she pay for that knowledge?
100 pages, Paperback
Published October 15, 2020
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Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
July 15, 2020
NIGHT ROLL is one of the most vivid and captivating works of near future fiction I have read in a long time. The story of a woman left alone with her newborn in a collapsing Detroit, it follows her journey of discovery into the new communities that emerge from our slow-burn apocalypse, germinating the seeds of a more hopeful tomorrow firmly rooted in a sober assessment of the now and the deeper colonial and ecological history of North America. DeLuca’s gifts for drawing out the pockets of wild nature resurgent within the concrete canyons of the city were enough to hold my attention throughout, but the fresh authenticity of voice and vulnerable but committed charisma of his characters are what keep you turning the pages of this compelling novella.
August 15, 2023
NIGHT ROLL
by Michael J. Deluca, is written with such close precision, with imaginative and diverse characters driving the tight storyline -- the reader never imagines the work that must have gone into the prose -- Night Roll is a masterpiece of speculative literature and mythology built from the history and future of Detroit.
With a short step into the future, one absorbs the light-handed class statement in the decay and entropy in Detroit “…across gentrification and passionlessly husbanded ruin.” The rich neighborhoods are decaying too, while the poorest have little but their vegetable gardens and condemned buildings. But they also have a community and myths to hold together the hallucinatory Night Roll, led by the Elf of hundreds of years earlier, who threw mud on the French Colonialists, led the poorest to rebellion, and leads specific Night Rolls of fairy-lit bikes rolling through the potholed streets: “A quiet gesture of community solidarity against entropy.” An exhausted white single mom --who fixes bikes-- and her baby roll into town, welcomed and protected – because the baby will be one of them. She rides the Night Roll through past and present.
READ IT IN ONCE SITTING FOLKS! IT'S WORTH IT!!
by Michael J. Deluca, is written with such close precision, with imaginative and diverse characters driving the tight storyline -- the reader never imagines the work that must have gone into the prose -- Night Roll is a masterpiece of speculative literature and mythology built from the history and future of Detroit.With a short step into the future, one absorbs the light-handed class statement in the decay and entropy in Detroit “…across gentrification and passionlessly husbanded ruin.” The rich neighborhoods are decaying too, while the poorest have little but their vegetable gardens and condemned buildings. But they also have a community and myths to hold together the hallucinatory Night Roll, led by the Elf of hundreds of years earlier, who threw mud on the French Colonialists, led the poorest to rebellion, and leads specific Night Rolls of fairy-lit bikes rolling through the potholed streets: “A quiet gesture of community solidarity against entropy.” An exhausted white single mom --who fixes bikes-- and her baby roll into town, welcomed and protected – because the baby will be one of them. She rides the Night Roll through past and present.
READ IT IN ONCE SITTING FOLKS! IT'S WORTH IT!!
September 4, 2020
A fantastic urban fantasy set in near-future Detroit, Night Roll envelops the reader in Aileen's struggle to navigate new motherhood in a new city on her own, and to find her own freedom while she does it.
Aileen's partner, Andrew, left upon finding she was pregnant, choosing his career and his independence over her and their child. Aileen's neighbor, Virgil, was helping her get acclimated to her new environment until one day he asked to borrow her bike to join the Night Roll and never returned. The Night Roll is a monthly event that brings community members together for a group ride, taking place every full moon. It has a fantastical freeing quality to it, where one joins with the very essence and soul of the city. With encouragement from her new friends Morris and Omar, Aileen becomes set on joining the Night Roll as well, despite having given birth very recently and still being in no condition to ride a bike.
As Aileen learns more about her new community, she picks up tales of the Rebellion, known to most outside the city as the riots of '67, a racial uprising prompted by the fatal shooting of a Black 4-year-old. She learns about the Red Elf, or just the Elf, a larger-than-life mythical figure engrained in the very being of the city, who fought in the Rebellion and rides in the Night Rolls. She even thinks she saw him once--or was that even real? Throughout the novella, Aileen begins to dream again, for the first time since moving to Detroit and giving birth to Christian, and it is then that she feels most like herself. In these dreams, she catches glimpse of the child Christian grows up to be, while at the same time recognizing that Christian is in charge of who they become and things could turn out very differently. This half-dream haze of magic and mystery really made this book stand out to me.
There were two things about Night Roll that knocked it down a star for me:
1. I wish there were more cultural worldbuilding. I like the light touch of the technological worldbuilding -- it's near-future enough that it is easy to understand references to self-driving cars, eBikes, etc. But the pieces about the Rebellion and her status as a climate refugee were sometimes confusing to put together or understand.
2.
Definitely a good read overall, and I highly recommend it to anyone who likes that light magical feel in their storytelling.
Thanks to NetGalley and Stelliform press for the eARC in exchange for the review.
Aileen's partner, Andrew, left upon finding she was pregnant, choosing his career and his independence over her and their child. Aileen's neighbor, Virgil, was helping her get acclimated to her new environment until one day he asked to borrow her bike to join the Night Roll and never returned. The Night Roll is a monthly event that brings community members together for a group ride, taking place every full moon. It has a fantastical freeing quality to it, where one joins with the very essence and soul of the city. With encouragement from her new friends Morris and Omar, Aileen becomes set on joining the Night Roll as well, despite having given birth very recently and still being in no condition to ride a bike.
As Aileen learns more about her new community, she picks up tales of the Rebellion, known to most outside the city as the riots of '67, a racial uprising prompted by the fatal shooting of a Black 4-year-old. She learns about the Red Elf, or just the Elf, a larger-than-life mythical figure engrained in the very being of the city, who fought in the Rebellion and rides in the Night Rolls. She even thinks she saw him once--or was that even real? Throughout the novella, Aileen begins to dream again, for the first time since moving to Detroit and giving birth to Christian, and it is then that she feels most like herself. In these dreams, she catches glimpse of the child Christian grows up to be, while at the same time recognizing that Christian is in charge of who they become and things could turn out very differently. This half-dream haze of magic and mystery really made this book stand out to me.
There were two things about Night Roll that knocked it down a star for me:
1. I wish there were more cultural worldbuilding. I like the light touch of the technological worldbuilding -- it's near-future enough that it is easy to understand references to self-driving cars, eBikes, etc. But the pieces about the Rebellion and her status as a climate refugee were sometimes confusing to put together or understand.
2.
Definitely a good read overall, and I highly recommend it to anyone who likes that light magical feel in their storytelling.
Thanks to NetGalley and Stelliform press for the eARC in exchange for the review.
October 3, 2021
Quite a strange and confusing storyline linked with the post industrialized Detroit and urban myth. Lots of characters made the storyline a bit tangled due to lack of character development and story building. The language and writing style are somewhere I felt a bit awkward with unnecessary added things in some long sentences. It was a short read, you can give this a read.
Thank you Netgalley and Stelliform press for providing me with this e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Thank you Netgalley and Stelliform press for providing me with this e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 7, 2021
Reading Night Roll is like coasting through the unknowable streets of someone else’s dream. Strange, mysterious, lovely; laced with ribbons of slowly-unspooling anxiety and spiked with passing slivers of danger, this gently wild novella is a ride I do not think I will soon forget.
Night Roll combines something I know and love well—scrappy, defiant, anti-capitalist, community-oriented, DIY bicycle culture—with two things rather more alien to me, i.e., motherhood and the city of Detroit. I have minimal tolerance for stories about motherhood, particularly when told by male-identifying writers; it is a testament to DeLuca’s skilful prose and compelling vision that at no point did I feel put off by his depiction of a struggling single mother and her complex feelings toward her baby, her postpartum body, and the unfamiliar, alone, unsettled new version of herself she must learn to inhabit. Having never been to Detroit, I can have no opinion regarding the authenticity of its presence in this novella—but it feels as real and true as any portrayal of a city I have read. The people and places of Night Roll come alive in ways I would not have expected in such a brief narrative, and I found them wonderfully easy to care for from the very first page.
While this novella’s great strength lies in its vivid characterizations and tangible descriptions of setting and place, another captivating feature is its journey through some of Detroit’s local mythology. Having never read much about the city, I was not aware of the Nain Rouge legends; looking it up after finishing the book made for a delightful and—due to the colonial history surrounding the legend’s origins—poignant coda to my reading experience.
Like all of the books I have read from Stelliform Press, Night Roll is a treasure. I look forward to recommending it to my cycling friends, and everyone else I know who appreciates all things surreal, fantastical, and—most of all—hopeful.
Night Roll combines something I know and love well—scrappy, defiant, anti-capitalist, community-oriented, DIY bicycle culture—with two things rather more alien to me, i.e., motherhood and the city of Detroit. I have minimal tolerance for stories about motherhood, particularly when told by male-identifying writers; it is a testament to DeLuca’s skilful prose and compelling vision that at no point did I feel put off by his depiction of a struggling single mother and her complex feelings toward her baby, her postpartum body, and the unfamiliar, alone, unsettled new version of herself she must learn to inhabit. Having never been to Detroit, I can have no opinion regarding the authenticity of its presence in this novella—but it feels as real and true as any portrayal of a city I have read. The people and places of Night Roll come alive in ways I would not have expected in such a brief narrative, and I found them wonderfully easy to care for from the very first page.
While this novella’s great strength lies in its vivid characterizations and tangible descriptions of setting and place, another captivating feature is its journey through some of Detroit’s local mythology. Having never read much about the city, I was not aware of the Nain Rouge legends; looking it up after finishing the book made for a delightful and—due to the colonial history surrounding the legend’s origins—poignant coda to my reading experience.
Like all of the books I have read from Stelliform Press, Night Roll is a treasure. I look forward to recommending it to my cycling friends, and everyone else I know who appreciates all things surreal, fantastical, and—most of all—hopeful.
July 16, 2020
Night Roll is a futuristic urban-fantasy novella about post-industrial Detroit. The protagonist Aileen is caught up in child rearing as a single mom and must find a way to re-enter a world with the support her friends who will help her cope with the evolving city around her. This is a debut novella by the short fiction writer Michael J. DeLuca.
Aileen has been abandoned by her partner, Andrew. Her neighbour, Virgil, becomes her connection to the real world that exists beyond providing for her baby’s needs. But then Virgil borrows Aileen’s prized bike and disappears. While searching for Virgil, Aileen makes a new group of friends and hears stories of the Elf, a timeless being who has always fought the colonizers and capitalists of Detroit, and now leads the Night Roll on a race through the city’s streets. Aileen must join the Night Roll if she wants to bring Virgil back. At the same time she must consider the needs of her baby, Christian, while dealing with dangers of coping with an every evolving city.
I find the story itself a little strange and outside my interest. DeLuca, however, does an excellent job of describing characters that are committed to helping Aileen adjust to world around her. DeLuca’s writing style also makes the story easy to read.
Although I find the book an easy read, I do not know enough about Detroit to follow the various threads within the story. I give this book a 3 on 5. I want to thank NetGalley and Stelliform Press for providing me with a digital copy of the novella in exchange for a fair review.
Aileen has been abandoned by her partner, Andrew. Her neighbour, Virgil, becomes her connection to the real world that exists beyond providing for her baby’s needs. But then Virgil borrows Aileen’s prized bike and disappears. While searching for Virgil, Aileen makes a new group of friends and hears stories of the Elf, a timeless being who has always fought the colonizers and capitalists of Detroit, and now leads the Night Roll on a race through the city’s streets. Aileen must join the Night Roll if she wants to bring Virgil back. At the same time she must consider the needs of her baby, Christian, while dealing with dangers of coping with an every evolving city.
I find the story itself a little strange and outside my interest. DeLuca, however, does an excellent job of describing characters that are committed to helping Aileen adjust to world around her. DeLuca’s writing style also makes the story easy to read.
Although I find the book an easy read, I do not know enough about Detroit to follow the various threads within the story. I give this book a 3 on 5. I want to thank NetGalley and Stelliform Press for providing me with a digital copy of the novella in exchange for a fair review.
September 6, 2020
The thing I loved about this novella, apart from its zipping-along pace and great writing style, was the way it combined realistic and fantastical elements to mirror the strange duality that every person faces in balancing the factual, practical parts of life, with dreams, hopes and imagination.
The main character, Aileen Dupree, is a complex character, adjusting to life in a new city, and the changes having her first child has brought. Her continuous exhaustion, yet love for her child, adds to the believability of the story. But she also needs to keep hold of something bigger than the everyday. The mystical figure of the Elf, leading moonlit bike rides through the city, represents the timeless nature of history past and present, something that Aileen must grapple with to find her place in her new community, and make decisions about what type of society she would like to help create.
I loved the ongoing metaphor of cycling, the hard work involved, and yet the utter exhilaration and freedom of it. A perfect way to describe balancing earth and spirit when tackling the future.
The main character, Aileen Dupree, is a complex character, adjusting to life in a new city, and the changes having her first child has brought. Her continuous exhaustion, yet love for her child, adds to the believability of the story. But she also needs to keep hold of something bigger than the everyday. The mystical figure of the Elf, leading moonlit bike rides through the city, represents the timeless nature of history past and present, something that Aileen must grapple with to find her place in her new community, and make decisions about what type of society she would like to help create.
I loved the ongoing metaphor of cycling, the hard work involved, and yet the utter exhilaration and freedom of it. A perfect way to describe balancing earth and spirit when tackling the future.
July 5, 2020
trigger warning
It starts when her neighbor asks her if he could borrow her bike to join the Night Roll and never comes back.
We have a young mother, a single mother, who just moved to Detroit and doesn't really know anybody, apart from Virgil, her neighbor who comes to share gossip and keep company - until he doesn't. He never returns from the bike tour, and Aileen tries to gather information which finally makes her go out and make some friends.
I liked this one. We only have a few pages, but there still is a plot, worldbuilding, character developement. I have no idea about the urban myths of Detroit, if there is the story of the Elf, but I might look into it one day. Today, I have too much left to read to venture there.
If you want a short bit of magic in an urban setting, look no further.
I recieved a copy of this book in exchange for a honest review.
It starts when her neighbor asks her if he could borrow her bike to join the Night Roll and never comes back.
We have a young mother, a single mother, who just moved to Detroit and doesn't really know anybody, apart from Virgil, her neighbor who comes to share gossip and keep company - until he doesn't. He never returns from the bike tour, and Aileen tries to gather information which finally makes her go out and make some friends.
I liked this one. We only have a few pages, but there still is a plot, worldbuilding, character developement. I have no idea about the urban myths of Detroit, if there is the story of the Elf, but I might look into it one day. Today, I have too much left to read to venture there.
If you want a short bit of magic in an urban setting, look no further.
I recieved a copy of this book in exchange for a honest review.
September 28, 2022
See this review and more on Books and Ladders!
Disclaimer : I received a free copy of this book and chose to review it. This in no way impacts my opinion.
I wanted to like this more than I actually did. I found it to be a really weird and confusing storyline and timeline - one that was populated with urban myths that I didn't quite understand because they were never given the attention they deserved. The characters didn't feel real because we never saw them for enough time and there were too many of them to fully develop.
I am not sure this would be one I would recommend!
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Disclaimer : I received a free copy of this book and chose to review it. This in no way impacts my opinion.
I wanted to like this more than I actually did. I found it to be a really weird and confusing storyline and timeline - one that was populated with urban myths that I didn't quite understand because they were never given the attention they deserved. The characters didn't feel real because we never saw them for enough time and there were too many of them to fully develop.
I am not sure this would be one I would recommend!
Like my reviews? Buy me a Ko-Fi!
August 15, 2020
Night Roll is an urban fantasy about new single mother Aileen, who with no friends or family lives in Detroit.
A neighbour, Virgil, borrows her bike and then disappears only for Aileen to hear rumours of him taking part in night bike rides alongside a timeless being known as the Elf. Aileen is now determined to get her life together and take part in the bike ride to find what has happened to Virgil and to discover the truth about the Elf.
This is a good novella with some good ideas and characters who you easily engage with. Definitely recommended as a good way to spend a few hours reading.
This was provided by NetGalley for an honest review
A neighbour, Virgil, borrows her bike and then disappears only for Aileen to hear rumours of him taking part in night bike rides alongside a timeless being known as the Elf. Aileen is now determined to get her life together and take part in the bike ride to find what has happened to Virgil and to discover the truth about the Elf.
This is a good novella with some good ideas and characters who you easily engage with. Definitely recommended as a good way to spend a few hours reading.
This was provided by NetGalley for an honest review
March 7, 2022
This short and quick novel about a near-future, set around the remains of Detroit, is more a collection of dream-like vignettes and peppered with sweeping descriptions of a time and people not unlike our own.
TBH, the subject was not what I had expected when I began reading, but over time the characters and the plotlines are just about interesting enough to get me to the last page.
Not bad writing, not bad at all. But what it seemed to be missing - more than anything else - is a compelling storyline and a central idea. Wish that were not the case, for the writing is good, and evocative in a good way.
TBH, the subject was not what I had expected when I began reading, but over time the characters and the plotlines are just about interesting enough to get me to the last page.
Not bad writing, not bad at all. But what it seemed to be missing - more than anything else - is a compelling storyline and a central idea. Wish that were not the case, for the writing is good, and evocative in a good way.
October 14, 2020
I am so sorry but this was not for me. I couldn’t get passed the writing style which felt too fragmented for my taste making it hard to follow and continue reading the book. Sadly, it was not a good choice for me but that is purely personal. I did appreciated the premise of the story to begin with but not enough to want to find out what will happen which is why I have this 2 stars in the end.
Thank you Netgalley for the eArc in exchange for an honest review and Happy Publication Day tomorrow!
Thank you Netgalley for the eArc in exchange for an honest review and Happy Publication Day tomorrow!
October 27, 2020
A wonderfully sweet and poignant story about moving through trauma, abandonment, and depression towards finding new life. This story is about the power of life in a dying world, the possibility of friendship under any and all circumstances, and the unwavering commitment to get back on the bike and keep riding. A great novel from Michael J DeLuca and start up Stelliform Press. Both definitely names to watch.
April 23, 2021
This novella is filled with gorgeous prose and amazing images, bringing both the large-scale organism of Detroit to life and also the smaller scale of individuals, namely Aileen who is a young mother with a newborn abandoned by her partner. It is an urban fantasy that is very heavy on the urban, letting the fantasy take up all of the outskirts of the plot, actually bringing all of this vision of a person/parent building their life anew into the realm of the fantastic.
Well worth your time.
Well worth your time.
July 3, 2020
Quite an engrossing story of a new single mother trying to form a life in future Detroit. A magical story with appealing characters, Night Roll also brings in references to Detriot's history, which were unfamiliar to me, but it made me want to learn more about the city. Thank you to Stelliform Press for providing the ARC.
January 17, 2021
This was a great example of accessible urban fantasy. I loved the endearing tale of a mother and her newborn in a city on decline. The setting was fast paced and the voice was very strong. The imagery was also very vivid.
I typically don't read urban fantasy but found this book enjoyable.
Received this book from NetGalley in exchange for a review.
I typically don't read urban fantasy but found this book enjoyable.
Received this book from NetGalley in exchange for a review.
July 28, 2021
This book is super short and had a captivating cover and interesting summary on the back. I was excited to read it! However, the conten was very blocky and difficult to read. The first paragraph included the sentence, “Christian’s hot mouth at her nipple was the only thing keeping her awake.”’
Christian is Aileen’s infant child. 🥴
Christian is Aileen’s infant child. 🥴
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 8, 2025
Not long, just enough to enjoy a bit at a time or in one immersive sit-down, this weird and wonderful queernormative tale includes ghosts, veggies, neighborhood, a baby, and a whole lot of love for bikes, all set in the veins of the land, the Three Fires Confederacy, and the true spirit of Detroit. Surreal enough to take you away and also to draw you closer. I enjoyed it!
November 6, 2024
While I found both the plot and writing style interesting, I couldn’t quite connect to the writing style. The future speculative world building and ending combined made this a bit more sad than hopeful, but the bike talk was neat.
October 2, 2020
The concept is okay, but its not a book for me.
abandoned
October 25, 2020we have another netgalley dnf
Read
September 6, 2024This author leads with their hipness. The hipness is not in service of the story, it's kind of the story. Trying to decide if I'll finish.
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