The Transitive Properties of Cheese

A cheese cave. A sun. A million problems.

Millions Wayland was cutting the curds when she learned someone had thrown her cheese cave into the sun. To find out who is responsible, Millions makes a copy of her digitally uploaded consciousness and transmits it to a nearby orbital city. Soon enough, she becomes entangled in a messy conflict between several copies of herself that she made decades ago, one that soon ferments into a situation ready to go off.

Cover illustration by Drew Shields. Interior illustrations by Matthew Spencer. Cover design by dave ring.

PRAISE

"It's often claimed, by admirers and detractors both, that trans people are the footsoldiers of transhumanism. The Transitive Properties of Cheese takes this as its premise and its point of departure, asking the question, 'What if all your possible future selves hated each other, wanted to fuck, and were at war with the US government?' Marvelously inventive, technically deft, fascinated by humans' boundless potential for unfolding and change, The Transitive Properties of Cheese richly deserves a place next to The Fundamentals of Cheese on every cheese-lover's shelf-and an ever-increasing number of places on every cyberpunk reader's. I want at least ten copies so I can check to see if they're speciating."

-Maya Deane, author of Wrath Goddess Sing

"A strange, beautiful journey through the ecstasy-and agony-of knowing all one's selves that are, will be, or might have been. The Transitive Properties of Cheese asks what difference each decision makes, who is left behind, and most importantly, what would happen if you strapped a rocket to your butt."

-A.Z. Louise, author of Off-Time Jive

"The Transitive Properties of Cheese is a wonderful novella that combines engrossing drama and speculative technology with rich writing focused on the sensuality and idiosyncrasy of food, sex, and embodiment. Wayland, Hattie, Miller, and the rest of the Millions and their politics are complexly and empathetically drawn even in this short space, and you will be left wanting more of their world. Ann LeBlanc has brilliantly imagined a queer, transhuman future that, while not a utopia, is full of hope for humanity's capacity for collective joy, care, and liberation."

-Lina Rather, author of Sisters of the Vast Black

"Get in loser, we're doing a cheese heist! In The Transitive Properties of Cheese, LeBlanc crafts an exhilarating, heartfelt, and utterly original tale of betrayal, redemption, and self-love, fit for the toughest novella connoisseurs. The future of SF is bright, and LeBlanc is leading the charge, wheel of parmesan in hand."

-A.D. Sui, author of The Dragonfly Gambit

"This book is as complex and surprising as a cheddar aged in your own basement. It envisions a future as multitudinously collaborative as the microbiome which makes cheese possible."

-Sharon J. Gochenour, author of The Golden City