Mimeograph by Eira A. Ekre (book review).
$sfcrowsnest-review-editor – edit this review by Rosie: >> ‘Mimeograph’ by Eira A Ekre is a standalone Science Fiction novella. It does not fit neatly into any single sub-genre, but is a mix of literary, surreal, hard, dystopia and near future.
Mimeographs, also known as mimes, are machines that print anything a human requires from food and clothing to housing and offices.
Talia has a strong natural talent for spotting patterns that was noticeable from childhood. Furthermore, she loves finding patterns in the jungle of data and shapes and becomes addicted to hunting for them. She ends up analysing bugs and is so good at it that she is given the most difficult ones to deal with.
A mime is asked to print a shower rod to replace a broken one. Instead of a simple rod, it prints a deformed shape that fits into the shower. Nobody can understand why. It is a bug that needs fixing, but Talia and others in the industry can find no reason for it. Two years later, when the incident is all but forgotten, the woman who reported the bug slips in her shower. The deformed shape saves her life. A plain replacement rod would not have. Had the mime predicted the woman’s future and taken action to save her? It looks that way.
The mimes progressively make more decisions on their prints like this. They soften the corners in flats to stop people from getting hurt when they fall. They print commuter buses to take exactly the number of people that are going to travel on them that journey. They print hibiscus tea instead of coffee when people have had too much caffeine. Talia’s job becomes one of understanding why the mimes change the orders. A lot of the time she can give a reason.
However, finding explanations becomes more and more difficult over time. Talia works all hours to keep up but knows she is failing and worries about the consequences on humanity. She tries to do her best, until one day a mime prints something that defies even attempting to find a reason for its existence. Talia struggles to deal with it.
‘Mimeograph’ may only have a novella’s length, but it packs the punch of a novel. The world-building is wide-ranging, going from the familiar everyday life to the surreal. I know how difficult it is to write such scenes. They, like innovative world-building, needs to be described in easily understandable words. Also, the ideas to describe surreality has to laid out in easily linkable path for the reader to follow. On top of these difficult techniques, the scenes need a humungous amount of imaginative input. Ekre makes all this look easy.
Ekre uses the literary technique of pithy descriptions that focus precisely on the point she is making. Examples include, ‘Logic is the makeup of reality’ and ‘Statistics are a distraction and distractions are for upper management’. The literariness also comes from the story being told in ‘what is’ fashion without making judgements. It leaves the reader to come to their own conclusions and there are many possible ones.
The big idea behind the story is not new. How it is tackled is. Ideas, some nuanced details in Talia’s reality and others on how bigger issues are tackled are.
This novella is printed in sumptuous linen-covered hardback version limited to 500 copies. Once these copies are sold, this novella will only be available as a second-hand book, if at all.
‘Mimeograph’ is deeply thought-provoking about the near future. If that is your kind of Science Fiction, then it is a must to read.
Rosie Oliver
September 2026
(pub: L’il Factory AB, 2025. 64 page hardback. Price: £19.00 (UK), 20 euros. ISBN: 978-91-989955-2-7)
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