


One character named Hero is genderqueer, but that's not the main point, they play an important role in the murdering sprees because of their poisoning knowledge. So the alternative history setting is unique and fun in itself, but Gailey really shines in her interesting characters. Instead of barns there are lakes, and different types of hippos have been bred for different purposes (speed, meat, etc.) Instead of riding in on horses, the villains (who are kind of the heros) and the law enforcement ride in on.

It sounds crazy, but that's the alternate history world setting the scene for American Hippo. It was originally proposed to Congress as a solution for meat production and to also cut down on the water hyacinth that was clogging waterways. The backbone of these two novellas and two short stories ("Winslow's Problem" and "Nine and a Half") is an idea that never happened, but almost happened in the United States - hippopotamus ranching.

I kept hearing about the first novella in this collection, River of Teeth, last year but just finally got to it in this grouping. American Hippo: River of Teeth, Taste of Marrow, and a new short story by Sarah Gailey
