Kent MacCarter. Sputnik’s Cousin. Melbourne: Transit Lounge: 2014 [Book review]

Much like its title, Sputnik’s Cousin is at once familiar and not quite of this world, or alternatively, entirely too reflective of this world and jarringly confronting. “Sputnik” not only refers to the Earth’s first artificial satellite, heralding a massive step in scientific ingenuity, but also means “fellow traveller” in Russian. To be Sputnik’s “cousin,” linked to this image of probing advancement, ironically committed to the quiet extremes of space, is to herald the collection’s connections to uncomfortable truths, but an oddly familial, encouraging means of conveyance.