In 'Homebound,' an epic journey through multiverses begins with a single video game

Summary

NPR's Book of the Day — "In 'Homebound,' an Epic Journey Through Multiverses Begins With a Single Video Game"

Date: May 20, 2026
Host: Alyssa Nadworny
Guests: Portia Elon (author), Scott Detrow (NPR interviewer)

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Episode Overview

This episode explores Homebound, the debut novel by Portia Elon—a speculative, multigenerational journey that begins with a queer teenager decoding an unfinished 1980s video game. Through interview segments with Elon, the podcast delves into the novel’s core questions of identity, belonging, community, and the enduring power of stories across centuries and universes.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

The Premise: Connecting Centuries Through Story

• The novel traces characters from Cincinnati in 1983, through a video game played in 2090, and onward to a far-future, waterlogged Earth in 2586.
• At its emotional heart, Homebound focuses on searching for identity and a place to belong.
  • “At its heart, Homebound is about a group of characters across time and space, all of whom are trying to answer the question of who am I and where do I belong?” — Portia Elon [02:11]

Protagonists Across Time

• Bex (1980s):
  • A young woman grieving her late, gay uncle who leaves behind an unfinished computer game.
  • Her emotional journey and decision to finish the game ripple 600 years into the future.
  • “It starts in the 1980s with a young woman named Bex, whose beloved uncle has just died, and he leaves her an unfinished computer game, and her choice to finish that game ends up echoing 600 years into the future.” — Portia Elon [02:27]
• Universality of Outsider Status:
  • The outsider experience Bex faces is refracted through all protagonists, regardless of their place in time.
  • “Those feelings of being an outsider, that’s a timeless feeling. There are going to be people 500 years from now feeling it. There are people 500 years in the past who are feeling it too.” — Portia Elon [03:32]

Yasiko and the Future Setting

• Yasiko (2586):
  • Described as a Han Solo-like survivor on a flooded world, guiding a ship through new dangers.
  • Her emotional arc centers on learning to trust others and accept vulnerability.
  • “A lot of the trip that she takes, beyond just the physical trip, is about expanding her idea of what does it mean to have a crew and to have people with whom she can feel safe.” — Portia Elon [04:38]

Themes of Optimism and Community

• Balances dystopian world-building (flooded, erased societies, corrupt billionaires) with optimism found in community and interpersonal care.
  • “I feel much more hopeful when I think about the people in my communities... I really saw the ways in which people are capable of great care, even for strangers.” — Portia Elon [05:32]
• The persistence of doing good even within corrupt systems is highlighted, as people "make sure the right thing happens” from within.

Religion, Storytelling, and Legacy

• Judaism in the novel: Drifts into personal storytelling and ritual, serving as communal anchor and transmitter of memory and identity.
  • “Religion is a really powerful repository of story and keeper of story... the ritual of some of her sort of future Jewish life is also what keeps her grounded.” — Portia Elon [06:48], [07:37]
• Religion endures, becoming more oral and interpersonal as society becomes nomadic and endangered.

AI and Outsiderness: Haya the Robot

• Haya: A possibly sentient robot, raised as a question for the reader.
  • “That’s a great question. I don’t have an answer for that. I think that’s up to the reader.” — Portia Elon [08:12]
• Haya embodies the ultimate outsider, "one of one", observing centuries of human movement and loss with a folkloric, choral narrative voice.
  • “I’m just interested in that outsider character because... Chaya is an outsider because they are one of one.” — Portia Elon [08:29]

The Librarian’s Perspective

• Elon, a former librarian, is asked to imagine how a librarian might recommend her book:
  • “I really hope that a librarian can give this to a reader and just say this is going to take you on a really big journey and you’re going to feel cared for at the end of it.” — Portia Elon [09:17]

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “Who are the people who see me the way that I want to be seen? Who are the people who can be trusted with my vulnerable parts? That’s a question that really, I think, all of us have asked at some point.” — Portia Elon [04:04]
• “I was a public librarian, and before that I was a high school teacher. And in both of those places, I really saw the ways in which people are capable of great care, even for strangers...” — Portia Elon [05:32]
• “Religion... felt important to me as a touchstone for Yessico, that this is how she accesses story.” — Portia Elon [06:48]

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• Introduction to Homebound: [01:56]
• Core question of identity and belonging: [02:11], [03:02]
• Reluctant hero Yasiko’s journey: [04:19]
• Hope and dystopia in the future: [05:07]
• Role of religion and storytelling: [06:38], [06:48]
• Haya the maybe-sentient robot: [07:57]
• Author’s librarian perspective: [09:04], [09:17]

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Tone and Takeaway

The conversation is thoughtful and gentle, blending literary curiosity with big existential and speculative themes. At its core, Homebound is framed as a compassionate, epic multiverse journey that makes the listener consider timeless questions—alongside the possibility that, even in dystopian futures, human care and story endures.

Transcript

[Alyssa Nadworny]

Hello, I'm Alyssa Nadworny, and this is NPR's book of the Day. Today's book tells a story that spans hundreds of years. There are multiple storylines and characters, all connected by the story of a queer teenager's video game. It's called Homebound, and it's the debut novel by Portia Elon. Elon spoke with NPR's Scott Detrow.

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[Scott Detrow]

Cincinnati 1983 a video game played in 2090 the mid Atlantic Ocean in spring 2586. These are the places and times woven together in a new novel. Homebound author Portia Alon explains that at

[Portia Elon]

its heart, Homebound is about a group of characters across time and space, all of whom are trying to answer the question of who am I and where do I belong?

[Scott Detrow]

And it's the universality of figuring out those answers that makes the book tick.

[Portia Elon]

It starts in the 1980s with a young woman named Bex, whose beloved uncle has just died, and he leaves her an unfinished computer game, and her choice to finish that game ends up echoing 600 years into the future.

[Alyssa Nadworny]

I read that you started with this early 80s timeline and BEX, who's such a relatable character. And as we get farther and farther out, characters are still relatable, but the worlds are more and more different from ours.

[Scott Detrow]

Tell me how that grew in your

[Alyssa Nadworny]

mind, how you thought that this story that you started with could end up 500 plus years in the future.

[Portia Elon]

I sensed from the very beginning that the question that was really animating Bex and her vulnerability, that sense of being an outsider who didn't belong, was also a question that I shared. And I just understood at, like, a very deep level that there wasn't a singular answer to that question. And so I was going to have to make this story bigger than just the 1980s. I was gonna have to chase down answers to those questions, you know, reaching out into the future. I think those feelings of being an outsider, that's a timeless feeling. There are going to be people 500 years from now feeling it. There are people 500 years in the past who are feeling it too.

[Alyssa Nadworny]

Somebody who's realizing she's gay and that her uncle's gay. In the early 80s, when that's something we didn't say out loud that much, can share something in common with somebody on a flooded world, you know, steering around a ship 500 years later.

[Portia Elon]

Yes. That question of who are the people who see me the way that I want to be seen? Who are the people who can be trusted with my vulnerable parts? That's a question that really, I think, all of us have asked at some point.

[Alyssa Nadworny]

Tell us about Yasiko, this character in the future that we spend a lot of time with in the book. She's almost like we were talking about her, almost like this Han Solo character, the kind of crusty person who picks up the passenger and, you know, slowly builds a relationship with them, despite the fact that that's the last thing in the world that they want.

[Portia Elon]

I love the Han Solo echoes. Yes, Yasiko is really a survivor, but she lives in a world in which that act of survival has also meant that she can't be vulnerable or doesn't feel like she can be vulnerable. And so a lot of the trip that she takes, beyond just the physical trip is about expanding her idea of what does it mean to have a crew and to have people with whom she can feel safe.

[Scott Detrow]

I'm wondering how you think about the

[Alyssa Nadworny]

future, because this book at times feels pessimistic. It's a dystopian, flooded world where all remnants of the civilization we live in now are gone. And you get little clues of, are they talking about this, are they talking about that? But it's by and large, we've been erased.

[Scott Detrow]

And yet at the same time, a

[Alyssa Nadworny]

lot in this book feels optimistic, feels hopeful. How do you think about the future?

[Portia Elon]

I definitely feel a little scared sometimes when I think about the future, when I see some of the big institutional forces that are moving in the world that I feel sometimes often powerless to address. But I feel much more hopeful when I think about the people in my communities. I was a public librarian, and before that I was a high school teacher. And in both of those places, I really saw the ways in which people are capable of great care, even for strangers, even for people to whom they don't have any formal bond. And I think that act of care, that being able to be in community with one another, that gives me a lot of hope for the future.

[Scott Detrow]

Yeah, I like that answer.

[Alyssa Nadworny]

I won't give away too much, but there's specific moments in the book where big, powerful people, billionaires, snap things up and kind of bend them to their own whims. But at the same time, people within those structures are doing what they can to still make sure the right thing happens.

[Scott Detrow]

I mean, to that end, how does

[Alyssa Nadworny]

religion fit into this future world you created? Because it is an important part of life on the ship for Yessico and her crewmates. They have this future form of Judaism that's really important to them.

[Portia Elon]

I'm interested in generally stories and how stories can allow us to feel a part of something bigger than ourselves, whether that's connection to ancestors or people who came before us, connections to the communities that are around us right now, or a sense of legacy, what we're leaving for the people who come after us. And I think religion is a really powerful repository of story and keeper of story for many people. And so that felt important to me as a touchstone for Yessico, that this is how she accesses story. And the ritual of some of her sort of future Jewish life is also what keeps her grounded in her relationships to other people.

[Alyssa Nadworny]

And it seems like the way you describe it, at least in your mind, that's the main driver of that. Religion has become person to person storytelling over the centuries as people become more nomadic and more endangered. Which brings us to an important character in the book who's not a human, and that's Haya the robot,

[Scott Detrow]

a sentient.

[Alyssa Nadworny]

Whoa, whoa. I was gonna say sentient, but we had some disagreement. The team that worked on this from NPR of Is Haya clearly sentient, or is that just what people around it are imposing on it?

[Portia Elon]

That's a great question. I don't have an answer for that. I think that's up to the reader.

[Alyssa Nadworny]

All right, that's the best answer sometimes, but it's really kind of a lonely

[Scott Detrow]

character who kind of watches the world

[Alyssa Nadworny]

fall apart slowly and everyone around it coming and going and coming and going over the centuries.

[Portia Elon]

Yeah, Haya was a really actually fun character to write. Their voice is very folkloric, I think, sort of choral. And I'm just interested in that outsider character because, I mean, Bex is an outsider because of her sexuality. Yessico is an outsider because sort of how she's positioned herself and her own independence. And Chaya is an outsider because they are one of one.

[Alyssa Nadworny]

The last thing I want to ask is that you mentioned that you worked for a while as a librarian.

[Scott Detrow]

Have you thought as you finished up

[Alyssa Nadworny]

this book and released it into the world, have you thought about how a librarian might recommend this book of yours to a reader, what that conversation might be like?

[Portia Elon]

I hadn't until this moment, but that's a fun thing to think about.

[Alyssa Nadworny]

What do you think?

[Portia Elon]

I really hope that a librarian can give this to a reader and just say this is going to take you on a really big journey and you're going to feel cared for at the end of it. And that readers will trust their librarians enough to pick it up.

[Alyssa Nadworny]

That is Portia Alon, author of the new novel Homebound. Thank you so much for talking to us.

[Portia Elon]

Thank you so much for having me.

[Alyssa Nadworny]

Foreign.

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