excerpt:
The oldest members of the asamblea all agree that the idea for El Zopilote came out of the Plantation in Texas, back when it was still one more state in the old US. The Plantation is what they called the Sysco-Bush Memorial Carceral Center and it had slaves’ quarters and a master’s house and Black and brown inmates working for no pay all the day long, so it earned its nickname. The white patriarchal establishment said they were criminals. The truth, however, even in Texas, was common knowledge.
➤ a near-future novelette telling the story of the dystopian breakdown of the USA
➤ told by the granddaughter of a black woman who escaped prison slavery to head south of the border and found a new community for fellow escapees
➤ I love the voice of the narrator, her efforts to tell Symphonie's story in an objective and appropriate historical style, but with occasional notes to herself interjecting, wondering about if she's approaching her writing in the right way
➤ I also love the relationship between Symphonie and Karla!
➤ and the themes about how the past can't be left behind, it is an important part of what makes you what you are today
➤ 8k words
