Today’s short read was “St. Juju” by Rivers Solomon. I discovered their work earlier this year (or maybe last….pandemic time is funny that way) when I read An Unkindness of Ghosts. Since then, when I see Rivers’ name on something, it goes right onto my to-read list. Perhaps at some point I’ll write about Unkindness… it deserves a lot of mention.
“St. Juju” is part of a series of science fiction stories produced by the Verge called “Better Worlds,” all of which are accompanied by videos like the one above. I like the concept but will say that I ended up stopping the video so that I could read and savor Solomon’s language, picturing all these characters for myself. The worldbuilding was intriguing and having just read Solomon’s Sorrowland, I wonder if this world has any connection to that.
There are a lot of small moments in the description that say a lot in a short space. Here’s a quote I particularly liked: “Enid grabs my hand and squeezes tight, enough to hurt, but the pressure reins me in. It reminds me that my body exists. I don’t know why she bothers with a thing as untogether as me.”
Gwen Whiting 