The Past Is Red

The last remnants of humanity are adrift on a flooded earth, clinging to a giant life raft built from the refuse of the 'fuckwits' who destroyed it. Morbid & irreverent, with everything taken to extremes.

Reading time 3 days, 49 pages/day

A strange dystopian novelette set in the Sargasso of Trash in the Pacific. Valente is such a great writer, and this challenging story is another brilliant gift. I love Tetley and Oscar the God, but the best scene is when the phone call "home" works, and we see the best ones stayed behind.

Tetley was born and raised in Garbagetown, the most beautiful place on Earth. Her friends include a bird, an otter, a plant, and someone called Big Red Mars.

The Past is Red is filled with the lavish, star-spangled language you expect from Valente. The story balances Tetley's rose-tinted optimism with the stark, horrifying nature of her reality.

I still resent how much trad publishing charges for ebooks, but at least this one was well-formatted and expertly edited.