by Sim Kern
First published 2023
Maddie Ryan teaches English by day and plays rhythm guitar for queer punk band Bunny Bloodlust by night. In this alternate 2020, Al Gore won in 2000 and launched a War on Climate Change instead of Terror. Twenty years of Democratic control have created green urban paradises for wealthy white neighborhoods while poor communities like Houston's Eighth Ward face destruction. When the city plans to demolish the Eighth Ward for a hyperway to the suburbs, Maddie joins Save the Eighth, a Black-led resistance movement. She wants to keep her band together and get closer to Red, their enigmatic lead guitarist. But organizing forces Maddie to confront how she has harmed the neighborhood as both a gentrifying resident and white teacher. Police violence against protesters transforms her warehouse venue into the Free People's Village, an occupation that sparks nationwide anti-capitalist uprising. As the movement spreads, Maddie dreams of a liberated future with Red. The Village faces attacks from police, corporate media, and rising ecofascism. Maddie must choose between safety and justice as state violence threatens her chosen family.
Genres: fiction, dystopia, contemporary, political-thriller, activism, alternate-history
Vibes: emotional, fast-paced, thought-provoking
Tropes: chosen-family, enemies-to-lovers, found-family
Setting: Eighth Ward, Houston, Free People's Village
Period: 2020
388 pages · Kindle Edition · Levine Querido
Content warnings: racism, violence