By Stephen Weir
Life for individuals who would possibly nonetheless be capable to hint their Caribbean heritage 1000’s of years from now gained’t have a lot to sit up for. However wait, if spaceship pilot Virika Sameroo takes that well-known Bob Marley quote – “The individuals who had been attempting to make this world worse usually are not taking the time off. Why ought to I?” – to coronary heart, she would possibly be capable to emancipate many individuals who carry Carib DNA in a universe far, distant, the place individuals of color are handled like canines by a white-dominated empire.
It has been over every week since younger Trinidadian-Canadian Suzan Palumbo’s literary spaceship docked in Canadian bookstores. Her new science fiction novel just isn’t solely a darkish story about life on different planets but additionally carries hope for all times, liberty, and sexual freedom for everybody.
Countess is a sci-fi journey story that, based on the Brampton writer, was impressed by the traditional journey story, The Depend of Monte Cristo. Palumbo wished to present the journey story a contemporary, anti-colonial spin. She says that the 1844 e book gives an excellent basis on which to construct a narrative about freedom, decolonization, and riot—points which are essential to her as somebody from the Caribbean.
Virika Sameroo lives in colonized area below the Æcerbot Empire, very similar to her ancestors earlier than her within the British West Indies. After years of arduous work, she’s lastly change into first lieutenant on an interstellar cargo vessel. When her captain dies below suspicious circumstances, Virika is arrested for homicide and charged with treason, regardless of her lifelong loyalty to the empire. Her conviction and subsequent imprisonment set her on a path of revenge, decided to take down the evil empire that wronged her – all whereas the destiny of her individuals hangs within the steadiness.
The longer term hasn’t been sort to Caribbean individuals. For the previous couple of thousand years (or so we guess), individuals left Earth both willingly or on slave ships to work in mines, factories, and farms on planets that one way or the other all had breathable air, with names like Orinoco, the planet Bequia, and the Exterran Antilles.
Racism has survived—certainly, it has thrived. Individuals of colour are known as canines and compelled to work lengthy hours. To not criticize the writer, however what appears far-fetched is that talking English and native patois haven’t advanced a lot over the centuries. Instance? An outdated crone sells fruit in a avenue market on Bequia, known as the Baroness, who likes to say her contemporary fruits are “sweeta den something yuh eva had.”
Virika Sameroo is despised by a white male rival who frames the homosexual feminine lieutenant for homicide and treason. Like Dumas’ Depend of Monte Cristo, she is jailed for a decade in solitary confinement. She escapes and joins a gaggle of area pirates to hunt revenge for her therapy and to free the ancestral planets which are below the thumb of the empire.
Now known as the Contessa, she is courageous, crafty, and far feared. Does she succeed? The reply is written within the stars.
Suzan Palumbo is a Trinidadian-Canadian darkish speculative fiction author and editor. Her quick tales have been nominated for a number of sci-fi awards. Countess, revealed by ECW Press, is now stocked in shops and on-line.
