Tater’s mom had named her after the naturalized Ozettes. The grey nubs did not look like much as they sat steaming on the ground, but washed and sliced into brilliant purple disks, they would glow. It starts with talking about potatoes being picked for a meal and ends up with a perfect, compact statement of Tater’s hopes. We learn about Tater and her world through small details, like how Tater got her name and how she feels about it. She is joyous and hopeful and sees herself as fortunate to be living in a community that cares for her. Tater does not see her life as problematic. ‘ Deer Dancer‘ is written with a light touch that brings intimacy without being weighed down by detail. In eight pages or so, a series of short scenes show me a young woman called Tater and the communal life she leads in a future version of our world, a couple of generations after large scale climate change has forced people to find new ways to live. This is one of those (very) short pieces of speculative fiction that sparkle in the imagination like a shard of blown glass: bright, unique and with sharp edges.
My first find is Kathleen Alcalá’s ‘Deer Dancer’. I’m always hungry for voices in Speculative Fiction who have the gift of seeing the world – past, present and future – differently and who can help me step out of my world and into theirs.
I bought Nisi Shawl’s ‘New Suns – Original Speculative Fiction by People of Color’ because I’m already a fan of two of the writers, Karin Lowachee and Rebecca Roanhorse, and I hoped to find other equally talented writers.
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