Tentacle by Rita Indiana
NB this novella has been translated by Achy Obejas
Publisher – And Other Stories
Published – Out Now
Price - £8.99 paperback £3.79 Kindle eBook
Plucked from her life on the streets of post-apocalyptic Santo Domingo, young maid Acilde Figueroa finds herself at the heart of a Santeria prophecy only she can travel back in time and save the ocean – and humanity – from disaster. But first she must become the man she always was – with the help of a sacred anemone…
It is safe to say in the UK our centres of SF and fantasy are very European or American focused. Only recently have we started to realise that there are writers of the fantastic out therein other countries bringing Asian, African and many other influences to ever widening audiences. I as intrigued by the idea of a tale of Caribbean fantasy and found Rita Indiana’s weird and gritty trip to a future Dominican Republic unsettling but also one that raised some questions on inclusion towards minorities that I felt were flawed.
The core setting of the tale is the Dominican Republic in the late 2020s. The seas around the island have encountered a huge ever widening environmental disaster and virtually nothing can now survive in the waters. Dangerous diseases travel the island and those suspected of carrying it can be killed on sight. The rich are very rich, and the poor are very poor. Into this we meet Acilde Figuero once a prostitute now working for the President’s possibly magical special advisor who also has the only living sea anemone in her house. A robbery leaves Acilde without their employer but with the anemone and about to find that they are deemed the chosen one to save their people. We also meet talented but arrogant artist Argenis who decides to quit his call centre job and reside with businessman and environmentalist Giorgio Menicucci and then begins to find himself in the island’s bloody past. These characters lives will cross paths and times, but ultimately can someone save the future whatever the cost?
This is a very grim novella. Characters move from scene to scene but can meet brutal ends or reveal themselves to be quite venal and selfish. There is a theme of endless horror echoing through the republic’s past that seems to only escalate rather than end. Despite this there is a faint hope in the ancient beliefs of the people that a chosen one will reveal themselves who could prevent the apocalypse. This involved Alcide who receives their wish to finally become male and gains the ability to also be in the past possibly able to alter history. The plotting is clever and what starts as a few messy character pieces becomes a well weaved tale of cause and effect intriguingly done through fantasy rather than science fiction. I do applaud the thinking into this, and that Indiana was unflinching in a view of humanity at its worst – selfish, violent and cruel. We get ideas on time travel; dual minds, ancient gods and prophecies all with a different spin to those types of tales we are used to. The unpredictability of the story is a great pull for the reader
However, the story has two points I think to be tackled. Alcide is a trans male and although acting as a maid for their employer is only masquerading as a female maid not through choice. However, this story uses the pronoun ‘she’ to describe Alcide until they transform biologically into a male body at which point, they become ‘he’. I think this is done to aid a later reveal but it’s an uncomfortable choice of approach knowing how pronouns are valued in that community and being tied to a a biological change feels very problematic. However, I would note the author is a well-known member of the Caribbean queer community itself so not sure if this is due to translation or any other issues. The other topic is the level of sexual violence. This is a story filled with rape; sexual abuse and objectification. This is very much I think to show tonally how bad this society was and is, but it veers sometimes into overwhelming grimness and although this is a very bleak story, I’m not sure it was always needed so graphically.
Overall Tentacle is a very unusual novella where the biggest success for me was the plotting and review of society’s ever-increasing desire for more and more leads to eventual destruction and corrupts all those it touches. It was a challenging read that did however leave a deliberately bitter taste in the mouth and I applaud Indiana for taking the story to those dark places but I’m unsure its one that many people will want to tread into without fair warning and the level of violence will definitely make it not a read for everyone.
