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To the Woman in the Pink Hat
Conversation Pieces #87
by LaToya Jordan
Aqueduct Press, $12.00, 84pp
Published: March 2023

Another novella in the ever-fascinating 'Conversation Pieces' series from Aqueduct Press covering feminist science fiction, this is the first that I've wanted to be more substantial. It looks towards a time that's frustratingly believable as not far into the future from our own and then throws out a new dystopian twist that I haven't seen before. That's largely because I'm male and white and the vast majority of science fiction authors I read in my youth were too. LaToya Jordan is neither male nor white and so her horrifyingly plausible future isn't mine, which is great because I want to read stories by people who aren't me.

Jordan's primary character is Jada Morris and, because this is only a novella, clocking in at only eighty pages, she's the only character we really get to know, even though she's merely one of the women currently serving time at the Center for Future Leaders. That means that she's committed a crime as a response to violence against women, a crime that's not remotely acceptable to society but is understandable to anyone who looks at it without resorting to a kneejerk absolutist response. It's ostensibly a way for them to be rehabilitated rather than punished and then returned to society in a condition that would qualify them for leadership roles.

The biggest problem I had with the book is that Jada is only one of many women at this mysterious Center and I wanted to hear their stories too. It isn't just that Jordan didn't have space to do them all justice, so made the entirely logical choice to focus in on a single character; it's that she chose a particular ending that removes her flexibility to write companion volumes with a similar impact. It wouldn't have the same effect because we know what's going on now. If she has a desire to return to this world, it would need to be with a different story that takes a different angle.

That's the primary reason why I wanted more from this than Jordan was able to bring and another is that it unfolded in too straightforward a manner to do the complexity of the issues she brings to our minds justice. Maybe, if it does well enough, she could expand it into a full novel form. I firmly believe it would benefit from more breadth and more depth, things that are nigh on impossible to cram into eighty pages. It's not Jordan's fault. It's a problem inherent in the format she's writing.

I adored the beginning. The Center provides therapy sessions through AI-driven robot therapists, which deliberately don't look human because that's illegal. However, the technology is there and, in an effort to tackle Jada's trauma, which involves a white woman called Sarah Jacobs, Ayana, a black-skinned robot therapist, transforms her features into Sarah's while Jada's eyes are closed. Of course, it's a huge shock when she opens them and the experience leaves Jada curled up on the floor. It's definitely futuristic and something that would translate well into a short film.

It also makes us wonder what the Center is trying to do, whether it's as well intentioned as it says in its mission statement. Again, I'd like to have seen the Center from the perspectives of many of the women serving there, but I'll settle for Jada's view. And we see that in sections that alternate with a flashback exploration of what brought her to this point, in the form of her recording a cloud journal for her therapists. It's a relatively simple approach, another one that would translate well into a short film. I hope someone picks up the option and does it justice.

This isn't a spoiler, because it's on in the back cover blurb, but that background has to do with her going to EmGest for a birth control study. Hey, she got paid $10,000 and it was supposed to stop her period. All good, right? Except the FBI show up one day to check her out and let her know that her uterus was stolen. This is a thing, it seems, in this future: the uteruses of young black women are removed without consent or even knowledge. Jada had no idea her uterus was gone. Of course, it isn't a simple organ harvesting scam, because this is further into dystopia. There are reasons why this surgery was done, reasons plural, and they have everything to do with race.

For all that I wanted it to be much longer and more in depth, this is a powerful novella that I have no doubt will stay with me. I'm male and now over fifty, so childbirth doesn't remotely factor into my life, but I felt for Jada and, by vague extension, her fellow inmates at the Center. She certainly committed a heinous crime herself, but in response to a heinous crime that was done to her, one I feel even more acutely because she didn't even know that it had happened. She'd have found out, at some point, of course, had the FBI not shown up to expose it, but it would have taken years and much heartbreak to get there and that makes the theft not only of a piece of flesh but of all that it would have done. And, without delving into spoilers, it goes deeper than that.

I can't be remotely close to the target audience for these slim 'Conversation Pieces' volumes, but I'm appreciating every one that I read. This is #87 in the series and I hope it continues for years to come. ~~ Hal C F Astell

For more titles in Conversation Pieces click here

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