We are excited to share the cover of Sordidez by EG Condé, an indigenous futuristic science fiction novel set in Puerto Rico and the Yucatan Peninsula, published by Stelliform Press on July 25, 2023.

Vero has been at odds with his community. As a trans person in Puerto Rico in the near future, he struggles to have his identity and vision of an inclusive society recognized.

After a hurricane devastates the island and Puerto Rico is abandoned by the United States, Vero leaves home to ask the central government for aid and to find the truth about the arrival of new colonists on the island. However, in the Yucatan, Vero discovers a landscape devastated by a self-inflicted ecological catastrophe – hydrophages, a climate technology twisted into a weapon of war by dictator Caudillo and unleashed on the land.

Amidst the devastation, Vero witnesses both despair and the hope of rebirth as he documents the lives of survivors. Details about the colonists’ intentions emerge when Vero meets Loba Roja, an anti-Caudillo revolutionary who imagines a new power for the Maya. Intrigued by visions of the future and acts of unapologetic violence, Vero faces a life-changing question: Can Aboriginal revival protect his beloved island? What will he have to sacrifice to support it?

EG Condé is a technical anthropologist and emerging mystery writer of the Puerto Rican diaspora. His short stories have appeared in If There Are Anybody Left, The Reckoning, EASST Review, Tree and Stone, Sword & Sorcery, and Solarpunk Magazine. Follow his articles on his website, or follow him on social media via @CloudAnthro.