I Just Read About That…

Dedicated Men of Zion come to you from their backyard barbecue in North Carolina, bringing with them an electrified version of sacred Gospel soul music. This family band (all related through blood or marriage) has been isolating together during the pandemic, and the members are excited to provide an uplifting note during difficult times.

They sing three songs in front of an amazing looking barbeque in Dex’s backyard.  The first, “Father, Guide Me, Teach Me” is a rocking gospel song.  There’s a great old-fashioned organ sound from Aaron Adams.  The four men sing.  Anthony “Amp” Daniels sings lead, Dexter Weaver [his nephew-in-law], Antwan “Ace” Daniels [his son], and Marcus Sugg [his son-in-law] sing great backing vocals.  There’s a fun jam at the end.

“Can’t Turn Me Around” opens with Mark Richardson playing a simple blues riff on the guitar. Then Jerry Harrison joins in on bass.  Amp is full on power singing through it.  He sounds great.

For “It’s A Shame,” Ace takes over lead vocals.  He has a good voice, but not nearly as commanding as his father.  Drums throughout are provided by Amp’s little brother Jaheim Daniels.

They sound great, but honestly I kept thinking about that barbeque.

[READ: January 2, 2021]

Despite the boring title I was really intrigued by this story.  The cover is tshirtking and the blurb was really intense-sounding.

So, I was really fascinated that the fundamental basis of the story the #FeesMustFall Rally was real: #FeesMustFall was a student-led protest movement that began in mid-October 2015 in South Africa.  Much of the story is grounded in the reality and danger of this movement.

The story takes place over the course of a week and each chapter is told from one of six character’s person’s point of view.

Hector, a student protester is looking to get everyone riled up about the cost of education in Cape Town.

Noné, South Africa’s president is not ready to deal with this interruption because she has a big public event coming up–an extraordinary zoo.  Noné was once a student protestor herself but she has since become The System.  She can’t trust anyone because everyone is out to get her.  The only reliable face she knows is Alice.  Alice is young an beautiful and while Noné knows that Alice probably wants her job (and is undoubtedly prettier than she is), at this point Alice is a perfect assistant and only makes Noné look better.

Thuli is a student and friend of Hector.  She has been “glitching” where she can see seven days in the future.  She knows that Hector’s life is in danger.  She has to try to convince reporter Helen that what she’s saying is true.

Helen is a reporter.  She is in the trenches and has covered a great deal of important stories in Cape Town.  Her old editor and friend has died and a new one has taken over–one with less willingness to put up with Helen’s ways.

So the setting and basis of the story are grounded in reality, but there are some supernatural elements as well.  Thuli can, indeed, see a week into the future–it just started happening.  She can’t do anything about what she sees, but she can warn people and hope they listen.

Hector is mostly a reality-based character, until we learn a bit about his ahistorical backstory.

Ray is a minister in South Africa.  She reports to Noné,.  They were part of the same student movement many years ago and now they work together, but there is some friction.  Ray is little more sensitive to the student protests because her daughter Sindiwe is one of the protestors.  She is, of course, fearful for Sindiwe’s life if things get violent.  When Noné starts talking about getting rid of the students, Ray starts to protest.

The final narrator is Adnan. Adnan works in the government offices as a flunky.  He hates the job but needs the money.  While Adnan is on a smoke break, Ray and her compatriot Fundi come outside and start talking about what’s going on in the county.  Adnan wants to hide–but he’s afraid he’ll look suspicious if he leaves.  So he tries to tune it out but he can’t help overhearing.  Then he learns a few crucial details.

One is that the resident is planning on killing Hector to quell the protests.  The second is that Fundi can read minds (including his own).  So yes this story is more supranatural than it at first leads on.

Adnan is friends with Miles a guy that he met online.  The guy must have some kind of government contact because he seems to know a lot of things just before they happen..  Adnan reaches out to him about what he heard–not giving details, but asking about a special forces unit made of reanimated dead bodies.

Thuli told Helen that in her vision the sniper who kills Hector just seems to disappear.  Helen thinks she’s crazy, but as she does some research, she reads about the special forces units, including one called T-Ruths.  These are drones that self destruct after their mission is complete.

Another supernatural aspect of the story is Noné’s zoo.  It is full of supernatural creatures that she has purchased from Russia.  Like the Evans blowfish which produces a calm on anyone nearby or wolves the size of seahorses with a song pitched high enough to shatter glass.   Most can be found in Radulovich’s Compendium of Magical Creatures.

Things come to a head when there’s a riot on campus.  Thuli is nearly killed.  Helen has started drinking again because things are so intense and Adnan learns of a plot to kidnap Noné.

I really enjoyed the way this story started as a student protest/political intrigue story and slowly morphed into a thriller with really dangerous consequences.  I also like the interweaving of supernatural elements in a story that was mostly grounded in reality.

If you’ve never heard South African accents, here’s a (dramatic) audio clip from the book.

There was also and interview with the author on Litnet; here’s some interesting quotes:

What inspired you, and what first gave you the idea to write The fall?

The fall is set in Cape Town during one week of the #FeesMustFall protests. I was inspired by the bravery and honesty of the students, and struck by how violent the reaction of the state was to their reasonable demands.

Thuli’s voice came to me one afternoon when I was walking home after work. Once I had her and knew what she wanted to tell me, then it became important to set the story in the protests and to try and describe the protests and what they meant through the perspectives of different characters. Initially, I had seven characters over seven days (a fun writing exercise), but, in the editing of my first draft, I narrowed it down to six perspectives.

One of the characters, Thuli, is clairvoyant. Who was the inspiration for Thuli? 

Thuli can see up to seven days into the future, in what she calls “a glitch”. Thuli’s character was inspired by the many powerful women activists I saw leading and participating in the #FeesMustFall protests.

#FeesMustFall is a topic in the book. What kind of research did you do, and how long did you spend researching before beginning this book?

It’s a fiction, so it doesn’t cover any particular moment or day of the protests with any intention of capturing something exactly as it was. The protests are the setting of the characters’ lives, and shape their actions and desires. I spent most of my time researching the characters and trying to get to know them.

Is President Noné inspired by any female (South African or international) politicians? Who?

She’s not inspired by any one person, but rather by many people I’ve interacted with. I think our current political system rewards and normalises narcissists, and Noné is reflective of this.

You also write non-fiction. Which genre is your favourite, and why? And what are the challenges each genre presents?

I enjoy both types of writing, and I treat them with the same level of respect. Sometimes it’s easier to tell the truth in fiction than in non-fiction, and sometimes non-fiction writing in South Africa feels so bizarre that you wouldn’t be able to make believable fiction about it. In both types of writing, I’m aiming to reflect, to create questions and to encourage curiosity.

What was an early experience where you learned that language has power?

I have always believed that language has power – we all learn this as children when we learn that we can say “no” when we don’t want to do something. Slowly, as we get older, I think society tries to hide that power from women and other marginalised groups. But power is a concept that can be understood in multiple ways. You can think of it as something to hold over another person, or with which to silence them. Or you can think of power as an enabler, the power to do something, to change things.

I think the way we think about and talk about protests and why they happen has the ability to shape our receptiveness to listening, and I wanted to explore this idea in The fall.

How do you balance making demands on the reader with taking care of the reader?

I keep my chapters short, so there are plenty of rest breaks.