From the Back Cover
A Caribbean zombie, smart, gentlemanly, financially independent, and a top executive in an important pharmaceutical company, becomes obsessed with finding the formula that would reverse his condition and allow him to become "a real person." In the process, three of his closest collaborators (cerebral and calculating Isadore, wide-eyed and sentimental Mathilde, and rambunctious Patricia), guide the reluctant and baffled scientist through the unpredictable intersections of love, passion, empathy, and humanity. But the playful maze of jealousy and amorous intrigue that a living being would find easy and fun to negotiate, represents an insurmountable tangle of obscure intentions and dangerous ambiguities for our "undead" protagonist.
Set at the contact zones between Haiti and the Dominican Republic, this is a polyphonic novel, an intense and sometimes funny pharmacopeia of love lost and humanity regained; a most original combination of Caribbean noir and science-fiction addressing issues of global relevance including novel takes on ecological/apocalyptical imbalance bound to make an impact.
Wicked Weeds is put together from a female colleague's (Isadore's) "scrapbook," where she has collected her boss's scientific goals and existential agony; her own reflections about growing up a Haitian descendant in the Dominican Republic and what it really means to be human; from police reports; field journal entries; her great-aunt Sandrine's heart-rending journey from rural Haiti to urban Dominican Republic as a restavek; and a wealth of oral lore. The end result is a genre unique in its class: a precise combination of Caribbean noir and science-fiction Latin American style that is, a work of speculative fiction full of humor, sociological pursuits, and in-depth explorations into religious syncretism and its survival in the modern world.
Pedro Cabiya is a poet, screenwriter, and award-winning author of the bestselling novels Trance and The Head, as well as the seminal short-story collections Historias tremendas (Pen Club Book of the Year) andHistorias atroces. He currently resides in the Dominican Republic, where he is Dean of Academic Affairs at the American School of Santo Domingo and senior producer at Heart of Gold Films.
Jessica Ernst Powell, the translator, has published numerous translations of Latin American authors, including Antonio Benítez-Rojo, Jorge Luis Borges, César Vallejo, Adolfo Bioy Casares, Silvina Ocampo, Edgardo Rivera Martínez, María Moreno, Edmundo Paz-Soldán, Liliana Heer, Alan Pauls, and Anna Lidia Vega Serova
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Pedro Cabiya is a poet, screenwriter, and award-winning author of the bestselling novels Trance and The Head, as well as the seminal short-story collections Historias tremendas (Pen Club Book of the Year) and Historias atroces. His work has been featured in numerous international anthologies, and his open letters, opinion pieces, and essays on politics, religion, human rights, art, and science regularly become viral phenomena. He has lived in Spain, the United States, Haiti, and Puerto Rico. He currently resides in the Dominican Republic, where he is dean of Academic Affairs at the American School of Santo Domingo and senior producer at Heart of Gold Films.
ABOUT THE TRANSLATOR:
Jessica Ernst Powell holds a PhD in Hispanic Languages and Literatures from the University of California, Santa Barbara. She has published numerous translations of Latin American authors, including Antonio Benítez-Rojo, Jorge Luis Borges, César Vallejo, Adolfo Bioy Casares, Silvina Ocampo, Edgardo Rivera Martínez, María Moreno, Edmundo Paz-Soldán, Liliana Heer, Alan Pauls, and Anna Lidia Vega Serova
