Wicked Weeds - by Pedro Cabiya (Paperback)

About the Book

A Zombie's search for his lost humanity and the intellectual quest of the only woman who can bestow it.

Book Synopsis

A Finalist for the Best Translated Book Award

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.

A Caribbean zombie--smart, gentlemanly, financially independent, and a top executive at 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 to negotiate represents an insurmountable tangle of dangerous ambiguities for our "undead" protagonist.

Wicked Weeds is put together from Isadore's scrapbook, where she has collected her boss' scientific goals and existential agony, as well as her own reflections about growing up as a Haitian descendant in the Dominican Republic and what it really means to be human. The end result is a precise combination of Caribbean noir and science-fiction, Latin American style.

Wicked Weeds, A Zombie Novel combines Cabiya's expertise in fiction, graphic novels and film to create a memorable literary zombie novel of a dead man's search for his lost humanity that can now take its place alongside other leading similar novels like Jonathan Mayberry's Patient Zero, S.G. Browne's Breathers: A Zombie's Lament, Daryl Gregory's Raising Sony Mayhall, World War Z by Max Brooks, and The Reapers Are The Angels by Alden Bell. As for the novel's immersion in orality and Caribbean folk traditions and noir it can very well align with Wade Davis' The Serpent and the Rainbow and Karen Russell's St. Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves.

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

Review Quotes

Wicked Weeds named to top ten forthcoming books in science fiction, fantasy and horror by Publishers Weekly, in the Spring 2016 Announcements

Isra Isle named as one of the 15 Works to Watch Out For in 2016,
Rachel Cordasco, Speculative Fiction in Translation

"[A] Caribbean zombie novel navigates the uncertain pathways of the human heart in this cerebral take on the undead. ...Isadore is one of three complicated women in our protagonist's life, one of a triptych that includes the passionate and visceral Patricia Cáceres and the naïve and open-hearted Mathilde Álverez. If you asked for a Caribbean version of Shakespeare's Weird Sisters, you'd get a portrait of these three characters.... "[A] culturally resonant tale of zombie woe"" Kirkus Reviews

"Threats of a zombie apocalypse seem to be around every corner, but what's rare is an intelligent, thoughtful, funny, sentimental, socially conscious, and, yes, gross at times zombie tale infused with Caribbean culture, piques, prejudices, and passions. Pedro Cabiya delivers all of this and more in Wicked Weeds, one gentleman zombie's quest to recapture his lost qualia, that indefinable, internal, sensory perception of self...Whether you consider yourself a lover of zombie fantasies or not, devour Wicked Weeds for its unique perspective, cultural insights, and charged humor." Foreword Reviews

"You know what's been missing in your life? A work of Caribbean noir and science fiction! in Wicked Weeks, a smart and successful zombie desperately searches for the formula that would reverse his "zombie-hood" and turn him into a "real person." Rachel Cordasco, Tor.com, Speculative Fiction in Translation: 15 Works to Watch Out For in 2016

About the Author

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