EMINENT DOMAIN is the story of Shiri Shapiro’s fall from grace in the romance insurance industry -- a fall that becomes a jump.
In the not-too-distant future, climate change has done exactly what it's supposed to do. Coastal cities around the world are devastated, and the need for action goes from urgent to inescapable. A shocked United States reacts with a series of bizarre shifts in federal policy -- all borders are open, all drugs are legal, and all marriages are outlawed -- in an attempt to eliminate the contentious social issues of the day and refocus the nation's resources where they belong: on battling runaway warming.
Suddenly finding themselves without purpose, marriage counselors and divorce lawyers find a loophole in the ban on marriage by selling insurance policies on romantic relationships. Neo-noir heroine Shiri Shapiro is a catastrophe adjuster in Albany, New York who handles the toughest romance claims. Backed by an arsenal of pseudoscience and vaping THC, she arrives at the scene of a breakup to determine who hurts more and who gets the money.
Shiri's reputation is unparalleled until she takes Van, a younger, smarter, and more skeptical colleague, under her wing. When a neurologically complicated customer attempts to defraud her, Shiri must reassess her profession and its place in the world. In a country governed by top-down decisions, she must determine whose jurisdiction to follow. In the post-industrial shell of the once-great capital of New York, Shiri must determine who has a right to whose heart.
In the not-too-distant future, climate change has done exactly what it's supposed to do. Coastal cities around the world are devastated, and the need for action goes from urgent to inescapable. A shocked United States reacts with a series of bizarre shifts in federal policy -- all borders are open, all drugs are legal, and all marriages are outlawed -- in an attempt to eliminate the contentious social issues of the day and refocus the nation's resources where they belong: on battling runaway warming.
Suddenly finding themselves without purpose, marriage counselors and divorce lawyers find a loophole in the ban on marriage by selling insurance policies on romantic relationships. Neo-noir heroine Shiri Shapiro is a catastrophe adjuster in Albany, New York who handles the toughest romance claims. Backed by an arsenal of pseudoscience and vaping THC, she arrives at the scene of a breakup to determine who hurts more and who gets the money.
Shiri's reputation is unparalleled until she takes Van, a younger, smarter, and more skeptical colleague, under her wing. When a neurologically complicated customer attempts to defraud her, Shiri must reassess her profession and its place in the world. In a country governed by top-down decisions, she must determine whose jurisdiction to follow. In the post-industrial shell of the once-great capital of New York, Shiri must determine who has a right to whose heart.
The Pedestrians (2014 Novella)
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"I was looking at his back. As he was already in the process of walking away, he muttered something insincere about the inevitability of our meeting in the future, one of those mechanisms we use to avoid goodbye. It wasn’t so much over his shoulder as downward, a phlegmatic emission which, had I been lucky, could have bounced off the sidewalk and back to me. I can’t even remember what language it was in." |
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2011 was the year that broke the record for gun-related homicides on the island of Puerto Rico. It was also the year that Angie fell in love with Sal. Against the backdrop of a national drama of hyper-sensationalized murder rates, The Pedestrians explores how the illusion of ever-present violence does (and doesn't) affect the choices of a pair of young lovers living in the oppressive heat.
Published in serial format by Novella-T, September 2014.
Published in serial format by Novella-T, September 2014.