Paz Pardo
I’m a playwright and a novelist. My debut novel, THE SHAMSHINE BLIND, is due out from Atria Books in February 2023. My plays have been performed in New York, LA, the SF Bay Area, Buenos Aires, Bogotá, and Austin TX (among other cities). I got my MFA from the Michener Center for Writers at UT Austin in 2018, had a Fulbright in Buenos Aires in 2012, and received my BA from Stanford in 2009. My writing has appeared in The Brooklyn Review, Encountering Ensemble, The I Scream Social Anthology: Volume 1, and Howlround Theater Commons. I live in the mountains in Argentina right now with my husband and toddler. I thought I’d be great at gardening but it turns out I’m not! I like to cook, look for weird mushrooms in the woods, and hide in my room and read. Weirdly, I once thought I was an extrovert.
The Shamshine Blind
Paz Pardo
A beguiling blend of noir detective story and science fiction perfect for fans of Michael Chabon and Emily St. John Mandel, “this fiercely intelligent and utterly original debut” (Anna North, New York Times bestselling author) imagines a world where emotions have been weaponized, and a small-town law enforcement agent uncovers a conspiracy to take down what’s left of American democracy.
In an alternate 2009, the United States has been a second-rate power for a quarter of a century, ever since Argentina’s victory in the Falkland’s War thanks to their development of “psychopigments.” Created as weapons, these colorful chemicals can produce almost any human emotion upon contact, and they have been embraced in the US as both pharmaceutical cure-alls and popular recreational drugs. Black market traders illegally sell everything from Blackberry Purple (which causes terror) to Sunshine Yellow (which delivers happiness).
Psychopigment Enforcement Agent Kay Curtida works a beat in Daly City, just outside the ruins of San Francisco, chasing down smalltime crooks. But when an old friend shows up with a tantalizing lead on a career-making case, Curtida’s humdrum existence suddenly gets a boost. Little does she know that this case will send her down a tangled path of conspiracy and lead to an overdue reckoning with her family and with the truth of her own emotions.
Told in the voice of a funny, brooding, Latinx Sam Spade, The Shamshine Blind is “a rip-roaring beautifully crafted mash-up of cop noir, sci-fi, and alt-history that left me dazzled by its prescience and literary zing” (Leah Hampton, author of F*ckface).
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