Hummingbird Salamander

by Jeff Vandermeer

We lived in a generic version of reality.

Crime was meant to be invisible in our systems.

They shared the familiar things, the timeworn things that make up wanting to be comfortable with one another.

Many of our clients engaged in “greenwashing”: co-opting environmental causes to project an image of being sustainable.

Shovel Pig contained the sum total of my old life. Practically a holy reliquary.

we are left with flawed ways of thinking, mechanical ways, that work against the very organic nature of our brains. We have built so many toxic constructs, we cannot see through the latticework. We have built so many mirrors, there are no windows to shatter. But still we must try.”