RADICAL RED

Dixon’s satire uses body horror and surrealism to skewer the extremist right.

This work collects eight loosely intertwined stories about American racism, white supremacy, and conservatism writ large. Many entries begin with multiple quotations from right-wing politicians and pundits such as Ronald Reagan and Rush Limbaugh. In the first story, a Black boy is chased by the police, who literally steal his voice. (“There, in the pink palm, was the boy’s voice, wiggling like a little slice of jello.”) Most of the other stories are about perpetrators of white supremacy. In “The Doctor’s Declarations,” a physician dreams his way back in time to Thomas Jefferson’s plantation. In “Mermaids in the Floodplain,” a conservative convention is flooded by water and beset by manatees. In “Tricky Dick,” the president of a college Republicans group sprouts a pimple on her nose that transforms into a penis. The stories grow scarier and stranger until they burst, often leaving the characters in uncertain, likely disastrous places. The author uses visceral, specific imagery to describe the character’s bodies and feelings—this imagery stands in stark contrast to the absurd situations the characters are in, which can often be blurrier and difficult to grasp. Such unsettling juxtapositions effectively convey how it feels to live in an America under the influence of white supremacy and racism, Christian nationalism, and rape culture…all wrapped up in right-wing politics. At times, the satire is so blunt that it can feel heavy-handed and even cartoonish; this is especially true when the characters’ internal monologues repeat conservative talking points over and over (“They wanted to make her miserable, since they couldn’t shut her up. Shadowy members of the liberal elite. Orwellian”). But these stories aren’t trying to score points for cleverness or cheap laughs; instead, Dixon seems to be arguing that the satire is only as intense and outsized as its target deserves.

Ferocious, visceral, vivid, and worthwhile.