Thursday, August 15, 2019

"Hollow Kingdom"

Kira Jane Buxton's writing has appeared in The New York Times, NewYorker.com, McSweeney’s, The Rumpus, Huffington Post, and more. She calls the tropical utopia of Seattle home and spends her time with three cats, a dog, two crows, a charm of hummingbirds, and a husband.

Buxton applied the Page 69 Test to her debut novel, Hollow Kingdom, and reported the following:
This is a fun and foreboding part of Hollow Kingdom. As it’s a disturbing conversation between a crow and an octopus, it is certainly representative of the book as a whole! S.T., our crow narrator has been searching Seattle for answers and a cure to help his owner, Big Jim (who’s eyeball unfortunately fell out of his head and who has taken up impersonating a rabid raccoon in the basement of his Seattle home). S.T. and his bloodhound buddy, Dennis, have made it to the Seattle Aquarium, which they find ramshackle and flooded. An enormous, oracular giant Pacific Octopus emerges from the murky depths and answers some of anxious S.T.’s many questions. Here, S.T. learns that his beloved human, Big Jim, and all of humanity are facing their extinction. He learns that there isn’t a cure for the virus that is eradicating our species. Onida gives him a new purpose, to save the “domestics”—the animals left behind as their human caretakers devolve and die out. The animals that humans loved and we loved back. He must decide whether this is his mission, whether he wants to save the creatures that are trapped inside homes, behind doors when there are no more fingers to unlock them… Page 69 is representative of Hollow Kingdom, featuring S.T. on his journey to combat the fall of humanity while saving as many animals as possible.
Visit Kira Jane Buxton's website.

Coffee with a Canine: Kira Jane Buxton & Ewok.

My Book, The Movie: Hollow Kingdom.

--Marshal Zeringue