Trafik

Rikki Ducornet

Apr 2021 · Coffee House Press

About this ebook

From the singularly inventive mind of Rikki Ducornet, Trafik is a buoyant voyage through outer space and inner longing, transposing human experiences of passion, loss, and identity into a post-Earth universe.

Quiver, a mostly-human astronaut, takes refuge from the monotony of harvesting minerals on remote asteroids by running through a virtual reality called the Lights, chasing visions of an elusive red-haired beauty. Her high-strung robot partner, Mic, pilots their Wobble and entertains himself by surfing records of the obliterated planet Earth stored on his Swift Wheel for Al Pacino trivia, recipes for reconstituted sushi, and high fashion trends. But when an accident destroys their cargo, Quiver and Mic go rogue, setting off on a madcap journey through outer space toward an idyllic destination: the planet Trafik.

Ratings and reviews

“ ‘Why?’ Quiver moans, her face in her hands. ‘Why is our universe so scary?’ ” Quiver is a mostly human astronaut, and with her robot Mic, they spend most of their time harvesting cargo, living in their Wobble and just doing their jobs, sort of. However, when the latest cargo is accidentally destroyed, Their only hope is to get out of the boss’ orbit [pun intended] and go “rogue” In 87 pages author Rikki Ducornet takes us on a fun romp across the galaxy ala Douglas Adams, and I for one am fully on board. When this book showed up, I wasn't so sure. I am steeped in classic SciFi, and this is not classic anything. I’m a child of the 60s and Dr. Who #4 and in some ways this is seriously projecting what might be just around the corner, and the human need for companionship despite the need to focus on our “work vs labor” (ala Hannah Arednt) society. This is a really fun book. Entertaining without going off into dystopian preachiness, her use of words is off the charts fantastic, le

About the author

Rikki Ducornet is a transdisciplinary artist. Her work is animated by an interest in nature, Eros, tyranny and the transcendent capacities of the creative imagination. She is a poet, fiction writer, essayist, and artist, and her fiction has been translated into fifteen languages. Her art has been exhibited internationally, most recently with Amnesty International’s traveling exhibit I Welcome, focused on the refugee crisis. She has received numerous fellowships and awards including an Arts and Letters Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the Bard College Arts and Letters Award, the Prix Guerlain, a Critics’ Choice Award, and the Lannan Literary Award for Fiction. Her novel The Jade Cabinet was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award.