The Playground[Record]

Author’s note

The liberation of animals begins with our acknowledgement that humans have no rights over them. Not the right to confine, to deprive of habitat, to capture, to sell, to breed, to eat: no rights at all.

What we have—and have used, and continue to use—is force, amplified by weapons of war, and abetted by a grievous sense of entitlement, or “dominion.”

This story pays homage to Russell Hoban’s masterpiece Riddley Walker, a post-apocalyptic novel that respects and foregrounds nonhuman animals: the weary wild boar who begins the book, the wild dog pack who are feared and respected by the humans, especially that pack’s leader, “that black leader with his yeller eyes” who directs and fosters Riddley’s perilous journey.

This story also opens the world of Shebang, my own novel-in-progress of non-human animals and their rights, and what happens when humans acknowledge or deny those rights. Sheela Bang knows exactly where her loyalties lie, and acts accordingly.