AZTECHS by Lucius Shepard
SUMMARY
The main character of this book is named Eddie Poe, and he is 24. His father used to campaign for Mexican labor rights, but was shut down by corporate thugs who vowed to kill him if he spoke out, so Eddie's father continued working at the Sony plant where he was employed until he became too ill to continue, at which point he retired. Eddie's mother is dead. At the time of the story, his father sits around the house, speaking to her ghost, and doing drugs. Eddie gives his father some blue pills to shut him up and goes out to a meeting for the security business Eddie owns himself.
Eddie's favorite place to hang out is at a futuristic bar on the border of Mexico, where the electric fence that bisects the bar is deactivated through a government loophole for a short window at various intervals. The crime rates and culture are identical on either side of the bar. While drinking at the bar, Eddie receives a call on his futuristic iPad-like device, and receives a resume from a man addressing him through video chat. After being assured that the applicant is a cold killer, Eddie hangs up. His security company has been assigned to deliver a man safely to the 'Aztechs' sculpture deep in the desert, so that he can negotiate with a crime family called the Carbonells.
Later on, Eddie picks up the man he is supposed to protect, Zee, in a bulletproof truck, with his new partner, Childers, and a reporter, Lupe. They drive out into the desert. Zee is the spokesman for a company called 'Aztechs' that has a building out in the desert of a face that is identical to Zee, with TV screens for eyes. When they reach the sculpture, Zee poses by his statue building, and Lupe photographs, and interviews him for the camera. Then, they go to the Carbonell family's militarized compound. The group is allowed access, and they enter a banquet hall where the Carbonells are prepared to meet Zee. Zee proposes the formation of a border state which will give the Carbonells monopoly on the drug trade with America. Insulted by the offer, the Carbonells become upset and Eddie decides to pack up his group and move out. Just then, a team of gunmen kick down the door and begin shooting, and Eddie and his group jump back into their armored car, and speed away into the desert with Childers at the wheel. Childers begins smashing through houses in his way, and detonates a bomb in the Carbonells' courtyard, killing everyone inside of the compound. Shocked, Eddie tells him to stop, and draws his gun on Childers. Childers takes his gun away and keeps driving.
Eventually, they stop the car, and Childers gets out. Zee professes his faith in God, and collapses, and Dennard and Childers carry him on a stretcher across the desert. They stop again to rest, and Childers informs Eddie that it's his turn to carry the stretcher. Eddie says he can't make it, and Childers gives him drugs, and Lupe, the reporter, tells Eddie that she loves him. After a few more stops, they enter a native Mexican village where the Indians wear white robes. There, Eddie and Lupe are greeted hospitably and have sex in the dirt path at night while being watched. Childers says that everyone is like an ant and his boss is just stirring up the ant hill, which is needed. The next day they come to a pyramid and Eddie tries to escape, but is beaten badly by Childers, who is about to kill him when a mysterious machine that has been following them through the desert kills Childers, sending shocks rippling through his body.
The machine takes Eddie and Lupe into the pyramid, where they embrace their newfound relationship. A strobe light shuts Eddie's mind off, and back on in front of the armored car, where the rest of his crew is waiting. They drive back into town and have a party.
ANALYSIS
This novel has many dystopian elements. First off, Eddie says there is no difference between the towns on either side of the border, and that the gate is mainly ceremonial. He thinks that the hallucinogenic drugs running rampant in the desert have everyone too stoned to rebel against the corrupt authorities responsible for putting up the false divisions, and that they are distracting the people from the destruction of their culture and the replacement of Mexico with another state of America. This could symbolize the way mass media and corporations use arbitrary lines to oppress Mexican people, by paying illegal immigrants less, and keeping all the good-paying jobs in America.
Ironically, another arbitrary line, which divides white Hispanic from other white people in American culture, clouds the true history of Mexico. Before the Spanish colonized Mexico, all of the people living there were Native Americans. Now, many people living in Mexico are mixed-race, and whiter people are associated with the colonists who corrupted Mexican culture. The main character is one of these whiter people. This explains his separation from Mexican culture, and the life-changing experience of being switched off, and then switched on again, seeing the world anew. He realizes that his father's activism, which he once thought stupid, was in attempt to save Mexico from becoming a zombie-like supplier of drugs and cheap goods to the United States. As the people in Aztechs are highly advanced with regards to technology and business practice, the elements holding back the evolution of Mexican culture are crime and racism imparted through the mass media.
SUMMARY
The main character of this book is named Eddie Poe, and he is 24. His father used to campaign for Mexican labor rights, but was shut down by corporate thugs who vowed to kill him if he spoke out, so Eddie's father continued working at the Sony plant where he was employed until he became too ill to continue, at which point he retired. Eddie's mother is dead. At the time of the story, his father sits around the house, speaking to her ghost, and doing drugs. Eddie gives his father some blue pills to shut him up and goes out to a meeting for the security business Eddie owns himself.
Eddie's favorite place to hang out is at a futuristic bar on the border of Mexico, where the electric fence that bisects the bar is deactivated through a government loophole for a short window at various intervals. The crime rates and culture are identical on either side of the bar. While drinking at the bar, Eddie receives a call on his futuristic iPad-like device, and receives a resume from a man addressing him through video chat. After being assured that the applicant is a cold killer, Eddie hangs up. His security company has been assigned to deliver a man safely to the 'Aztechs' sculpture deep in the desert, so that he can negotiate with a crime family called the Carbonells.
Later on, Eddie picks up the man he is supposed to protect, Zee, in a bulletproof truck, with his new partner, Childers, and a reporter, Lupe. They drive out into the desert. Zee is the spokesman for a company called 'Aztechs' that has a building out in the desert of a face that is identical to Zee, with TV screens for eyes. When they reach the sculpture, Zee poses by his statue building, and Lupe photographs, and interviews him for the camera. Then, they go to the Carbonell family's militarized compound. The group is allowed access, and they enter a banquet hall where the Carbonells are prepared to meet Zee. Zee proposes the formation of a border state which will give the Carbonells monopoly on the drug trade with America. Insulted by the offer, the Carbonells become upset and Eddie decides to pack up his group and move out. Just then, a team of gunmen kick down the door and begin shooting, and Eddie and his group jump back into their armored car, and speed away into the desert with Childers at the wheel. Childers begins smashing through houses in his way, and detonates a bomb in the Carbonells' courtyard, killing everyone inside of the compound. Shocked, Eddie tells him to stop, and draws his gun on Childers. Childers takes his gun away and keeps driving.
Eventually, they stop the car, and Childers gets out. Zee professes his faith in God, and collapses, and Dennard and Childers carry him on a stretcher across the desert. They stop again to rest, and Childers informs Eddie that it's his turn to carry the stretcher. Eddie says he can't make it, and Childers gives him drugs, and Lupe, the reporter, tells Eddie that she loves him. After a few more stops, they enter a native Mexican village where the Indians wear white robes. There, Eddie and Lupe are greeted hospitably and have sex in the dirt path at night while being watched. Childers says that everyone is like an ant and his boss is just stirring up the ant hill, which is needed. The next day they come to a pyramid and Eddie tries to escape, but is beaten badly by Childers, who is about to kill him when a mysterious machine that has been following them through the desert kills Childers, sending shocks rippling through his body.
The machine takes Eddie and Lupe into the pyramid, where they embrace their newfound relationship. A strobe light shuts Eddie's mind off, and back on in front of the armored car, where the rest of his crew is waiting. They drive back into town and have a party.
ANALYSIS
This novel has many dystopian elements. First off, Eddie says there is no difference between the towns on either side of the border, and that the gate is mainly ceremonial. He thinks that the hallucinogenic drugs running rampant in the desert have everyone too stoned to rebel against the corrupt authorities responsible for putting up the false divisions, and that they are distracting the people from the destruction of their culture and the replacement of Mexico with another state of America. This could symbolize the way mass media and corporations use arbitrary lines to oppress Mexican people, by paying illegal immigrants less, and keeping all the good-paying jobs in America.
Ironically, another arbitrary line, which divides white Hispanic from other white people in American culture, clouds the true history of Mexico. Before the Spanish colonized Mexico, all of the people living there were Native Americans. Now, many people living in Mexico are mixed-race, and whiter people are associated with the colonists who corrupted Mexican culture. The main character is one of these whiter people. This explains his separation from Mexican culture, and the life-changing experience of being switched off, and then switched on again, seeing the world anew. He realizes that his father's activism, which he once thought stupid, was in attempt to save Mexico from becoming a zombie-like supplier of drugs and cheap goods to the United States. As the people in Aztechs are highly advanced with regards to technology and business practice, the elements holding back the evolution of Mexican culture are crime and racism imparted through the mass media.
- man who runs a security company gets a new contract
- he and a partner go to a militarized compound with the employers and they are attacked
- his partner goes rogue as they escape
- they take the employer to an indian village with a magical pyramid
- a machine that has been following the party kills the rogue operative, and transports the rest of the people into the pyramid
- the main character awakens at the end of a successful mission
Shepard, Lucius. Aztechs. Burton, MI: Subterranean, 2003. Print.
Book about appreciating one's father and the forces working against Mexico.
NOTE
Understand that this may not be a perfect analysis. I'm not Mexican, so my lack of personal investment and knowledge in the subject may detract from my ability to give a good analysis. Quit bitching, I'm doing this for free. Read it or don't read it, care or don't care.
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