How Long 'Til Black Future Month?

Many colors function as symbols in this collection; red, white, and blue are the most prevalent. The fact that these colors are America’s colors is no coincidence, considering that much of the text is dedicated to a scathing critique of America.

Blue appears often and appears to indicate some sort of warning. For example, the blue sky in “Cloud Dragon Skies” may first appear to be the cool, calming blue typically associated with the sky, but it’s clear by the end of the narrative that the blue was just a warning color for future disaster. Indigo, a shade of blue, is also the color of Namsut’s veils in “The Narcomancer.” Namsut ends up leading to Cet’s death so once again blue appears to exist as a warning.

Red also regularly comes up and appears to be a sign that something isn’t right. An example is the red dirt in “Red Dirt Witch.” The fact the whole town stands on red dirt indicates that there is something wrong with the town. In this case, rampant racism is the something about which the red flags warn. In “Cloud Dragon Skies,” when the sky turns from blue to red it’s clear that something is not right. In this case, it means that the Sky-People messed with the sky’s chemical composition. In “Walking Awake,” Enri is dressed in red when he goes to have his body transferred to someone else. Again, red indicates something wrong—an innocent child is about to lose control of his body.

White is almost without question a sign of evil. The White Lady in “Red Dirt Witch” is evil in her treatment of Emmaline and of small black children. The Order of the White Camellias, mentioned in “The Effluent Engine,” is also evil as they are white supremacists who stop at nothing to exterminate other races. Additionally, the white truffles Franca uses in her recipe are poisonous and easily capable of killing. The negative connotations of all three colors propagates the message that America is often a place of negativity.