Hummingbird Salamander

A speculative thriller about the end of all things, set in an unnamed part of the Pacific Northwest. A harrowing descent into a secret world.

Another winter morning in a city in the Northwest.

Where, exactly? I won’t tell you.

Who am I? I won’t tell you. Exactly.

But you can call me Jane.

Jane Smith, if that helps.

I’m here to show you how the world will end.

‘Jane Smith,’ a software manager in her late forties who lives in the Pacific Northwest receives an envelope with a key to a storage unit inside. In the storage unit is a taxidermied hummingbird and salamander. Along with a list of five more animals, signed ‘Love, Silvina.’ The hummingbird and salamander turn out to be among the most endangered species in the world, the taxidermy commissioned by a notorious wildlife trafficking criminal. The message is from the daughter of an Argentine industrialist who has recently died, someone who became radicalized and is thought of in some quarters as an eco-terrorist. Jane does not know Silvina and has never met her, but just by taking the items from the storage unit has set events into play over which she has no control.

Against a very near-future backdrop of severe global warming events and domestic and foreign instability due to predatory government actions and an intrusive security state.

Why me? This was the question that tore at me, made me unable to sleep. Why me? What was so special about me…?

“You’re trying to destroy my life.”

“No. I’m trying to save your life.”