Vladimirsky returns to the dark, near-future of his ‘Collar’ (Mar/Apr 2014), which I admired for it’s background, but wanted more from the story. Ditto here, to some extent, as the ‘story’ is essentially a conversation between a brother, returned to his home town after a gap of ten years, with his sister. He has spent a lot of the last ten years either in the D’Allahs (which seceded from the USA), or in prison, having had his tongued excised…
She has spent the last ten years (re)building a future for the town, and he has to decide if this is still home.
Interesting world-building, which could stand more exploration.
