Hi, I'm Lovar Burton and this is Lovar Burton Reads.

In every episode I handpicked a different piece of short fiction and I read it to you.

The only thing these stories have in common is that I love them and I hope you will too.

Hey y'all, I'm back with Season 12 and with new theme music composed by our own sound designer

and engineer, Excellent. Brendan Burns. Do you love it? I do. So, welcome back to LBR. It's

so good to be here. All right y'all, let's talk about the apocalypse, can we?

The Pocky Pocky Lips. I know that a lot of this is, I mean, everything happening around the world,

climate change, civil wars, to the whole pandemic, it can all feel a little apocalyptic.

So, maybe it feels weird to actively seek out fictional stories that explore that space,

but stay with me here. I think post-apocalyptic fiction can be healing, even inspiring.

Today's story actually inspired me to add some more practices, more ritual into my life,

and I'll talk more about that after we read today's story.

The Tin Man was published in a YA anthology reclaimed the stars, 17 tales across realms,

and space, and it was written by Liliam Rivera, an award-winning writer and author of a number of

young adult and middle grade novels. One of those novels is never look back, a modern

retelling of the Greek myth of Orpheus and Euridacy set in the Bronx. It's being adapted as a

feature film by Amazon. Liliam also has a new middle grade novel out, entitled Barely Floating,

about a synchronized swimmer from Boyle Heights in Los Angeles. The protagonist of today's story,

Alida, grew up in the Bronx and tells us she's Puerto Rican. There are all of these

a size that are carefully doled out to the reader, hence as to the way things were before a pandemic

happened and people fled the Bronx. Alida refers to that time as La Gran Fuga, or The Great Escape,

which also happens to be the name of a salsa record put out by two old-time greats,

...