The Ephemera Collector

The year is 2035, and Los Angeles County is awash in a tangelo haze of wildfire smoke. Xandria Anastasia Brown spends her days deep in the archives of the Huntington Library as the curator of African American Ephemera and associate curator of American Historical Manuscripts, supported by an array of AI personal assistants and health bots. Descended from a family of obsessive collectors who took part in the Great Migration, Xandria grew up immersed in African American ephemera and realia: boots worn by Negro Troopers during the Civil War, Black ATA tennis rackets, bandanas worn by the Crips....

Although Xandria's work may preserve collective memory, she is losing a grasp on her own. Evren, her new health bot, won't stop reminding her that her symptoms of long COVID are worsening; not to mention that severe asthma, chronic fatigue, grief, and worrying lapses in reality keep disrupting progress on a new Octavia E. Butler exhibition, cataloging the new Diwata Collection, and organizing the Huntington against a stealth corporate takeover. Then, one morning a colleague Xandria can't place calls to wish her a happy birthday--and the library goes into an emergency lockdown.

Sequestered in the archive with only her adaptive technology and flickering intuition, Xandria fears that her life's work is in danger--the Diwata Collection, a radical blueprint for humanity's survival. Up against a faceless enemy and unsure of who her human or AI allies truly are, she must make a choice.

A lyrical and strikingly original saga, The Ephemera Collector announces Stacy Nathaniel Jackson as a singular new voice in fiction.



Author: Stacy Nathaniel Jackson
Publisher: Liveright Publishing Corporation
Published: 04/01/2025
Pages: 320
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 1.10lbs
Size: 9.10h x 6.20w x 1.20d
ISBN: 9781324093404


Review Citation(s):
Publishers Weekly 02/17/2025
Library Journal 03/01/2025 pg. 87
Booklist 03/01/2025 pg. 69
Kirkus Reviews 05/01/2025

About the Author
Jackson, Stacy Nathaniel: - Stacy Nathaniel Jackson is a trans poet, playwright, and visual artist whose work has appeared in Electric Literature, the Georgia Review, and New American Writing, among other publications. He currently resides in Washington, DC.