real places, strange worlds

Swim deep, bite hard

In River City, loyalty is everything — and nothing defines loyalty more than warcheck, the violent game that unites the town. Terra Laclem, daughter of a retired warcheck legend, is raised to honor family, faith, and tradition in a working-class community where devotion is treated as a virtue and sacrifice as proof of belonging.

As Terra comes of age, she begins to see how easily that devotion is used by River City’s ruling class. When Terra falls in love with one of the team’s leaders, she’s forced to question not only her family’s legacy, but the larger mythology of a place where faith is easily exploited, loyalty can become a trap, and working people are asked to carry the dreams of those with more power.

Lyrical, strange, and deeply felt, The Diamondbacks is a speculative coming-of-age novel about class, gender, inheritance, and the quiet rebellions that begin when a young woman learns to distrust the stories powerful people tell about home.

Bio

Sandra K. Barnidge is a Florida-based writer with deep Midwestern roots. She writes fiction and essays about threatened ecosystems, forgotten history, and places under pressure. She’s currently interested in re-wilding projects, data center politics, and other intersections of science and society.

Her work has appeared in a range of literary journals and magazines, and her debut novel, The Diamondbacks, was published by Belle Point Press. Originally from Beloit, Wisconsin, she now lives in Gainesville, Florida. She holds an MA in journalism from the University of Wisconsin–Madison and an MFA in creative writing from the University of Alabama.

Headshot: Bang Images.

Selected Work

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