I’m still seeking a sensitivity reader for issues of Mexican culture and heritage, Spanish–English translations, authentic representation, and experience with discrimination and U.S. immigration for a post-apocalyptic/horror road novel (103k words). I prefer readers with experience in sensitivity reading and publishing, but I am seeking anyone who is willing to share their lived experience with me and help me get this aspect of the novel right. The novel features one primary character of Mexican descent (specifically Jalisco), but he’s not the perspective character (so that might be a bit lighter of a lift). Trigger warnings include racism, religion (Christianity), politics, assault, physical violence, trauma, and profanity. I’m negotiable on rates. Please contact me if interested or with referrals. Thank you for your help in getting this right!
If it pleases you, here is the novel’s pitch:
It has been almost two years since mysterious giants emerged from the earth and took down an America withered by climate change and civil war. Now, this land belongs to them.
Former academic Wade Wallace should never have made it this long, but when he found the resilient former cop Cynth Porter, they agreed staying hidden and killing when necessary was the only way to survive in this new world. However, with the monolithic creatures and larger groups on the prowl and their water and food sources drying up, they’re one bad day away from losing everything.
When a lone traveler, Hector Morales, pleads for their help, Wade and Cynth take him in. A mechanic by trade, Hector seeks to repay their kindness by fixing an old Ford Mustang that belonged to Cynth’s grandfather.
When he gets it running, however, the engine’s roar draws one of the behemoths, and forced to flee their destroyed sanctuary, Wade, Cynth, and Hector must trust the limping muscle car can carry them across 1,500 miles of unknown, post-American wilderness to the southern border where they hope to find asylum in a country they’ve heard still stands.
Hi, Timothy–
My good friend, Steph Grossman, sent me your FB post about this. I’m Mexican-American from the Rio Grande Valley. I would be interested in being your sensitivity reader for this project & I enjoyed reading your pitch. I would love to talk to you about compensation for this work. I am the Associate Director of the MFA at Texas State University and do similiar work on thesis projects for my grad students.