Guantanamo Redux uses the techniques of speculative fiction and science fiction to create a dystopian vision of the near future in America. Here, most any kind of dissent is criminalized and individuals are routinely charged with terrorism offences. The L. A. Mercy Killer is incarcerated in the Bay of Frisco, a center for domestic terrorists, after the third terror has destroyed much of Los Angeles. Special Agent Orwell and Judge Dan believe the girl whose face you can’t see was deeply involved in not only the Mercy Killer’s crime, but, also, the massive terror attack on Los Angeles. In Part II of the novella, a flashback, we retrace the steps of the girl whose face you can’t see prior to the third terror. Who is she and what does she represent? Did she know the L.A. Mercy Killer? Was she responsible for his crime and for her own? The conclusion of the novella is a chilling expose of how conformity and authoritarianism threaten freedom, imagination, language, life and limb. The L.A. Mercy Killer stands in the long tradition of dissidents who rage against the security state.
