Chris Bergeron | The queer rebellion

And three: after ValidThen Valianthere is Vandals. Chris Bergeron continues his dystopian saga to come here to the story of the revolution of a certain part of 5% of the population. A story that aims to be about learning, emancipation, obviously about diversity, but above all about humanity. And hope, on top of that.

We are in 2046, in an autocratic society ruled by an all-powerful artificial intelligence. Big Brother meets ChatGPT, if you will. This is obsessed with the standardization of humans for recovery and especially the maintenance of order. To do this, all differences have been erased. And all those who do not fit into the boxes, the famous 5%, have been abandoned. Savagely.

Does that ring a bell?

If you already know the world of Chris Bergeron, a trans author to whom we undoubtedly owe the first science fiction autofiction (Valid), you are on familiar ground here. Otherwise, no problem, we end up finding our way, even if the first pages are rather difficult (real experience). But it’s also the essence, and above all the pleasure, of the genre, right?

In this world, the Q in LGBTQ stands for “quantum,” plan B is a planet, and you can accuse someone of “robophobia.”

With a quantity of allusions of all kinds, The odyssey to Star Wars through the world of advertising, pop culture, and culture in general.

“It’s the story of a revolution,” explains the author, met a few days before its launch, earlier this week. It’s the story of what happens in a world where queers, who no longer have the right to exist, decide to sabotage the artificial intelligence that controls society. »

Difficult writing

The story is therefore part of the logical continuation of Validwhere the author wanted to “exorcise [ses] fears about the future. “Here’s what could go wrong,” she sums up, if a handful of billionaires came to control all the means of communication and thus managed to shape society according to their opinions.

A certainly political reflection, “very political” even, on the place of technology in our lives, but also on the “price of order”. A price that we paid collectively not so long ago with the pandemic, it should be remembered. “And there will be other crises, we know that…” slips Chris Bergeron.

Because yes, there is hope, in this world, as futuristically dark as it is, the finale remaining largely and virtually open. And we understand that Chris Bergeron has not said his last word. “I like to delve again and again into this universe,” she says, “which can be read in order or disorder. But in order, there is an added pleasure, because the more you read, the more you understand! »

She doesn’t hide it, writing this third book was hard. It is even written as is in his acknowledgments: “The climate of transphobia which reigns in many political circles throughout the continent, including in Quebec, has taken a toll on my morale and my nerves. »

“It’s hard to find inspiration when you read extremely negative columns about trans people every day […]. It’s hard when we attend a debate, when we are told that we are a “theory”, then when we propose to set up a “committee of wise men”, as if we were not wise,” declares she said in an interview, alluding to this scientific committee project from the Legault government, to look into questions of gender identity. “It infantilizes us. And to infantilize is to marginalize. […] The world I imagined is coming into being…”

A useful book

Chris Bergeron says it frankly: she hopes that Prime Minister François Legault and the leader of the Parti Québécois, Paul St-Pierre Plamondon, among others, will read her book. “Really,” she said, “because I believe there is a very deep misunderstanding of transidentity. »

And how could his trilogy enlighten them? “Behind all this, there are individuals. However, we must be careful of the populist turn where we are less interested in reality than in discourse. […] We need to think about the direction we could go if we’re not careful. » Think about it: “If we forget the power of empathy, if we give in to fear, we stop caring about others. But a world without diversity is a bland world without ideas. »

It is written in the text, like a final bold prophecy to ponder: “I believe that queers are among the last of the righteous. To prohibit difference is to prohibit imagination. » “It seems radical, saying that, and that’s what I like,” the author concludes with a smile. We are not seen as moral people. But today, where are the immoral people? It’s the politicians, not… the drag queens! »

The author will be at the Montreal Book Fair this Saturday, for signing sessions.

Vandals

Chris Bergeron

X Y Z

278 pages