The Free People's Village

A Novel Idea

By: Sim Kern

Narrated by: Sophie Amoss

In an alternate 2020 timeline, Al Gore won the 2000 election and declared a War on Climate Change rather than a War on Terror. Green infrastructure projects have transformed U.S. cities into lush paradises (for wealthy, white neighborhoods, at least), and the Bureau of Carbon Regulation levies carbon taxes on every financial transaction.

Maddie Ryan is a 24-year-old English teacher at a predominantly Black high school in Houston. Teaching is just a job for her; it pays the bills, and she lives for band practices with her queer punk band, Bunny Bloodlust.

When Maddie learns that the neighborhood where she teaches and her band plays is to be sacrificed for a new electromagnetic hyperway out to the suburbs, she joins a Black-led organizing movement fighting for the neighborhood. At first, she’s only focused on keeping her band together and getting closer to the band’s guitarist (and her crush) Red. But working with Save the Eighth forces Maddie to reckon with the harm she has already done to the neighborhood—both as a resident of the gentrifying Lab and as a white teacher in a predominantly Black school.

When police respond to their protests with violence, the Lab becomes the epicenter of “The Free People’s Village”—an occupation that promises to be the birthplace of an anti-capitalist revolution.

In The Free People’s Village, Sim Kern dares to ask the question that many social justice-minded individuals have long grappled with: When justice comes knocking, will you be brave enough to answer?

©2023 Sim Kern (P)2023 Recorded Books

Unique story

As a middle aged cis white women I have been actively trying to broaden my worldview outside of my small mid western town. This book definitely did that. I hope Sim continues to develop her craft.

The revolution is in you

I LOVED this book. Sim Kern is an INCENDIARY voice, and this book is a love letter to protest movements for self-determination and true liberation. Honoring the activism of ancestors past, The Free People's Village inspires me to keep onward in working for a better future that actually includes everyone. This book is so brilliant and prescient in so many ways, and having been an activist for a decade this story filled my wells with active hope— joy in the struggle. For freedom for all.

Please pronounce Assata Shakur’s name correctly

I typically use books as an escape, this was not one. Story was still interesting however and left readers with some hope at the end of the tunnel. Super super disappointed that the reader (or anyone in production) pronounced Assata Shakur’s last name incorrectly. It’s said so many times and a simple google search would have fixed it.

Loved this book

this was a very entertaining read for me. The story is inspiring, emotional, and hauntingly relevant to the current situation and state of the world. I adore Sim🤍

The narrator relayed emotions wonderfully

Im in my fifties and this book connected me to the present and I loved it for that.