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Diamond City

Francesca Flores
Contents (54)
  1. AUTHOR’S NOTE
  2. PROLOGUE
  3. SIX YEARS LATER
  4. 1
  5. 2
  6. 3
  7. 4
  8. 5
  9. 6
  10. 7
  11. 8
  12. 9
  13. 10
  14. 11
  15. 12
  16. 13
  17. 14
  18. 15
  19. 16
  20. 17
  21. 18
  22. 19
  23. 20
  24. 21
  25. 22
  26. 23
  27. 24
  28. 25
  29. 26
  30. 27
  31. 28
  32. 29
  33. 30
  34. 31
  35. 32
  36. 33
  37. 34
  38. 35
  39. 36
  40. 37
  41. 38
  42. 39
  43. 40
  44. 41
  45. 42
  46. 43
  47. 44
  48. 45
  49. 46
  50. 47
  51. 48
  52. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
  53. ABOUT THE AUTHOR
  54. CONTENTS
Diamond City by Francesca Flores

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Table of Contents

About the Author

Copyright Page

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To my mother

AUTHOR’S NOTE

Last year, I wrote a story about an industrializing city recovering from a civil war that pitted technology and magic against one another. It’s filled with blood magic, illicit diamond trading, assassins, mercenaries, and an ongoing conflict between the rich, who benefit from industrialization, and the poor, who suffer from the erasure of their religion and tradition. At its center is Aina Solís, an orphaned assassin who yearns for more than what she’s come from, but has grown up surrounded by violence, drugs, a toxic relationship, and the belief that good things don’t happen to girls who come from nothing.

I grew up in poverty and have experienced homelessness as a child and an adult. In high school, I attended an elite private school across the city on a scholarship, worked after school to help my mom pay bills, then came home at night and searched for my place in my neighborhood. There, I was seen as the good girl: I steered away from the gang fights and drugs that robbed my friends of their potential and their lives. I stood on the sidelines when trouble came around, even though it made me an outsider in my community. But I know why I avoided it.

I knew I had to stay out of trouble because I had stories to tell.

While I was homeless in college, I used the school library, writing hundreds of thousands of words to forget that I had nothing to eat and nowhere to sleep. A couple of years later, I wrote Diamond City and a lifetime of frustration bled onto the page.

Diamond City, at its core, is about a girl who perseveres through poverty, violence, and loss to achieve a future for herself. She struggles between deciding whether her best chance at survival is hiding behind what she’s been conditioned to believe she deserves, or reaching toward what she wants. It’s a story about the difference between healthy love and toxic love, about learning to fight for something bigger than yourself, and about giving a voice to the poor.

Diamond City aims to abolish the notion that speaking about poverty is taboo or that experiencing poverty is cause for shame. It shines a light on the systemic failures that enforce hierarchical economic structures—and on monsters hiding in the shadows: assassins, wolf-sized spiders, and our own darkest fears and dangerous secrets.