Podcast Summary: "Archive of Unknown Universes' Presents Alternate Versions of History"

Podcast: All Of It by WNYC
Host: Alison Stewart
Guest: Ruben Reyes Jr., author
Date: September 23, 2025

Main Theme & Purpose

This episode of All Of It dives into Ruben Reyes Jr.'s debut novel, Archive of Unknown Universes, which explores family, history, love, and identity through speculative fiction. The novel centers on two Salvadoran families in alternate timelines during and after the Salvadoran Civil War, using a speculative device called "the diffractor" that allows characters to explore alternate versions of their own lives. The discussion focuses on intergenerational trauma, the universality of "what if" questions, the challenges and ethics of writing multiverse narratives, and the personal roots of the story.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Intergenerational Effects of the Salvadoran Civil War

• Effect of Denial: Reyes highlights how denial of the war's history, both officially and personally, led Salvadorans and their children to grow up without true knowledge of their country’s violent past.
  • Quote: "Because the Salvadoran civil war and the US's influence in it was denied...people began to deny it in their own lives. And this novel is a way of trying to break those silences." (02:00 – 02:29)
• Personal Journey: Reyes connects the novel to his own journey of understanding family roots and inherited silence about trauma.

2. Universal and Specific Themes in the Novel

• A Love Story at Its Heart: The narrative’s core is various approaches to love—destiny vs. choice—spotlighting two couples: Neto & Rafael (1970s revolutionaries) and Ana & Luis (Harvard students in 2018).
  • Quote: "I wanted to tackle the question of love and specifically whether people are made for each other...We have Neto and Rafael, who...feel like they're destined to be together. And then we have Ana and Luis, who are choosing each other every day." (03:21 – 04:00)
• Diaspora & Cultural Erasure: Through Ana's research, the novel examines the notion that Salvadorans had global significance before war and displacement.
  • Quote from the novel: “Ana’s research goals were simple: to prove that diaspora existed before 1980, that Salvadorians shaped the world before the war, before their global displacement.” (02:43 – 03:09)

3. The Speculative Device: The Diffractor

• How It Functions: University students can check out the device, attach it to their temple, and ask it about alternate lives; it reveals those possibilities visually or in text. (04:06 – 04:08)
• Restrictions and Temptation: Ostensibly for research only, the diffractor becomes a tech “oracle,” tempting users to look for personal answers.
• Ethical Tensions: The Catholic Church in the novel forbids its use, echoing real-life concerns about technology replacing human guidance.
  • Quote: "If we turn to guidance from technology, you know, where do we end up? Which is a question I...think about all the time, especially today." (05:28 – 05:57)
• Temporal Setting: Reyes sets the device in 2018 as a way of reimagining a time familiar to him and exploring his own college-age questions. (04:54 – 05:23)

4. Alternate Lives, Longing, and Grief

• Ana’s Journey: Ana’s primary drive is to uncover family secrets and break through her mother’s silence surrounding the war.
  • Quote: "The underlying thing is that she wants to know what her mother went through...a lot of immigrants who live through that kind of trauma are unable to talk about it." (06:06 – 06:51)
• Grass-Is-Greener Syndrome: When Ana sees herself with another man via the diffractor, she reflects on desires and what she might lack in her current relationship. (07:05 – 07:27)

5. Historical & Emotional Anchors

• Reading Excerpt: Reyes reads a passage on Neto and Rafael, framing love amid violence in late-1970s Central America—capturing both urgency and hope in the midst of trauma. (07:52 – 09:09)
• Multiverse Structure Challenges: Maintaining coherence among multiple timelines was a major writing feat, managed by limiting timelines and using tools like notecards.
  • Quote: "The structure is something I worked on pretty much to the last minute till I had to go to the printer." (09:24 – 09:35)

6. Grounding the Multiverse in Place and Time

• Importance of transporting the reader to specific eras and geographies—including El Salvador, Cuba, Nicaragua, U.S.—without confusion. The goal is to recognize Salvadorans as a global people, with diaspora predating civil war. (10:38 – 11:44)

7. Alternative History: Victorious Rebels

• Some timelines imagine a world where revolutionary movements in El Salvador succeed, changing the fate of those who fought or fled.
• Reyes shares that real interviews with guerrilla veterans—including family—deepened his depiction of the rebels. (11:55 – 12:30)

8. Reflections on Death and Grief

• Difficulty of Language: Reyes discusses the challenge of rendering death and collective grief in fiction, especially given the scale of loss in the Salvadoran Civil War (estimated 75,000 deaths).
  • Quote: "Grief...escapes language, both because it's so particular to you and...feels all encompassing." (13:50 – 14:43)

9. Writing Process & Advice

• Most Difficult Character: Luis, because he shares traits with Reyes, making him tricky to depict with honesty and perspective. (13:09 – 13:33)
• Ending the Novel: Reyes always felt the revolutionary lovers, Neto and Rafael, were the "beating heart" and the story needed to end with them.
• Novel-Writing Challenge: The biggest obstacles were scope, structure, and allowing the story to justify and fill the novel form. (15:40 – 16:44)
• Advice for Aspiring Authors: "Read widely," including genres you don't expect to like—the breadth helps deepen your work.
  • Quote: "One of the greatest gifts in my life is reading poetry because poets have such an attention to language..." (16:53 – 17:33)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• "People began to deny it in their own lives...This novel is a way of trying to break those silences and reflects my own journey." – Ruben Reyes Jr. (02:00)
• "The heart of this book is really the love stories...whether people are made for each other, really explicitly." – Ruben Reyes Jr. (03:21)
• "If we turn to guidance from technology, where do we end up?" – Ruben Reyes Jr. (05:57)
• "Grief...escapes language...it's the most difficult emotion to write." – Ruben Reyes Jr. (13:50)
• "Read widely...even if you don't think you like that genre, give it a shot—you might learn something from it." – Ruben Reyes Jr. (16:53)

Important Timestamps

• Intergenerational trauma & war denial – 01:56–02:39
• Universal themes & love – 03:21–04:00
• The diffractor device explained – 04:04–04:30
• Ethics of speculative technology – 05:23–05:57
• Ana’s motivations & family silence – 06:06–06:51
• Excerpt: Neto & Rafael’s love amid war – 07:52–09:09
• Writing multiverses & structure – 09:24–10:02
• Handling time & place shifts – 10:38–11:44
• Researching real rebels & oral histories – 11:55–12:34
• On grief & death in fiction – 13:46–14:43
• Advice to writers – 16:44–17:33

Conclusion

The conversation illustrates how Ruben Reyes Jr. uses speculative fiction not just to imagine alternate histories, but to confront real silences, traumas, and universal human longings. Archive of Unknown Universes blends love stories, political history, and “what if” questions into a narrative that is at once deeply specific and widely resonant. Reyes shares insights into his craft, challenges, and hopes for breaking collective silences, making this episode essential listening for fans of literary fiction, speculative narratives, and diasporic stories.

Event Reminder:
Book launch for Archive of Unknown Universes
When: Thursday, September 25th, 7pm
Where: Worldsboro Bookstore, Jackson Heights, Queens