It Could Happen Here — Book Club: St. Juju by Rivers Solomon

Cool Zone Media, March 22, 2026
Host: Margaret Killjoy

Episode Overview

This episode of the It Could Happen Here Book Club is devoted to "St. Juju," a speculative fiction short story by Rivers Solomon. Margaret Killjoy guides listeners through a rich, emotionally charged close reading and discussion of the story, which blends themes of climate adaptation, queer love, trauma, and the lingering specter of oppression—even in utopia. Margaret celebrates Solomon’s deft world-building, the complications of safety and freedom, the politics of survival, and the transformative potential of personal and collective healing.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

Story Introduction & Setting (02:55 – 06:30)

• Margaret opens with a jaunty, earthy tone, setting up "St. Juju" as steeped in "the earthy sweet scent of mushrooms and garbage."
• The story is described as a far future utopian tale in a post-collapse world, featuring queer yearning, dog girls (hound mutants), fungus, and the persistent challenge of violence and oppression.
• "This is a story about mushrooms and garbage. Because today we are reading St. Juju by the powerhouse Rivers Solomon… a far future utopian short story… packed full of queer yearning dog girls and a heaping portion of fungus and characters coming to terms with the reality that violence and oppression are much more difficult to eradicate than it seems. But also fungus. And it’s much more hopeful than that makes it sound." – Margaret (02:57)

Exploring the Trash Garden and Hound Mutants (06:30 – 09:03; 12:36 – 15:55)

• The protagonists, Juju and Enid, traverse a vast "trash garden" where fungus feasts on the remnants of the old world’s garbage.
• Enid, a "hound mutant," can process trash as food—a genetic adaptation born from necessity in the aftermath of environmental collapse.
• Margaret highlights the trauma and stigma associated with being a hound mutant: “In the old days, before garbage eating fungus, Hound mutants were rounded up to clear the landfills. They sniffed and sought out trash like mutts, and the name stuck.” (12:53)
• Interpersonal dynamics: Juju’s persistent anxiety and need for connection contrast with Enid’s stoic detachment, creating palpable emotional tension and authenticity.

Queerness, Yearning, and Utopian Realities (15:55 – 19:45)

• The core of the story centers around queer desire, love, and the aching tension between staying in safety versus leaving for uncertain freedom.
• A beautifully rendered sexual encounter delivers both immediate intimacy and existential melancholy, as the couple faces imminent separation.
• “God, you feel so good,” says Enid. “I wish you’d come with me… Please.” (19:13)
• “The way she touches me and I dissolve… They used to think it sin us doing what we’re doing now… We revel in it.” – (18:57)

Grappling with the Past & Present: Oration and Moral Reckoning (24:12 – 27:20)

• Juju wrestles with the trauma of historical prejudice, preparing an oration for adulthood about how traditional beliefs condemned people like her.
• Enid challenges the necessity of such rituals: “I know it’s how you do things here, but I think it’s stupid. That oration. Everything.” (24:22)
• The story examines the ways that even a utopia can’t erase the scars of the past, with lingering structures of judgment and exclusion present in coming-of-age ceremonies.

The Nature of Utopia and Violence (27:20 – 31:00)

• Margaret and the characters debate whether true safety or moral purity is possible.
• Enid tells a harrowing story of surviving an act of violence—being attacked while expressing queer love at another enclave—showing that even future societies struggle to completely eradicate bigotry.
• “Perfection isn’t a reasonable demand of living things. Once upon a time I could imagine evil as something theoretical. I didn’t like to think of it as real and breathing and near.” (30:12)
• Juju’s existential dread: “Who am I to think we can gird against [tyranny]? Bigotry is taught, I know that, but I wish it weren’t so easily learned.” (30:49)

Hope, Choice, and Taking the Leap (31:00 – 35:30)

• The story closes with Juju deciding to leave her enclave to join Enid, choosing uncertainty and love over comfort.
• “I’m coming with you, I tell Enid. Her smile in that moment is all the assurance that there is more good than bad in the world I need. I follow her through the trash garden, out the enclave, into the world. The end.” (35:20)
• Margaret reflects on the story’s essential hopefulness and the possibility of healing and growth, even in a “world as I understand it is in a state of healing.”

Book Club Analysis & Reflections (35:30 – 38:32)

• Margaret shares her personal connection to the character of Enid, and the archetype of the queer vagabond who brings dangerous freedom into stable communities.
• “Even in the kindest, nicest, whatever, utopia, there’s always the allure of dangerous freedom, and I really like that.” (37:44)
• The critique of adulthood rites—using intellectual arguments as entry into adulthood—is highlighted as compelling, especially for those who defy traditional educational routes.
• Margaret recounts an anecdote about "street kids" in New Orleans and the ethos of traveling gearless and fearless, likening it to Enid’s spirit.
• Discussion of the "saints" motif: "It’s saying all of us can become amazing people… At the beginning… it’s like, ‘Oh, Enid, Saint Enid.’ But so is Juju… She’s Saint Juju, too.” (36:09)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• "Maybe I like to poke to see where the end of things are and life becomes so much easier when I do." – Juju (07:31)
• "Her smile in that moment is all the assurance that there is more good than bad in the world I need." – Juju (35:20)
• "Hazel [producer]: If violence and bigotry will always exist, despite our better angels, where do our responsibilities lie? What does it mean to still embrace joy and desire?" (35:48)
• "Dangerous freedom will always have an appeal. Even in the kindest, nicest… utopia, there’s always the allure of dangerous freedom." – Margaret (37:44)
• "Gearless and fearless. And everyone around her starts chanting, gearless and fearless. And that's what Saint Enid is." – Margaret (38:01)
• "It’s saying all of us can become amazing people… She’s Saint Juju too." – Margaret (36:37)

Timestamps for Key Segments

• 02:55 — Story & Book Club Introduction
• 06:30 — Description of Trash Gardens & Introduction to Enid and Juju
• 12:36 — Juju’s anxiety and connection; Enid’s trauma
• 15:55 — Queer intimacy and complex desire
• 24:12 — Leaving the enclave; moral complexity of oration
• 27:20 — Discussion of violence, enclaves, and ongoing oppression
• 31:00 — Juju’s existential reckoning, leap into the unknown
• 35:30 — Book club reflections, the “gearless and fearless” moment
• 36:09 — Reflection on the saints motif and its meaning

Original Tone and Language

The episode balances a conversational, vulnerable, and slightly irreverent tone infused with grounded hope and empathy. Margaret’s delivery mirrors the narrative style of Rivers Solomon: "earthy," searching, and evocatively queer. The discussion is unafraid to dwell in both the story’s trauma and its tender, even erotic, moments—always returning to questions of healing, resilience, and freedom.

Episode Takeaways

• St. Juju is embraced for its unflinching engagement with both the limitations and lingering harms of post-collapse utopias, and its refusal to make easy political or moral arguments.
• The story is ultimately hopeful about love, community, queer survival, and the power of choosing risk and connection over safety and stasis.
• Margaret and Hazel’s book club commentary invites listeners to reflect on their own positions within communities, the allure and cost of freedom, and the radical inclusiveness of “becoming a saint” in one’s own life.

Further Information

• Author bio: Rivers Solomon’s celebrated bibliography and collaborations, including their works An Unkindness of Ghosts and The Deep, are highlighted as essential reading for those interested in Black, queer, and speculative fiction narratives.
• References: Nod to the animation by Alan Lasseter and mentions of works like Foxfire and Townes Van Zant as cultural touchstones.

“Land Back, Free Palestine, Fuck ICE, and Towards a Complicated Utopia.”
— Margaret Killjoy, episode sign off