‘The Tales of Fanon and Gavroche’ by Renée Sarojini Saklikar

Shall We Begin?

From Pulp Literature Issue 48, find an all-new excerpt from Bramah’s Discovery, the third volume of Renée Sarojini Saklikar‘s epic fantasy series in verse, THOT J BAP, forthcoming from Nightwood Editions in 2026. Read the opening of her feature story, ‘The Tales of Fanon and Gavroche’ below, and be sure to read the rest in Issue 48, Autumn 2025!

The Tales of Fanon and Gavroche

by Renée Sarojini Saklikar

Transcript Number: protected information
Delivery: street sweepers brigade, Section A, Perimeter Zone P
Production: Night clerk: ‘T-LOHK’
Method: Parchment scrolls, inscribed
Video Surveillance Log: currently unavailable
Source Citation: textile worker
Name: Abisha
Transport Permit No.: data unrecoverable

One night, waylaid by Guards—and I let them, you understand?—I wanted to see if there’d been word left for me at my usual spot, a scarred oak bench deep inside the Snuggery. Built tongue and groove, the tavern once thrived on the edge of Perimeter, where the Good-Bye river snaked its way left then right to the ocean. Now the bricks and mortar sagged over the bridge, where the river, more often than not, ran as a mere trickle, spring freshet memories receding. The taproom floor caught sawdust into the folds of my saree, and migrants lined up for hours, drinks in hand. They came for miles to get a scribe to write their stories, messages, letters to far-flung family members indentured or on transport shifts. Every now and then, especially at the new moon or just after a full waxing, those eager to share a sighting would jostle for the front of the line. Each time that happened, they’d swear, “Listen, could be Bramah herself, so keep it secret, keep it safe!” And the scribe would look up, face without expression. The barter: extra scrolls of parchment, homemade quills, small pots of ink. Once sprinkled with sawdust and dried, these scrolls sometimes came my way—never ask me how!

In those days we’d hear street urchins chanting words about the lost seasons: brown hands begging in dusty alleyways; orphans, huddled in culverts exposed by all the rubble, bombed streets, torn concrete. Rumours swirled that these lost seasons were changelings, shape-shifting into mythic creatures. Throughout the hidden valley, you could hear voices echoing clear up to Settlers’ Hall deep inside Perimeter.

Calendars to count, seasons one to four
Un coup de dés, jamais, jamais
Twist, pull, turn the lock, Bramah with your key
Winter, spring, summer, fall—

It was only much later, after the fifth catastrophe, with water companies bankrupt and Al Rashid’s armed gangs patrolling the valley, that a group of these children showed themselves to me.

Of course, they were on the run; rumour had it they supplied Bramah herself with digi-codes to unlock Seed Vault treasures hoarded by Consortium executives. And it was the children who told me the story of that first shape-shifting seasonal encounter: two beasts, large and cat-like, slinking through the electric gates, vault to hall and back. Although my eyebrows rose, my lips resisted smirking. In those days, all things rich and strange had a habit of reoccurring.

Find the full story in Pulp Literature Issue 48, Autumn 2025

Renée Sarojini Saklikar is the author of five books, including the award-winning Children of Air India and Listening to the Bees. Her essays and short fiction have appeared in literary magazines and anthologies, including Exile Editions, Chatelaine, The Capilano Review, and Pulp Literature. She was Poet Laureate for the City of Surrey (2015–2018), co-founded Lunch Poems at SFU, and teaches creative writing at Douglas College. Bramah’s Discovery, the third volume of her epic fantasy in verse series, THOT J BAP, is forthcoming in 2026 with Nightwood Editions. She lives in East Vancouver. ‘The Tales of Fanon and Gavroche’ is a work in progress, excerpted from Bramah’s Discovery.