Although Octavia Butler left us way too soon and Rod Serling and Toni Morrison have yet to create an artistic heir, Daryl T. Sturgis’ Solstice Macaffey, the protagonist in his first novel, Solstice has come to save the day.
In the days of neck-rolling-sassy-no-talents that pass for empowered womanhood of color, Solstice reminds us all what true thinking and passion look like. While her quest for power and recognition is boundless, she neither denies her sexuality or blackness nor allows herself to be exploited by it.
As a black poor girl in the rural South of the 1920’s, she is “allowed” only certain opportunities.
Yet, much like Sula< in Toni Morrison’s book of the same name, her power and mystery won’t allow her to be manhandled into doing what an appropriate “colored girl” should be doing. Her town and ultimately the world is not big enough for the entity that is Solstice. Her gorgeous greek mentor/lover states at one point : “You’re dangerous because you’re blind. “Great ambition is the passion of a great character. Those endowed with it may perform very good or very bad acts. All depends on the principles which direct them.” p. 217 Much like Macbeth and Angelica Huston’s character in The Grifters, Solstice will have what she wants the way that she wants. Whether leading a frog revolution as a child or murdering a young white boy, she will allow nothing or no one to stop or limit her abilities, desires and ultimately her mission for world domination.