Threads explores the dislocations and entanglements associated with colonialism and globalisation and the persistence of toxic masculine tropes in a globalised world.
The project was inspired by dissonances arising from first-hand experience working on an oilfield development offshore Angola 2002-2005 and further reflection on indigenous experiences impacted by those activities.
Threads follows the quest of two ‘innocent bystanders’ – Argentina and Willy – for restorative justice for the harms that have been done to them. With episodes ranging from Angola to Scotland to the USA, the story is both an Odyssey – a long journey home to authentic self-hood – and a Quest – to find and be acknowledged by the father-figure and instigator of harms: Ryker.
During my time in and associated with oilfield operations in Angola, I was interested in the lack of ‘narrative development’ in Anglo-American men between the publication of Heart of Darkness (Conrad 1899) and 2005. Whereas a rich post-colonial literature has been created out of sub-Sahel Africa since that time, there seemed no perspectival shift in the attitudes and interpretations of white ex-pats involved in the ‘project’ a century later.
Through revision and collaboration, it became apparent that a simple reprise of the narrative through the white male gaze would not reflect the shifts associated with late 20th c globalisation. The retelling had to also give voice to the indigenous perspective. This imperative was further emphasised through recent Black Lives Matter protests and debates and reflection on the meanings and responsibilities associated with the Middle Passage.
Heart of Darkness for the 21st century becomes, in Threads, a tragicomic narrative driven by the falling away of errors and delusions on the part of the protagonists.
Threads is a Scottish literary novel which embraces globalisation. It endeavours to reflect pre- and post-colonial perspectives and find harmonious resolution. It is grounded in a belief that Scots literature is the earliest Anglophone cadet literatures and seeks to forge a link to the some of the newest.
Synposis
Threads is an odyssey involving a group of unlikely characters thrown together by a tragedy. It’s scope is global, a tragi-comic love-story and vigilante drama that explores issues of post-colonial exploitation and redress.
2005. ARGENTINA NJAMBA (21), traumatised by decades of civil war in rural Angola, struggles to make a new life in the favelas of Luanda. Her charismatic sister-in-law, GRAÇA(26), persuades her to smuggle diamonds for BOB RYKER (55), an American recently retired from the Malunga oil installation 80 miles from the Angolan coast. When Graça is killed in a freak accident near the Malunga, Argentina meets WILLY NICOL (51), a Scottish mechanic.  An unlikely alliance forms between them after Willy’s colleagues conspire to cover up the incident, leaving Argentina to suffer the consequences of Ryker’s actions. Argentina must wear many masks (courtesan, smuggler, foster-mother, spirit-medium) to obtain justice for Graça and protect her family from CHINQUINHO, a Luandinho gangster.  Meanwhile, Willy must escape the bubble of privilege, prejudice and personal shame to connect with Argentina in the favela.
The violent death of Graça’s son, RONALDINHO (4), prompts Willy to negotiate with his employers – his silence in return for safe passage for Argentina out of Angola. This temporarily separates them on opposite sides of the Atlantic. Dislocated, Argentina and Willy grow out of their numbness and sense of invisibility into a growing openness to the wider world and its possibilities. Graça’s vengeful spirit is not assuaged, however, demanding that the pair obtain restorative justice from Ryker and his accomplice, PETE BLANCHINE. They track Pete to an off-grid compound in the Arizona desert where they encounter IRENE GOENS, a Louisiana Redbone married to Pete. Pete looks for support from Ryker, recently returned from a failed venture in South Korea. Pete’s violence, however, leads to a surprising new alliance between Argentina and Irene who turn the tables on the men.
The literary echoes are deliberate and far-reaching: Set against Melville’s ‘howling infinity’, the ocean and the Middle Passage, Threads is an odyssey in which Sycorax finally confronts Mr. Kurtz with the consequences of his actions and demands a compensation greater than his death.
The story is told through the points-of-view of Argentina, Willy, Ryker and Irene: drawn from radically different worlds, each is cursed with an unappeasable restlessness — fleeing from present danger and past trauma and searching for completion – whilst entangled in a web of colonial extractivism.