Read The House of the Scorpion Online
Authors: Nancy Farmer
The House of the Scorpion
Dear Book Lover,
I am writing to say hello, eight years after my retirement as a children's book publisher. Unofficially, I still work on a few books a year. Here is one I love particularly, and here is why:
Most fiction answers an overarching question: What does it mean to be human? In
Lord of Opium
, Nancy Farmer's sequel to her National Book Awardâwinning
of the Scorpion
, the hero becomes human, right before our eyes. Literally, figuratively. At age fourteen. The two books together, separated by just a minute from the end of the first to the start of the second, can be seen as a metaphor for adolescence. But they needn't be. Togetherâor even singlyâthey deliver one whale of a story.
My pleasure has been to edit Nancy's fiction since we met years agoâif “edit” is the word. Usually, as in
The Lord of Opium
, I see first a completed manuscript. I may want for an extra scene or twoâas I did for this story. But each book comes to me essentially done, thoroughly imagined and understood. It's when I can't understand a connection or miss a bit of backstory that I ask for more. And always that more (maybe only a word or maybe a scene of several pages) helps to resolve my query. Two new sections of
Lord of Opium
came after the originalâonly two, reallyâand Nancy inserted them in unexpected places; not where I'd jotted a margin note or anticipated something new. Reading her work is therefore an ongoing amazement. She amazes me always with her wit; sense of pace and place; her serious concern for the fate of the world; and the zest that she finds in a wide cast of characters, not just the wonderfully wicked, but the good as well.
I think you will be amazed, too, at
The Lord of Opium
.
For readers wanting to track Matteo Alacrán from his harvesting as a clone raised for body parts, I recommend beginning with
The House of the Scorpion.
The title of that first book was suggested by an early reader of the manuscript, Nancy Farmer's friend (and mine), Ursula K. LeGuin. In a prepublication blurb she wrote: “It is a pleasure to read science fiction that's full of warm, strong charactersâpeople who are really fond of one another, children who are ignorant and vulnerable, powerful evildoers whom one can pity, good people who make awful mistakes. It's a pleasure to read science fiction that doesn't rely of violence as the solution to complex problems of right and wrong. It's a pleasure to read science fiction that gets the science right. It's a pleasure to read
The House of the Scorpion
.”
Besides the National Book Award, the novel was named a Newbery Honor Book and a Michael L. Printz Honor Book for excellence in young adult literature. Not bad for a being grown in and cut out of a cow.
Richard Jackson
Editor, Richard Jackson Books
Chapter 2: The Little House in the Poppy Fields
Chapter 3: Property of the Alacrán Estate
Chapter 8: The Eejit in the Dry Field
Chapter 10: A Cat with Nine Lives
Chapter 11: The Giving and Taking of Gifts
Chapter 12: The Thing on the Bed
Chapter 27: A Five-legged Horse
Chapter 28: The Plankton Factory
Chapter 29: Washing a Dusty Mind
Chapter 30: When the Whales Lost Their Legs
Chapter 34: The Shrimp Harvester
Chapter 35:
El DÃa de los Muertos
Chapter 36: The Castle on the Hill
Chapter 38: The House of Eternity
To Harold for his unfailing love and support, and to Daniel, our son. To my brother, Dr. Elmon Lee Coe, and my sister, Mary Marimon Stout.
Lastly, and no less importantly, to Richard Jackson,
il capo di tutti capi
of children's book editors.
THE ALACRÃN FAMILY
Matt:
Matteo Alacrán, the clone
El Patrón:
The original Matteo Alacrán; a powerful drug lord
Felipe:
El Patrón's son; died long ago
El Viejo:
El Patrón's grandson and Mr. Alacrán's father; a very old man
Mr. Alacrán:
El Patrón's great-grandson; husband of Felicia, father of Benito and Steven
Felicia:
Mr. Alacrán's wife; mother of Benito, Steven, and Tom
Benito:
Oldest son of Mr. Alacrán and Felicia
Steven:
Second son of Mr. Alacrán and Felicia
Tom:
Son of Felicia and Mr. MacGregor
Fani:
Benito's wife
VISITORS AND ASSOCIATES OF THE ALACRÃNS
Senator Mendoza:
A powerful politician in the United States; father of Emilia and MarÃa; also called Dada
Emilia:
Oldest daughter of Senator Mendoza
MarÃa:
Younger daughter of Senator Mendoza
Esperanza:
Emilia's and MarÃa's mother; disappeared when MarÃa was five
Mr. MacGregor:
A drug lord
SLAVES AND SERVANTS
Celia:
Chief cook and Matt's caregiver
Tam Lin:
Bodyguard for both El Patrón and Matt
Daft Donald:
Bodyguard for El Patrón
Rosa:
Housekeeper; Matt's jailer
Willum:
Chief doctor for the Alacrán household; Rosa's lover
Mr. Ortega:
Matt's music teacher
Teacher:
An eejit
Hugh, Ralf, and Wee Wullie:
Members of the Farm Patrol
PEOPLE IN AZTLÃN
Raúl:
A Keeper
Carlos:
A Keeper
Jorge:
A Keeper
Chacho:
A Lost Boy
Fidelito:
A Lost Boy; eight years old
Ton-Ton:
A Lost Boy; driver of the shrimp harvester
Flaco:
Oldest of the Lost Boys
Luna:
Lost Boy in charge of the infirmary
Guapo:
Old man celebrating
El DÃa de los Muertos
Consuela:
Old woman celebrating
El DÃa de los Muertos
Sister Inéz:
A nurse at the Convent of Santa Clara
MISCELLANEOUS CHARACTERS
Furball:
MarÃa's dog
El Látigo Negro:
The Black Whip, an old TV character
Don Segundo Sombra:
Sir Second Shadow, an old TV character
El Sacerdote Volante:
The Flying Priest, an old TV character
Eejits:
People with computer chips in their brains; also known as zombies
La Llorona:
The Weeping Woman; mythical woman who searches in the night for her lost children
Chupacabras:
The goat sucker; mythical creature that sucks the blood out of goats, chickens, and, occasionally, people
