Atomik Aztex
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| Author | Sesshu Foster |
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| Genre | Postcolonial, metafictional alternate history |
Publication date | 2005 |
Atomik Aztex is a 2005 speculative fiction alternate history novel by Japanese-American Sesshu Foster. The novel combines elements of speculative fiction, alternate history, postcolonial literature, and metafiction. The narrative deals with interconnected alternate timelines, one of which is set in a reality where the Aztec Empire defeated the Spanish and then conquered Europe.
Zenzontli is an Aztec warrior from the timeline in which the Aztecs conquered Europe, and rule over a North American empire. In that universe, he trades in European slaves who are ritually sacrificed. At one point, Zenzontli and other warriors are sent to an alternate universe, where they have to defeat the Nazis at the Battle of Stalingrad in a timeline where the Europeans conquered the Aztecs.
Meanwhile, Zenzontli and others experience visions of our universe, where the Spanish subjugated the indigenous peoples of the Americas. In this universe, they are illegal Mexican immigrants who work in a meatpacking plant. Zenzontli finds his job as a slaughterer to be similar to his role as a sacrificer in his own universe. Other versions of Zenzontli are shown to occur across other timelines, all interlinked.