How Long 'Til Black Future Month?

Chapter 4: A woman tells Harkim, “they’re going to kill you” and he acknowledges that this is both true and inevitable (333).

Chapter 2: Harkim is riding in his limo when he notices there is something different about his limo driver. He tries to inquire and when he does, he realizes that the driver is a woman who identifies herself as “a fan” (334).

Chapter 1: Harkim is signing books at an event. One of the women in line has an especially well-read book and he decides she is a “true fan” (335). When she walks away, she softly says “I love you” to him (335).

Chapter 5: Harkim sits at an award ceremony, devastated because his competitor, Rasa Abrogado, won and not him.

Chapter 3: Harkim fills with fear when the woman driver announces she is “kidnapping” him (336). He realizes that she is the woman who said “I love you” at the signing. She declares her anger over his being shortlisted for the Opus Award. She asks him to consider Vonnegut, whose belongings were brutally fought over after his death. He says “[g]reat men have legacies” and explains that most artists come to terms with the fact that their lives are public property (338). She points out that those who receive the Opus Award often only do so because readers think they have already reached their peak and that the author can’t get any better. Harkim acknowledges this is true, then asks her to take him “to the ceremony” (338).

Chapter 6: Harkim exits his hotel to see the limo and woman who kidnapped him waiting for him. They discuss how Rasa is currently being “killed” and “dismembered” to let her die at the height of her fame instead of much later when her success will most likely have been forgotten (339). She asks if he wants to go “home” but that doesn’t feel right to him (339). She tells him she has a gun. He considers how sensational it would be to be killed by a fan on award night, and after some slight hesitation, gets in the car with her.