Hi, I'm Lovar Burton and this is Lovar Burton Reads.

Where in every episode I hand pick a different piece of short fiction and I read it to.

The only thing these stories have in common is that I love them and I hope you will too.

Well, we've got another fun episode for you today.

It comes from the anthology new sons,

original speculative fiction by people of color edited by Nisi Shaw, author of Black Betty.

And if you check out the anthology, you'll see a forward from Little Old Me.

Today's story is by Tobias Bacchel, who is a New York Times best-selling author born in the Caribbean.

He's been nominated for the Nebula, the Hugo and the John W. Campbell Awards.

This story entitled The Galactic Tourist Industrial Complex is set in New York City in a world

where galactic tourism from wealthy aliens is a main source of income for the United States.

Tobias says that it stems from a trip he took to the Caribbean, where he witnessed one of those

mega tourist playgrounds, a massively engineered attraction, like those fake islands that they create

for tourists. As he says, it was like an alien world had been dropped onto the island in question.

He's taken that idea, added some of his usual dry humor and insight and created today's story.

So, if you're ready, let's take a deep breath.

And begin.

The Galactic Tourist Industrial Complex by Tobias Bacchel.

When the Lactics arrived at JFK, they often reeked of ammonia, sulfur, and something else that

Tavi could never quite put a finger on. He was used to it all after several years of

shuddling them through the outer tanks and waiting for their gear to spit ozone and adapt to earth's air.

He would load luggage, specialised environmental adaptation equipment, and cross-check the

...