This is going to be so good.
This is a very Saundersy story. Our protagonist, Jeremy, is one of three Speakers whose job — well, life — consists of being pinioned to a wall and made to speak on various topics, assisted by some kind of assistive device. It’s exactly as clean and unclear how this works as it needs to be. There are overlapping themes with other Saunders stories here: The Semplica Girl Diaries and My Chivalric Fiasco and, ugh, the Spiderhead story. And, of course, there’s the overriding theme of his work — how people twist or allow themselves to be twisted into inhuman shapes by the ravening maw of capitalism.
Once I got over its similarities to those earlier stories I loved it. The telling of Custer’s last stand thrashing together with the terroristic rescue attempt that sits as the main event is wonderfully chaotic and brimming with gritty human detail — both in and out of the story. Oh, Adult Son Mike, I can picture you so clearly!
Liberation Day is a short story by George Saunders that can be found in the collection Liberation Day.