Wow! This is as unsettling as it is riveting. Ortiz has packed the elegant structure of her storytelling with oddly specific and interesting details, and an escalating tension that builds to a literal storm of nightmarish choices. Through all that, it never fails to be entertaining and, at times, genuinely delightful. The monstrous future described in "Honey Bee Baby" is seeded with small potent touches of humor, and even a few promises of genuine hope.

This is a piece that just gets more relevant with each passing year. With an Octavia Butler-like prescience, Erlina has crafted a terrifying and believable world that builds to one of the most terrifying climaxes I've read in a very long time. I really hope I can see this one on stage.

Honey Bee Baby reveals a possible pending future if we continue to overlook the damaging effects of climate change. Set in a dystopian future where overpopulation has destroyed the Earth, citizens are forced to relinquish their rights under the pretense that it will help to recover the environment. This world tries to enforce perfection and eliminate human error. Only government-approved children are born and those who are not are quickly destroyed. Ortiz highlights what happens if we as a society play into the ideas of conformity, and shows the importance of the right to choose.