What happens when a teenage romantic becomes a grown-up con artist? In this episode of Realms and Roads, Phoenix sits down with author Fidel to unpack Chapter Two of Love Back — the chapter he calls the true start of the story.
Fidel reveals how Senzo’s heartbreak has hardened into hustle, how a fake prophet scam inspired by The Daily Sun mirrors real survival in post-apartheid Johannesburg, and why irony and humor are his tools for telling the truth.
From the return of Senzo’s old rival to the grounding force of Big Mama, this conversation dives deep into love, delusion, class, and the comedy that keeps people afloat when the world’s gone mad.
It’s candid, funny, and full of writerly gold — the kind of talk that makes you see both the story and the society behind it.
🎧 Listen now — and hear how heartbreak, hustle, and humor collide when Fidel reveals why Love Back truly begins with a con man chasing redemption.
Links:
Audio: CHAPTER 2. Love Back
Fifteen years later, the orphan with big dreams is still hustling—only now he’s a fake prophet with dreadlocks, sunglasses, and a talent for bad decisions.
Love Back Chapter 2.
