Michael Barnes
This historically immersive novella is set in grounded 1675 London based on research which the Author records in her acknowledgments. Our protagonist is Sarah Davis is a midwife’s apprentice in London, ten years after the Black Plague outbreak and Great Fire of 1666. Historians of the time called 1666 the annus mirabilis – year of wonders. Sharah in her midwifery role has witnessed an increasing frequency of what ordinary folk call monstrous births – infants delivered bearing wings, gills, horns, tails – and what she and her mentor, Mrs. June, her mentor, call touches of the “Other Place.” Sarah herself is 'monstrous' born with a tail that a midwife cut at her birth to give her hope for a life.
Also pleased to see more queer representation in horror that doesn't end in tragedy (the kill the gays trope) Sarah's relationship with Margaret, a fellow monstrous-born able to hide her deformity is tender and illustrates the world they live in with a queer lens. The book highlights queer relationships as two women, living together with little scrutiny as women have such a highly codified role in society in a way that two men wouldn't not be able to be without being judged, but for Sarah a midwife as her lifeline propriety is crucial.
Novellas rise or fall on how their often brilliant concepts can be held and expanded in the constraints of the length A Season of Monstrous Conceptions succeeds in this balance admirably.
This historically immersive novella is set in grounded 1675 London based on research which the Author records in her acknowledgments. Our protagonist is Sarah Davis is a midwife’s apprentice in London, ten years after the Black Plague outbreak and Great Fire of 1666. Historians of the time called 1666 the annus mirabilis – year of wonders. Sharah in her midwifery role has witnessed an increasing frequency of what ordinary folk call monstrous births – infants delivered bearing wings, gills, horns, tails – and what she and her mentor, Mrs. June, her mentor, call touches of the “Other Place.” Sarah herself is 'monstrous' born with a tail that a midwife cut at her birth to give her hope for a life.
Also pleased to see more queer representation in horror that doesn't end in tragedy (the kill the gays trope) Sarah's relationship with Margaret, a fellow monstrous-born able to hide her deformity is tender and illustrates the world they live in with a queer lens. The book highlights queer relationships as two women, living together with little scrutiny as women have such a highly codified role in society in a way that two men wouldn't not be able to be without being judged, but for Sarah a midwife as her lifeline propriety is crucial.
Novellas rise or fall on how their often brilliant concepts can be held and expanded in the constraints of the length A Season of Monstrous Conceptions succeeds in this balance admirably.