Unwelcome Bodies by Jennifer Pelland
Apex, $14.95, 249pp, tp, 9780978867683. Science fiction collection.
Jennifer Pelland is a very good writer. She can evoke a setting, an environment, a mood in just a few sentences. And she does it so intensely that the reader really feels the fear of touching any potentially diseased subway riders; feels the thirst of a world without water; feels the aloneness that comes behind the metal mask.
But in all of those wonderfully intense feelings, Pelland is telling some damned depressing, bleak stories. If you’re looking for a light, happy read—something uplifting or amusing—by all means avoid this book. But if you can take the gritty “this is the way the world is going, and you’re not going to like it” feel of many of her stories, you’ll be rewarded with some memorable stories. I don’t know if I got inured to the feelings as the stories went on, or if the later tales are less bleak, but the book does seem to lighten up a bit toward the end. You’ll just have to read “The Last Stand of the Elephant Man” to see just why Joseph Merrick, freed from his body, would want it back; or “Firebird” to understand the depth of emotion that would force a young girl to immolate herself as an homage to a hero; or “Brushstrokes” to feel for… well, no, that one is depressing, but there’s a seed of hope thrown in that makes you think rigid, unbreakable tyrannies might be overthrown.
In her acknowledgements, Pellands thanks her husband for his love and support, even though “my stories creep my husband out.” They may creep you out, too, but in some cases, that’s the effect she’s going for, so plaudits for success there. Me, I’m not sure I want to live in her world.
Contents:
“For the Plague Thereof Was Exceeding Great”
“Big Sister/Little Sister”
“Immortal Sin”
“Flood”
“The Call”
“Captive Girl”
“Last Bus”
“The Last Stand of the Elephant Man”
“Songs of Lament”
“Firebird”
“Brushstrokes”