When bombs were dropped across the globe as part of a world-wide agreement to cull the human population, the aftershocks triggered unbelievable horrors. Fallout from radiation and pressure waves caused disfigurements and mutations: inorganic matter melding with flesh, human and animal compressing into one, grotesqueries crawling across the blasted landscape, condemned as outcasts forever.
But there is hope. Rumours abound of the Surgeon, the one person who can cure the afflicted, cut out that which has invaded the body. Yet when Orla and her brother, Silas, succeed in tracking him down, they discover he is not exactly what they imagined…
Dark bleatings, my lovely tribe. I’m here to talk about a novella today and it is chilling. Rat-She is the story of Orla, a woman who survived a worldwide human cull, and is now afflicted with a progressive, physical mutation. Her brother Silas is also likewise affected, but his condition has progressed further than hers. They’re travelling the wasteland of the planet, looking for shelter and the Surgeon, a mysterious and much sought-after doctor that can apparently solve their issues before they lose themselves. When they find him, however, he’s not what they hoped for.
Firstly, the body horror. I am someone who has experience with unexpected physical things happening to my body, things that were out of my control and that required quite significant mental adjustments (surgical, medical, for anyone wondering wtf I’m talking about). When your body just does something like this, it can feel so alien that being in your own skin ranges from uncomfortable to frightening, so this element of the story hit me hard. Orla has a patch of fur growing on her back, and she knows it’s going to spread and with it, other physiological changes will occur. There’s nothing she can do to stop this. I really felt for her, and everyone else similarly affected in the book.
The world-building is also top-notch and I think the author did a great job conveying it in this short page count. The Earth is a decimated wasteland, the population is more split than ever. The suffering is immense. It’s dark, my dudes. But there is hope, and I was clinging onto it for dear life!
The social commentary – dear lord. I feel like a lot of our current issues are explored here, through some metaphor and also through some bleak, not-too-out-of-the-realms-of-reality parallels. Treatment of those considered sick, disabled, or a general risk, elitism, the wealth divide, not to mention the megalomaniacs that orchestrated the circumstances. It’s not an emotionally easy read but it’s a very relevant and significant one, I think.
Overall, I think this is a fantastically written novella with a compelling story and characters that it’s unbelievably easy to sympathise with and want the best for. The layers of horror run deep!
If you’d like to check out the book or the author, I’ve popped some links below for you:
Bleeeat!
Happy Goat Horror 
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