Sarah Langan writes her own unique brand of fiction. Her recent work, which began with Good Neighbors in 2021, combines dystopian science fiction with satire, often with a touch of youthful exuberance. She’s dark, but there’s usually a rainbow at the end of the storm.
Her major new work, Trad Wife, comes out roughly a month after I write these words. In the meantime fans like me can enjoy Bloody 13, a novella from specialty publisher Pink Beam Press.
Bloody 13 originally saw print in 2020, in a magazine with the odd name of Lady Churchill’s Rosebud Wristlet. It’s a timely piece of fiction that was obviously inspired by the events of that tumultuous year.
It’s the near future and the world is undergoing a massive pandemic. Unlike Covid-19, this one only affects men. The afflicted ones develop a terminal condition where their skin rots off their body. Women are merely carriers of the disease. The infectious condition begins when they begin to menstruate.
Our narrator is Cathy, a twelve-year-old attending a prestigious private school. The academy largely ignores the practice of wearing masks. New laws are being written that will require all women to wear them to prevent the spread of the disease.
As in our own 2020 timeline, there’s speculation about conspiracies and oppression. Cathy and her friends vow to remain maskless and to skip the bizarre birthday practice of Bloody 13.
On their thirteenth birthday girls undergo a ritual, live-streamed of course, where they are initiated into a life of hiding behind a mask.
The girls’ rebellion will come at great price. Cathy’s life spirals out of control, but then the entire world has gone mad.
It’s easy to interpret, at a cursory glance, Bloody 13 an anti-mask polemic. That was a popular stance among rabidly conservative people during our own pandemic. I don’t see it that way at all.
I think Bloody 13 is more of a feminist statement. So many men, again, usually from the right side of the spectrum, seem to see women as weapons of their downfall. They should be bound and gagged, preventing their participation in affairs befitting the stronger men. Cathy’s Mom is fired from her job for refusing to wear a mask. This was before laws were even in place. Her father is employed at the same company and is promoted.
In a relatively short number of pages Langan puts a microscope on the entangled social order of young girls. It’s a fickle environment where one can go from popular to bullied in a minute’s time. Failure to conform is punishable by ostracisation and harassment.
Bloody 13 depicts a world that's hopeless regardless of which path one takes. Joining the masses is spiritual suicide while rebellion invites vicious persecution.
It’s not so different from the world in which we all grew up. Perhaps standing up for ourselves and our beliefs is futile, but we take our victories where we can and we compromise our convictions when we must.
I always liked Sarah Langan, but with Good Neighbors she became one of my very favorite contemporary writers. I’m still processing the effects of Bloody 13 on my brain, but this might be my favorite work she’s done to date. Then again, I think I need to re-read Good Neighbors and A Better World. It’s all so powerful. This one happens to be the freshest in my mind.
The Pink Beam book is a wispy thing, perhaps too scrunched up for me. I wish the font size was a bit larger. Other than that, it’s a cool little edition.
Written by Mark Sieber
Her major new work, Trad Wife, comes out roughly a month after I write these words. In the meantime fans like me can enjoy Bloody 13, a novella from specialty publisher Pink Beam Press.
Bloody 13 originally saw print in 2020, in a magazine with the odd name of Lady Churchill’s Rosebud Wristlet. It’s a timely piece of fiction that was obviously inspired by the events of that tumultuous year.It’s the near future and the world is undergoing a massive pandemic. Unlike Covid-19, this one only affects men. The afflicted ones develop a terminal condition where their skin rots off their body. Women are merely carriers of the disease. The infectious condition begins when they begin to menstruate.
Our narrator is Cathy, a twelve-year-old attending a prestigious private school. The academy largely ignores the practice of wearing masks. New laws are being written that will require all women to wear them to prevent the spread of the disease.
As in our own 2020 timeline, there’s speculation about conspiracies and oppression. Cathy and her friends vow to remain maskless and to skip the bizarre birthday practice of Bloody 13.
On their thirteenth birthday girls undergo a ritual, live-streamed of course, where they are initiated into a life of hiding behind a mask.
The girls’ rebellion will come at great price. Cathy’s life spirals out of control, but then the entire world has gone mad.
It’s easy to interpret, at a cursory glance, Bloody 13 an anti-mask polemic. That was a popular stance among rabidly conservative people during our own pandemic. I don’t see it that way at all.
I think Bloody 13 is more of a feminist statement. So many men, again, usually from the right side of the spectrum, seem to see women as weapons of their downfall. They should be bound and gagged, preventing their participation in affairs befitting the stronger men. Cathy’s Mom is fired from her job for refusing to wear a mask. This was before laws were even in place. Her father is employed at the same company and is promoted.
In a relatively short number of pages Langan puts a microscope on the entangled social order of young girls. It’s a fickle environment where one can go from popular to bullied in a minute’s time. Failure to conform is punishable by ostracisation and harassment.
Bloody 13 depicts a world that's hopeless regardless of which path one takes. Joining the masses is spiritual suicide while rebellion invites vicious persecution.
It’s not so different from the world in which we all grew up. Perhaps standing up for ourselves and our beliefs is futile, but we take our victories where we can and we compromise our convictions when we must.
I always liked Sarah Langan, but with Good Neighbors she became one of my very favorite contemporary writers. I’m still processing the effects of Bloody 13 on my brain, but this might be my favorite work she’s done to date. Then again, I think I need to re-read Good Neighbors and A Better World. It’s all so powerful. This one happens to be the freshest in my mind.
The Pink Beam book is a wispy thing, perhaps too scrunched up for me. I wish the font size was a bit larger. Other than that, it’s a cool little edition.
Written by Mark Sieber
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