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Mothers & Other Monsters: Stories
In her debut collection, Maureen F. McHugh examines the impacts of social and technological shifts on families. Using deceptively simple prose, she illuminates the relationship between parents and children and the expected and unexpected chasms that open between generations.
Contents:
Ancestor Money (2003)
In the Air (1995)
The Cost to Be Wise (1996)
The Lincoln Train (1995)
Interview: On Any Given Day (2001)
Oversite (2004)
Wicked (2005)
Laika Comes Back Safe (2002)
Presence (2002)
Eight-Legged Story (2003)
The Beast (1992)
Nekropolis (1994)
Frankenstein's Daughter (2003)
Contents:
Ancestor Money (2003)
In the Air (1995)
The Cost to Be Wise (1996)
The Lincoln Train (1995)
Interview: On Any Given Day (2001)
Oversite (2004)
Wicked (2005)
Laika Comes Back Safe (2002)
Presence (2002)
Eight-Legged Story (2003)
The Beast (1992)
Nekropolis (1994)
Frankenstein's Daughter (2003)
271 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2005
About the author
Maureen F. McHugh
114 books264 followersMaureen F. McHugh (born 1959) is a science fiction and fantasy writer.
Her first published story appeared in Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine in 1989. Since then, she has written four novels and over twenty short stories. Her first novel, China Mountain Zhang (1992), was nominated for both the Hugo and the Nebula Award, and won the James Tiptree, Jr. Award. In 1996 she won a Hugo Award for her short story "The Lincoln Train" (1995). McHugh's short story collection Mothers and Other Monsters was shortlisted as a finalist for the Story Prize in December, 2005.
Maureen is currently a partner at No Mimes Media, an Alternate Reality Game company which she co-founded with Steve Peters and Behnam Karbassi in March 2009. Prior to founding No Mimes, Maureen worked for 42 Entertainment, where she was a Writer and/or Managing Editor for numerous Alternate Reality Game projects, including Year Zero and I Love Bees.
Her first published story appeared in Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine in 1989. Since then, she has written four novels and over twenty short stories. Her first novel, China Mountain Zhang (1992), was nominated for both the Hugo and the Nebula Award, and won the James Tiptree, Jr. Award. In 1996 she won a Hugo Award for her short story "The Lincoln Train" (1995). McHugh's short story collection Mothers and Other Monsters was shortlisted as a finalist for the Story Prize in December, 2005.
Maureen is currently a partner at No Mimes Media, an Alternate Reality Game company which she co-founded with Steve Peters and Behnam Karbassi in March 2009. Prior to founding No Mimes, Maureen worked for 42 Entertainment, where she was a Writer and/or Managing Editor for numerous Alternate Reality Game projects, including Year Zero and I Love Bees.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 73 reviews
September 24, 2009
The following review appeared The New York Review of Science Fiction in October, 2006, reprinted from The Peterborough Examiner.
Maureen McHugh's first collection Mothers And Other Monsters was a finalist for this year’s Story Prize, inaugurated in 2004 to acknowledge and support the writing of quality short fiction in this age of the novel. Interestingly, all four of McHugh’s own novels, including her debut, the award winning China Mountain Zhang, are science fiction. Her high literary concerns might puzzle those who haven't been paying attention to the new crossover. And in Mothers And... the speculative elements can be so subtle that some reviewers have wondered why they are there at all. For instance, why is the boy in “Laika Comes Back Safe,” a werewolf? Isn't this story just a particularly good tale of teenage malaise?
To borrow a question from the end of Yann Martel's Life Of Pi: is the story better with or without the animals?
It's a better story with the werewolf, even though it's not really a werewolf story.
McHugh's concern about new technology pervades near future stories such as "Oversite." Quite soon we may be able to turn on our computers and a little yellow triangle will appear on a map, letting us know where our teenager or elderly parent is. One day both protagonist Clara’s mother, who suffers from Alzheimer’s, and her daughter Renata go missing; add stress at work and you’ve got the picture. The GPS on grandma's implant works; the kid has blocked her transmitter by wrapping the futuristic version of duct tape around her arm. After various misadventures Renata arrives home safe; the grandmother is found, and Clara, who, not unimaginably, can't wind down, turns on her computer one last time. Each yellow triangle is just where it's supposed to be: one in the bedroom right next door, and one across town at the senior’s residence. Both are thankfully stationary, signifying sleep.
They're so beautiful when they're sleeping.
The genius of this story is that even those who would normally balk at surveillance technology with its Big Brother overtones don't begrudge poor Clara. Having gone through her day with her, we know she deserves whatever brief, fragile peace she can find.
Another notable story is “In The Air,” in which a newly single middle aged woman has the usual combination of insecurity and intrepid courage as she jumps back into the dating game via a dog training class. Unfortunately the ghost of her dead brother, who ages as she does, keeps appearing at importune moments, visible at first to the new beau's dog, but not him. We all have baggage we bring to relationships, and more as we get older; the ghost brother is a frightfully clever metaphor for this fact, but not really necessary to the telling of the tale.
Is the story better with or without the ghost?
You guess.
In each of these stories the minutiae of daily life and daily struggles, particularly those of women, are described so beautifully and so clearly that we could be reading Alice Munro.
Except for the werewolves, the ghosts, the implants.
Maureen McHugh's first collection Mothers And Other Monsters was a finalist for this year’s Story Prize, inaugurated in 2004 to acknowledge and support the writing of quality short fiction in this age of the novel. Interestingly, all four of McHugh’s own novels, including her debut, the award winning China Mountain Zhang, are science fiction. Her high literary concerns might puzzle those who haven't been paying attention to the new crossover. And in Mothers And... the speculative elements can be so subtle that some reviewers have wondered why they are there at all. For instance, why is the boy in “Laika Comes Back Safe,” a werewolf? Isn't this story just a particularly good tale of teenage malaise?
To borrow a question from the end of Yann Martel's Life Of Pi: is the story better with or without the animals?
It's a better story with the werewolf, even though it's not really a werewolf story.
McHugh's concern about new technology pervades near future stories such as "Oversite." Quite soon we may be able to turn on our computers and a little yellow triangle will appear on a map, letting us know where our teenager or elderly parent is. One day both protagonist Clara’s mother, who suffers from Alzheimer’s, and her daughter Renata go missing; add stress at work and you’ve got the picture. The GPS on grandma's implant works; the kid has blocked her transmitter by wrapping the futuristic version of duct tape around her arm. After various misadventures Renata arrives home safe; the grandmother is found, and Clara, who, not unimaginably, can't wind down, turns on her computer one last time. Each yellow triangle is just where it's supposed to be: one in the bedroom right next door, and one across town at the senior’s residence. Both are thankfully stationary, signifying sleep.
They're so beautiful when they're sleeping.
The genius of this story is that even those who would normally balk at surveillance technology with its Big Brother overtones don't begrudge poor Clara. Having gone through her day with her, we know she deserves whatever brief, fragile peace she can find.
Another notable story is “In The Air,” in which a newly single middle aged woman has the usual combination of insecurity and intrepid courage as she jumps back into the dating game via a dog training class. Unfortunately the ghost of her dead brother, who ages as she does, keeps appearing at importune moments, visible at first to the new beau's dog, but not him. We all have baggage we bring to relationships, and more as we get older; the ghost brother is a frightfully clever metaphor for this fact, but not really necessary to the telling of the tale.
Is the story better with or without the ghost?
You guess.
In each of these stories the minutiae of daily life and daily struggles, particularly those of women, are described so beautifully and so clearly that we could be reading Alice Munro.
Except for the werewolves, the ghosts, the implants.
February 24, 2020
I find favourite authors and favourite books so much more difficult to review than books I didn't like. As it happens, Maureen F. McHugh is one my favourite authors and this is a wonderful book of 12 short stories. I liked every single one of them, but there were some stand outs.
Ancestor Money (2003) - Dead Rachel receives a letter while she's in the afterlife, telling her she's to receive ancestor money. To collect it, she needs to travel to the Chinese afterlife. (Honorable Ancestress of Amelia Shaugnessy: an offering of death money and goods has been made to you at Tin Hau Temple in Yau Ma Tei, in Hong Kong. If you would like to claim it, please contact us either by letter or phone. HK8-555-4444.)
In the Air (1995) - A woman joins a dog club where she meets a man. The ghost of her dead brother stands between their blossoming love. I loved this story so much. The melancholy, the ghost elements, the dialogue - it's perfect.
The Cost to Be Wise (1996) - The one that felt the most sci-fi in capital letters to me. This is more of novella than a short story. Set in a colony on a distant planet and told from a young woman living there; an anthropologist from another world tries to study the colony, when a heavily armed clan arrives. I'm not sure I fully got some parts of this story, to be honest (I sometimes thought I might have skipped some parts while reading) but I enjoyed it. It's rather brutal.
The Lincoln Train (1995) - An alternate history short story that won the 1996 Hugo Award for Best Short Story, the 1996 Locus Award and was nominated for the 1996 Nebula Award for Best Short Story. After the civil war, all Southerners who owned slaves, are removed from the western territories in a neo-Trail of Tears, where many of them are left to die of starvation and disease. The story is told from the pov of a young woman and her dement mother, who are forced on such a train. An alternative Underground Railroad saves her.
Interview: On Any Given Day (2001) - Short story told in a form of an interview. People can make their body young again, but are neither at home with the real youth or their actual peers then. Interesting thought experiment.
Oversite (2004) - People put chips in their children's body to monitor their whereabouts all the time. The story, like the one above, and many others in this book, examines youth and relation to parents.
Wicked (2005) - 400 word short story about everything going up in flames. the most poetic of the stories.
Laika Comes Back Safe (2002) - A young love between werewolf and human and their dog, doomed to fail.
Presence (2002) - This story about dementia and new technology to beat the disease, was both very touching and sad, and asked interesting questions about what it means to still be the same person. One of the best ones in this book.
Eight-Legged Story (2003) - Another brilliant one. A woman contemplates her relationship with her missing stepson and her husband, in 8 short parts.
The Beast (1992) - Another short, rather poetic one, that merges themes of family & monsters.
Nekropolis (1994) - I wish this one were so much longer. This is a love story between a girl who's jessed (sort of enslaved by choice) and a genetically "built" servant boy. I liked the background, the world building with the 2nd koran, and again the questions about what makes a human human, but most of all I just loved both characters.
Frankenstein's Daughter (2003) - From the point of view of a mother and her son, this resolves about the cloning of a girl gone wrong. It felt very realistic, especially the way the mother is judged by the doctors.
Most of these stories are Sci-Fi, but I often thought it felt more like magical realism. I don't know if that's simply because I hardly ever read Sci-Fi and I adore magical realism - or, if it's because all of these stories are so character-focused. The melancholic tone and the direct style is just so perfect. I really tries to read this book as slowly as I could, to savor it.
You can download the book from the publisher for free: https://smallbeerpress.com/books/2006...
Ancestor Money (2003) - Dead Rachel receives a letter while she's in the afterlife, telling her she's to receive ancestor money. To collect it, she needs to travel to the Chinese afterlife. (Honorable Ancestress of Amelia Shaugnessy: an offering of death money and goods has been made to you at Tin Hau Temple in Yau Ma Tei, in Hong Kong. If you would like to claim it, please contact us either by letter or phone. HK8-555-4444.)
In the Air (1995) - A woman joins a dog club where she meets a man. The ghost of her dead brother stands between their blossoming love. I loved this story so much. The melancholy, the ghost elements, the dialogue - it's perfect.
The Cost to Be Wise (1996) - The one that felt the most sci-fi in capital letters to me. This is more of novella than a short story. Set in a colony on a distant planet and told from a young woman living there; an anthropologist from another world tries to study the colony, when a heavily armed clan arrives. I'm not sure I fully got some parts of this story, to be honest (I sometimes thought I might have skipped some parts while reading) but I enjoyed it. It's rather brutal.
The Lincoln Train (1995) - An alternate history short story that won the 1996 Hugo Award for Best Short Story, the 1996 Locus Award and was nominated for the 1996 Nebula Award for Best Short Story. After the civil war, all Southerners who owned slaves, are removed from the western territories in a neo-Trail of Tears, where many of them are left to die of starvation and disease. The story is told from the pov of a young woman and her dement mother, who are forced on such a train. An alternative Underground Railroad saves her.
Interview: On Any Given Day (2001) - Short story told in a form of an interview. People can make their body young again, but are neither at home with the real youth or their actual peers then. Interesting thought experiment.
Oversite (2004) - People put chips in their children's body to monitor their whereabouts all the time. The story, like the one above, and many others in this book, examines youth and relation to parents.
Wicked (2005) - 400 word short story about everything going up in flames. the most poetic of the stories.
Laika Comes Back Safe (2002) - A young love between werewolf and human and their dog, doomed to fail.
Presence (2002) - This story about dementia and new technology to beat the disease, was both very touching and sad, and asked interesting questions about what it means to still be the same person. One of the best ones in this book.
Eight-Legged Story (2003) - Another brilliant one. A woman contemplates her relationship with her missing stepson and her husband, in 8 short parts.
The Beast (1992) - Another short, rather poetic one, that merges themes of family & monsters.
Nekropolis (1994) - I wish this one were so much longer. This is a love story between a girl who's jessed (sort of enslaved by choice) and a genetically "built" servant boy. I liked the background, the world building with the 2nd koran, and again the questions about what makes a human human, but most of all I just loved both characters.
Frankenstein's Daughter (2003) - From the point of view of a mother and her son, this resolves about the cloning of a girl gone wrong. It felt very realistic, especially the way the mother is judged by the doctors.
Most of these stories are Sci-Fi, but I often thought it felt more like magical realism. I don't know if that's simply because I hardly ever read Sci-Fi and I adore magical realism - or, if it's because all of these stories are so character-focused. The melancholic tone and the direct style is just so perfect. I really tries to read this book as slowly as I could, to savor it.
You can download the book from the publisher for free: https://smallbeerpress.com/books/2006...
February 1, 2010
I was reminded of Chekhov (the Russian author, not Enterprises' navigator) when reading this collection for several reasons:
(1) I'm in the midst of plowing through all 13 volumes of Constance Garnett's translations of Chekhov, so he's on my mind and the temptation to compare and contrast is strong.
(2) Like Chekhov, McHugh's stories (in this collection) tend to lack plots. There's not much "action," and rarely is there resolution. For example, in "The Cost to Be Wise" the villagers of a rediscovered Terran colony where observers from Earth live among the natives suffer the depredations of nomads who have acquired relatively advanced guns. In the hands of most authors, this would have evolved into a story about violence and whether or not it's right for the villagers to try to acquire their own weapons. But McHugh is more subtle than that and in a very Chekhovian manner simply tells the story about how one girl responds to the situation without trying to make a moral point.
(3) Which brings me to McHugh's ability to simply write about her characters without passing moral judgments on them (again like Chekhov). "Eight-Legged Story" and "Frankenstein's Daughter" are excellent examples of this.
(4) One final point of similarity with Chekhov - Often times, Chekhov's characters have to chose between love and security and/or suffer physical and mental hardship because of belief or duty and many of McHugh's characters face the same issue. This is especially true in "Nekropolis," a near-future story about an Islamic culture which has finessed the institution of slavery and a woman has to make the choice between "safety or freedom." Unlike most of Chekhov's people, Diyet opts for the harder choice of "freedom."
Only about half the stories would qualify as SF or speculative fiction but they're all very good, and I'd recommend this collection.
(1) I'm in the midst of plowing through all 13 volumes of Constance Garnett's translations of Chekhov, so he's on my mind and the temptation to compare and contrast is strong.
(2) Like Chekhov, McHugh's stories (in this collection) tend to lack plots. There's not much "action," and rarely is there resolution. For example, in "The Cost to Be Wise" the villagers of a rediscovered Terran colony where observers from Earth live among the natives suffer the depredations of nomads who have acquired relatively advanced guns. In the hands of most authors, this would have evolved into a story about violence and whether or not it's right for the villagers to try to acquire their own weapons. But McHugh is more subtle than that and in a very Chekhovian manner simply tells the story about how one girl responds to the situation without trying to make a moral point.
(3) Which brings me to McHugh's ability to simply write about her characters without passing moral judgments on them (again like Chekhov). "Eight-Legged Story" and "Frankenstein's Daughter" are excellent examples of this.
(4) One final point of similarity with Chekhov - Often times, Chekhov's characters have to chose between love and security and/or suffer physical and mental hardship because of belief or duty and many of McHugh's characters face the same issue. This is especially true in "Nekropolis," a near-future story about an Islamic culture which has finessed the institution of slavery and a woman has to make the choice between "safety or freedom." Unlike most of Chekhov's people, Diyet opts for the harder choice of "freedom."
Only about half the stories would qualify as SF or speculative fiction but they're all very good, and I'd recommend this collection.
October 31, 2016
3.5 stars rounded up. These are earlier stories from Maureen F. McHugh. Her characters and the settings matter much more than the story, and she struggles with endings. In this, McHugh reminds me of Zadie Smith.
McHugh often takes present day settings and adds a small technological change that gently marks her stories as sci-fi; otherwise, they would pass as slice-of-life short stories. The precipitating technology could be a tracking app that parents use on their teenagers, a cure for Alzheimer's that rebuilds the brain but scrubs the previous personality of a loved one, a cloned daughter, etc. In most of the stories, middle class Americans cope with the seeming advantages and the unintended consequences of one of these technologies applied to their families. Situations get awkward, and after familial strife and heated discussion, the stories trail off or end rather abruptly.
Also included in this book is the alternative US civil war story, "The Lincoln Train," for which McHugh won the Hugo and was nominated for a Nebula. Mothers & Other Monsters is worth reading, but After the Apocalypse is her stronger short story collection.
McHugh often takes present day settings and adds a small technological change that gently marks her stories as sci-fi; otherwise, they would pass as slice-of-life short stories. The precipitating technology could be a tracking app that parents use on their teenagers, a cure for Alzheimer's that rebuilds the brain but scrubs the previous personality of a loved one, a cloned daughter, etc. In most of the stories, middle class Americans cope with the seeming advantages and the unintended consequences of one of these technologies applied to their families. Situations get awkward, and after familial strife and heated discussion, the stories trail off or end rather abruptly.
Also included in this book is the alternative US civil war story, "The Lincoln Train," for which McHugh won the Hugo and was nominated for a Nebula. Mothers & Other Monsters is worth reading, but After the Apocalypse is her stronger short story collection.
February 18, 2024
Three and a half stars
This is a bit of a mixed bag of stories. Nekropolis is the first section of the novel of the same name, The Cost to Be Wise appears to be an earlier version of what becomes the first part of Mission Child, and I've read both novels. A few of the other stories are either quite short or although intriguing in their ideas and setup have rather abrupt endings which were a bit confusing. But there are a couple of pieces in here that are difficult to read and maybe a bit depressing and also quite excellent, specifically Presence was one of these.
This is a bit of a mixed bag of stories. Nekropolis is the first section of the novel of the same name, The Cost to Be Wise appears to be an earlier version of what becomes the first part of Mission Child, and I've read both novels. A few of the other stories are either quite short or although intriguing in their ideas and setup have rather abrupt endings which were a bit confusing. But there are a couple of pieces in here that are difficult to read and maybe a bit depressing and also quite excellent, specifically Presence was one of these.
May 24, 2023
These stories are just amazing. They're grubby and fleshy and real and upsetting and uplifting. I loved them.
June 14, 2018
Mothers & Other Monsters is domesticity redone through a science-fiction lens. McHugh runs to recurrent themes like a sore tooth: troubled adolescents on the cusp of adulthood, middle-aged women forced to care for someone ravaged by Alzheimer's. Fear, and love, and the ideals that people always fail to live up. She has some talent as a writer, except that she really struggles with endings. Her stories don't end, so much as close with a quick-jab to the solar plexus, a gasp of realization that it always was going to be that way, that everyone is trapped by their history.
March 20, 2021
A beautiful collection of speculative and literary short stories based around the difficulties of motherhood -whether biological or step-parenting. Many of the stories contain aching sadness, especially around the theme of losing oneself or a loved one, for instance to Alzheimers. Stories are set in other worlds, alternative pasts and the near-future. Add technology to slice of life tales and you have the writings of Maureen McHugh.
December 11, 2022
I immediately thought of Kelly Link. Each story had that delicious slipstream fantasy/sci-fi vibe that I loved in Link’s 2016 collection, Get In Trouble. My favorite stories were The Cost to Be Wise, Laika Comes Back Safe, and Nekropolis. The reoccurring theme of impaired memory was of note, I wonder if Alzheimer’s has affected anyone close to McHugh. I also enjoyed seeing the futuristic “minder” devices pop up in several different stories.
October 14, 2013
Captivating!
I was first introduced to Maureen McHugh’s work through After the Apocalypse: Stories (2011). I just so happened to spot a review of it online – just where that was escapes me now, sadly (reading recommendations, got any?) – and, in search of new post-apocalyptic fiction (bonus points for zombies!), I snapped it up immediately. After devouring it in all of a week, I quickly tore through her novels: Nekropolis (2002), China Mountain Zhang (1997), Half the Day is Night (1996), and the epic masterpiece Mission Child (1999), which I cannot recommend highly enough. It seems only fitting that I finish off her oeuvre with Mothers & Other Monsters: Stories (2006), her first of two collections of short stories.
What with its cast of werewolves, clones, ghosts, space travelers, and genetically rejuvenated elders, Mothers & Other Monsters is an eclectic mix of fantasy and science fiction. As the title implies, motherhood is a common theme throughout – but the women featured in these stories are anything but monstrous. Herself a stepmother to a preteen boy, McHugh – whose life plans reportedly didn’t include children, at least not until Adam’s father entered the picture – regards the relationships between parents and children and generations past and present with tenderness and empathy.
Here you’ll meet a mother struggling to care for her aging mother while simultaneously guiding her rebellious daughter through her teenage years (“Oversight”); a woman who spends her life savings on an experimental Alzheimer’s treatment, hoping that it will cure her husband without erasing too much of who he is – or was, before the disease stole him from her (“Presence”); a young woman who discovers that her best friend is a werewolf (“Laika Comes Back Safe”); and a ghost who travels from her cozy corner of the afterlife to accept tribute from a distant relation (“Ancestor Money”). Aging, death, and senility are also elements shared by many of the stories – Alzheimer’s and “senility” make two appearances each – as are our all-too human struggles to overcome and defeat them (see, e.g., the thought-provoking “Interview: On Any Given Day”). It makes for a rather heartbreaking, sometimes inspiring collection – one that will dwell in your memory and heart, perhaps even staking a permanent claim there.
While it’s hard to single out any one story for special praise, it’s worth noting that Mothers & Other Monsters contains early version of two of McHugh’s novels: Mission Child (“The Cost to Be Wise”) and Nekropolis (“Nekropolis”). Each story encompasses the opening chapters of its respective book: whereas the plot of “The Cost to Be Wise” is similar to – but also significantly different from – Mission Child, that of “Nekropolis” is very nearly the same in both formats (at least judging from memory – some parts of the narration may be different, but the overall story matches up). “Nekropolis” the short story ends on a note that’s simultaneously more and less hopeful than Nekropolis the novel; “The Cost to Be Wise,” on the other hand, is much more damning in its view of the Offworlders than is Mission Child. It’s an interesting contrast, to say the least.
“The Lincoln Train” is another personal favorite. A piece of speculative fiction that explores how the Civil War might have played out had the assassination attempt on Lincoln failed, it made a previous appearance in New Skies: An Anthology of Today’s Science Fiction (2003). Mothers & Other Monsters also includes a “Reading Group Guide” with an author interview, talking points, and an autobiographical essay written by McHugh, fittingly titled “The Evil Stepmother” (though the latter feels like a bit of a cheat, since some of the sections are repeated verbatim elsewhere in the book – i.e., “Eight-Legged Story”). Readers would do well not to skip these, as they provide valuable insight into McHugh’s stories.
Fans of McHugh will adore Mothers & Other Monsters – and, if you’re not already one, Mothers & Other Monsters will make a fan out of you!
At the time of this writing, Small Beer Press is offering a free download of Mothers & Other Monsters on its website. Go to the book's page and click on the "free download" link!
http://www.easyvegan.info/2012/06/25/...
I was first introduced to Maureen McHugh’s work through After the Apocalypse: Stories (2011). I just so happened to spot a review of it online – just where that was escapes me now, sadly (reading recommendations, got any?) – and, in search of new post-apocalyptic fiction (bonus points for zombies!), I snapped it up immediately. After devouring it in all of a week, I quickly tore through her novels: Nekropolis (2002), China Mountain Zhang (1997), Half the Day is Night (1996), and the epic masterpiece Mission Child (1999), which I cannot recommend highly enough. It seems only fitting that I finish off her oeuvre with Mothers & Other Monsters: Stories (2006), her first of two collections of short stories.
What with its cast of werewolves, clones, ghosts, space travelers, and genetically rejuvenated elders, Mothers & Other Monsters is an eclectic mix of fantasy and science fiction. As the title implies, motherhood is a common theme throughout – but the women featured in these stories are anything but monstrous. Herself a stepmother to a preteen boy, McHugh – whose life plans reportedly didn’t include children, at least not until Adam’s father entered the picture – regards the relationships between parents and children and generations past and present with tenderness and empathy.
Here you’ll meet a mother struggling to care for her aging mother while simultaneously guiding her rebellious daughter through her teenage years (“Oversight”); a woman who spends her life savings on an experimental Alzheimer’s treatment, hoping that it will cure her husband without erasing too much of who he is – or was, before the disease stole him from her (“Presence”); a young woman who discovers that her best friend is a werewolf (“Laika Comes Back Safe”); and a ghost who travels from her cozy corner of the afterlife to accept tribute from a distant relation (“Ancestor Money”). Aging, death, and senility are also elements shared by many of the stories – Alzheimer’s and “senility” make two appearances each – as are our all-too human struggles to overcome and defeat them (see, e.g., the thought-provoking “Interview: On Any Given Day”). It makes for a rather heartbreaking, sometimes inspiring collection – one that will dwell in your memory and heart, perhaps even staking a permanent claim there.
While it’s hard to single out any one story for special praise, it’s worth noting that Mothers & Other Monsters contains early version of two of McHugh’s novels: Mission Child (“The Cost to Be Wise”) and Nekropolis (“Nekropolis”). Each story encompasses the opening chapters of its respective book: whereas the plot of “The Cost to Be Wise” is similar to – but also significantly different from – Mission Child, that of “Nekropolis” is very nearly the same in both formats (at least judging from memory – some parts of the narration may be different, but the overall story matches up). “Nekropolis” the short story ends on a note that’s simultaneously more and less hopeful than Nekropolis the novel; “The Cost to Be Wise,” on the other hand, is much more damning in its view of the Offworlders than is Mission Child. It’s an interesting contrast, to say the least.
“The Lincoln Train” is another personal favorite. A piece of speculative fiction that explores how the Civil War might have played out had the assassination attempt on Lincoln failed, it made a previous appearance in New Skies: An Anthology of Today’s Science Fiction (2003). Mothers & Other Monsters also includes a “Reading Group Guide” with an author interview, talking points, and an autobiographical essay written by McHugh, fittingly titled “The Evil Stepmother” (though the latter feels like a bit of a cheat, since some of the sections are repeated verbatim elsewhere in the book – i.e., “Eight-Legged Story”). Readers would do well not to skip these, as they provide valuable insight into McHugh’s stories.
Fans of McHugh will adore Mothers & Other Monsters – and, if you’re not already one, Mothers & Other Monsters will make a fan out of you!
At the time of this writing, Small Beer Press is offering a free download of Mothers & Other Monsters on its website. Go to the book's page and click on the "free download" link!
http://www.easyvegan.info/2012/06/25/...
December 27, 2013
Finally got to read a collection from a writer whom everyone is raving about. Previously I had not been impressed because her choice of topics is so varied. So a story can be a hit or miss unless the reader has been "primed" beforehand. For example, I almost gave up midway on her more popular "the Cost to be Wise" (I love far futures and off world-ers, but huh? the world building is weak imho)
But
I'm glad I persisted because McHugh can touch one's right hemisphere through stories like "Presence" & “Frankenstein's Daughter”.
Btw, surprised by how a talented western writer can elaborate so well on a foreign culture in "Ancestor Money". I guess Myths are universal and so is imagination & writing. That led me to re-examine my belief/question/stand on the authorship of Shakespeare. Creativity has no class, geographical, or political boundaries.
February 27, 2008
Maureen McHugh is going to be a guest speaker at WisCON (the feminist sci-fi conference) that I am hoping to go to in Madison in May. I loved her earlier book China Mountain Zhang, so i was excited about this one. The short stories were not all sci-fi, which I was surprised about but not at all disappointed. And they were so interesting: about alzheimers, life after death, cloned children, and one about a lost colony from earth. Really compelling and well written, though I wanted most of them to continue. They reminded me a little bit of Ovtavia Butler's stories in the sympathy and twists of science, but less gruesome or shocking, and maybe more emotive.
July 22, 2015
Wow. Confieso que no estaba muy entusiasmada con este libro, pero me llamó la atención porque se puede conseguir gratuitamente aqui en Goodreads y decidí aprovechar la oportunidad.
Comencé a leerlo sin fijarme mucho en el género o las clasificaciones e ingenuamente esperaba clichés sobre las madres. Sin embargo, en un par de páginas superé mi escepticismo. Las historias tienen conceptos interesantes. Son una mezcla de ciencia ficción con un lado humano acerca de las relaciones familiares. Por supuesto, algunas de las historias agradan mas que otras, pero en general son buenas.
Comencé a leerlo sin fijarme mucho en el género o las clasificaciones e ingenuamente esperaba clichés sobre las madres. Sin embargo, en un par de páginas superé mi escepticismo. Las historias tienen conceptos interesantes. Son una mezcla de ciencia ficción con un lado humano acerca de las relaciones familiares. Por supuesto, algunas de las historias agradan mas que otras, pero en general son buenas.
September 13, 2007
I picked it up because of the title. I brought it home because of the blurbs on the cover from Ursula K. Le Guin & Mary Doria Russell. I was not disappointed. Taut, concise short fiction with a delightfully odd imaginative twist. The stories are strikingly different from one another and all are as tight as a drumhead. There's a bit of alternate history, a bit of scifi, some straight fiction- all of it nicely plotted and interestingly told.
September 8, 2016
This one has the one or other great individual story, but is overall not the place to start reading McHugh (go to the the brilliat China Mountain Zhang and return then, once you feel like you need to read everything by McHugh).
February 1, 2009
I skipped one of the stories, but all in all, I LOVED this collection. The perfect mix of bizarre, fantastic and strange circumstances and just generally good writing.
If I'd written this book, I could die a happy woman.
If I'd written this book, I could die a happy woman.
March 29, 2020
I now there are stories with a hidden subject, like "Arrival", in which the fact that understanding how the alien language works allow humans to break the barriers of time, and one could expect that stories with no eminent subject actually have a hidden one.
But I feel that doesn't happen here.
There are just... stories. And, sad to say, they are not even good.
There are points that never lead to anywhere, and doesn't seem related to the main history; most of them end with no conclusion at all (will the clone die? What will happen to the daredevil? Do the husband got cured from Alzheimer and would he still be in love with his wife?)
But I feel that doesn't happen here.
There are just... stories. And, sad to say, they are not even good.
There are points that never lead to anywhere, and doesn't seem related to the main history; most of them end with no conclusion at all (will the clone die? What will happen to the daredevil? Do the husband got cured from Alzheimer and would he still be in love with his wife?)
February 19, 2022
At first, I thought I generally found these stories just mediocre. They were interesting and even beautiful, but they seemed to meander, and the endings didn’t really “land” for me—they just ended. But then I got to “Presence,” which fractured my heart into a million pieces from the first page to the last. It truly gets at how it feels to care for someone who suffers from a condition that affects their memory and/or powers of reasoning (in this case, Alzheimer’s). It’s wonderful and terrible. That story alone makes this collection worth a read, and the other good stories are just a bonus.
July 25, 2024
Don't let the title of this short story collection fool you -- the book isn't thematically linked with stories about bad moms. Rather, it is a collection of unrelated short stories that spans genres and subjects.
McHugh's writing is well done and characters and environments are well thought out. Dialogue and character interactions are realistic and move the stories along well. Simply put, I just found this book a delight to read.
McHugh's writing is well done and characters and environments are well thought out. Dialogue and character interactions are realistic and move the stories along well. Simply put, I just found this book a delight to read.
June 6, 2018
Difficult topics: rape, murder, torture, death,human trafficking, family relationships, Alzheimer's, and Dementia
Excellent writing with plenty of thought provocation
Most of the profanity occurs within just one of the stories.
Excellent writing with plenty of thought provocation
Most of the profanity occurs within just one of the stories.
March 16, 2022
A beautiful collection, very calm; reminds me of what a friend said once about Leonard Cohen's voice, how it was plain and yet rang with infinite compassion. The clear and patient quality of the voice lets the worldbuilding and the impact of events really hit.
April 17, 2024
Did I pick it for the title? Yes, or at least that was a bonus. Interesting and mildly unsettling collection. They do read like the stories of someone who wants to write novels, and I'll happily try the novels.
May 21, 2017
I gave this a 4-star rating because I think Ms. McHugh is a great writer. I am not a big fan of uncomfortable stories with vague endings, but I was definitely riveted.
November 24, 2017
wish there was more from this author
June 3, 2018
Interesting collection.
August 16, 2018
Very interesting and often frightening collection of scifi/fantasy stories exploring themes of mothers (and other family monsters) against various aspects of society + technology.
July 7, 2019
Lovely short story collection of spec fic, mostly examining our relationships with family through technology.
December 3, 2019
There is nothing wrong with the stories as such...
But the writing style just doesn't sit with me. Somehow stories that end abruptly and mostly unresolved fail to interest me.
But the writing style just doesn't sit with me. Somehow stories that end abruptly and mostly unresolved fail to interest me.
May 29, 2020
Gave up half way through. It's not badly written, but the stories don't go anywhere they just fizzle out.
February 12, 2023
I thought this was wonderful, crazy inventive stories. I knew nothing of the author going in but will certainly look for more of her work in the future.
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