Search This Blog

Saturday, February 16, 2013

Auspicious Eggs by James Morrow


From Brave New Worlds, 2nd edition (originally from Fantasy and Science Fiction)
edited by John Joseph Adams
(Note:  This anthology originally appeared a few years ago but has been re-released with new stories as the first edition didn't get publicized well enough.)  
Father Cornelius Dennis Monaghan witnesses an odd baptism:  The priest baptizes a twin who is to be killed because she is not fertile.  The mother runs away with her the remaining twin.

You know you're in a strange alternate theocratic universe.  Not only is infertility worthy of death, but also prayer staves off a global-warming flood.  Nothing is more important than procreation and only procreation.  If you can't procreate, you will be baptized until dead.  Father Cornelius  regrets his actions and tries to escape the theocracy.  Fate has a surprise.

This isn't an extrapolated society if unchecked, but 

No comments:

Post a Comment