The Sourwood

There Are No Gods for Arthropods #1

by Richard Wolanski

The human race has disappeared and discarded the world as a leftover. But in their absence, it is the insects that emerge and form an interdependent society. They live in the giant Sourwood, the last great sanctuary since a catastrophic incident one-hundred and fifty years ago.

Fig, a lint sized mite, toils away pruning the dead leaves off of the Sourwood. He, like most insects, will live a short life and in twenty-seven days he will die. After witnessing a horrific murder, Fig is confronted with his own fleeting fate. He crosses paths with the nihilistic Fly King who offers Fig a chance—the promise of eternal life. With only the name of Alice Abernathy and a crew of bug bunglers, Fig must wander through the twisted realm outside of the Sourwood where he will discover a truth the Fly King has been hiding for over 300 years.

64 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2014

About the author

Hello,

I'm Richard Wolanski.

Born in Würzburg Germany and raised in the American South. Now, I write to make sense of it all. I'm a cartoon addict, video game fanatic, and I couldn't be happier about it. Influenced by many including Richard Adams, Stephen Fry, René Daumal, Paolo Bacigalupi, Guillermo Del Toro, and if I keep writing I'll never stop. However, one of my greatest influences is the master, Joss Whedon.

Reviews

[Becky Stephens · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fig is an insignificant insect in a world with no humans. Insects of all kinds – winged, segmented, as well as six-legged and eight-legged creatures, to many more legs, dominate this new world.

The insects band together to create an organized world in a wide tree trunk. This impenetrable wooden fortress, called the Sourwood, is their home.

Though the story is told from Fig’s point of view, a mite as small as the seed of a strawberry, it doesn’t read like a children’s book. However, I found it difficult to connect with Fig, his friend, an eight-spotted flea beetle, Oz, or any other character. Not because they are two-dimensional, but because they are not human or at least an animal that we tend to associate with having human emotions.

In the story, Fig must decide his fate for the remainder of his short life. I understand that the author sets the mood to steer the reader into thought-provoking questions about life and one’s station in life; however, because the point of view is from an insect, this book just wasn’t for me.

I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

[The Digital Ink Spot · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Sourwood is great read and wonderfully created world and I am excited to see and read more from Wolanski. The main character, Fig, is a bubbling nobody who resides at the bottom of a very tall social totem pole and gets pushed down further everyday. When his path crosses the mortal enemy of The Sourwood, Fig must decide how he will live out the rest of his short insect life. What Wolanski does so well is to tell a story from an insect point of view but not make it cute and childish but real and intelligent. The characters have depth and the world Wolanski has created has so many possibilities. I really enjoyed the story. It is well crafted, intelligent and different.