The Little Homo Sapiens Scientist

by S.L. Huang

The Earth is populated by two sentient species who share humans on the land’s crust, and the atargati in the deep abysses of the ocean. Dr. Cadence Mbella is the foremost human researcher studying the mysterious atargati, intent on proving to the rest of the human world that they are a complex society deserving of respect--not the overly-romanticized “mermaids” some would like to imagine.

When Cadence discovers, to her horror, that her own superiors are conducting an unethical experiment on an atargati subject, she sacrifices everything to enact a rescue. Once the atargati is safe back in the deep sea, Cadence goes on the run, a fugitive from the law with her career burned behind her. But she can’t stop thinking about her lifelong research, and she yearns to find a way to return to the ocean’s abysses. Not to mention that the atargati she saved keeps haunting her dreams . . .

Longlisted for the 2017 Tiptree award, “The Little Homo Sapiens Scientist” is a dark, queer science fiction retelling of “The Little Mermaid” about a human who gives up her voice to join the sea.

Genres: Fantasy, Science Fiction, LGBT, Queer, Retellings, Short Stories, Fiction

52 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 12, 2016

Reviews

[TheBookSmugglers]

We did this! *\0/*

We still have a few of the limited print edition - we ship worldwide! http://bit.ly/2lCMB3S

[Debbie is on Storygraph · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was gorgeous. A really interesting flipped fairy tale retelling where instead of a mermaid turning into a human, a human becomes a mermaid (or the SF equivalent in this story). There is so much going on here about identity - gender identity, self identity, morality... And some interesting discussion about sentience. Really really lovely.

I also really appreciated that this was more Hans Christian Anderson than Walt Disney.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

I quite enjoyed this short story, following a scientist getting to know the atargati, a sentient, intelligent species living deep in the oceans. I appreciated the author's explorations of identity - particularly gender and sexuality, but also the main character's identity as a scientist and her changing relationship with her "objects of study." I wish it was longer though, as the ending felt abrupt.

Content warnings: abduction/kidnapping, medical content, xenophobia, death

[Danika at The Lesbrary · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked a lot of aspects to this: the specific ways the author found to retell this fairy tale were fascinating, and I loved the introspection about the main character's identity (what does it mean to ID as a lesbian and then fall for an ungendered person?)

I also appreciated that there's a genderqueer side character who uses hir/ze pronouns, so that the alien/mythical creature characters weren't the only representation of nonbinary people.

I was a little disappointed by the ending, though. She dies, like the original Little Mermaid fairy tale.

[Patricia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Do the atargati experience love, or only curiosity? Or are those all one and the same to them?
---
Maybe one day they'll trust a human being enough to share everything. Wouldn't that be amazing? God, I'd die to be that person.

The Little Homo Sapiens Scientist is a queer sci-fi retelling of The Little Mermaid. If that isn't one of the coolest sentences you've ever read, we've nothing to say to each other, good luck. It follows the beats of the original Hans Christian Andersen story (with a nod to the Disney version) over a backdrop that felt rich and immersive and fascinating. Instead of the mermaid being fascinated with the human world, the narrator is a "piscianthropologist" (a scientist who studies mermaid culture, which I need to be a real actual field of study I can get a degree in as soon as possible) and she is fascinated with, what else, the deep sea and all its inhabitants.

This novella is 46 pages long. I need you all to understand that this tiny little story made me cry in public and clutch at my chest and annoy my sister and all my friends with my blubbering in only 46 pages.

The themes of science as a collaborative creation that spans decades and centuries, the importance of respect and cultural appreciation (VITALLY, in social sciences), the theme of curiosity and passion to the point of madness, the theme of love as a force of salvation and destruction!!! MERMAIDS!!! aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa no one perceive me

If anything I wish this had been longer. I think it would absolutely KILL as a podcast, since the format is voice-narrated journal.

Writing this review made me bump my initial 4 stars to 4.75/5 wow

[Bridget Mckinney · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well, I'm not sure what I expected. This is a solid and more-than-moderately inventive retelling of Hans Christian Andersen's Little Mermaid that hews very closely to the original story. More closely than I thought it would, which made it not quite the light afternoon read I was looking for today, but still lovely. It's not my favorite mermaid story of recent years (still Seanan McGuire's "Each to Each" which is probably right up your alley if you like this story), but it's a good one with some compelling twists on Andersen's themes. The Little Mermaid has always been a story about identity, and identity, gender and sexuality are similarly central to this tale. It's also a story that works as an interesting exploration of what might exist in the deepest parts of our oceans, which is something I think about a lot--we act as if it's totally normal to just play around on the edges of these abysses, but we really have no idea what's down there. Probably not mermaids of any kind, but it makes for an excellent story.

[Jess Crafts · Rating 5 out of 5]

An amazing f/f scifi retelling of the little mermaid but backwards so a human scientist is the curious one that falls in love and changes. Brilliantly written and imagined. I loved the mode the story was told in - which sounds vague but you should read it. It's awesome. Fair warning it has a tragic ending like the original story. I can't wait to read more from this author.

[Puck · Rating 5 out of 5]

I got this as a free review copy from SL Huang in exchange for potentially nominating it for some award or another if I liked it.

I LOVED IT.

I have been unable to stop thinking about this novelette since I finished reading it and all I want is to take my time to put my heart back together and then reread it again and again. Dr. Cadence Mbella's voice (ha!) comes through super clearly from page one to the very end. It's a reverse of the traditional Hans Christian Andersen Little Mermaid which means it's destined to be a tragedy, of course, but there is something truly wonderful about the romance being not just between the human and the mermaid atargati, but also between the scientist and the whole unknown but hopefully knowable world.

Also have I mentioned yet how unapologetically and thoroughly queer this retelling is? Because it is and it's beautiful to have characters in this book whose understanding of gender and sexuality more closely mirror mine than those I usually read.

Every book SL Huang has ever written I have loved, and this is no exception.

[Jo King · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow. The Little Mermaid has long been my favorite Disney movie, since we saw it in theaters when I was just a small me. This short story harkens more towards the Hans Christian Andersen version than the popular remake. There was this bit of foreshadowing towards the beginning where I read it and was like, she definitely will do that. It was a surprisingly heartrending read, despite the foreshadowing. I really resonated with the main character, who was a scientist that discovered the betrayal of her superiors when they capture a "mermaid" species they have been engaging in an anthropological study of. She goes to lengths to rescue the kidnapped, and then disappears. But she cannot stay away, and wherever she goes, she looks for stories of people's interactions with the species, and eventually finds one who can turn her into one, although one unable to communicate and dying. That the price is her voice and her knowledge of the language is going to be no surprise. And when she finds out that someone has impersonated her voice and has resigned herself to dying without sharing the information, it genuinely hurts. Can't wait to read more by this author if this short is any indication of their other writing.

[Craig Werner · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'd love to read this novella length engagement with difference and transformation--echoing trans issues down to the level of language--spun out at novel length. Reminds me a bit of Okorafor's Bindi series and some of Octavia Butler's work, which is good. As it is, more a sketch than a fully developed set of ideas. Like the way Huang riffs on The Little Mermaid as an image of a being not quite of either world. Hope she returns to the ideas.

[kari · Rating 3 out of 5]

I couldn't ask for a better idea for retelling - twisting and queering the original tale. And the crossroads of biology and anthropology in this novella are delightful. To the point where it seems like too big a concept for a story this size. If only it was a novel; still, it is a very good and evocative novella tackling some difficult questions as well as punching the reader right in the feels.

[Sana · Rating 4 out of 5]

'Hey, I wonder what the public would say if they knew two queer scientists were the ones trying to explain human sexuality to the much-romanticized atargati. There's something else they'll probably leave out of the book.'

HOW DARE THESE 53 PAGES MAKE ME MELT INTO A PUDDLE OF FEELS 😭😭

[Megan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This premise was NUTS. Honestly, while some of the execution and dialogue left a little to be desired, reading this really proved to me that taking big swings can more than make up for those things in short-form fiction. As soon as I finished it I told like three people in a row about it. Damn!!

[Paulina · Rating 4 out of 5]

.

Apparently I'm really interested in mermaids these days.

This was a great retelling of little mermaid but I needed it to be at least 3times longer.

[Brave · Rating 4 out of 5]

Genderqueer, reversed, sci-fi retelling of The Little Mermaid. Super interesting concepts, but I definitely wanted this to be longer.

[Shelah · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was bored

[Abbey · Rating 4 out of 5]

WOW. The emotional punch this story packed into 46 pages. What even was that? Absolutely beautiful. Stunning.

[Aiyana · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hold your breath...

An extraordinary piece of science fiction, melding a "first contact" story into a reimagined "fairy tale." I couldn't put it down.

[ness · Rating 2 out of 5]

s.l. huang is clearly very talented as far as her writing goes and i know this was meant to be a short story, but i think it would have worked better if it was twice as long to make the characters feel more fleshed out and to understand their motives better

[Змей · Rating 4 out of 5]

--> ревю на български <--

To be honest, the very first thing that made me want to read that novella was its front cover. I saw it on twitter, I asked if there was an e-book and not even 15 minutes later I was already going through it on my reader.
/I was in a process of changing my payment card at that moment and I did not have any money in my paypal so I asked a friend lo lend me some bucks to get the book right now!/
That is what a good cover can do for a book.

Of course, a good book is made by good writing and that's the example we have here.
To me "The Little Homo Sapiens Scientist" is not just a queer retelling of a well-known fairy tail, it's more of exploration of what defines being human and what the definition of true love should/could be.

It's a dark story and you need to now it if you've already read the original fairy tale. Could it be lighter? Of course. But it wouldn't be the same story and it wouldn't have the same impact it has now.
So, if you want something light and optimistic as a Disney story don't bother starting it.

"The Little Homo Sapiens Scientist" strikes a chord somewhere deep asking you what are you ready to sacrifice for love? Or let's call it love for lack of better word for this sickening need to meet, feel and be with the other person once again.

But I can't seem to think clearly anymore. I'm hurtling toward this and it's the only thing that matters.

"If you knew you'd never find her, or that you'd find her only to be disappointed - would you still do it?".
Yes. The answer was yes.

The fact that "The Little Homo Sapiens Scientist" is filled with queer characters and the main character is a lesbian does not define it but definitely helps with understanding the lengths she is going just for the opportunity to meet her love once again.
I generally enjoyed a species not defined by two genders as humanity still is. And truly enjoyed the very idea of melding and becoming multiple beings in a single body leading to almost a hive mind.

Truth be told, we have no idea what could be hiding in the depths of the ocean and the idea of alien-like species from human perspective is thrilling.
I'd probably love to see Aíoëe's POV of the story but nevertheless "The Little Homo Sapiens Scientist" is a great story.

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a captivating, heartfelt, and challenging story about "first contact", treated as a spin on the classic Little Mermaid story (the gritty, disturbing Hans Christian Andersen one, not the flowery Disney version). I loved the impassioned and suspenseful narration, and I found the alien species very captivating. The ending threw me much, much more heartbreaking than I imagined, but it was true to its story and gave the whole tale greater impact.

According to the author, all royalties from this title will go to Lambda Legal, the Trans Lifeline, and the Trevor Project as part of the #FictionFightsBack initiative. You can find out more from the Bad Menagerie post. Info about the story and purchasing it can be found here.

[Scotoma · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not a fan of stories that require a variant of the idiot ball to work, and the constant mental self-policing the main character is doing here, the racking of guilt about humanity to almost self-loathing levels, until she finally convinces herself to kill herself than actually do something about her shitty situation is hard to take seriously.

[Jaymee Goh · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this on the bus ride to work and got off that bus feeling a deep unsettling feeling in me akin to hate. But the good kind of hate, like when you want to rail at the world for not giving nice things to people who deserve it.

As a retelling of the Hans Christian Andersen story, this novella follows closely the original while giving it a deeply science-fictional spin that could only be a product of a brain like SL Huang's. The language of piscianthropology, the anxieties about anthropology, the involvement of the military, the vivid descriptions of the atagari merfolk--the generous application of scientific language to what would otherwise have been a fantastical concept really placed this novella at that precious cusp that refuses the SF vs F border argument.

My one quibble is the use of the word "dukun" to describe the Indonesian witch-doctor-scientist (though that was also quite brilliant, and in another story, I feel like the protagonist would have made a different pact with this devil who is honestly very interesting in his own right, and as a character who replaces the sea-witch figure from the original tale!) but that's because in Malaysia the word "dukun" has a specific connotation that may not be the same across the strait.

I'm not sure I like how Huang stuck THAT closely to the original tale, without Anderson's denouement of elevation, even! That was quite shocking to the system, even though of course it makes perfect sense given how everything else played out.

It's also this ending makes this fairy tale more of a horror story, an inverse of Lovecraftian anxiety where instead of being terrified of the depth and breadth of the entity who threatens to consume the human, the human longs instead to be consumed and subsumed into the breadth of the entity.... only to have this desire frustrated and strangled.

[Rej · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm hiding this review under spoilers because I don't know how to express my feelings about this story without spoiling anything.

So let me stress that, if you intend to read this, you have to banish the Disney version of "The Little Mermaid" from your mind. This one, despite it's engaging, creative and captivating changes, follows Hans Christian Anderson's tale way more closely than any romantisized version. If you keep that in mind, if you know what happens in the fairy tale and you're okay with that, you'll be fine.

First up, I liked the structure of this: the story is set up around our protagonist, Caddie, you is recording her voice for her work. She is studying the language of the atagari, a deep sea people that humans way too commenly conflate with "mermaids". After one of the atagari gets captured, she breaks them out and from there on, tragedy ensues.

The story turns certain elements of the original tale on it's head, turning magic into science, changing who changes and how but makes it all work. The tone is both descriptive, dark and sometimes even fittingly clinical, depending on how the protagonist is feeling. You can imagine her talking to the reader, easily. It made me long for a well read audio book.
The atmosphere is claustrophobic- we as readers are tightly packed into her head with no reprieve from her thoughts. It makes the story feel extermely personal at times. And yet, he also can distance ourselves by treating it like "found footage"- like something we can watch with almost cruel interest. We know this is not going to end well, but we keep on reading.

Definitely give this one a read with you like the original tale and sci-fi. It is short and definitely worth your time. If you're here for some romance, I'd advice you tread carefully, though.

[RL · Rating 4 out of 5]

Liked:
- Applause-worthy details of the deep sea world and species - the atagarti / "mermaids" are fascinating yet believable, and that is no small feat. You can instantly recognize all the thoughts and hard work behind their physiology, the way they interact with each other, with the environment, and with humans.
- So much is at stake for the characters you can barely put the book down.
- The discussion and portrayals of gender fluidity and sexuality are thought-provoking and relevant.

Didn't like as much:
- The ending felt hasty - I almost thought the atagarti would do a more extensive “background check” on the stranger exploiting the protagonist's lost "voice" before they encourage one of their most respected members to become one with them. Especially if the atagarti is just as, if not more, intelligent than humans. Aoiee herself, supposedly wise with the knowledge of multiple minds inside her, could also have demonstrated more caution....
- The protagonist also seemed to fizzle out too fast despite the drive and persistence she's shown throughout the story. We’re given descriptions of her physical deterioration but perhaps not enough of the mental process that pushed her to decide to just give up. (Maybe this is due to space constraint and adherence to the original ending of the fairy tale?)
- Just a tad too much self-policing from the narrator. It was interesting at first but quickly grew distracting.

Overall:
- Beautiful, solid work. Would definitely recommend.

[Mamabear · Rating 5 out of 5]

Haunting, Visceral, and Bittersweet! S.L. Huang has done it again!

The Little Homosapiens Scientist is a gripping novella filled with gorgeous imagery and lovingly enriched with Huang's unparalleled capacity to captivate readers with her world-building. It grapples with the idea of Sentience and Sapience and raises the question of what truly constitutes consciousness when both concepts are so tightly interconnected. Huang explores gender and sexuality through the lens of a scientist and the angst that plagues a first, final love. It's unfair, but Huang makes it an undeniably beautiful moment to experience.

Reading through our scientist's recordings and musings left me choked up by the end, watching her struggle to name and reconcile her feelings for an ungendered being was as familiar as it was grounding. There's just something about how both Aìoëe and our scientist make mistakes and act that feels so... human, you know? And don't get me started on the workings of the Atargati--- the whole idea of them is sooo gooood ugh. Please give this a read, highly recommend it!

I only wish there had been more coverage of Aìoëe and the scientist when the Atargati was captured. Perhaps we could have read through an enclosed transcript of her asking Aìoëe and detailing the responses she noticed. It could have explored the hurdles and language barriers they had to overcome under the conditions of being watched by the military while retaining the report format that the rest of the story follows.

[Dessi · Rating 4 out of 5]

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This novella was a really interesting sci-fi reimagining of "The Little Mermaid". It's so creative that you forget it's meant to be a retelling, even if you go in knowing this!

Told in the first person by Dr. Cadence Mbella (BIPOC queer rep!), scientist and scholar specialized in the sentient deep-sea creatures known as the atargati - or mermaids, as everyone but her calls them. What little is known about their culture and society is thanks to Cadence, who has a particular skill that allows her to communicate with them.

But when the atargati become military interests and one of the creatures is captured, Cadence is asked to bond with them - and she decides to risk everything to release them.

With nothing left to lose, Cadence can't stop thinking about the atargati. What if she could be the first human to know everything about them? And... what is she willing to give up in order to get that?

I'll let you find that out.

Obviously, as a short story, you're supposed to take everything at face value and not expect much in terms of worldbuilding or character/relationship work. But I still thought that the worldbuilding was developed enough, and the character's motivations were also compelling enough.

The story also touched on topics such as gender and sexuality, and ethics in science and anthropology, in a way that I thought really worked.

[Monte · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 rounded up. This was delightfully imaginative, with fantastic worldbuilding around an engrossing and unique fantasy species. It also touches on some themes I appreciate—ethics in science, gender, selfhood and mortality. This is a super short novella (might be a novelette?), and worth it for the worldbuilding alone. The atagari felt so plausible. If there were a society of sapient species out there, the deep ocean is one of the only places they could really exist without radically changing our world, and I was hooked on the drip feed of new information about them. Some strokes of brilliance in developing their biology, language, and surrounding society. Definitely the highlight.

Sadly the sentence level writing really impeded the story for me. The recording gimmick did not made sense, and I think the dismissive but indulgent tone the narrating character took on for it made the narration seem childish and melodramatic. It was hard to take her seriously. I think this is part of why the Hans Christian Andersen-esque ending took so many people, myself included, by surprise, and didn’t feel satisfying.

Overall I’m glad I read it, but I’m also glad it only took an hour.

[Liz · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't know why my brain is convinced that short books are cheating - that I somehow am a better reader if the books I complete are 750 pages rather than 75. It's not like the purpose of a book is to be as long as possible and encountering new authors and their works is just as important regardless of the book's length.
Anyway, this month has been my excuse to read all the short fiction I've been meaning to get around to. Including this one, which I knew was going to be dark and sad because it's The Little Mermaid and that story is always going to be dark and sad, but I was somehow surprised at how much I was invested in things maybe being okay anyway...
Anyway, Huang's inventiveness shines through every aspect of the story and the impossible plausibility of her fairy tale is both delightful and fascinating. Her most impressive translation, however, is the way she takes the quest for humanity and a soul from the HCA original and turns it into something deeply resonant with contemporary life. The story is so good--and so painful--because Huang succeeds in that translation.

[Rhys · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really really loved the world building in this. The culture and society and biology of the atargati were fascinating and so well done, and I loved the main character's determination and dedication to science and curiosity. Having multiple non-binary characters was super exciting, and I loved the exploration of identity and sexuality and gender.

I also really loved the description of the main character's transformation and experience living with the atargati, exploring her new senses; the writing is done so very very well.

What I didn't love was the ending. It follows the original fairy tale's grim ending of the main character dying, which...I didn't enjoy. It felt also very abrupt and just too dark for me. I kept looking through the ebook, trying to make sure I didn't miss a secret ending that at least would give me some hope, but, no. I still enjoyed it, but I felt sad from the ending and not in a satisfying, cathartic way.