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Resembling Lepus
Earth’s sixth mass extinction has ended, and in its wake a post-dystopian civilization has struggled to rebuild after a global cataclysm shattered its ecosystems and propelled all life to the brink of eradication.
In a world where the air is unhealthy, food is strictly rationed, and the energy consumption that triggered the destruction is highly regimented, scientists experiment with artificial biospheres to secure survival and techno-mimicry to breathe life into long-dead species. It’s an unavoidable surveillance state where every living thing is tracked, numbered, and categorized.
In this fledgling society born out of catastrophic loss and now challenged with a new reverence for all life, a lone detective is haunted by a series of murders traumatizing the populace. Assisted by a medical colleague, she finds herself entangled in a crisis with far-reaching consequences and dangerous repercussions that threaten the fragile balance of all existence.
What is the impact on humanity when mankind is required to play god to the creatures they have all but destroyed?
In a world where the air is unhealthy, food is strictly rationed, and the energy consumption that triggered the destruction is highly regimented, scientists experiment with artificial biospheres to secure survival and techno-mimicry to breathe life into long-dead species. It’s an unavoidable surveillance state where every living thing is tracked, numbered, and categorized.
In this fledgling society born out of catastrophic loss and now challenged with a new reverence for all life, a lone detective is haunted by a series of murders traumatizing the populace. Assisted by a medical colleague, she finds herself entangled in a crisis with far-reaching consequences and dangerous repercussions that threaten the fragile balance of all existence.
What is the impact on humanity when mankind is required to play god to the creatures they have all but destroyed?
132 pages, Paperback
Published April 26, 2022
1 person is currently reading
27 people want to read
About the author
Amanda Kool
4 books11 followersAmanda Kool has been writing for most of her life, starting on her mother’s typewriter. Employed as a technical/proposal writer, she hones her fiction skill authoring crime, speculative, and science fiction.
Kool co-authored 1000 Mettle Folds with horror author Steve Gerlach, and she wrote the children’s book The Paper Fox with her brother, Jeremy Kool, as illustrator.
Her novella, Resembling Lepus, is being published by Grey Matter Press in April 2022.
Kool co-authored 1000 Mettle Folds with horror author Steve Gerlach, and she wrote the children’s book The Paper Fox with her brother, Jeremy Kool, as illustrator.
Her novella, Resembling Lepus, is being published by Grey Matter Press in April 2022.
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
April 29, 2024
Resembling Lepus is a fantastic sci-fi/crime/noir novella from Australian writer Amanda Kool.
In the distant future the mistreatment of animals has been outlawed, all animals are sacred following a near miss extinction event caused by humans in an era well past.
To kill an animal is so taboo, it's worse than human on human murder- so when a rabbit shows up strangled to death, it's a pretty big deal.
Kool's ability to blend unique and interesting sci-fi with compelling and fresh crime is truely impressive, especially considering the novella format. What is particularly striking about Resembling Lepus is how Kool manages to do effectively world build while sticking to a fairly razor thin noir esque writing style.
5/5, 10/10 so far Resembling Lepus is my best read of the year
In the distant future the mistreatment of animals has been outlawed, all animals are sacred following a near miss extinction event caused by humans in an era well past.
To kill an animal is so taboo, it's worse than human on human murder- so when a rabbit shows up strangled to death, it's a pretty big deal.
Kool's ability to blend unique and interesting sci-fi with compelling and fresh crime is truely impressive, especially considering the novella format. What is particularly striking about Resembling Lepus is how Kool manages to do effectively world build while sticking to a fairly razor thin noir esque writing style.
5/5, 10/10 so far Resembling Lepus is my best read of the year
April 29, 2022
One Sentence Summary: In a post-dystopian world that’s been seriously impacted by climate change, a murder rocks the community, and one detective is out to stop the murderer before it gets worse.
Overall
Resembling Lepus is a science fiction murder mystery set in a world that’s recovering from a mass extinction event. The murder is shocking in the context of the world, which was extraordinarily well-developed given this is a novella. I loved that the world and the mystery went hand-in-hand, one depending on the other to create a full story that is terrible, surprising, and offers food for thought. While I couldn’t shake the question of what the Detective’s name was, I was still able to fully enjoy this story and how well everything built on everything else to form an intriguing case that also managed to say quite a bit about society.
Extended Thoughts
Earth has survived a mass extinction event, barely. When plants and animals had begun to die at alarming rates, humans needed to leap into action, and ended up creating the world Resembling Lepus is set in. Here, the unhealthy air is heavily filtered, food is severely rationed, and imitations of animals and humans walk the Earth, to be treated the same as any other living creature. There are laws for that.
One cold morning, an unnamed Detective is called to the scene of a murder. It’s heinous and disturbing, and it happens again and again. With a trusted medical doctor to help her solve the case, she not only must follow the clues, but also grapple with questions for herself and what her actions and this case may mean for society.
Resembling Lepus is a novella, so the pace is quite fast, but it never felt like it was too fast. It just meant the case was relatively uncomplicated and anything that would have added more layers were stripped out. Since I’m unaccustomed to reading novellas, I was a little surprised at just how fast and quick it was. Despite that, I was still able to enjoy the story and the questions it raises. While there wasn’t as much development as might be found in a novel, it set the stage very nicely in just a few sentences, and then the rest of the story took that and ran off to become an intriguing science fiction murder mystery.
My favorite part of Resembling Lepus was the world. I don’t believe I’ve read a post-dystopian novel before, but I quite liked this. My biggest complaint with science fiction and dystopia is that I have a hard time connecting the present and future. What I loved about this novella was I could see the connection. I can see how climate change can impact the flora and fauna and how that might make the world collapse and engender the changes we see in Resembling Lepus. Everything that flowed from the extinction event was directly impacted by that event. The world isn’t explored in-depth and there are no lengthy descriptions or history given, but it’s enough to perfectly set the stage for literally everything in the story. It made complete sense to me, and felt strikingly important once I readjusted my mind to align with the world. I loved that hints about the world were dropped in and woven into the narrative, like, yes, chocolate must be difficult to come by since the Detective is hoping to find some have been delivered with their rations when she gets home. The details are small, but they are mighty, and I absolutely loved them. Every little piece painted a bigger, wider picture. It was the perfect backdrop and just went hand-in-hand with the murder mystery so well.
I don’t want to write too much about the murder mystery because, going into it myself, I had no idea what to expect and the surprise just really made the story for me. It was surprising and unexpected and, once I mentally adjusted, was just as horrifying as any other kind of murder mystery. It worked really well within the confines of the world, and offered greater ramifications and questions. However, because this is a novella, there wasn’t much room to add complexity or layers. The mystery was fairly straightforward, but, considering the reader never gets the chance to meet suspects throughout the story, impossible to figure out until closer to the end when crucial information is provided. When I was finished reading, I missed the twists and turns, but the motivation was truly captivating and just brought up so many questions in my mind. Mostly, I didn’t question the dearth of complexity since the technological advances made some things quite easy and of course the Detective would jump to using them because that’s what they use.
The Detective wasn’t one I felt I really figured out. For one, there isn’t much space or time to really get to know her, and I felt a little off-balance since she’s not even given a name. I found it curious, and the medical doctor she works with is similarly unnamed. It was quite an adjustment to me, and I wonder if it was done to help insert the reader into the story so they can ask some interesting ethical questions of themselves as the story is written in first person. But I still wished to have gotten to know the Detective a little better. I could feel her horror and surprise and determination, but failed to really grasp her relationship with her husband and her colleagues. Even her relationship with the doctor felt a bit odd, at times strictly professional and at other times very knowing, in a more casual way. In the end, the characters were probably the weakest part of the story to me, but I still found the Detective interesting and could appreciate the spots she was put in.
Resembling Lepus really packs it in. There’s a lot to think about and questions to ruminate on. It touches on identity and transference of consciousness as well as what to do with android-like creatures, which are called imitations, as they seem in every way to be just as human or animal as the real ones. While much of the story was devoted to solving the mystery and figuring out what was going on, a good chunk of the ending was given over to prompting questions from the reader. Resembling Lepus does offer a very satisfying end, and I really liked how all the issues the story touched on swirled together to really offer interesting insights into this society, as well as questions that maybe we can ask today.
Resembling Lepus was a fascinating science fiction mystery read to me. I enjoyed how streamlined it was, and didn’t even miss the twists and turns of novel-length mysteries until I had finished. The story kept my attention, though I did find myself asking more than once what the Detective’s name was. The world was incredible and the mystery intriguing and thought-provoking. I liked that it managed to pack in so many things and never short-changed any of them. They worked out so well together that each element depended on another. Resembling Lepus is tightly woven and offers a great deal of food for thought.
Thank you to Anthony Rivera of Grey Matter Press for a review copy. All opinions expressed are my own.
Overall
Resembling Lepus is a science fiction murder mystery set in a world that’s recovering from a mass extinction event. The murder is shocking in the context of the world, which was extraordinarily well-developed given this is a novella. I loved that the world and the mystery went hand-in-hand, one depending on the other to create a full story that is terrible, surprising, and offers food for thought. While I couldn’t shake the question of what the Detective’s name was, I was still able to fully enjoy this story and how well everything built on everything else to form an intriguing case that also managed to say quite a bit about society.
Extended Thoughts
Earth has survived a mass extinction event, barely. When plants and animals had begun to die at alarming rates, humans needed to leap into action, and ended up creating the world Resembling Lepus is set in. Here, the unhealthy air is heavily filtered, food is severely rationed, and imitations of animals and humans walk the Earth, to be treated the same as any other living creature. There are laws for that.
One cold morning, an unnamed Detective is called to the scene of a murder. It’s heinous and disturbing, and it happens again and again. With a trusted medical doctor to help her solve the case, she not only must follow the clues, but also grapple with questions for herself and what her actions and this case may mean for society.
Resembling Lepus is a novella, so the pace is quite fast, but it never felt like it was too fast. It just meant the case was relatively uncomplicated and anything that would have added more layers were stripped out. Since I’m unaccustomed to reading novellas, I was a little surprised at just how fast and quick it was. Despite that, I was still able to enjoy the story and the questions it raises. While there wasn’t as much development as might be found in a novel, it set the stage very nicely in just a few sentences, and then the rest of the story took that and ran off to become an intriguing science fiction murder mystery.
My favorite part of Resembling Lepus was the world. I don’t believe I’ve read a post-dystopian novel before, but I quite liked this. My biggest complaint with science fiction and dystopia is that I have a hard time connecting the present and future. What I loved about this novella was I could see the connection. I can see how climate change can impact the flora and fauna and how that might make the world collapse and engender the changes we see in Resembling Lepus. Everything that flowed from the extinction event was directly impacted by that event. The world isn’t explored in-depth and there are no lengthy descriptions or history given, but it’s enough to perfectly set the stage for literally everything in the story. It made complete sense to me, and felt strikingly important once I readjusted my mind to align with the world. I loved that hints about the world were dropped in and woven into the narrative, like, yes, chocolate must be difficult to come by since the Detective is hoping to find some have been delivered with their rations when she gets home. The details are small, but they are mighty, and I absolutely loved them. Every little piece painted a bigger, wider picture. It was the perfect backdrop and just went hand-in-hand with the murder mystery so well.
I don’t want to write too much about the murder mystery because, going into it myself, I had no idea what to expect and the surprise just really made the story for me. It was surprising and unexpected and, once I mentally adjusted, was just as horrifying as any other kind of murder mystery. It worked really well within the confines of the world, and offered greater ramifications and questions. However, because this is a novella, there wasn’t much room to add complexity or layers. The mystery was fairly straightforward, but, considering the reader never gets the chance to meet suspects throughout the story, impossible to figure out until closer to the end when crucial information is provided. When I was finished reading, I missed the twists and turns, but the motivation was truly captivating and just brought up so many questions in my mind. Mostly, I didn’t question the dearth of complexity since the technological advances made some things quite easy and of course the Detective would jump to using them because that’s what they use.
The Detective wasn’t one I felt I really figured out. For one, there isn’t much space or time to really get to know her, and I felt a little off-balance since she’s not even given a name. I found it curious, and the medical doctor she works with is similarly unnamed. It was quite an adjustment to me, and I wonder if it was done to help insert the reader into the story so they can ask some interesting ethical questions of themselves as the story is written in first person. But I still wished to have gotten to know the Detective a little better. I could feel her horror and surprise and determination, but failed to really grasp her relationship with her husband and her colleagues. Even her relationship with the doctor felt a bit odd, at times strictly professional and at other times very knowing, in a more casual way. In the end, the characters were probably the weakest part of the story to me, but I still found the Detective interesting and could appreciate the spots she was put in.
Resembling Lepus really packs it in. There’s a lot to think about and questions to ruminate on. It touches on identity and transference of consciousness as well as what to do with android-like creatures, which are called imitations, as they seem in every way to be just as human or animal as the real ones. While much of the story was devoted to solving the mystery and figuring out what was going on, a good chunk of the ending was given over to prompting questions from the reader. Resembling Lepus does offer a very satisfying end, and I really liked how all the issues the story touched on swirled together to really offer interesting insights into this society, as well as questions that maybe we can ask today.
Resembling Lepus was a fascinating science fiction mystery read to me. I enjoyed how streamlined it was, and didn’t even miss the twists and turns of novel-length mysteries until I had finished. The story kept my attention, though I did find myself asking more than once what the Detective’s name was. The world was incredible and the mystery intriguing and thought-provoking. I liked that it managed to pack in so many things and never short-changed any of them. They worked out so well together that each element depended on another. Resembling Lepus is tightly woven and offers a great deal of food for thought.
Thank you to Anthony Rivera of Grey Matter Press for a review copy. All opinions expressed are my own.
April 27, 2022
Resembling Lepus
Amanda Kool
Emergent Expressions
April 26, 2022
Reviewed by Brian “Skull” Lewis
Hey there regular readers, it’s your old pal Skull! Today I’m reviewing Resembling Lepus, the first book with the Emergent Expressions imprint from none other than horror powerhouse Grey Matter Press. Why a different imprint? Long story short, it’s because Anthony Rivera wants to help emerging authors while giving readers something new to enjoy. Basically, a real win-win for all involved. What we get with the debut novella is an action-packed detective story placed in the frighteningly possible dystopian future, with some super fly cli-fi with the show.
Amanda Kool, the author of Resembling Lepus, kicks things off with a murder. We arrive at the grim scene that’s oddly juxtaposed against a lovely nature preserve. In better times, it would be a wonderful place to visit, but right now it’s sullied by blood and tears. Beautiful groves of trees become potential hiding spots for the murderer, who likes to kill their victims by hand. Yikes! And who is the victim? Why a lovely female rabbit-a real one, to be exact. The detective narrating this story, police officer on scene, and the doctor are deeply shaken. Wait, why?
In our current world, we might chuckle and shake our heads at that. But in the future Kool reveals to us, it will be no laughing matter. The way things are going in the present century, there is a serious chance that our luckier descendants will live in a dystopian world. The rest of us will be long gone, riding the extinction train with many plant and animal species. Maintaining the fragile, manmade ecosystem requires many sacrifices. Privacy and personal freedom are things of the past, thanks to 24/7 monitoring by CC TV, doors, and even the furniture we sit on. There will be strict rationing of food and luxury items for working class citizens. City air will be so polluted that everyone will have to wear an air filtration device. Personal use vehicles will be a thing of the past. Everything will be recycled, including life force. Perfection in motion, right?
Well…no. During her investigations, the detective uncovers a lot of bugs in the system. One of the major ones being that just like in our current modern day lives, the wealthy have a free pass to do whatever they damn well please. It’s the actions of some of these entitled people that produce a very dangerous killer. Do they care or even consider the situation? Nah! They’re too busy getting ready to go on vacation for a whole month. Even when the detective points this out by saying “Must be nice” to the man of the house, he just replies cheerfully “Oh, it is!” So spoiled that he’s unable to view his vast, spacious home with a real lawn, trees, houseplants, and pets through the detective’s thirsty eyes.
As the bodies pile up, the detective finds an ally in the forensic doctor who performs the autopsies, runs tests, and even manages to plug them into the brain of a manmade rabbit that lives in the nature preserve along with a mix of real rabbits and ones like itself. While they learn much about the killer, the experience brings some painful realizations about how well this artificial world is really working. Is the doctor truly an ally or is she something else, a spy perhaps? The detective has figured out the mystery and wants to move forward with nabbing the murderer, but her captain wants to follow the rules that perpetuate a system that clearly isn’t doing what it claims. Our detective is a strong woman and she’s not backing down after all she’s been through, which includes nearly becoming one of the murderer’s victims. There needs to be a conclusion. But how much will it cost her?
Damaged Skull Writer and Reviewer gives Amanda Kool’s novella Resembling Lepus a FIVE STAR rating and a place on The Wall of Fame! Emergent Expressions’ debut shows readers that this is a brave new imprint producing works that make us think while keeping our eyes glued to the page. There are myriad ways to read Resembling Lepus, and with every pass through the book I saw something new. What always asserted itself was the hard reality that there’s no such thing as a perfect world that works for every inhabitant equally. Humans have tried to play God for centuries and it never works right because no one can be totally objective. Even the Greek Gods of mythology were constantly making mistakes, so what makes us think we’re any better? The murderer in Resembling Lepus reminds me a bit of Michael Crichton’s Terminal Man. Something science claims will work perfectly but doesn’t, with drastic consequences. When caught by the detective, Peter screams “We are vengeful creatures!” And the doctor shows the detective the past when rabbits were considered vermin and hunted for sport because people liked to hear them scream. So why are they protected now? What’s wrong or right? I don’t know, I’m just a book reviewer who calls himself Skull. You catch this book and read it.
For more information and to order a copy of Resembling Lepus go to: www.greymatterpress.com
For more information about author Amanda Kool go to: www.amandakool.net
Tell them your old pal Skull sent you!
Amanda Kool
Emergent Expressions
April 26, 2022
Reviewed by Brian “Skull” Lewis
Hey there regular readers, it’s your old pal Skull! Today I’m reviewing Resembling Lepus, the first book with the Emergent Expressions imprint from none other than horror powerhouse Grey Matter Press. Why a different imprint? Long story short, it’s because Anthony Rivera wants to help emerging authors while giving readers something new to enjoy. Basically, a real win-win for all involved. What we get with the debut novella is an action-packed detective story placed in the frighteningly possible dystopian future, with some super fly cli-fi with the show.
Amanda Kool, the author of Resembling Lepus, kicks things off with a murder. We arrive at the grim scene that’s oddly juxtaposed against a lovely nature preserve. In better times, it would be a wonderful place to visit, but right now it’s sullied by blood and tears. Beautiful groves of trees become potential hiding spots for the murderer, who likes to kill their victims by hand. Yikes! And who is the victim? Why a lovely female rabbit-a real one, to be exact. The detective narrating this story, police officer on scene, and the doctor are deeply shaken. Wait, why?
In our current world, we might chuckle and shake our heads at that. But in the future Kool reveals to us, it will be no laughing matter. The way things are going in the present century, there is a serious chance that our luckier descendants will live in a dystopian world. The rest of us will be long gone, riding the extinction train with many plant and animal species. Maintaining the fragile, manmade ecosystem requires many sacrifices. Privacy and personal freedom are things of the past, thanks to 24/7 monitoring by CC TV, doors, and even the furniture we sit on. There will be strict rationing of food and luxury items for working class citizens. City air will be so polluted that everyone will have to wear an air filtration device. Personal use vehicles will be a thing of the past. Everything will be recycled, including life force. Perfection in motion, right?
Well…no. During her investigations, the detective uncovers a lot of bugs in the system. One of the major ones being that just like in our current modern day lives, the wealthy have a free pass to do whatever they damn well please. It’s the actions of some of these entitled people that produce a very dangerous killer. Do they care or even consider the situation? Nah! They’re too busy getting ready to go on vacation for a whole month. Even when the detective points this out by saying “Must be nice” to the man of the house, he just replies cheerfully “Oh, it is!” So spoiled that he’s unable to view his vast, spacious home with a real lawn, trees, houseplants, and pets through the detective’s thirsty eyes.
As the bodies pile up, the detective finds an ally in the forensic doctor who performs the autopsies, runs tests, and even manages to plug them into the brain of a manmade rabbit that lives in the nature preserve along with a mix of real rabbits and ones like itself. While they learn much about the killer, the experience brings some painful realizations about how well this artificial world is really working. Is the doctor truly an ally or is she something else, a spy perhaps? The detective has figured out the mystery and wants to move forward with nabbing the murderer, but her captain wants to follow the rules that perpetuate a system that clearly isn’t doing what it claims. Our detective is a strong woman and she’s not backing down after all she’s been through, which includes nearly becoming one of the murderer’s victims. There needs to be a conclusion. But how much will it cost her?
Damaged Skull Writer and Reviewer gives Amanda Kool’s novella Resembling Lepus a FIVE STAR rating and a place on The Wall of Fame! Emergent Expressions’ debut shows readers that this is a brave new imprint producing works that make us think while keeping our eyes glued to the page. There are myriad ways to read Resembling Lepus, and with every pass through the book I saw something new. What always asserted itself was the hard reality that there’s no such thing as a perfect world that works for every inhabitant equally. Humans have tried to play God for centuries and it never works right because no one can be totally objective. Even the Greek Gods of mythology were constantly making mistakes, so what makes us think we’re any better? The murderer in Resembling Lepus reminds me a bit of Michael Crichton’s Terminal Man. Something science claims will work perfectly but doesn’t, with drastic consequences. When caught by the detective, Peter screams “We are vengeful creatures!” And the doctor shows the detective the past when rabbits were considered vermin and hunted for sport because people liked to hear them scream. So why are they protected now? What’s wrong or right? I don’t know, I’m just a book reviewer who calls himself Skull. You catch this book and read it.
For more information and to order a copy of Resembling Lepus go to: www.greymatterpress.com
For more information about author Amanda Kool go to: www.amandakool.net
Tell them your old pal Skull sent you!
August 13, 2022
A most peculiar murder mystery debut where the victim is not human….
In recent years Grey Matter Press have had an excellent track record in producing high quality horror, dark and weird fiction from the likes of Paul Kane, Karen Runge, John FD Taff and Alan Baxter. The latter two being responsible for two truly outstanding series The Fearing (Taff) and Ali Carver (Baxter) which rank amongst my recent personal favourites. In 2022 GMP are expanding their range with a multi-genre sequence of four novellas by debut and emerging authors, including Andrew McRae (horror), Patrick Bard (Fantasy) and Matthew R Davies (thriller). Down the years, the strength of GMP has been its ability to effortlessly move between the boundaries of dark fiction, encompassing thriller, horror, science fiction, crime/noir, horror, speculative fiction and fantasy. It looks like this new series is going to continue this tradition and in a nutshell, it is always worth keeping a keen eye on what they publish.
GMP’s brand new Emergent Expressions series kicks off in some style with Amanda Kool’s debut novella Resembling Lepus and even though it is best described as a rather quiet cli-fi story, it is still a banger. I’ve been a fan of cli-fi since I discovered JG Ballard’s The Drowned World over thirty years ago and Kool’s fascinating debut skilfully avoids all the stereotypes you usually see in modern post-apocalyptic fiction or dystopia fiction where resources are scant with mankind teetering towards extinction. Instead, we are presented with a very civilised society, where rationing exists, water is shared, chocolate is a treat and mankind is genuinely sorry for the catastrophes its previous generations inflicted on the planet. The sort of stuff JB Ballard was prophesising about in the sixties.
Set in the UK some years after a global cataclysm shattered many of the Earth’s ecosystems, mankind has battled back from the brink and now exists in a post-dystopian civilisation. This in itself is rather unique, as in fiction there is usually either no way back (Cormac McCarthy’s The Road) or small pockets of hope (think Robert McCammon’s Swan Song or Stephen King’s The Stand) but in this novella, even though there are dystopian hallmarks such as surveillance and rationing energy consumption, things could be significantly worse. Amanda Kool drip feeds tasty little tip-bits throughout the story and I found myself trying to jigsaw together all the facts in creating an accurate big picture in which the rather bizarre story is framed.
In Resembling Lepus, instead of cannibalism (two of my recent dystopian favourites which tackle this trope being Cody Luff’s Ration or Agustine Bazterrica’s Tender is the Flesh) we have a society which almost worships the last surviving animals which are closely monitored, tracked, numbered and categorised. The story is built around the ‘murder’ of a rabbit and the detective who is tasked with solving this horrendous crime. In this version of Britain, the killing of a rabbit is significantly worse than offing a human and the death shocks the country, with the animal having a full autopsy and the detective feeling the loss like one would a butchered child. Or perhaps a modern-day comparison of equivalent outrage would be somebody climbing into the panda cage in Edinburgh Zoo and slaughtering Yang Guang and Tian Tian with a blunt machete! Once you get your head around this weird paradox Resembling Lepus becomes a fascinating detective mystery, with the problem being there are a lack of clues, until other dead rabbits start turning up and the outrage grows.
The story also has a serious Bladerunner vibe to proceedings (think of Sean Young’s owl) as science has also found a way of using technology to breathe life into long-dead species, which can act as pets or surrogate animals should you have the huge bundles of cash to buy them. So, there are two types of animals, biologically real and reproductions, and bizarre ways in which animals can be requisitioned or recycled (for want of better words). For a novella length work Resembling Lepus was brimming with clever ideas and the ending was totally off-the-wall. One could argue that the detective solved the case slightly too easily, but in some ways the mystery was a distraction to the unique setting and the way in which man interacted with animals, real of otherwise.
The first book in the new GMP range Emergent Expressions is a strange one and although post-apocalyptic stories continue to be released at pace the manner in which Resembling Lepus was framed was both original and quirky. The cli-fi vibe was reminiscent of the cult 1970s Silent Running, but with the last surviving animals being revered in the same way Bruce Dern cultivated his plants in that film. Rabbit stew (yuck) will never be the same after reading this little gem!
In recent years Grey Matter Press have had an excellent track record in producing high quality horror, dark and weird fiction from the likes of Paul Kane, Karen Runge, John FD Taff and Alan Baxter. The latter two being responsible for two truly outstanding series The Fearing (Taff) and Ali Carver (Baxter) which rank amongst my recent personal favourites. In 2022 GMP are expanding their range with a multi-genre sequence of four novellas by debut and emerging authors, including Andrew McRae (horror), Patrick Bard (Fantasy) and Matthew R Davies (thriller). Down the years, the strength of GMP has been its ability to effortlessly move between the boundaries of dark fiction, encompassing thriller, horror, science fiction, crime/noir, horror, speculative fiction and fantasy. It looks like this new series is going to continue this tradition and in a nutshell, it is always worth keeping a keen eye on what they publish.
GMP’s brand new Emergent Expressions series kicks off in some style with Amanda Kool’s debut novella Resembling Lepus and even though it is best described as a rather quiet cli-fi story, it is still a banger. I’ve been a fan of cli-fi since I discovered JG Ballard’s The Drowned World over thirty years ago and Kool’s fascinating debut skilfully avoids all the stereotypes you usually see in modern post-apocalyptic fiction or dystopia fiction where resources are scant with mankind teetering towards extinction. Instead, we are presented with a very civilised society, where rationing exists, water is shared, chocolate is a treat and mankind is genuinely sorry for the catastrophes its previous generations inflicted on the planet. The sort of stuff JB Ballard was prophesising about in the sixties.
Set in the UK some years after a global cataclysm shattered many of the Earth’s ecosystems, mankind has battled back from the brink and now exists in a post-dystopian civilisation. This in itself is rather unique, as in fiction there is usually either no way back (Cormac McCarthy’s The Road) or small pockets of hope (think Robert McCammon’s Swan Song or Stephen King’s The Stand) but in this novella, even though there are dystopian hallmarks such as surveillance and rationing energy consumption, things could be significantly worse. Amanda Kool drip feeds tasty little tip-bits throughout the story and I found myself trying to jigsaw together all the facts in creating an accurate big picture in which the rather bizarre story is framed.
In Resembling Lepus, instead of cannibalism (two of my recent dystopian favourites which tackle this trope being Cody Luff’s Ration or Agustine Bazterrica’s Tender is the Flesh) we have a society which almost worships the last surviving animals which are closely monitored, tracked, numbered and categorised. The story is built around the ‘murder’ of a rabbit and the detective who is tasked with solving this horrendous crime. In this version of Britain, the killing of a rabbit is significantly worse than offing a human and the death shocks the country, with the animal having a full autopsy and the detective feeling the loss like one would a butchered child. Or perhaps a modern-day comparison of equivalent outrage would be somebody climbing into the panda cage in Edinburgh Zoo and slaughtering Yang Guang and Tian Tian with a blunt machete! Once you get your head around this weird paradox Resembling Lepus becomes a fascinating detective mystery, with the problem being there are a lack of clues, until other dead rabbits start turning up and the outrage grows.
The story also has a serious Bladerunner vibe to proceedings (think of Sean Young’s owl) as science has also found a way of using technology to breathe life into long-dead species, which can act as pets or surrogate animals should you have the huge bundles of cash to buy them. So, there are two types of animals, biologically real and reproductions, and bizarre ways in which animals can be requisitioned or recycled (for want of better words). For a novella length work Resembling Lepus was brimming with clever ideas and the ending was totally off-the-wall. One could argue that the detective solved the case slightly too easily, but in some ways the mystery was a distraction to the unique setting and the way in which man interacted with animals, real of otherwise.
The first book in the new GMP range Emergent Expressions is a strange one and although post-apocalyptic stories continue to be released at pace the manner in which Resembling Lepus was framed was both original and quirky. The cli-fi vibe was reminiscent of the cult 1970s Silent Running, but with the last surviving animals being revered in the same way Bruce Dern cultivated his plants in that film. Rabbit stew (yuck) will never be the same after reading this little gem!
April 27, 2022
Review crossposted on my blog.
For a list of content/trigger warnings, tropes, and representation found in this book, check out its page on BookTriggerWarnings.com!
First off, big thank you to Grey Matter Press for sending me an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review! I was particularly excited to make a connection to a publisher that operates in the same city as me. I can’t wait to see what other stories they are producing.
The surrounding premise of Resembling Lepus is an extremely interesting one. Taking place in a world very similar to ours, there are a few stark differences. After almost single-handedly killing off all of the world’s natural resources, society has undergone a huge paradigm shift in which non-human animals are now respected just as much as humans. On top of that, as a form of recreating the nature that they lost, humans have also invented a way to make imitation beings (both human and animal) that can be recycled when needed.
The novella is formatted like a police procedural, following a detective as she attempts to find a serial murderer who has been strangling rabbits and leaving them with a ribbon around their necks. Unfortunately, unlike many police procedurals and mystery novels that I’ve read, I didn’t feel like the reader was ever really involved in attempting to solve the case. Due to the short nature of the story, I didn’t feel like I had the information needed to come to a proper conclusion until right before the detective made her deductions.
Speculative fiction is a genre that I find particularly fun to read because they never seem as far-fetched as some of the science fiction novels that I’ve read in the past. There are no space battles or time travel, just a society much like ours that has made the same mistakes we are currently making right now. I find the exploration of where society is heading to be both intellectually stimulating and potentially groundbreaking. As as a result, a part of me feels like this novella would have worked better as a full-length novel. Giving the story 100+ more pages to unfold would have helped solve the issue of the mystery being solved too quickly, while also giving readers a fuller picture of the surrounding world’s circumstances. I ended the book wanting to know more. How many species did we successfully kill off and how many did we successfully save? What is the quality of vegetation and the atmosphere? What other scientific advancements have we made as a whole? All in all, Resembling Lepus was a quick and enjoyable read. I’d love to see what other ideas this author has nurtured and published in her other works.
For a list of content/trigger warnings, tropes, and representation found in this book, check out its page on BookTriggerWarnings.com!
First off, big thank you to Grey Matter Press for sending me an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review! I was particularly excited to make a connection to a publisher that operates in the same city as me. I can’t wait to see what other stories they are producing.
The surrounding premise of Resembling Lepus is an extremely interesting one. Taking place in a world very similar to ours, there are a few stark differences. After almost single-handedly killing off all of the world’s natural resources, society has undergone a huge paradigm shift in which non-human animals are now respected just as much as humans. On top of that, as a form of recreating the nature that they lost, humans have also invented a way to make imitation beings (both human and animal) that can be recycled when needed.
The novella is formatted like a police procedural, following a detective as she attempts to find a serial murderer who has been strangling rabbits and leaving them with a ribbon around their necks. Unfortunately, unlike many police procedurals and mystery novels that I’ve read, I didn’t feel like the reader was ever really involved in attempting to solve the case. Due to the short nature of the story, I didn’t feel like I had the information needed to come to a proper conclusion until right before the detective made her deductions.
Speculative fiction is a genre that I find particularly fun to read because they never seem as far-fetched as some of the science fiction novels that I’ve read in the past. There are no space battles or time travel, just a society much like ours that has made the same mistakes we are currently making right now. I find the exploration of where society is heading to be both intellectually stimulating and potentially groundbreaking. As as a result, a part of me feels like this novella would have worked better as a full-length novel. Giving the story 100+ more pages to unfold would have helped solve the issue of the mystery being solved too quickly, while also giving readers a fuller picture of the surrounding world’s circumstances. I ended the book wanting to know more. How many species did we successfully kill off and how many did we successfully save? What is the quality of vegetation and the atmosphere? What other scientific advancements have we made as a whole? All in all, Resembling Lepus was a quick and enjoyable read. I’d love to see what other ideas this author has nurtured and published in her other works.
April 9, 2022
Amanda Kool imagines a Blade Runner-esque future following Earth's sixth mass extinction event in Resembling Lepus, albeit one that is built off a much sillier, flimsier premise than Ridley Scott's sci-fi noir classic.
In an effort to reconstruct their collapsed ecosystem, humanity has begun creating imitations - artificial rabbits, mice, bees, plants, and even humans, that could thrive in areas previously uninhabitable due to ecological catastrophe. Coming out the other side of the Holocene Extinction, and the massive holocaust of so many species, the murder of animals has not only been prohibited but has since become society's greatest taboo. Which makes the discovery of a pregnant rabbit, strangled to death with blue ribbon, all the more shocking and appalling.
Having read only the publisher's synopsis, I was taken aback at the nature of the book's murder victims. When Kool reveals early on that the deceased is a rabbit, my first instinct was to scoff at the notion that London police would dedicate so much time and resources to so simple a crime. But then the author backtracks to fill in the blanks, giving us enough information to define humanity's radically changed, and heavily scarred, future. After initially being shocked by outlandishness, I quickly sobered to the glum realities of Kool's world building and found myself committed.
Unfortunately, Kool skirts a bit too closely to the edge of silliness for me, on a few occasions. While she doesn't completely topple over the edge, she comes awfully close, and it was only by sheer force of will that I was able to suspend my disbelief long enough to continue reading after the disclosure of the killer's identity and wardrobe. It's in this reveal that Resembling Lepus suffered the most for me, and I found myself needing a far more deeper exploration of our serial rabbit killer's mental state and motivations. Kool's climax is unsatisfyingly cursory, and the resolution gives readers a short shrift. Given the complexities of this future society, only a few hundred years removed from present-day, the grand finale is jarringly abrupt and leaves too many questions, and too much needed information, left dangling.
Resembling Lepus is a mixed bag of sci-fi detective cool. The world building is intriguing, oftentimes even engrossing, but the endgame is much too rushed and requires a few too many leaps of logic, lacking the carefully crafted reasoning Kool has injected into humanity's post-extinction reclamation.
In an effort to reconstruct their collapsed ecosystem, humanity has begun creating imitations - artificial rabbits, mice, bees, plants, and even humans, that could thrive in areas previously uninhabitable due to ecological catastrophe. Coming out the other side of the Holocene Extinction, and the massive holocaust of so many species, the murder of animals has not only been prohibited but has since become society's greatest taboo. Which makes the discovery of a pregnant rabbit, strangled to death with blue ribbon, all the more shocking and appalling.
Having read only the publisher's synopsis, I was taken aback at the nature of the book's murder victims. When Kool reveals early on that the deceased is a rabbit, my first instinct was to scoff at the notion that London police would dedicate so much time and resources to so simple a crime. But then the author backtracks to fill in the blanks, giving us enough information to define humanity's radically changed, and heavily scarred, future. After initially being shocked by outlandishness, I quickly sobered to the glum realities of Kool's world building and found myself committed.
Unfortunately, Kool skirts a bit too closely to the edge of silliness for me, on a few occasions. While she doesn't completely topple over the edge, she comes awfully close, and it was only by sheer force of will that I was able to suspend my disbelief long enough to continue reading after the disclosure of the killer's identity and wardrobe. It's in this reveal that Resembling Lepus suffered the most for me, and I found myself needing a far more deeper exploration of our serial rabbit killer's mental state and motivations. Kool's climax is unsatisfyingly cursory, and the resolution gives readers a short shrift. Given the complexities of this future society, only a few hundred years removed from present-day, the grand finale is jarringly abrupt and leaves too many questions, and too much needed information, left dangling.
Resembling Lepus is a mixed bag of sci-fi detective cool. The world building is intriguing, oftentimes even engrossing, but the endgame is much too rushed and requires a few too many leaps of logic, lacking the carefully crafted reasoning Kool has injected into humanity's post-extinction reclamation.
April 21, 2022
Resembling Lepus is a disturbing dystopian noir that takes us into a future we should hope never comes to pass. With climate change having wrought havoc on the planet, what remains of humanity faces a reckoning: what kind of value do we place on life, and what kinds of lives do we actually value? Amanda Kool sketches a complex, confronting world within this tightly plotted novella – if we’re lucky, we’ll see more stories from her that explore its dark and ethically tangled depths.
August 8, 2022
What a strange, little story.
This novella by Amanda Kool is wonderfully written, never missing a beat. A strange, little story about the killing of a rabbit leads our detective on a hunt for its murderer. I was taken in quickly and read this in two sessions. Loved the style, and will be looking for more of Kool’s writing in future.
This novella by Amanda Kool is wonderfully written, never missing a beat. A strange, little story about the killing of a rabbit leads our detective on a hunt for its murderer. I was taken in quickly and read this in two sessions. Loved the style, and will be looking for more of Kool’s writing in future.
August 26, 2023
A stylish, sharply observed SF noir that's full of smart details and which takes a genuinely surprising turn. Careful set up that neither tips its hand nor tries to cheat, this is a cleverly constructed, and thoughtful and, above all, humane cyberpunk mystery. A strong follow-up to Kool's excellent first novel. I'm looking forward to more.
February 16, 2022
Loved this book! Interesting take on a scifi detective tale. Definitely got some Blade Runner vibes in it. This book really checked all the boxes for me! Can’t wait to read more from Kool! Very intriguing world these characters live in!
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October 4, 2022The positive comments here in are largely spot-on ... I'd just like to add: Can we have more of this world, please? Pretty please? I promise I'll pat a rabbit ...
I'm serious. There's so much in here that begs for more story. Thank you, Amanda Kool.
I'm serious. There's so much in here that begs for more story. Thank you, Amanda Kool.
February 14, 2024
Loved the premise of this book and the detail that has been put into the story to make it a believable dystopian future. I haven't stopped thinking of the ethics and implications this future would make to life as we know it.
April 25, 2022
I love this combination of detective mystery in a post-Apocalyptic world. This novella has such great detail about this new world and a lot to say about how we treat life. An excellent read.
June 6, 2022
An enjoyable murder mystery with some interesting speculative concepts. A quick read so worth giving a go.
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