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The Smell of Mice single work   short story   horror  
Issue Details: First known date: 2005... 2005 The Smell of Mice
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

The protagonist comes from a family with angioedema: her father is bed-bound and her younger sister will die in ten years. The protagonist meets a witch who teaches her how to find and steal life from recently dead bodies by burning fetuses, which send up a purple smoke visible only to her.

Years on, the protagonist is running an illegal abortion clinic with her partner, Dr Matthews. They play on pregnant women's fears that their children will be born 'imperfect', with intellectual or physical disabilities, and so convince them to have an abortion instead. The protagonist takes fetuses from these operations and uses them to continue living. Her sister dies as she refuses to help.

Affiliation Notes

  • Writing Disability in Australia

    Type of disability

    Angioedema, suggestions of various disabilities.

    Type of character Secondary.
    Point of view First person.

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon The Grinding House Kaaron Warren , Latham : CSFG Publishing , 2005 Z1199444 2005 selected work short story novella horror fantasy Latham : CSFG Publishing , 2005 pg. 136-147
  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon The Glass Woman Kaaron Warren , Rockville : Prime Books , 2007 Z1909395 2007 selected work short story fantasy horror science fiction A collection of stories depicting future worlds, stark contemporary settings and alternate realities crossing over the boundaries of science fiction, fantasy and horror. Rockville : Prime Books , 2007 pg. 171-183
Last amended 20 Mar 2018 12:04:27
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