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Mort(e)

(War with No Name #1)

Robert Repino

3.59 · Rating details · 3,952 ratings · 697 reviews

After the “war with no name” a cat assassin searches for his lost love in Repino’s strange, moving sci-fi epic that channels both Homeward Bound and A Canticle for Leibowitz.

The “war with no name” has begun, with human extinction as its goal. The instigator of this war is the Colony, a race of intelligent ants who, for thousands of years, have been silently building an arm ...more

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Hardcover, 358 pages

Published January 20th 2015 by Soho Press (first published January 1st 2014)

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Animal Xenofiction for Adults

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· 3,952 ratings · 697 reviews

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Mar 18, 2015 Kevin Kelsey rated it really liked it

Shelves: _library, book-club, read-2015

A terrific, wholly original story. Brutal, straightforward and unflinching yet really fun at the same time. It had elements of Planet of the Apes and Heinlein, but with a lot more heart.

Mort(e) did that thing that only SF can do so well. It told a story about humanity and all the things that we get wrong, transplanted into a totally unfamiliar POV, so it's not too obviously preachy. Repino really pulled off that mix wonderfully.

I'll be looking for more from him in the future.

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Jan 04, 2015 Matt rated it did not like it

I will keep this review short, for two reasons. First, having read Mort(e), I have earned the right to minimize further time spent on it. Second, having been spared Morte(e), you deserve the opportunity to escape unscathed.

Yes, this is that most dreaded of book blog posts: a negative review. Whatever I may have previously said in regards to negative reviews, to whatever conclusions we may have come, you know that I don't engage in negative reviews lightly. I try to look for good qualities even i I will keep this review short, for two reasons. First, having read Mort(e), I have earned the right to minimize further time spent on it. Second, having been spared Morte(e), you deserve the opportunity to escape unscathed.

Yes, this is that most dreaded of book blog posts: a negative review. Whatever I may have previously said in regards to negative reviews, to whatever conclusions we may have come, you know that I don't engage in negative reviews lightly. I try to look for good qualities even in books I don't much like. It says something about Mort(e) that I feel like no other option is available to me.

The premise, I thought, was promising: animals are engaged in a war against humans. Mort(e) (pet name “Sebastian”) is an animal agent, working to undermine human resistance. In my mind's eye, I imagined a feline padding around the house, pulling pranks on its owners. I was...wrong, to put it mildly. The animals, raised to consciousness and bipedal locomotion via a chemical agent produced by the ant queen bent on humanity's destruction, wage a genocidal war against their former human masters. This has all the subtlety of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. The original 1980s cartoon series.

The tone is unceasingly cheerless. Repino trots the reader from one grim scene to another, without respite. Even when the war is “over,” the ugliness continues, as animal communities succumb to a mysterious disease, EMSAH, and human guerillas (ha!) wage a holy war against the victorious animals. Mort(e) is a caricature of a protagonist from a Hollywood thriller, single minded in his pursuit of his lost friend, Sheba. “Just remember,” Mort(e) says, “Maybe these guys are nice, and the ants are mean. But that doesn’t mean their fairy tales are true.”

Repino’s main concern is the irrationality both of religion and of attempts to overthrow it. Humanity, increasingly desperate as it nears extinction, resorts to ever more grandiose expectations of messianic salvation. Nor are the animals free of faith. Infected by a virus unleashed by vengeful humans, animal communities succumb to religious madness, culminating in suicide. But even the ant queen, who seeks to replace humankind, in the process becoming “a god,” is a victim to faith. “Love is stronger than God,” Mort(e) concludes, a sentiment that, here, rings hollow, coming as it does from someone who admittedly took pleasure in killing people.

Ultimately, Mort(e) is an interesting concept that, laden as it is with limp prose, indifferent characters, and unceasing grimness, falls flat. That said, I encourage readers to seek out more reviews before writing Mort(e) off. I, for one, cannot recommend this book. ...more

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Jun 28, 2017 Jack +Books & Bourbon+ rated it it was ok

Ummmmmm...no. Just no. That's the thought that kept repeating in my head as I read through Mort(e). I kept waiting for the story to "click" with me, but it never really did. Generally, I don't have a problem with suspending disbelief, and I even get the appeal of anthropomorphic animals at the center of a story. But with Mort(e) I just couldn't buy in. Though I grew to tolerate Mort(e) as a protagonist, I felt no investment in the tale being told.

Is there a decent story within these pages? Sure, Ummmmmm...no. Just no. That's the thought that kept repeating in my head as I read through Mort(e). I kept waiting for the story to "click" with me, but it never really did. Generally, I don't have a problem with suspending disbelief, and I even get the appeal of anthropomorphic animals at the center of a story. But with Mort(e) I just couldn't buy in. Though I grew to tolerate Mort(e) as a protagonist, I felt no investment in the tale being told.

Is there a decent story within these pages? Sure, to an extent. If nothing else, it highlights the horrors of war nearly as well as other "conflict" novels. Disassociation, numbness, difficulty adapting to civilian life, trauma, loss, and solitude are all represented here in some form, and I grew weary alongside Mort(e) as the conflict dragged on. But while I could find traction with the war aspects of Mort(e), the rest left me wanting.

The whole reason for the evolution of the animals? Nope. Did not work for me. I mean, come on, opposable thumbs and fully formed vocal chords just magically appearing on animals because of some underground genetic engineering, all orchestrated by the ant Queen in her underground lair? Puh-lease. One or two animals being modified in a lab through painful experimentation I could buy. It would be awful to read about, as the animal lover within me would be pissed, but I could buy it. So yeah, with the main conceit already rubbing me the wrong way, it was up to the characters and situations to carry the tale.

And...that result was very hit or miss for me. Mort(e) has moments where he's engaging and someone I wanted to root for. But just as often, he got on my nerves and I felt no sympathy or connection with him. It was strange for me to have conflicting feelings on a main character, as it usually doesn't happen. I admire his devotion to Sheba, for sure, and maybe cats would be this fatalistic if they became sentient (it's more a probably than a maybe), but ultimately Mort(e) just didn't "move" me. He didn't have the depth I was looking for in a leader.

As for to other characters, they were all over the map. Wawa and Culdesac were fleshed out, multi-dimensional, and imminently readable. And after his varied interactions with Mort(e), I can see why Culdesac has his own side-story. The "villain" of the tale, Hymenoptera Unus, also gets a few moments to shine, and her rage and hatred towards humans is conveyed in a way that makes sense. She was a tragic antagonist, and even though I called bullshit on how she accomplished pretty much all aspects of her plan, I still felt she was an effective "big bad". But those are the only characters of worth. Bonaparte, The Archon, Briggs, and Tiberius all should have been just as exciting and interesting as the characters listed above. But alas, they were not. At all. Missed opportunities, every single one of them. Especially Tiberius, as he had the potential to be a truly standout character, and the mark was seriously missed. In fact, the backstories of these characters are much more interesting than the characters themselves.

In fact, missed opportunities is now my subtitle for this book. Many of the interesting events are alluded to, happen off-page, or simply never materialize. For a war story, there's surprisingly little action, and what is here isn't really expanded on. The Purge had an opportunity to parallel some real world history, but it ended up being anti-climactic. The whole "messiah" plot line was just awful. There were other events I thought about mentioning as well, but the further I get into this review, the less I feel like taking the time to jot them down. Sorry, but my "give-a-damn" tank is empty.

So, yeah. Despite all these paragraphs of negativity, I didn't actively hate the story. I just didn't "like" the story. In the end, I was mostly just indifferent. I suppose that my Mort(e) apathy could be because I've been sitting in an airport terminal for the past 3 hours, and I finished the book during the 4 AM ride to the airport. Could be...but I doubt it. Plenty of books have captured my attention regardless of location or state of alertness. Oh...I didn't DNF it, which says something, but it was a close call on several occasions. With all the great books out there, featuring stronger characterizations and more entertaining plot lines, I simply can't recommend Mort(e). ...more

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Jul 08, 2014 Laura rated it it was amazing

Shelves: old-reads, 2014-mt-bookpile

This book should come with a warning: if you share a home with four-legged companions, watch out. I spent a lot of time assuring mine that they were much beloved members of my family, not "slaves".

To be honest, I've never been a huge fan of animals-as-people adult books (eg, Watership Down), although the Thornton Burgess books are among my childhood favorites. But Mort(e) is not one of "those" books - it's a riveting read, with Sebastian/Mort(e) as a flawed hero. His love, and search, for Sheba ...more

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Oct 03, 2014 Lincoln Eddy rated it liked it

An interesting entry in the dystopian science fiction genre, this novel took two premises that usually populate the most cliche kind of sci-fi (giant ants and animals becoming intelligent), and treated them with the utmost seriousness. That alone made me want to love this novel but there were a few things that held it back.

The main character, Mort(e) ne Sebastian, is a house cat that has mutated to human proportions in the aftermath of a colony of giant ants declaring war on humanity. To help in ...more

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Jan 07, 2015 Leah Rhyne rated it it was amazing

Ever pick up a book, knowing even before you start that you're destined to love it?

Ever have it exceed even those lofty expectations?

Mort(e) was sent to me several (many) months back. I'd been chatting with a PR person at SoHo Press about a different book I'd reviewed, and she mentioned Mort(e). "It's about a war...with ants...and sentient house pets..."

Or something like that.

Of course I was all, "Yes! Yes please! Send it! Send it! Send it!"

Because ants? Waging war against humanity? I mean, Them ...more

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Feb 15, 2015 Janice rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Recommended to Janice by: Books on the Nightstand

Shelves: scribd, audio, 2015

This book annoyed the hell out of me.

It started out entertainingly enough. I was interested in the ants' method of advancing the animals to become sentient, and actually more human-like.* I was even ok with the war against the humans.

But when the whole religion thing came up, the book lost me.

I'm a literal sort of gal, so I'm pretty blind to symbolism. But a lot of this story read to me like something what an earnest high school student could write about. I'm still not sure if it's pro-religio ...more

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Oct 08, 2017 Rissa rated it really liked it

Shelves: audiobooks

The main character is a cat... what more could you want from a book!?

This book was adorable, I dont think he intended it to be adorable but it was. Im a major cat lover and it was just so cute!
Oh and theres fighting between humans, cats and dogs, and ants.
I really enjoyed the story and cant wait to continue.

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Sep 18, 2014 SK rated it liked it

This was a book I read in about four hours on a drizzley final day of vacation. The pages and their story moved briskly and I enjoyed it. Later, when asked what it was about, I said:

"It's about a cat who really, really, really wants to find his doggie friend. Also ants take over the earth in an almost successful human genocide. Also cats and all the animals can talk and think. Not surprisingly, it's actually about the folly of religion."

I'll give you a spoiler, by the end you can't be bothered t ...more

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Jan 02, 2015 Zedsdead rated it really liked it

An ancient colony of intelligent giant ants wages war on humanity, driving us to the brink of extinction. The Ant Queen creates an army of allies by transforming the animals of the world into speaking, thinking, vengeful bipeds. A war hero, a former housecat by the name of Mort(e), searches endlessly for his friend Sheba, who fled on the day of Mort(e)'s transformation.

I found Mort(e) frustrating, initially. It purports to be science fiction...humans use advanced weaponry, ants communicate chem ...more

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Mar 15, 2015 J.A. Ironside rated it it was amazing

I'm not sure how to describe this book. Animal Farm meets The Plague dogs via starship troopers? However you play it, this isn't quite like anything else. Do not go into this book expecting Watership Diwn or a cute comedic spoof where the animals are animalian but a bit brighter and conspiring against the system. While this is darkly comedic it pulls no punches on the war front, is an often scathing satire on the state of human society and is brutal and unflinching in it's descriptions of how th ...more

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Feb 08, 2015 David rated it really liked it

I saw this book at an indie bookstore, and after the owner made a comment, "That's a book about about talking cats and ants taking over the world," I knew I had to pick it up. I must disclose dystopian literature is among my favorite genres, so my review will surely be biased. This isn't your average dystopia, and takes place in two stages, which I won't elaborate on in case you choose to read it. It is also a fascinating commentary on religiosity and the attempt to stomp it out in favor of reas ...more

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Oct 13, 2015 Myf rated it it was amazing

Mort(e) is a phenomenon. It should not work. It is a marriage of such disparate elements that on the surface it seems like it should be incapable of being telling a story deeper than its components (in this case sentient cats, giant ants and theology).

Instead of being a parody of itself it utterly transcended everything I expected of it. It's like Watership Down meets A Canticle for Leibowitz with more than a smattering of whatever it is that makes Margaret Atwood's work so god damned special.

I ...more

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Sep 06, 2015 Aaron Lawson rated it really liked it

Shelves: from-library

This book lived up to what I had hoped it would be. I saw this novel online (I love top 10 lists) and had to get it. I have been really focusing on not killing my bank account on books so I waited (very impatiently) for my local library to get it. After I read it, I'm happy I pushed through in getting it! It's a very quick read which I wasn't to happy about (didn't necessarily want it to end) but the writer fit a lot into the book. His character development was lacking in some areas, but the lea ...more

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Jan 04, 2015 Skyler rated it did not like it

Shelves: fantasy, ugh, dystopia

What an overall batshit crazy book. To continue with this review would mean I'd have to keep thinking about the book, and I'd rather not.

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Nov 18, 2016 Alex rated it it was ok

The premise of this story is fantastic; This is a world where super-intelligent ants have created a pathogen that transforms animals into large, bipedal, sentient beings. Their paws turn into hands and their minds fill with knowledge. This starts the war against humanity and ushers in a time of sentient-animal/ant dominance over our planet. We follow Mort(e),a newly sentient cat who joins the war and quickly sets himself apart as a war hero.

That's the premise, but that's not the story. The stor The premise of this story is fantastic; This is a world where super-intelligent ants have created a pathogen that transforms animals into large, bipedal, sentient beings. Their paws turn into hands and their minds fill with knowledge. This starts the war against humanity and ushers in a time of sentient-animal/ant dominance over our planet. We follow Mort(e),a newly sentient cat who joins the war and quickly sets himself apart as a war hero.

That's the premise, but that's not the story. The story is about love, it's about thousand-year-old grudges, it's about religion, and the nature of humanity. All interesting topics worth a deeper dive.

And yet, I found myself slugging through the later half of this book. The author has trouble executing parts of his story in a way that feels natural. Characters change allegiances or transform their motives on a dime, which became frustrating. He skips over interesting bits of the story and states the outcome instead of showing us in order to get to the next bit, stealing the drama from certain moments and taking the emotional punch out of many of the things he's building up to. One example, Mort(e) is a war hero, but you never see any of his exploits or get to know him as he becomes that hero. The book simply asserts it and I was left feeling like he didn't earn the title.

Maybe the thing that bothered me the most was the portrayal of religion. I kept wanting to give the author the benefit of the doubt, but in the end his portrayal of religion is extremely one-dimensional and condescending. It significantly weakens what should be the most interesting part of the story: two worldviews colliding with one another as they head toward the same goal.

All of this is unfortunate. The ideas in this book are really interesting and worth exploring and the author flirts with some great thoughts. But the execution starts to fall flat about half way in when the characters become slaves to the story, loosing their depth and motivation and doing only what's necessary to get to the next plot point.

If you like interesting concept books, you'll probably enjoy reading Mort(e) with friends. It's not a long book and the ideas expressed here are worth talking about. The overall story he wants to tell is really creative, but the execution struggled and that's why I had to rate it so low.

2/5 ...more

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Feb 19, 2015 Lark Benobi rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 2015

At turns touching, whimsical, original, thoughtful, hilarious. Best of all the book was wonderfully entertaining. For most of the novel you are in the mind of a neutered house cat...but you also take a turn in the minds of a former attack dog, a pig, a bobcat, and the ancient queen of an all-powerful ant colony. The story of how these creatures evolve and find meaning and develop into moral creatures makes this book much more than a romping page turner, although it's that, too.

Repino manages to ...more

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Feb 02, 2015 Jamie Bradway rated it it was ok

Shelves: scifi-fantasy, read-harder

I don't remember which review convinced me to pick this up, but I never found my way into Mort(e). It just kept moving from implausible to ridiculous without taking a step back. I added a star because I've never read anything quite like it and that's worth something.

Also, I suffered through the audio version of this novel, read by Bronson Pinchot - he sounded so bored with the material that reading in the character voice of Balki Bartokomous from Perfect Strangers would have been an improvement ...more

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Nov 16, 2014 Eric Smith rated it it was amazing

Shelves: science-fiction

This book is absolutely incredible, and like no piece of science fiction I’ve ever read. The apocalypse has never, ever been this entertaining. As Reprino takes you through the story, and introduces you to the various beasts that Mort(e) meets in his adventures, you get these incredible, powerful glimpses of this shattered world… and it is as awe inspiring as it is heartbreaking.

More up on BookRiot: http://bookriot.com/2014/12/01/riot-r...

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Feb 04, 2015 Betty Dickie rated it it was amazing

Wow, what to say about this amazing book? From the first page I was hooked, the writing is so GOOD, the characterizations so deft, and the story thought provoking, entertaining, sad, funny, just so so awesomely good. Read it.

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Mar 17, 2015 Ian rated it did not like it

How did something this bad get a cover this cool? Furthermore, why didn't I give up after the first 50 pages?

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Feb 06, 2018 Hayley rated it really liked it

Bizarre but fascinating

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Mar 17, 2018 Matt Williams rated it did not like it · review of another edition

TL;DR: utterly joyless.

If you have bipedal cats with guns fighting a war against humanity, and you know that human beings use laser pointers as part of modern small-unit tactics, you are guilty of literary malpractice if you fail to include a scene where your feline warriors are distracted by laser pointers. If you actually have a scene where a human being paints a target with a laser pointer, and you still leave the joke lying in the doorway like an eviscerated rat carcass, well...

There isn't a TL;DR: utterly joyless.

If you have bipedal cats with guns fighting a war against humanity, and you know that human beings use laser pointers as part of modern small-unit tactics, you are guilty of literary malpractice if you fail to include a scene where your feline warriors are distracted by laser pointers. If you actually have a scene where a human being paints a target with a laser pointer, and you still leave the joke lying in the doorway like an eviscerated rat carcass, well...

There isn't a single joke in this novel. In this novel about bipedal cats with guns. Who became bipedal because of a sentient ant queen seeking revenge against humanity for some sort of pest/plague encounter. I mean, I understand that the author had some points to make about religion (do I understand the point he was trying to make? I do not!), but there are jokes aplenty right there in the premise, low-hanging fruit ripe for the plucking like the Joads would talk about in Grapes of Wrath.

Also, as I spent my college days working with actual entomologists, who held an annual "insect fear film festival" where they spent as much time explaining how ant physiology (and a phenomenon called "atmospheric hypoxia") creates an upper bound on the size of insects, the fact that the fearless stormtroopers of the antagonist queen were giant ants called "alphas" who were invincible, faceless, fearless killing machines until the plot demanded that they become both fearful and vincible, well, Marion Zimmer Bradly once said that "Willing suspension of disbelief" does not mean "Hang by the neck until dead".'

Oh, and this was so heavily influenced by The Matrix that the ant queen literally hands Neo, erm, Mort(e), a blue pill. I mean, she's offering him the choice that Neo was given in the second Matrix movie, but she does it by offering him a blue pill. To save ~~Trinity~~ ~~the MacGuffin~~ ~~Dulcinea~~ Sheba, exactly like in the second movie.

How did the author write two sequels to this book? The dumb half-point about religion has been made (or not made?) by the end of the novel and the against-all-odds triumph. The war is over. The antagonist is dead! What's left to do? Angels fear to tread.

As a bonus, the Slate review of this book invokes Raymond Chandler, and uses the phrase "marvelously droll", which just says way more about Slate than this book. ...more

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Feb 24, 2015 Michele rated it really liked it

Shelves: literary-high-concept

I would consider this tale a parable. While on its surface it is about humans, ants and animals it really is about the utility of hope, religion and belief-sets. The ants represent a species living entirely on instinct and science, while the humans put so much stock into their religious beliefs that it leads to paradoxical behavior. An animal character states: "..the belief has corrupted all of them. I've seen this evil up close. I've seem what a human can do when he is cornered and praying to h I would consider this tale a parable. While on its surface it is about humans, ants and animals it really is about the utility of hope, religion and belief-sets. The ants represent a species living entirely on instinct and science, while the humans put so much stock into their religious beliefs that it leads to paradoxical behavior. An animal character states: "..the belief has corrupted all of them. I've seen this evil up close. I've seem what a human can do when he is cornered and praying to his god for deliverance. There is nothing more dangerous. Nothing more cruel. More animal." (P 71) The animals also fault the humans for their religious belief that they have dominion over all of the other species. "These humans, they've placed themselves at the center of the universe." (P 70)
Another belief that is challenged by our main character is the belief in life after death which causes humans to commit acts (self-sacrifice and acts of war) that guarantee them a "one-way ticket to paradise." Mort(e)'s unapologetic and insistent views on religion and the higher goals of the various characters provide much of the humor in this book. He simply wants to find his friend (the dog character Sheba who also provides a special role in the story) and repeatedly tells that to all those who feel his actions are those of the prophesied savior. There is a poignant moment for our character (which is rare for him) when he realizes that the great queen Ant does not know the love of friendship for all her might and power.
Without giving too much away, the story involves a virus that has infected many of the animals (after they go through "the change"to becoming sentient beings) and the fact that Mort(e) is immune to it is imporant to the story and actually funny (to me anyways) -but this will make more sense when you read the book and find out what this virus (EMSAH) is.
I have seen some readers comment that Mort(e) character is too flat and does not follow a character arc, I feel that this is actually necessary for his role in the story. He is stalwart and this is in contrast to the characters around him as they succumb to the virus. Mort(e) is the anchor in the story and I think you come to appreciate his character more after completing the entire story.
This was an interesting and unique book! And, you will learn a lot of neat things about ants. ...more

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Dec 21, 2015 Stephen rated it it was amazing

Shelves: library-checkout

Mort(e) was just a housecat named Sebastian before the change. A cat who spent his day protecting the family that rescued him, and observing the "outside world" through the various windows in the house. Then one day he realized he could understand speech, and read words. He didn't know this was all planned by the ants, lead by an intelligent and vindictive queen hell-bent on destroying humanity for being "lesser beings." She releases a chemical worldwide that gives animals human-like minds and b ...more

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Jul 04, 2016 Gina rated it really liked it

This book fucked me up incredibly. After reading the first half, I spent a while worrying that my cat would hate me, should he suddenly become self-aware and capable of holding weaponry. I bought him a lot of treats today before I sat down to finish the book.

Besides my own cat-lady problems, this was an incredibly effective post-apocalyptic novel, and extremely unique, given that many others are about zombies rather than ants. This book is like if Animal Farm and 1984 had been smashed together.

I ...more

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Dec 11, 2014 Bob Schnell rated it it was ok

Shelves: read-in-2014, science-fiction-fantasy

Advanced reading copy review due to be published January 20, 2015

"Mort(e)" by Robert Repino is a fast-paced SF apocalyptic thriller where the animal kingdom, as led by an ancient Queen ant, rises up against the humans for dominion over the Earth. The book succeeds as an action story but fell flat for me as the social/satirical statement it is trying to be. Think George Orwell's "Animal Farm" combined with the film version of Robert Heinlein's "Starship Troopers". Young adult gamers will likely b ...more

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Apr 30, 2016 Nick Raines rated it really liked it

Fast paced, interesting, and you will probably finish this in a day or two. The book was interesting to say the least, an ant based apocalypse where household pets rebel against their masters? Yes please. The book was good, really good. It stumbles here and there sure, but overall I had a great time quickly reading through this one and I wasn't even attempting a fast read. If you like the apocalypse based reads, but wanted something slightly different then this is a book you might want to read.

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Feb 06, 2016 Karin rated it really liked it

This book is off the charts bananas. House pets become sentient beings, and work for the ant army, who are attempting to kill off all humans in a mass genocide. There's a lot going on in here about the purpose and meaning of religion and death. This would be a great book to read with a friend or group because there's lots to chew on. It's a very dark book with some humor as well and the first chapter is one of my favorite first chapters ever.

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Aug 24, 2015 Julie S rated it it was amazing

This book was really unique and interesting. I don't think I've ever read anything quite like it before, though it has echoes of Animal Farm and Watership Down. I am really glad that it got recommended to me and I'll recommend it to others!

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The Side Quest Bo...: Mort(e): Spoiler thread	5	11	Jul 12, 2017 07:29AM
The Side Quest Bo...: * June 2017 pick: Mort(e) by Robert Repino	2	10	Apr 18, 2017 03:53PM
2017 Reading Chal...: Mort(e)	1	25	Apr 11, 2015 11:39PM
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About Robert Repino

Robert Repino

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Robert Repino grew up in Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania. After serving in the Peace Corps (Grenada 2000–2002), he earned an M.F.A. in Creative Writing at Emerson College. His fiction has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize among other awards, and has appeared in The Literary Review, Night Train, Hobart, Juked, Word Riot, The Furnace Review, The Coachella Review, JMWW, and the anthology Brevity and Echo ...more

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War with No Name (2 books)

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Quotes from Mort(e)

“She had underestimated the human capacity for self-destruction.” — 11 likes

“In a way, she was disappointed. She had hoped that somehow the humans would surprise her and show a capacity that she had yet to discover, something that would make them worthy adversaries. But they were merely talking monkeys, an unfortunate anomaly staining the elegance of the animal kingdom, and the entire world was worse off for it.” — 4 likes

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