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Less than Human
60 years have passed since legislation was enacted to protect the rights of Weres and other shape-shifters. It is widely recognised that Weres are genetic abnormalities and evolutionary dead-ends. In all that time, no one in the public eye has stepped forwards and declared themselves Were.Natalayiana has a job helping those who've fallen through society's cracks, a fiancee, and a best friend who's pregnant. Everything's neat, ordered, compartmentalised. Safe.Sometimes, staying safe is not enough. Staying safe is not living. But staying safe is your only option when you're less than human.
Trigger warning. Scenes that may upset viewers.
Trigger warning. Scenes that may upset viewers.
300 pages, Kindle Edition
Published February 20, 2021
2 people want to read
About the author
Steven C. Davis
52 books12 followersSteven is an author, a performance poet, a storyteller and the Creative Director behind Tenebrous Texts.
He has created the Saelvatici, a darkly mythic retelling of the Robin Hood myth cycle and the 'Less than Human' series, which examines society through the viewpoint of a social care worker who is a Were-Squirrel.
He has created the Saelvatici, a darkly mythic retelling of the Robin Hood myth cycle and the 'Less than Human' series, which examines society through the viewpoint of a social care worker who is a Were-Squirrel.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
August 7, 2023
Thirty-something Natalayiana has a problem, actually she had a lot of problems. Her best friend doesn’t like her fiancée, though in fairness Nat isn’t massively fond of him either. He is however the safe steady option who understands Nat’s body re-morphic issues .
Her best friend who happens to be heavily pregnant, is also in lust with Nat, but like Nat’s book group, work colleagues and most everyone else Nat interacts with, she doesn’t trust ‘shifters’. This is a tad problematic for Nat because she could probably do with someone other than ‘safe steady’ Gerald to whom she could talk about her issues. Specifically that she is on of the ‘shifters’ he best friend doesn’t trust…
Being a Werefox and having a dull fiancée is not Nat’s only issue either. There is her bosses obsession with obtaining funding for the charity she works for, who’s happy to exploit his workers to get such funding. The rich father of her ex uni boyfriend who has an odd obsession with her. Her ex boyfriend himself who was a creep back then and seems just as creepy now. Her clients who need her help but mostly seem to resent her. Mal, the American who wanted to bring Homes’s4 Were’s to the UK, and organisation that seeks to ‘manage’ the were problem, in the ways not dissimilar to how some evangelical churches try to ‘manage’ homosexuality.
Then there is the mysterious Robert who makes her lament having a fiancée.
Nat just wants to be safe, she just wants to be left alone to get on with living a quite helpful life trying to do good , except of course being safe and being left alone is the last thing she actually wants…
So there you go, Bridget Jones the werewolf years…
Except, it not. Underneath that fluffy fun idea, which I suspect is not how the author would chose to describe his novel, there is something poignant about living on the edge of society and having to hide your true nature because society neither understand it nor is libel to accept it. Its analogous to the experience of gay people in the 80’s and trying hard hide it from everyone. The general fear and distrust of ‘shifters’ is equally analogous to society’s reaction to the AID’s virus.
Natalayiana is a social worker, doing her bit to right societies ills, she volunteers on her weekends with the national trust, she’s in a book group, she’s agreed to be her single friends Birthing partner. She is a good person doing her best to make society better for everyone… A society that would reject her in a moment if it knew she got really really bad PMT around the full-moon… Because all the good works in the world will not change her from being the ‘other’ that ‘normal’ people are constantly encouraged to distrust by the status quo.
Nat’s experience as a ‘shifter’ is also Analogous to the experience of the trans community, certainly from some quarters of the media and the public at large. So this is very much not Bridget Jones the werewolf years, this is not just a book about thirty-something handwringing and emotional frustrations. Also, it has to be said that while I have never read Bridget Jones, I suspect Bridget Jones novels are much less visceral in nature.
This is a very visceral novel, with a lot of visceral sexuality within it, and indeed a lot of equally visceral sex. But there is, and should be, something very primal about shapeshifters. That primal visceral sexuality of her nature is what Natalayiana seeks most to deny in order to fit in. Much of this novel is about the futility of the struggle to deny, even to yourself, who you truly are. You can suppress your nature, bottle it up, hide it beneath layers of banality and fitting in, but unless you can be yourself, can embrace you true nature, how can you ever be happy?
So, there are layer to this novel, layers that make it something very defiantly not Bridget Jones Goes Rabid (the werewolf years). But then if that had been all it was I would not have enjoyed it and would not be writing this review. It is fun, interesting and thought provoking. It is visceral both sexually and in terms of its reflection of society.
It was also a joyously diverting novel to read on every level, just plain fun, but equally thought provoking at the same time.
Her best friend who happens to be heavily pregnant, is also in lust with Nat, but like Nat’s book group, work colleagues and most everyone else Nat interacts with, she doesn’t trust ‘shifters’. This is a tad problematic for Nat because she could probably do with someone other than ‘safe steady’ Gerald to whom she could talk about her issues. Specifically that she is on of the ‘shifters’ he best friend doesn’t trust…
Being a Werefox and having a dull fiancée is not Nat’s only issue either. There is her bosses obsession with obtaining funding for the charity she works for, who’s happy to exploit his workers to get such funding. The rich father of her ex uni boyfriend who has an odd obsession with her. Her ex boyfriend himself who was a creep back then and seems just as creepy now. Her clients who need her help but mostly seem to resent her. Mal, the American who wanted to bring Homes’s4 Were’s to the UK, and organisation that seeks to ‘manage’ the were problem, in the ways not dissimilar to how some evangelical churches try to ‘manage’ homosexuality.
Then there is the mysterious Robert who makes her lament having a fiancée.
Nat just wants to be safe, she just wants to be left alone to get on with living a quite helpful life trying to do good , except of course being safe and being left alone is the last thing she actually wants…
So there you go, Bridget Jones the werewolf years…
Except, it not. Underneath that fluffy fun idea, which I suspect is not how the author would chose to describe his novel, there is something poignant about living on the edge of society and having to hide your true nature because society neither understand it nor is libel to accept it. Its analogous to the experience of gay people in the 80’s and trying hard hide it from everyone. The general fear and distrust of ‘shifters’ is equally analogous to society’s reaction to the AID’s virus.
Natalayiana is a social worker, doing her bit to right societies ills, she volunteers on her weekends with the national trust, she’s in a book group, she’s agreed to be her single friends Birthing partner. She is a good person doing her best to make society better for everyone… A society that would reject her in a moment if it knew she got really really bad PMT around the full-moon… Because all the good works in the world will not change her from being the ‘other’ that ‘normal’ people are constantly encouraged to distrust by the status quo.
Nat’s experience as a ‘shifter’ is also Analogous to the experience of the trans community, certainly from some quarters of the media and the public at large. So this is very much not Bridget Jones the werewolf years, this is not just a book about thirty-something handwringing and emotional frustrations. Also, it has to be said that while I have never read Bridget Jones, I suspect Bridget Jones novels are much less visceral in nature.
This is a very visceral novel, with a lot of visceral sexuality within it, and indeed a lot of equally visceral sex. But there is, and should be, something very primal about shapeshifters. That primal visceral sexuality of her nature is what Natalayiana seeks most to deny in order to fit in. Much of this novel is about the futility of the struggle to deny, even to yourself, who you truly are. You can suppress your nature, bottle it up, hide it beneath layers of banality and fitting in, but unless you can be yourself, can embrace you true nature, how can you ever be happy?
So, there are layer to this novel, layers that make it something very defiantly not Bridget Jones Goes Rabid (the werewolf years). But then if that had been all it was I would not have enjoyed it and would not be writing this review. It is fun, interesting and thought provoking. It is visceral both sexually and in terms of its reflection of society.
It was also a joyously diverting novel to read on every level, just plain fun, but equally thought provoking at the same time.
February 22, 2022
Read to remind myself as I prepare to edit and then publish book 3. I think in total I've found half a dozen minor typos, but given this book was originally written about 12 years, it stands the test of time well. Although I will be revising the blurb to include a trigger warning, as (unsurprisingly) graphic.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews