No Gods No Monsters by Cadwell Turnbull
There are two ways to talk about this novel. I suspect most people will focus on the bonfides as high literature that touches on urban fantasy. The prose is fantastic, the characters have depth and the political metaphors are haunting. There are reviews that correctly point to the world-class prose and presentation, it is physically a beautiful book. The prose is delightful and there are moments when writers will want to curl up to it. All truth but…
You should also know upfront this is an Anarchist werewolf novel with lots of cosmic horror. That to me is a far more impressive selling point. It is a book that has a major character who is a member of a collective book shop that is a bi-racial, asexual trans anarchist who grew up reading Leguin and Bakunin alike. In many ways, this novel’s pitch-black fantasy and moments of cosmic horror combined with monsters we can root for feels like a novel Clive Barker would have written if he grew up listening to anarcho-punk and being an activist. So yeah, I loved it.
The inciting incident is the murder of an innocent person by Boston cops. One of the main characters is Liana and it was her brother. When the video of the incident is released it is more than meets the eye, as often is the case with these murders done by cops. This time however the nature of Laina’s brother’s humanity is in question. Does her brother have a secret? At the same time this an incident that revealed a fracture in realities and exposed monsters in our midst.
“The Fracture effect was the short book’s title-it had to be short to hit the presses so quickly. This was also the name Wallace had coined for the split in the collective consciousness of humanity after the events of November 5.”
Don’t think for a minute this means that everyone accepts the existence of monsters. I mean think about how much proof we have for climate change and still, most people accept our leaders dragging their feet. Monsters are still coming out of the shadows and that is clearly a metaphor in this novel for the changing landscape of society right now. It is a right-wing nightmare, the unrepresented have gotten a thousand tiny fractures and tolerance is in a much better place than I expected in my lifetime.
“Some simply can’t believe that monsters could exist without our knowing. Of course, there are reasons we might not have known.”
“Monsters are real and ghosts are real, too. They live inside us, sometimes they win.”
None of this could’ve worked in a novel that didn’t naturally have characters that dealt with real recognizable oppression and bigotry. We have come a long way from clumsy Star Trek metaphors with characters half painted black and white. This novel also points to a larger more expansive universe on the fantastical side. This is the first novel in a series. How books, I don’t know but I suspect this book is just scratching the surface.
If there is a weakness is that the monsters are pretty traditional, shapeshifters, skin-shedders, etc., that being said it didn’t hurt my feelings about the novel. As I suspect we will get weirder monsters in future stories. Just a few more interesting monsters could have spiced things up. This is not a monsters good, humans bad narrative, and liked that there were some nuances to those relationships. The monsters in the story struggle with who they are, wanting to be proud but aware of the struggle. It brings up familiar moments of clarity.
“Do you still want to be changed?” She asks. “Because if you really want this, you can’t hate me if it doesn’t turn out the way you wanted.”
Narrative-wise, there are many characters, we get a diverse look at life in this universe. The POV shifts often and sometimes you need a page or two to figure out what is happening. The feeling of being thorough in the deep end without something to grab on to. That is OK, because I had trust in where the story was going and Turnball’s use of shifting perspective. I have seen reviews that suggested the flow of this novel was more like a collection and I never felt that. Sure, there were times I had to be patient for the connective tissue but it was always there. I understand this will lose some readers but the story is never boring, more importantly, it has much to say.
A point of view is not a negative for this reader but if that is turn-off know that this doesn’t entirely consume the narrative. At the same time, there are real moments of pure cosmic horror, and while Turnbull clearly values the message he brings the horror. Like in these moments…
“Even though the earth is shaking with each step, the footfalls of the colossus are eerily soundless. The ground burns under its feet scorched black.”
Or
“Several times, they found the skin lying around the house and had to sniff her out or else wait for her to return for it. Sondra hated the sight of it: pink on the inside, rubbery and wet.”
I know this will not work for everyone, but as a longtime organizer and one-time anarchist book store volunteer and science Fiction reader/writer there were plenty of little easter eggs. Yes, the name of the bookshop in the novel comes from Leguin’s The Dispossessed, I was only a little bummed when two hundred pages in this little tidbit was explained. I kind of wish it was just a thing for those who got it. In chapter 36 with there is a collective meeting with consensus facilitators and folks raising their hands for the stack it reminded me of the organizing days.
That said this was an important moment in the story. It is in this meeting that message of the novel is put straight-up on the table. Monsters in this world deserve a right and it is important for social justice movements to include them. I thought it was fitting that such an important moment in an anarchist-themed fantasy hinged on a scene in a meeting.
“I’m sorry to do it this way, but I had to be safe,” Melku explains. “I won’t waste any more time. Our collective’s mission is to support the solidarity movement. Often, that has meant supporting marginalized peoples. Some of you are part of the queer and trans community, like me. Many of the most valuable monsters are also a part of these communities., which is why redefining to include them is so important. In that spirit, I think we should extend our support to monsters since it is likely that they’re already in the movement but have chosen to remain silent.”
Safe space has been a thing in the activist community for a long time. I am glad these discussions are getting closer to the mainstream. This speaks to othering, the reasons some choose to stay silent. I think this novel preach often to the choir but that is OK because one thing we need more of in genre fiction diverse communities seeing themselves. Just as important is diverse radical points of view being genre fiction for those communities to see themselves.
So the meeting was important but I kind of needed this to all come to a head in a protest scene.
“Near Ridley, a man yells, “No Gods.”
“No monsters,” the crowd chants back.
The chant is an evolution of an anarchist slogan: No Gods, No Masters,” the original version meaning no human above. It is a call against hierarchy. Ridley assumes the variation means no human above, no human below, or something like it. A call against hierarchy and discrimination.”
Yeah, it is an info dump but it is needed I think to make clear that this radical reader already understood. I didn’t need this information but the general reader did. I was familiar with the saying, it is the reason the book caught my attention. I have not read the Lesson Turnbull’s first novel. I understand most readers will need this information.
I know I have said much about the third act of this novel. I feel this is an origin story, and that the most important events of this saga are still on the way. I also feel this novel is a mood and a vibe. There is still much to discover. For me, there was that awesome feeling of discovery when you find a new voice you know you will return to. No Gods No Masters is a delightfully powerful and unique piece of work. I would recommend it for all fans of modern dark fantasy but for the ones that enjoy deeper political reading, it is a MUST READ.
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