Description
A perfectly packaged life. Shattered.
New mother Panya lives in the perfectly controlled environment of Blocks 6-8, where all amenities are on site and goods are delivered by drone. Little Liber is perfect, their residence is fully enclosed, her world is regulated, sterilised, and safe.
Not that she’d tell anyone, but most of the time, Panya feels stretched to her limits. Isolated, failing to meet expectations, struggling to do the best she can. This is what she has to do to remain in this optimised community. It’s the way she’s told to take care of her child.
But Liber is struggling. She’s refusing to switch to eating nutribulbs, like everyone in their community. And people are starting to ask questions. Her partner. The doctors. The authorities. Besieged by norms and expectations, what choice does Panya have? The consequences could break her world.
Reviews:
“Ex Partum is a dystopian novella reminiscent of The Giver while exploring parental anxieties and exhaustion, invasion of privacy, sacrifice for choice, unlearning and relearning, corporate greed, and over-confidence and reliance on tech. Burnett delivers a heartrending story that illuminates the flaws of every society as well as ourselves.” —Ai Jiang, author of Linghun and A Palace Near the Wind
“A sharp and often uncomfortable read of a dystopian future where people have been led by evil corporations, to the extent of having their entire lifestyles and mindsets brainwashed. Likewise, it’s a harrowing tale of a young mother struggling to feed her child and find her own muddled identity. Read this and reflect because such behaviours are evident even now and we often turn an indifferent eye at marginalised groups and post-partum depression.” —Joyce Chng, author of Wolf’s Path
“Ex Partum is a brilliant and characterful examination of parenting in dystopia.” —Miles Cameron, author of Artifact Space
“emma burnett’s Ex Partum is a gripping read that pulls you screaming through its ultracorporate dystopia and then deposits you, shivering with relief, before the promise of a better world. But the book isn’t just an SFF must-read. It’s a deeply human, almost claustrophobically intimate portrait of what it takes to care for an infant—and yourself—when everybody else cares only for conformance.” —Stewart C Baker, author of The Butterfly Disjunct
“Ex Partum is a gripping debut novella exploring corporate control and the sterile loneliness of gentrified motherhood. It feels familiar yet prescient, dystopian yet grounded. emma burnett creates characters we identify with and root for, in a futuristic world not far from our own.” —Vivian Chou, speculative fiction author
“Ex Partum presents a harrowing extrapolation of today’s societal trends. What do we lose when we choose convenience over reason? Who suffers when we allow corporations unlimited control of our world? This story hit me on a visceral level, as the plight of new mother Panya resonated with my own slough through early motherhood. Author emma burnett lays bare an all-too-plausible future—and shows that, even in an entrenched corporatocracy, hope can still sprout in the margins. —Myna Chang, author of The Potential of Radio and Rain
“Ex Partum is a clever dystopian parable about corporate exploitation and dysfunctional relationships seen through the eyes of a vulnerable new mother as she fights against the machine. Highly plausible and engaging, it illustrates the disempowering and dehumanising potential of technology in the wrong hands.” —Eve Smith, author of The Cure and One
