Please Note: This post will have spoilers for The Girl With All The Gifts. If you haven’t watched this movie or read the book it is based upon (written by M. R. Carey), you might wish to skip this post.
One of the challenges of writing about morally dubious characters is making them sympathetic to readers, ensuring readers care about beings who don’t follow society’s rules, who might be seen as monsters.
A key trick is, what writers call, ‘saving the cat.’ The character does something honorable or noble or self-sacrificing early in the story.
But that isn’t possible when that’s not in the character’s nature.
The Girl With All The Gifts uses a different tactic. The storyteller depicts the character as being innocent simply by the nature of who she resembles—a human child. Then she is put in a situation that would appall the average person. She is locked in a cell by herself.
Everything is designed to gain our sympathy. She has a photo of a kitten she hides under her pillow. She is polite and friendly to the hostile adults who collect her. These adults point guns at her, treat her like a monster.
She doesn’t ‘save the cat’ (an ironic phrase – grins). There’s no self-sacrifice. She is merely portrayed as someone we would be predisposed to protect. We view her as being wronged and the adults as wronging her.
By the time, her true nature is revealed, we care for her. We’re firmly on her side.
The Girl With All The Gifts isn’t without its flaws but I enjoyed it for its fresh take on creating sympathetic characters and its clever spin on zombie movies.
And yes, the super fast zombies in this movie make me think about the Humanoid Alliance’s reanimation experiments in Containing Malice. I suspect I might be sympathetic to some of those tortured beings also.
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Under Strain
A damaged cyborg warrior is hunted by a peace-loving human female.
***
Strain is severely malfunctioning. The D Model cyborg was the sole survivor after a horrific decision was made by his cruel manufacturers. He hates all humans, and when he attacks one who is under his cyborg leader’s protection, he is reprimanded, stripped of his weapons, and told to watch and not actively participate in the next mission.
That mission takes place on a small remote planet. Its lush terrain should only be inhabited by the cyborgs they were sent to rescue, but Strain senses another presence on the surface. She is watching him, tracking him, hunting him.
A fully operational cyborg would end her lifespan.
Strain wants to claim her. Forever.
Kamyelle is the only one left of her kind. Warriors have killed the other nonviolent human inhabitants of her planet. She survived…barely…by hiding in the trees, observing her enemies, and covering herself with lifeform scan-concealing mud.
When a handsome, gray-skinned, brilliant-blue-eyed male arrives, surrounded by weapon-carrying warriors, she has to save him. Warriors harm and they kill. That is what they do.
She won’t allow them to hurt Strain.
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Under Strain is a STANDALONE Cyborg SciFi Romance set in a dark, gritty, sometimes-violent universe.
It features a broken warrior, a human female who thinks he’s perfect, and velociraptor-like dinosaurs who view them both as light, tasty snacks.
Buy Now:
Amazon US:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08R322L7S
Amazon UK:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B08R322L7S
Amazon AUS:
https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B08R322L7S
Apple Books:
https://books.apple.com/us/book/under-strain/id1545957749
B&N:
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/under-strain-cynthia-sax/1138505613
Kobo:
https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/under-strain
Smashwords:
