Lee Mandelo in conversation with Elizabeth Kilcoyne

2720 Frankfort Avenue,Louisville KY 40206

15 March, 2023

Description

Lee Mandelo dives into the minds of wolves in Feed Them Silence, a novella of the near future. What does it mean to “be-in-kind” with a nonhuman animal? Or in Dr. Sean Kell-Luddon's case, to be-in-kind with one of the last remaining wild wolves? Using a neurological interface to translate her animal subject’s perception through her own mind, Sean intends to chase both her scientific curiosity and her secret, lifelong desire to experience the intimacy and freedom of wolfishness. To see the world through animal eyes, smell the forest, thick with olfactory messages, even taste the blood and viscera of a fresh kill. And, above all, to feel the belonging of the pack. Sean's tireless research gives her a chance to fulfill that dream, but pursuing it has a terrible cost. Her obsession with work endangers her fraying relationship with her wife. Her research methods threaten her mind and body. And the attention of her VC funders could destroy her subject, the beautiful wild wolf whose mental world she's invading. As the harsh winter months threaten the pack's survival and Sean's marriage spirals down the drain, she'll be faced with the consequences of her negligence—and be forced to choose whether she'll let the world of wolves and the world she's known both slip through her fingers. LEE MANDELO (he/they) is a writer, critic, and occasional editor whose fields of interest include speculative and queer fiction, especially when the two coincide. They have been a past nominee for various awards including the Nebula, Lambda, and Hugo; their work can be found in magazines such as Tor.com, Uncanny Magazine, Clarkesworld, and Nightmare. Aside from a brief stint overseas learning to speak Scouse, Lee has spent their life ranging across Kentucky, currently living in Lexington and pursuing a PhD at the University of Kentucky. ELIZABETH KILCOYNE is an author, poet, and playwright from Lexington, Kentucky, who began this story at the same time her family undertook the process of establishing a cemetery on their tobacco farm in Central Kentucky. She has been published in several literary journals including Still: The Journal. Wake the Bones is her first novel.