title: Plagues, Apocalypses and Bug-Eyed Monsters: How Speculative Fiction Shows Us Our Nightmares
author:  Heather Urbanski 
description: "an impressive survey"--<i>Film and History</i>; "provocative"--<i>Children's Literature Association Quarterly</i>; "an insightful addition to sf scholarship"--<i>Science Fiction Studies</i>; "interesting"--<i>The Year's Best Science Fiction</i>; "informative"--<i>The Bloomsbury Review.</i>
zlib_text: 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  # Committed
  
  
  ## Betrothed #4
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ## Penelope Sky
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Hartwick Publishing
  
  
  **Committed**
  
  
  Copyright © 2020 by Penelope Sky
  
  
  All rights reserved.
  
  
  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or
  mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without
  written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in
  a book review.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  For Dr. Joel Saal
  
  
  The Man Who Saved My Life
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  1
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  # Hades
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Two Months Later
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  We stood in the middle of the street, streetlights slightly illuminating us in
  the center of the city. Most of the buildings around us were dark because
  tenants kept their curtains shut and kept to themselves. Florence was a
  beautiful city, but everyone knew it was plagued by monsters like me. As long
  as they minded their own business, they knew they were safe.
  
  
  Maddox stoo