THE DEEP ONES: "The Engine of Desire" by Livia Llewellyn
Talk The Weird Tradition
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1gwendetenebre
"The Engine of Desire" by Livia Llewellyn
Discussion begins June 5, 2024.
First published in Unspeakable Horror: from the Shadows of the Closet (2008).
BIBLIOGRAPHY
https://isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?1061712
SELECTED PRINT VERSIONS
All-American Horror of the 21st Century: The First Decade 2000-2010
Engines of Desire: Tales of Love & Other Horrors
ONLINE VERSIONS
https://weirdfictionreview.com/2012/12/the-engine-of-desire/
https://pseudopod.org/2010/05/21/pseudopod-195-the-engine-of-desire/
ONLINE AUDIO VERSIONS
https://pseudopod.org/2010/05/21/pseudopod-195-the-engine-of-desire/
MISCELLANY
http://liviallewellyn.com/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Livia_Llewellyn
https://www.nightmare-magazine.com/nonfiction/author-spotlight-livia-llewellyn-2...
https://www.more2read.com/review/interview-with-livia-llewellyn/
https://tinyurl.com/yck3ze9u
Discussion begins June 5, 2024.
First published in Unspeakable Horror: from the Shadows of the Closet (2008).
BIBLIOGRAPHY
https://isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?1061712
SELECTED PRINT VERSIONS
All-American Horror of the 21st Century: The First Decade 2000-2010
Engines of Desire: Tales of Love & Other Horrors
ONLINE VERSIONS
https://weirdfictionreview.com/2012/12/the-engine-of-desire/
https://pseudopod.org/2010/05/21/pseudopod-195-the-engine-of-desire/
ONLINE AUDIO VERSIONS
https://pseudopod.org/2010/05/21/pseudopod-195-the-engine-of-desire/
MISCELLANY
http://liviallewellyn.com/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Livia_Llewellyn
https://www.nightmare-magazine.com/nonfiction/author-spotlight-livia-llewellyn-2...
https://www.more2read.com/review/interview-with-livia-llewellyn/
https://tinyurl.com/yck3ze9u
2AndreasJ
Well, this lived up to the promise of "weird, dark, sexually charged, unsettling, and transgressive", but I can't say I liked it very much.
3RandyStafford
It's memorable, but I'm not sure it works. Weird fiction, of course, often has ambiguity and mystery in it, but I think the nature of the engine is too vague.
It doesn’t seem to be a mere metaphor but real and has caused girls to disappear. Is it it the emerging sexuality of teenage girls? But why does it just consume the girls in this neighborhood? Is it a metaphor for sexual predation? It doesn’t seem likely. Megan returns to Kelly, indeed has desired her for years though she’s seen the engine. Is it just a general metaphor for destructive sexual desire? That’s not an unknown theme in horror fiction. Is it just a theme for Megan’s loneliness, her resentment at being married and her parents ignoring her for the memory of a vanished sister? Is the engine some vampiric force channeled through the ageless Kelly? (Like a vampire, she is associated with a deserted house.) Is Kelly just an erotic avatar for the engine?
It doesn’t seem to be a mere metaphor but real and has caused girls to disappear. Is it it the emerging sexuality of teenage girls? But why does it just consume the girls in this neighborhood? Is it a metaphor for sexual predation? It doesn’t seem likely. Megan returns to Kelly, indeed has desired her for years though she’s seen the engine. Is it just a general metaphor for destructive sexual desire? That’s not an unknown theme in horror fiction. Is it just a theme for Megan’s loneliness, her resentment at being married and her parents ignoring her for the memory of a vanished sister? Is the engine some vampiric force channeled through the ageless Kelly? (Like a vampire, she is associated with a deserted house.) Is Kelly just an erotic avatar for the engine?
