I was not planning to add anything more to my posts about Nebula Awards finalists, but I just realized something important about this book, nominated for Best Novella, and I had to post about it.
How did I miss this, when I scanned the list of novellas? Most of my posts are about novels, only occasionally about works in the other categories. And now I find I can’t resist posting about Pueyo’s novella.
The title is what grabbed me right away. Why? These days, not many people read The Faerie Queene, Edmund Spenser’s great late-16th century eccentric poetic epic. They might encounter a few unsatisfying cantos in an anthology they’re forced to read in college, and they might be fed a lot of misinformation about what it is and does (“allegory,” at least Spenser’s idea of it, is very much misunderstood). But one of the best parts of it is Book III, the last book of the 1590 edition, later cooked into the 1596 edition and paired with Book IV. Book Three: The Book of Chastity. Book IV: The Book of Friendship. Chastity and friendship sound like weak tea to a lot of contemporary readers. But what Spenser is after does not: the very nature of love, and in all its contradictions. That theme is timeless.
What about that title? When Britomart, the Knight of Chastity, enters the labyrinthine rooms of a cruel mage who has captured a beautiful maiden, she intends to rescue the maiden at the behest of the brave knight who loves her. Instead (or, I suppose, in addition to this), Britomart confronts her own nature as a woman. And a woman in love with a seeming impossibility. Luring Britomart from room to room ever closer to the depraved center of the labyrinth, a series of messages: BE BOLD. BE BOLD. The message is everywhere. Then the teasing, tormenting message: BE NOT TOO BOLD. The very nature of desire is captured by this dilemma. You must be bold to pursue it. But where does boldness cross the threshold into something twisted?
So, you see–I had to read Pueyo’s book. Pueyo, a Brazilian writer, has translated it into English herself. It is an enthralling tale of another cruel labyrinth, of other characters–including a truly terrifying monster–trapped in the enticing yet cruel web of love. One of the most interesting concepts Pueyo explores: the idea that the monster is also trapped.
I say all this not really knowing if Pueyo has even read The Faerie Queene or realizes the Be Bold. . Be Bold. . .Be Not Too Bold incantation comes from there–and besides, in the novella, Pueyo adds another phrase to the series of chilling messages from monster to human. In this interview with her, she never mentions Spenser in her discussion of influences, and not here, either. I wonder if one of those influences might have incorporated this Spenserian language into its own work and by that means got passed along to Pueyo? It’s a mystery. But the language certainly fits.
The only thing that almost kept me from reading the book. . .well, look at the cover. Spiders. I am an arachnophobe. I’m still glad I broke down and read this book. With a title like that, how could I not? It’s a fascinating book. And posting about it is a great way to pass the time waiting for tomorrow’s big announcement: the winners of the Nebula Award. (Note: I keep referring to them as the 2026 Nebula Awards–technically, they are the 2025 awards, because all the finalists were published in 2025.)
Leave a Reply