“The Speculative Fiction Indie Novella Championship (SFINCS, pronounced “sphinx”) is a yearly competition to recognize, honor, and celebrate the talent and creativity present in the indie community. We are a sister competition to both SPFBO and SPSFC, and we highlight greatness in the novella format in all areas of speculative fiction (fantasy, science fiction, horror, etc.).” – From the official SFINCS website.
Note: The following review contains only my personal thoughts as a judge and does not reflect the views of the team as a whole.
REVIEW
J. D. Cadmon’s The Handyma’am and the Werewolves has one of the most delightful premises and titles I’ve come across in a while. This Sapphic Urban Fantasy about a mechanic fleeing her abusive, biker boyfriend and stumbling into employment by a werewolf-run steakhouse should appeal to Urban Fantasy or Paranormal Romance fans who are hungry for something in the genre that’s more low key and slice-of-life. Although I haven’t read the Sookie Stackhouse books (I’ve only seen the first three seasons of the television adaptation), I have a feeling fans of the series might also enjoy this one. The prose and story are both tightly focused and to-the-point, and its source of inspiration–struggling through the devastation wrought by Hurricane Laura–is compelling and emotionally impactful. While Handyma’am does have a lot to offer, however, I did find that I longed for more interiority from its central character, and there were some narrative choices that confused me from a logical and emotional perspective.
When Laura flees her abusive ex-boyfriend (the leader of a deadly biker gang called the Hurricanes), she seeks shelter (and employment) at Rita’s Roadhouse (a somewhat mysterious steakhouse on the outskirts of town). Laura’s a wiz with a wrench, and the Roadhouse is looking for 
a caretaker for the property. During the interview, however, it becomes clear that what the proprietors are looking for is really a minder for their nineteen-year-old daughter, Bonnie. Early in the novella, Laura learns Rita and the rest of the pack (including love interest Audrey), are all werewolves. Laura accepts this quite quickly, allowing the novella to focus instead on Laura’s developing relationship with Audrey and Bonnie. Unlike the other werewolves, Bonnie doesn’t transform into a wolf–at least not in the way most of us would expect. Bonnie is, instead, a “reverse werewolf,” who takes lupine form for all but one day a month. Due to Bonnie’s condition, her educational opportunities have been limited, as has her ability to develop a typical relationship with her family. Laura takes Bonnie under her wing, teaching her to speak in human form and creating communication tools for her to use when in wolf form. Handyma’am‘s focus is largely on Laura and Bonnie’s heartwarming relationship, as well as the developing romance between Laura and Audrey. There’s some tension created through the threat of Laura’s abusive ex, Charley, particularly when he sets his sights on Rita’s Roadhouse and the pack, and the culmination of that storyline, while only a small part of the novella, is quite intense.
As a romance, Handyma’am is a satisfying, sweet story. Audrey and Laura are both likeable characters and it’s easy to root for Laura as she comes into a newfound confidence that’s interwoven with her queer awakening. For the most part, the romance is quite chaste, with steamy rather than detailed sex scenes. Fans of romantic fantasy that focuses on plot over titillation will be most at home with this one. There’s a solid amount of banter between the two women, and Audrey feels very much like her own character with her own arc and motivations (rather than a simple accessory to Laura). There’s a lovely helping of humour to Cadmon’s approach that elevates the romantic aspects of the storyline and Audrey and Laura are a couple you can’t help but want to see succeed.* When Audrey and the rest of the pack are threatened by Charley, the strength of the relationships Cadmon has built up over the course of the novella comes through in a way that’s very satisfying.
At a line level, Cadmon’s focus is less on the prettiness of a sentence and moreso on progressing the narrative and on scene-to-scene mechanics. This feels as though it suits the genre well and I never found myself stumbling over the prose, which is clean and straightforward. That said, for a novella that’s largely quite quiet, I did find that I was kept unusually distant from Laura as a POV character. While the reader is occasionally told how Laura feels or reacts in a given moment, there isn’t much sense of her emotions or her unique voice on page. This isn’t necessarily unusual, or a drawback, in a plot-focused Urban Fantasy, but for one that’s primarily interested in character and in interpersonal relationships, it unfortunately limited the depth with which Cadmon was able to explore Laura. I certainly liked Laura, but as a reader I wasn’t compelled by her, and found myself yearning for a closer, voicier POV, especially given the powerful topics and themes Cadmon engages with. The writing is competent and certainly demonstrates Cadmon’s talent, but needs just a little extra juice. That said, there are some very strong lines peppered throughout. The ingredients are all there for something spectacular and genre-shifting, but it needs something extra to elevate it fully.
“Most people like their monsters in a story they can control”
Laura’s relationship with Bonnie is, for me, the most notable and significant element of Handyma’am. I enjoyed the care with which both Laura and Cadmon approach that relationship, which felt as though it was engaging on some level with intellectual disability and how intellectually disabled people are often failed by both traditional education systems and their families. Within the framework of werewolfery, I did feel that some of the narrative choices felt slightly illogical or unbelievable–at least if the intention is for the reader to emotionally connect with and root for Bonnie’s parents. At various points, Rita and Bonnie’s father Luís express what feels like a bafflement that they have no real relationship with their daughter, painting the logistics of educating her as insurmountable (they’ve hired a nanny in the past, but it seems as though they’ve only ever made a handful of attempts at helping her to learn to communicate with them). I wasn’t ever able to fully get on board with this aspect of the story without thinking of Rita or Luís as criminally neglectful parents. It’s not that this sort of neglect never occurs in the real world, but it feels as though Handyma’am is reluctant to acknowledge Rita and Luís’s parenting as neglectful, and it creates a bit of a disconnect between reader and text. That said, there’s a sweetness and an earnestness to Laura and Bonnie’s interactions, and I very much appreciated that aspect of the story.
Overall, Handyma’am explores a variety of topics and themes that I consider important and compelling. It was particularly refreshing to see topics like coercive control and abuse examined in an Urban Fantasy/Paranormal Romance context. Cadmon’s approach to the topic never felt trite, yet still managed a cozy sense of fun. While there are aspects of both the plot and characterization that don’t entirely work for me, Handyma’am marks Cadmon as a writer with a lot to say and who shows a lot of talent.
*I’m a bit of a cheeseball sometimes, and I especially appreciated that Laura’s first kiss happens in a closet.
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