Invisible Beasts

M
ORE PRAISE FOR

Invisible Beasts

“Lines blur between the human and animal worlds in this richly detailed debut. . . . In Sophie's struggles to find her footing in a world only she and a few others can see, Muir expertly pinpoints the frailty of the human condition. This is an amazing feat of imagination.”

—
Publishers Weekly
(starred review)

“If you've lost your capacity to wonder at the myriad forms of life swarming, burrowing, swooping, and gamboling around you—and inside you—then look no further. Equal parts science and imagination,
Invisible Beasts
takes us on a journey to another world that turns out to be our world, as if seen and experienced for the first time. If you're interested in what it means to be alive, and share life, then read this book.”

—
Cary Wolfe
, author of
Before the Law: Humans and Other Animals in a Biopolitical Frame
and
What is Posthumanism?

“In this twenty-first century, there's no one like Sharona Muir who can write, in bright accurate language, animals real or imaginary in an updated bestiary that riffs on evolution, extinction, and what it means to be human among other species.”

—
John Felstiner
, author of
Can Poetry Save the Earth?: A Field Guide to Nature Poems

“Muir's intelligence and breadth of knowledge are exceptional. You could not find a better little book of ethics, politics, and ecology for our time.”

—
Regenia Gagnier
, author of
The Insatiability of Human Wants
and
Individualism, Decadence and Globalization

First Published in the United States in 2014 by

Bellevue Literary Press, New York

F
OR
I
NFORMATION
, C
ONTACT
:

Bellevue Literary Press

NYU School of Medicine

550 First Avenue

OBV A612

New York, NY 10016

Copyright © 2014 by Sharona Muir

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Muir, Sharona, 1957-

Invisible beasts : tales of the animals that go unseen among us / Sharona

Muir. — First edition.

pages cm

ISBN 978-1-934137-81-9 (ebook)

1.
  
Animals—Fiction. 2.
  
Wildlife conservation—Fiction.
  
I. Title.

PS3552.E5355I57 2014

813'.54—dc23
                                    
2013049256

This is a work of fiction. Characters, events, and places (even those that are actual) are either products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system now known or to be invented, without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer who wishes to quote brief passages in connection with a print, online, or broadcast review.

Bellevue Literary Press would like to thank all its generous donors—individuals and foundations—for their support.

Book design and composition by Mulberry Tree Press, Inc
.

FIRST EDITION

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Contents

Introducing Invisible Beasts

Common Invisible Beasts

     
The Couch Conch

     
Feral Parfumier Bees

     
The Keen-Ears

     
The Pluricorn

     
Truth Bats

     
The Wild Rubber Jack

     
The Riddle of Invisible Dogs

     
Air Liners

Imperiled and Extinct Invisible Beasts

     
The Antarctic Glass Kraken

     
The Spiders of Theodora

     
The Foster Fowl

     
Beanie Sharks

     
The Golden Egg

Rare Invisible Beasts

     
The Oormz

     
The Hypnogator

     
Grand Tour Butterflies

Invisible Beasts in Print

     
Think Monkey

     
Fine-Print Rotifers

Cyclically Invisible Beasts

     
Beacon Bugs

Epilogue

     
The Naturalist Reads a Love Letter, with Plato and a Dog

Animal life is mindful, and the mind's life is animal
.

Invisible Beasts

T
ALES OF THE
A
NIMALS THAT

G
O
U
NSEEN
A
MONG
U
S

Introducing Invisible Beasts

I
come from a long line of naturalists and scientists going back many generations, and in each generation we have had the gift of discovering hard-to-see phenomena, from a shelled amoeba lurking between two sand grains, to the misfolded limb of a protein pointing to a genetic flaw. This book also follows a venerable family tradition, but one never exposed to public view. Perhaps “trait” would be a better word than “tradition.” Every so often, that is, every second or third generation, someone is born in our family who sees invisible animals. Our clan accepts the odd-sighted person without quibbles or qualms, in the spirit of generous tolerance and fun that animates the scientific community. In the late twentieth century, the odd-sighted arrival was myself. My induction into the family's attitude was typical. As a small child, I complained to my granduncle Erasmus—my predecessor, the elder spotter of invisible beasts—that since no one liked to go with me to catch invisible beetles, I wanted to see only what the other kids saw. From a height beclouded with cigar smoke, Granduncle rumbled, not unsympathetically: