Tubby & Coos Mid-City Bookshop is pleased to present Hiron Ennes in conversation with Lee Mandelo about Ennes’ debut novel Leech. This event will be held digitally via Crowdcast.

You can register for this event by ordering Leech below or you can click here to register with a donation of any amount of your choice. Donations are to help sustain our events programming. If you cannot afford to purchase the book or to donate even $1, you may register for the event for free, no questions asked, by e-mailing us at events@tubbyandcoos.com. There will also be the option to purchase the book during the event!

More information about the event and purchase the book here!

A surreal and horrifying debut, Hiron Ennes’s Leech defies our understanding of identity, heredity, and bodily autonomy.

“A wonderful new entry to Gothic science fiction, impeccably clever and atmospheric. Think Wuthering Heights… with worms!”—Tamsyn Muir

In an isolated chateau, as far north as north goes, the baron’s doctor has died. The doctor’s replacement has a mystery to solve: discovering how the Institute lost track of one of its many bodies.

For hundreds of years the Interprovincial Medical Institute has grown by taking root in young minds and shaping them into doctors, replacing every human practitioner of medicine. The Institute is here to help humanity, to cure and to cut, to cradle and protect the species from the apocalyptic horrors their ancestors unleashed.

In the frozen north, the Institute’s body will discover a competitor for its rung at the top of the evolutionary ladder. A parasite is spreading through the baron’s castle, already a dark pit of secrets, lies, violence, and fear. The two will make war on the battlefield of the body. Whichever wins, humanity will lose again.

Hiron Ennes is a writer, musician, and student of medicine based in the Pacific Northwest. Their areas of interest include infectious disease, pathology, and anticapitalist healthcare reform. When they’re not hunched over a microscope or word document they can be found playing in the snow or playing the harp (though usually not at the same time). They’re queer in every sense of the word, and they really want to pet your dog. Leech is their first novel.

Lee Mandelo is a writer, critic, and occasional editor whose fields of interest include speculative and queer fiction, especially when the two coincide. They have been a past nominee for various awards including the Nebula, Lambda, and Hugo; their work can be found in magazines such as Tor.com, Uncanny Magazine, Clarkesworld, and Nightmare. Aside from a brief stint overseas learning to speak Scouse, Mandelo has spent their life ranging across Kentucky, currently living in Lexington and pursuing a PhD at the University of Kentucky. Summer Sons is their first novel.

Hiron Ennes In Conversation With Lee Mandelo