The Midnight Project: Exceptional Read
The Midnight Project, by Christy Climenhage, published by Poplar Press, 292 pages, $24.
Skilled satire, adroit wit and whimsy combine with engaging
prose and intriguing characters to make Canadian author
Christy Climenhage’s debut novel, The Midnight Project, an
often-exceptional read.
Climenhage, like a surfeit of authors from Huxley to Atwood,
tackles the weighty themes of the impact of genetic engineering
and biotechnology on a future world.
Like Margaret Atwood in Oryx and Crake, Climenhage blunts
the darkness inherent in her debut dystopian cli-fi novel with
irony and an over-the-top tone yet still forges a plausible
backdrop for this eco-disaster thriller.
The plot kicks off when business tycoon Burton Sykes contacts
protagonists Raina and Cedric (genetic engineers with a
checkered past) to save humanity.
He asks the team to create a new lifeform that will embody the
best of humanity and still survive the impending environmental
holocaust.
The planet in this near-fantastical future faces its dying days.
Food is scarce, coastal waters flood cities, and many insects
(bees, for example), are extinct.
Billionaire Sykes dangles a near unlimited budget before the
protagonists’ firm Re-Gene-eration. The protagonists bite
without questioning their benefactor’s true motives.
To succeed they must flout yet technically follow global laws
regarding reproductive technology, enacted after a series of
genetic engineering disasters. Such catastrophes have created
a world where violent mutants (like the part-frog part-human
Hoppers) encroach on populated areas, among bloodthirsty
killers and grisly gangs plaguing society.
“. . . dressed in ragged pants but no shirts, and they looked
wrong, their limbs too long, their heads too large,” Climenhage
writes of the Hoppers, describing a near-deadly encounter early
in the book.
The answer is The Midnight Project, where the engineers edit
the human genome and combine it with smallish cephalopods
to enable the new species to form a subaquatic society deep
within the ocean.
After multiple attempts, the Re-Gene-eration team succeeds
with a human/octopus hybrid that is sentient and highly
empathetic. Over many clones and generations, the creatures
(called Cephs) evolve to create their own language, culture and
society. Eventually, the question becomes can the Cephs avert
the apocalypse in time to overcome evil capitalists, intent on
warping science for profit as the world degrades around them.
The author’s deft descriptive writing and sense of whimsy are
apparent in her description of one of the first successful births.
“There was a sharp gasp as the little creature took his first
breath. He smiled . . . his single row of teeth sharpened to fine
points and a fin sprouting randomly from the middle of his head.
His tentacles writhed . . . “’Well hello, Sunshine! I said.’”
Her playful imagination sparkles when describing the evolution
of the new species and Ethel, its leader.
“In the interest of seeing how they would react to cultural things,
I started to play a wider variety of FlickFilms. Ethel and two
others loved period dramas from the old United Kingdom,
another was obsessed with Chinese opera.
They would balance on the edge of the tank while they
watched, fascinated, or pull themselves onto the observation
deck beside the tank. Soon, they each discovered favourites
and would request them.”
The author’s protagonists, Cedric and Raina, are strong and
believable, given the fantastic circumstances they endure. The
author’s prose sings as she gradually develops the new
species’ leader Ethel, and the kind creature gains sentience.
“Warm water, filtered light and soft voices. Feelings of peace
and sensations of floating. A face with funny double eyes,
slurred sounds without meaning but reassuring. A growing
awareness, of life, of a world. All fuzzy still. Floating – and it fills
me with joy. I watch them and listen, understanding nothing.
Warm affinity. Love? I feel surrounded and buoyed, safe. I keep
listening. Soothing sounds, notes rising and falling. Soft
background music and low, confident voices. Then the air, cold
and shocking. I’m being handled. I flinch,” Chapter 14 begins.
Ethel becomes more fearful and complex as she tries to lead
her species to freedom, yet her simple wisdom is a good
contrast to her corrupt foes.
Climenhage’s strong descriptive writing is evidenced by
describing the silhouette over Long Harbour.
“To the east we could see the coastline ocean, encroaching on
the streets along the old coastline. . . Buildings that had been
shiny multistory offices poked out from the waves, emerging at
low tide to reveal how much they leaned and crumbled. Some
were still inhabited by people, who clung to their real estate and
used boats and sometimes even rope bridges to live on the
upper floors. . . The world was trying to adapt . . .”
The book’s structure also moves the story and sets tone.
Chapters about Cedric are formatted as video scripts, while
Raina is relayed through a traditional narrative view. As well, the
book’s punchy chapters are punctuated throughout with news
headlines like, “Coup in France threatens EU unity Pollinator
crisis deepens as bee die-off accelerates UN Secretary-General
appoints Special Envoy for Bees Species Termination Notice:
Arctic poppy.”
Climenhage was born in Southern-Ontario but has lived all over
the world. She holds many academic degrees including a
master’s from Carleton University and a PhD from Cambridge.
The Midnight Project, by Christy Climenhage, published by Poplar Press, 292 pages, $24.