The Naturalist Society
Leaders of academia, scientific expeditions, writers, and thinkers meet regularly in 1877 Manhattan to discuss scientific papers and discoveries and display artifacts gathered by members. The group and its meetings are closed, however, to Beth Stanley, widow of Harold Stanley, who had to put his name on her natural life ornithological surveys, essays, and monographs or they would never have been published. Members also would not look kindly on explorers Brandon West and Anton Torrance if they knew about the pair’s gay relationship. But Beth, Bran, and Anton sidestep the organized scientific community as they explore taxonomic classifications of species, tap into Arcane magical manipulation of energy, and develop friendship and love.
The Naturalist Society is beautifully written. Characters are complex and multi-dimensional, and observations of fauna and animal behavior are detailed and astute. Arcanists Beth and Bran magically warm cool tea in a tea cup, freeze liquor in a tumbler, test the earth’s magnetic field to learn how one may leap across distances, and transform water into sparkling light.
Adding historical depth are vignettes that profile leading scientific minds of the era including Charles Darwin, Ben Franklin, and lesser-known individuals such as paleontologist and fossil collector Mary Anning, as well as ill-fated expeditions to the poles. For this reader, however, the story does not take full flight either into a magical realm or to a distant, barren landscape. Characters reside in the 19th century and within the societal constraints of the time, and their actions move step by step as they confront obstacles that interfere with the way they want to live and the work they want to do. Sadly, lacking is arcane magic on a voyage to the South Pole.
