Literature / The Curse of M

The Curse of M is an Urban Fantasy novel by Stevie Barry. It is the first novel in The M Universe.

It Begins

In 2012, the magic comes back in a big, big way. Considering few people knew there had been magic in the first place, global chaos ensues.

Among the results, in very short order, is the Alaskan National Institute for the Criminally Insane: a facility isolated in the remote Alaskan wilderness, where a number of the Cursed are abducted and shipped to for study and experimentation under the authority (and instruments) of one of the very few Cursed to be born with their ability. He has no more idea why the magic came back than anybody else, and he's willing to do whatever it takes to discover the answer. Meanwhile, the equally magical inhabitants of a Pocket Dimension (who call themselves the Gifted) are seeking the same, through far more moral means.

The Institute itself is exactly the sort of powder keg one might expect of a facility filled with people with poorly-controlled magical abilities, held together by the sheer strength and will of its nightmarish leader. Both wind up sorely tested by the inmates, who include Lorna Donovan (Irish ex-con, bartender, and Anger Management Hairball), Ratiri Duncan (a Scottish-Indian pediatrician still mourning the loss of his wife), Katje DaVries (extremely pragmatic Dutch call-girl who can turn just about anything into a 'business opportunity') and the man known only as Geezer (Vietnam-veteran who can see the future, but can’t even remember his own name). All the situation needs is a match, and Lorna is determined to provide one.

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This novel provides examples of:

• Accidental Murder: Lorna did time in prison because she accidentally killed her father. While she wouldn't have done it on purpose, she's also not sorry, because he was a violently abusive alcoholic.
• Ambiguously Brown: Lorna is of mixed Irish and Romani ancestry.
• Anti-Magic: Julifer's Gift. She can temporarily nullify someone else's Gift, provided she's touching them at the time.
• Aura Vision: Ratiri's Gift. He can both see auras and manipulate them to control a person's perception.
• Awesome Aussie: Miranda, who spent most of her youth in the DMA, but also served in the Australian Army as an adult.
• Beauty Is Never Tarnished: Averted. Even Katje winds up pretty grimy at times. Lorna’s more cute than beautiful, but she too winds up bloody and dirty on occasion.
• Bedlam House: The Institute. It's not actually a mental hospital, but it functions as one on a surface level.
• Big Bad: Von Rached, in a big way. He's a monster with no empathy and almost no scruples, and has no qualms about tormenting or even killing patients in the name of science. He also has a tendency to murder people if they cause inconvenience.
• Book Dumb: Lorna dropped out of school at fourteen and didn't get her Leaving Certificate (the Irish equivalent of a high school diploma) until she was in her twenties, but she’s extremely good at reading people. She tells Von Rached point-blank that he's not attracted to her at all, he’s attracted to what he thinks he can turn her into. For most of the book, she's absolutely right.
• Break the Haughty: Von Rached, by the end of the book. He’s lost everything: the Institute, all his possessions and research, and only managed to avoid being outright murdered because Lorna chose to spare his life.
• The Chessmaster: Von Rached and Miranda. The former uses his telepathy, and the latter is just incredibly (but justifiably) paranoid.
• Chekhov's Skill: Geezer's time in Vietnam is why he knows how to fly a helicopter, which allows him, Ratiri, Katje, and Gerald to escape the Institute.
• Child by Rape: Lorna's pregnancy is caused by Von Rached, and quite against her will.
• Compelling Voice: Miranda has one.
• Cool, Clear Water: Averted. Lorna drinks stream water after she escapes the Institute, and winds up with a nasty bout of giardia. She was afraid it would happen, but by then she was so thirsty that she risked it anyway.
• Cool Old Guy: Geezer's not actually old, but he definitely looks like he is. He's also one of the few characters to consistently keep a cool head throughout the book.
• Crazy-Prepared: Miranda. Oh, Miranda. The DMA joke is that she has a plan for literally every contingency, and they're not far wrong.
• Deadpan Snarker: Lorna, as something of a defense mechanism. The more stressed she is, the snarkier she gets. Ratiri's internal narration can get pretty snarky at times, too.
• Distracted by the Sexy: Played with. Von Rached hardly forgets what he's doing, but he's more than willing to rearrange his schedule for some alone-time with Katje (who mistakes a medical exam for a proposition, and goes along with it because she sees it as a business opportunity).
• The Dreaded: Von Rached, naturally. He has complete control over everyone in the Institute, and does not hesitate to hurt or even kill people if he feels the need. To an extent, the world views the Gifted as this, since most of them can’t control their Gifts and cause a fair bit of damage via Magic Misfire and Power Incontinence. It's why the Institute comes to exist in the first place.
• Eloquent in My Native Tongue: Katje has a mild case of this. She's proficient in English, but not entirely fluent, which becomes more obvious when she's stressed.
• Embarrassing First Name: Von Rached's first name is Raoul. He's not fond of it. His middle name is Hermann, which he's even less fond of.
• Embarrassing Nickname: Lorna's siblings refer to her as Fun Size, like the miniature candy bars. Her eldest sister also calls her the Anger Management Hairball, because she has anger problems and very long hair.
• Empathic Healer: Gerald, literally. It comes at a price, though, since it’s a Gift with No Off Button, meaning he's bombarded by the emotions of those around him 24/7.
• Escape from the Crazy Place: Twice, though only the second time actually sticks. The first, en masse escape fails, but Ratiri, Katje, Geezer, and Gerald do make it out on the second try.
• Ethical Slut: Katje. She was a High-Class Call Girl in Amsterdam partly because she really likes having sex, so she figured she could make money at it at the same time, but she's safe about it.
• Everybody Smokes: Half of them do, anyway. Cigarettes are one of the things Katje barters for.
• The Everyman: Most of the protagonists. A bartender, a pediatrician, a call girl, a Vietnam vet, and a doctor just out of medical school.
• Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: Von Rached doesn’t understand why Lorna didn't kill him when she had the chance. The simple truth is that she knows it's what he would do in her place, and she won't be like him.
• Forgets to Eat: Von Rached. He often forgets to sleep, too.
• Friend to All Children: Ratiri — fitting, as he's a pediatrician.
• Functional Magic: Of the Inherent variety. A small minority were born with their ability, but most are Randomly Gifted.
• Gentle Giant: Ratiri is six and a half feet tall, but he's quite gentle (until you piss him off). A minor uprising in the cafeteria makes Lorna rapidly realize he's too gentle to be a natural fighter.
• Girls with Guns: Miranda has an office full of them.
• Good Girls Avoid Abortion: Played with. Lorna initially thinks that Ratiri is the father of her kid, because the two had sex the night before he successfully escaped and she didn't, and she went six weeks without a period before Von Rached raped her. Because she’d been told she was infertile after a miscarriage in her 20s, the thought of having a kid with Ratiri is surprising and scary, but not unwelcome, and she has a little while to come to terms with it before she finds out the truth. That makes her seriously consider a termination, but ultimately she and Ratiri decide to raise the kid as though it really were his.
• Green Thumb: All the people with chlorokinesis.
• Hair-Trigger Temper: Lorna, at first. When something scares her, it also pisses her off, and Von Rached's a scary dude. She's aware that it's a serious liability (and one he's totally willing to use against her), and she does her best to get it under control over the course of the book.
• Healing Hands: One of the most useful Gifts, which of course makes it somewhat rare.
• Height Angst: Lorna's not quite five feet tall. She has some issues with this, to put it mildly.
• High-Class Call Girl: Sort of what Katje was. She lived in Amsterdam, so she was actually a professional prostitute rather than an illicit one. She considered herself something of a teacher, because she helped a number of her socially-awkward clients learn to navigate the world of relationships as well as sex, and often remained friends once they'd 'graduated.'
• Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: Ratiri and Lorna. There's over a foot and a half height difference.
• I Am What I Am: Von Rached knows exactly what he is, and has no problem with it. He tends to startle people who weren't expecting him to be so blunt about it. Lorna's also perfectly content with being a working-class woman unashamed of her criminal past (though she's not exactly proud of it, either).
• I Love You Because I Can't Control You: Ultimately, Von Rached feels this for Lorna, with all the creepiness that goes along with it. He's not even attracted to her until he can no longer read (and thus, no longer manipulate) her mind, so all of a sudden he wants what he can't have. It's not something he wants to admit, even to himself, because it's so base and immature. Lorna, however, is well aware of it.
• I Know What You Fear: Several Gifts allow this, but it's easiest to find out with telepathy. Only a bastard would exploit it, though. Pity Von Rached really is a total bastard.
• I Need a Freaking Drink: Miranda, Katje, Geezer, Lorna…about half the characters, at one point or another. Whether or not they actually have access to one is another story.
• I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: Von Rached, eventually. Even if it pisses him off.
• Insufferable Genius: Von Rached, oh so much. He's well aware he's insufferable, and doesn't care.
• Intergenerational Friendship: Geezer with Lorna, Ratiri, Katje, and Gerald.
• Lack of Empathy: Von Rached, natch. The mere concept is totally foreign to him.
• Large and in Charge: Von Rached is 6'5", which adds to his overall intimidation factor. Miranda, head of the DMA, stands at 6'4".
• Laser-Guided Amnesia: Lorna, thanks to the Lady after she's raped; Geezer, thanks to his Gift. The more of the future he sees, the more of his past he forgets. By the beginning of the book, he can no longer remember his own name.
• Law of Inverse Fertility: Lorna was told after she miscarried in her twenties that she'd never get pregnant again. Because of this, she and Ratiri don't exactly bother with protection, but it's not until Von Rached rapes her that she actually gets pregnant. The rather horrible irony of that is not lost on her.
• Living Emotional Crutch: Lorna and Ratiri become this for one another eventually. God help anybody who tries to hurt either — hurt one, and the other one will end you.
• Mad Oracle: Not 'mad' so much as partially amnesiac. Geezer doesn't even remember his real name.
• Magic A Is Magic A: There are things it can do, and things it can't do; both are consistent.
• The Magic Came Back: The book deals with the magic coming back as a very widespread surprise. Why it went away (or even that it existed in the first place) is unknown to anyone outside the DMA. Even the DMA doesn't know why it came back.
• Man Bites Man: Lorna bites Von Rached during two of their fights. She almost manages to tear his throat out.
• Mass Empowering Event: The fever.
• Matricide: Von Rached murdered his mother the day he turned eighteen. Considering she'd always been an abusive harpy, he felt entirely justified.
• The Medic: Ratiri and Gerald.
• Mind Rape: Von Rached is rather a large fan of this, though even he's squicked by it when he does it rather literally to Lorna after the first escape attempt. He didn't actually want to do it in the first place, but he knew that physical pain wouldn't deter her in the future. It backfires on him. Badly.
• The Mourning After: Lorna and Ratiri bond over having a bad case of this. Her boyfriend died in a car accident, and his wife died of ovarian cancer. Neither have dated since, or really ever gotten over it. Though neither is actually over it by the end of the book, they both think there's a chance they could be, given time, and he’s pretending he’s the father of Lorna's kid.
• My God, What Have I Done?: Von Rached thinks this in the immediate aftermath of his rape of Lorna. Even to his mind, Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil, and one he had always considered base and beneath him. It leads him to genuinely contemplate suicide.
• No Off Button: Part of why some Gifted are Blessed with Suck. While most can choose when and how to use their Gifts, empaths and precogs (though Geezer is currently the only one) can't control theirs.
• Not Distracted by the Sexy: Thanks to Ratiri's lingering grief over his lost wife, Katje's beauty is rather lost on him in anything but a strictly aesthetic sense.
• Not What I Signed on For: Gerald took a position at the Institute believing that it was what it said on the tin, and is horrified to find out the truth.
• Oh, Crap!: Ratiri, being a doctor, has a much better idea just what Von Rached does (and is going to do) to the inmates.
• Older Than They Look: Von Rached looks like he's maybe forty, but he was born in 1898.
• One Head Taller: More like three heads taller with Ratiri and Lorna; averted with Gerald and Katje, as they're about the same height.
• One Person, One Power: Multiple Gifts are extremely rare.
• Parental Abandonment: Von Rached's father ditched out a few months before he was born. Von Rached doesn't actually blame the man, given his mother was an absolute harpy.
• Parental Abuse: Von Rached's mother and Lorna's father were abusive alcoholics.
• Pensieve Flashback: Telepaths are capable of doing this, with varying levels of success. Done right, they can witness the memories of another as though they were actually there, but messing around with them usually drives the person they're reading insane. Even Von Rached can't do that without leaving a scar.
• Perky Goth: Julifer, Miranda's second-in-command in the DMA.
• Photographic Memory: The side-effect of several Gifts, provided you were born with them.
• Pintsized Powerhouse: Lorna. 4'11'' but quite strong.
• Playing with Fire: Wrigley and all the other pyrokinetics.
• Playing with Syringes: Von Rached, of course.
• Pocket Dimension: The DMA. It's not quite a Hidden Elf Village because certain members do interact with the outside world, but they do so on a limited basis, and few outsiders know what they actually are.
• Power Perversion Potential: Katje is well aware of hers.
• Properly Paranoid: Geezer, but especially Miranda. She's entirely correct about it, too.
• Proud Beauty: Katje uses her appearance as a business asset, and takes steps to maintain it even in the Institute in case it should prove useful (which it does). She's also well aware that attractive blonde women are often assumed to be unintelligent, which she'll exploit if necessary.
• Psychic Block Defense: Von Rached has one naturally, and he basically traumatizes Lorna into creating one of her own. This leaves her the sole person in the Institute whose mind he cannot read. Unfortunately for her, this intrigues him.
• Raised by Grandparents: It's mentioned in passing that Katje was, though what happened to her parents is never stated.
• Rape Discretion Shot: Lorna is assaulted by Von Rached, but the scene itself isn't shown: it fades to black, and picks up again in the aftermath.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: Miranda, who is in charge of the DMA partly because she's good at delegating and sorting out what information is crucial and what isn't.
• Sanity Slippage: Everyone who was trapped in the Institute goes through this to one degree or another.
• Scary Black Man: Thoroughly averted by Gerald, who is a kind, mild-mannered doctor.
• Sex for Services: Katje has sex with Von Rached in exchange for small amenities, and because she figures (correctly) that he won't perform any truly nasty experiments on her as long as she remains entertaining. She's completely baffled that the others are creeped out by it: to her, it's a straightforward business arrangement.
  Katje, to a visibly skeeved Geezer: It is business — he say he will pay, and he pay. I do not see you with chocolate and booze.
• Shamu Fu: In the first chapter, which begins in Seattle's Pike Place Market, Geezer attacks some of his would-be kidnappers with a salmon. It actually works.
• Shell-Shocked Veteran: Geezer. His memories of Vietnam might be patchy, but they're nevertheless horrible. Von Rached exploits them when necessary.
• Shout-Out: To Dune ("fear is the mind-killer") and Labyrinth ("my will is as strong as yours, and my kingdom as great. You have no power over me.")
• Slut-Shaming: Averted. The others might not understand why or how Katje could like being a prostitute, but they don't judge her for it.
• Statuesque Stunner: Katje is a 5'10'' blonde bombshell.
• Stockholm Syndrome: Von Rached tries to induce this with Lorna. Needless to say, it fails. Badly.
• Strapped to an Operating Table: Von Rached has a habit of doing this, since his experiments are painful more often than not.
• Super-Strength: One of the inmates with this Gift is killed early on for starting a riot in the cafeteria. Von Rached seems to have it, but in reality he's just using his telekinesis.
• The Unblinking: Von Rached rarely blinks, which seriously creeps out the inmates and even some of his staff.
• The Unintelligible: Downplayed. Lorna's Dublin accent is so heavy some people can't tell she's speaking English (while she's in America, before she's sent to the Institute, more than one person asked her if she spoke Englsh). Ratiri thinks of it as Lorna-ese, and can fortunately usually translate it. Katje's English also tends to break down when she's stressed.
• Unproblematic Prostitution: Katje lives by this trope. At one point, Geezer asks her how she can let herself be used like that; her response is essentially that if anyone's doing the using, it's her. Her clients just get sex; she gets sex and stuff. The others can't understand it, but figure that if it makes her happy, there's nothing wrong with it (though they all worry about her arrangement with Von Rached, because they realize it's dangerous. So does Katje, but it's serving her well enough for now.)
• Violent Glaswegian: Averted with Ratiri, though he mentions other doctors he worked with in London teasing him about the stereotype.
• Villainous Crush: Von Rached develops one on Lorna. He's actually really annoyed by it, because he views it as a form of weakness on his part, but he can't kill it. To say it ends badly for both of them is putting it mildly.