Title: The Jamesburg Incubus
Author: Scott Baker
In: Alien Sex (Ellen Datlow)
Rating Out of 5: 4 (Really good read!)
My Bookshelves: Lust, Science fiction
Dates read: 30th September 2019
Pace: Slow
Format: Short story
Publisher: ROC
Year: 1990
5th sentence, 74th page: They start, slowly, romantically, this time, as though the three of them are fitting together, following something innate and inborn rather than dictating their private needs and wants to one another.
St. Jacques is a pretentious, boring teacher. Until he eats some mouldy bread… and he begins to transform into an incubus.
Tales of alien adventures don’t normally include tones of Christianity. Or at least, none of the science fiction tales I normally read do… which made this tale incredibly weird and uncomfortable in some ways. But also very unique and interesting…
The most uncomfortable about this short story was the sexual preferences of St. Jacques. At first the idea of an incubus was seriously fascinating… until the young women he was preying on in his dreams were somewhat younger than I was imagining. Things just got steadily weirder and more uncomfortable from that point on. Although, I suppose that that was kind of the point…
Most tales I read about incubi have an intense paranormal spin. It’s about demons and angels. Right and wrong. Good and bad. Not so much with this tale… there is a weird moment of epiphany at the end. But, mostly it’s about a weird bread mould which can alter perceptions and feelings in dreams… a part of my life I would probably rather remained untouched.
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