In 2021, writer Jane Hennigan caused quite a stir with her self-published dystopian post-apocalyptic science fiction mystery novel Moths, which was later picked up by Angry Robot.
Now she has a companion novel in Toxxic (paperback, Kindle), which further explores a world in which good men are in short supply.
In the following email interview, Hennigan discusses how these two books work together, as well as what inspired and influenced this second installment.
For people who didn’t read the first book, Moths, or the interview we did about it, what was that novel about, and when and where did it take place?
Moths is a kind of gender-flipped Handmaid’s Tale.
In the near future, a new species of moth creates an inhospitable environment for human males, killing them outright or rendering them murderously insane. Women have to rebuild society with males safely locked away in facilities.
It takes place in the U.K., which is one of the only places on the planet to have avoided complete societal collapse. The action is narrated by Mary, a woman in her seventies who remembers what it was like before the infestation and what it’s like now.
And then what is Toxxic about, and when does it take place, narratively and chronologically, in relation to Moths?
Toxxic takes place a few months after the end of Moths. It follows a similar structure to Moths in that there are characters who remember a time before the infestation and those who have been born into this new matriarchal world.
A vaccine has been discovered, enabling men to leave their captivity and rejoin society. However, it is a very different society than ours, and no one is sure what the male’s roles are. There’s resistance to males being introduced, and the less educated, less skilled males have a difficult time trying to gain acceptance.
When in relation to writing Moths did you come up with the idea for Toxxic, and where did you get the idea for the second book’s plot?
The plot of Moths is essentially the discovery of the vaccine and the safe delivery of the vaccine to those in charge (those who can be trusted with it). I spend much of the original novel re-building a world without patriarchy, working through the ramifications of wiping out 99% of the male population, and speculating on how this might affect technological advancement, health care, and education, added to which the problem that the rest of the world has collapsed removing imports.
After creating the world and building the plot around it, I wanted to push it further. I always knew which characters I would like to take from Moths and explore further in Toxxic. I began writing Toxxic a few months after originally self-publishing Moths, when it had become very popular and it seemed reasonable to assume that a sequel would be well received.
And is there a reason you spell the title with two Xs? Obviously, Toxxxic is going to be the name of the porn parody of your book, and Toxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxic is just silly, but does it mean anything that it’s Toxxic and not Toxic? Because if you’re hoping it will stop people from singing that Britney Spears song, I have some bad news for you…
The film rights for the porn parody are still available…just putting that out there.
Yes — I don’t want to give too much away, but the novel features a non-inclusive anti-men resistance movement who call themselves the XXs (Rather than male XY chromosomes). They hold some fairly toxic purist views.
And on a side note, Paul: Brittany Spears released “Toxic” in 2003. Twenty-one years ago! Is there anyone left who remembers?? This makes me feel about a hundred years old [sobs quietly into her Robbie Williams duvet].
Yeah, call me when you remember the first time you heard The Rolling Stones’ “Start Me Up” on the radio was 43 years ago.
Anyway, Moths is a dystopian post-apocalyptic science fiction mystery story. Is Toxxic one as well?
Yes, it is. The genre, tone and structure worked well in Moths, so I kept it pretty similar though I have been told that Toxxic is a little darker).
There is a mystery element, though this is not the main thrust of the novel. At its heart, just as Moths, Toxxic is speculative fiction: What would happen if, and more importantly Why?
Moving on to the always beloved questions about influences, are there any writers, or stories, that were a big influence on Toxxic but not on Moths?
Toxxic is more violent than Moths, and a little less claustrophobic. Moths owed a lot to Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro: quiet, thoughtful, and sad. Whereas Toxxic is more Day Of The Triffids — a little more action-based.
There’s also a stand-off, the tone of which I borrowed from The Battle Of Helm’s Deep and The Battle Of Thermopylae (the difference being that mine takes place in the grocery aisle of an upmarket food retailer).
What about non-literary influences; was Toxxic influenced by any movies, TV shows, or games?
I might have already said this about Moths, but the effects of the airborne disease are very much like the zombie virus in World War Z and 28 Days Later: quick zombies. But in this world, the zombies can talk and think and work together, and as a group they crave bloody violence.
The stand-off mentioned above has echoes of Stephen King’s The Mist, both the book and the movie, but more the movie. That idea that you want to go out from your stronghold, in this case a supermarket, to find those you love, but also by doing so you would endanger everyone inside.
Now, in the interview we did about Moths, I mentioned the comic book series Y: The Last Man, which explores similar territory, and you said you hadn’t heard of it until after the self-published version of Moths came out. Have you read the books since then, or watched the TV show?
I watched the TV show and enjoyed it. I don’t know how much it changed from the original graphic novel. I didn’t find Yorick as interesting as perhaps other characters. Also, that he was the son of the president as well as being the only human with a Y chromosome to survive seemed a little overcooked.
Something the show writers did do right, in my opinion, was highlight things like how many women drive trucks (not many) and how things like this would affect society. My obsession when writing speculative fiction is: Who’s driving the trucks? Who’s running the power stations? Who’s keeping a complex communication network running? It’s not that women can’t do these things, given experience and training. It’s that they generally don’t know (generally only 10% of engineers are women, and only 5% or truck drivers) and may not have time to learn before the power stations fail or the logistic chains crumble and everyone starves to death. So, if for no other reason than surviving a gender apocalypse, women should be encouraged into STEM and logistics.
You also said in that interview that while Toxxic is the sequel to Moths, Moths was a stand-alone story. Is Toxxic one as well?
Yes. I tried to ensure that you could read Toxxic without reading Moths.
That said, I think you would get more out of Toxxic if you read Moths. There are a number of familiar faces who reappear — as well as some new characters.
Also, Toxxic is a bit darker than Moths, so it might be a good idea to “warm up” with Moths first.
And if someone does start with Moths, what will they get out of Toxxic that they wouldn’t otherwise?
If you’ve read Moths, then you are probably already primed for the themes I explore within the novel: patriarchy, gender toxicity of all types, male violence against women and the abuse of power. In Toxxic I extend these themes to cover the fear of change and notions of inclusivity. I still use a flipped gender dynamic to parody sexism, and in Toxxic I double down.
Given all of that, would you suggest reading Moths and Toxxic back-to-back?
I would, simply because Moths ends with a few questions. Not a cliffhanger, but a few suggestions that the world is about to radically change. Toxxic begins a few weeks after Moths leaves off, so the transition is hopefully smooth.
So, is Toxxic the end of stories for you in this realm?
I have plans. None cunning enough to share quite yet.
Finally, if someone enjoys Toxxic, and they’ve already read Moths, they might want something warm and fuzzy to read. So, what cozy sci-fi novel or novella of someone else’s would you suggest they read next?
I’ve tried cozy sci-fi and fantasy but feel it misses the mark for me. Where’s the torture?? Where’s the flesh-eating bacteria?? Why is no one being buried alive?? I like my stakes armageddon-level high.
However…even I need a book cuddle now and then. Such was provided recently by The Stranger Times by C.K. McDonnell; excellent concept, funny, great world-building, and a cast of characters with whom I’d happily spend the evening in the pub. The second in the series, This Charming Man is next on my TBR.
