Medical stories
I had an obsession with the first aid guide my family owned when I was young. I would stare at the photos of snake bite, arrow wound, and electrocution injury and treatments for hours. When I got old enough to read I'd read about snake bites, arrow wounds, and electrocution injuries. Some other favorites: falling through thin ice and fish-hook-in-your-finger problems. So it's no surprise that I continue to be fascinated by articles exploring medical oddities whether they be strange conditions or historical medical tales.
In fact, more than once I've read a story about a strange illness and wanted to drop everything and write a novel involving that condition. Of course, the story can't be just the illness. It has to be more. For this reason, I really dug The Echo Maker by Richard Powers, about a man afflicted with Capgras syndrome. Capgras sufferers believe that the people close to them are doubles or impostors. As if you suspected everyone you knew was a pod person.
Gerladine Brooks's Year of Wonders, about the plague, is also marvelous. It's tough for modern readers to remember or imagine what it would feel like not to understand the origins of plague contagion. (It's the fleas!)
Of course it helps that Powers and Brooks are both amazing writers with wide open eyes and a facility for beautiful language.
Maybe one day I'll find the rare condition or tragic injury that makes me devote a novel to it. Until then, I'll enjoy the works of others and continue fondly remembering the family first aid book. Oh, and if you get a fish hook through your finger, cut the hook under the barb and pull the now non-barbed end back through your finger.
