Writer Ben H. Winters, the sci-fi author who brought us Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters, has a new book out titled Bedbugs in which a young couple find their dream apartment in New York city. The rent is low, the location perfect. Sure, the landlady is little eccentric and the super mumbled something about a problem in the basement, but, hey, the deal was just too great to pass up. As you can imagine from the title, the dream becomes a nightmare.
Winters was interviewed yesterday on CBCRadio “Q” by host Jian Ghomeshi. The conversation and chat that follows is fascinating in that this relatively harmless insect (i.e., bedbugs do not cause le
thal diseases like mosquitoes do) has become the archetypal symbol of urban paranoia. Needless to say, I’m itchin’ to read this one (groan).
Barbara L.