Male of the Species
Martin Hewitt is ten years old when he meets an abnormally large spider in the woods behind his house.
After inadvertently feeding a cricket to the spider, Martin is smitten by her beauty and violent purity. As the years pass, he feeds it larger and larger animals, forging his secret bond with the only female he believes truly understands him. As he approaches adulthood, Martin finally obtains a human victim for her, believing this to be incontrovertible proof of his devotion, but soon after discovers that the spider has laid eggs.
Believing the spider has found another male to mate with, Martin lashes out and injures some of the new babies. “His” spider immediately turns on Martin, and forces him to literally run for his life. He returns with a shotgun and just barely manages to kill the spider.
But years later, his life hollow and gray without his first love, Martin returns to the spot in the woods and finds that one of the babies has survived. He looks at the human daughter in his arms and realizes he has one more chance to prove he is a worthy male.
Publication Date: March 21, 2025
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About The Author
Tom Vandermolen
Tom Vandermolen started out life as a military brat, born in Japan to a US Navy sailor and a Japanese mother, but raised primarily in the American South—in a town suspiciously similar to the one in "Male of the Species". A retired Navy officer, he now works as a data scientist in Seattle, where he lives with his wife.
