Through Thy Bounty by Lucy A. Snyder

“Through Thy Bounty” is a 2001 science fiction short story by Lucy A. Snyder. It is about a chef who is forced to cook humans as gourmet meals for ruthless aliens.

Non-Spoiler Summary In A Nutshell:

The spoiled, sadistic Jagaren aliens have come to Earth and nearly conquered it using their slave warriors. Only a handful of resistance fighters remain, and now the Jagaren have captured the daughter of one of the underground leaders and are forcing her to prepare fancy meals featuring – you guessed it – humans as the main course! Not a pleasant job at all, but she does what she must to survive. It helps that she has a telepathic connection with her mother, who communicates encouragement as well as some strange instructions – like “300 degrees.” What in the world does that mean? The gourmet slave chef is about to find out – and it is both horrible and hopeful at the same time!

I have been alone here for over a year, all my waking hours spent in this huge, beautiful, damnable kitchen. It has a walk-in refrigerator that is stocked every night as I sleep, an immense pantry of dry goods, racks of jars of dried spices from every corner of the Earth. In case I ever face an unfamiliar menu, the back wall is lined with hundreds of cookbooks selected by the Jagaren; undesirable recipes have been cut out. The side door leads to a room with rows and rows of herbs under grow lights. There’s an open-pit barbecue and spit big enough to roast a whole ox, a man-sized oven, wok, industrial meat grinder, and on and on. No kitchen I ever worked in as a chef in Los Angeles and Dallas was even half as well-equipped.

The Jagaren picked their torture well.

My Two Cents:

• The good:

• This is the first story I have read by Lucy A. Snyder, and I was quite impressed with her writing skills. Although some of the descriptions in this story are quite gruesome, they are at least expertly described!
• The idea of a gourmet chef being forced to cook humans for evil aliens was kind of nifty. I found myself enjoying this story and constantly wondering what was going to happen.
• Without a doubt the ending was the best part of “Through Thy Bounty”. I surely didn’t see it coming, and was totally sucked in by the horrible decision that was made in the best interest of humankind.

• The bad:

• Be warned – there are several gruesome scenes describing human cuisine (the kind featuring humans as meat, not the kind that humans eat) in “Through Thy Bounty”! If you are squeemish at all then you may want to skip this story.

Fact Sheet:
• Page Count: 10
• Word Count: 4,324
• “Through Thy Bounty” garnered the following awards:

• It was an Honorable mention in the 2002 anthology The Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror: Fifteenth Annual Collection.

Where you can find “Through Thy Bounty”:

• This short story first appeared in the 2001 anthology entitled The Midnighter’s Club.
• You can read a free online version of this story at the Apex Book Company website.

Some Interesting Links:

• Did you know that Lucy A. Snyder has a degree in biology and once worked as a software reviewer? Yep. You can learn more about this talented writer on her website.
• Special thanks to Free SF Reader for pointing out this great story!

Craving More Stories?
If you enjoyed this story then you might also like The Fluted Girl, about the vengeful plot of a servant girl whose body has been extensively sculpted by the ruler of her fief, by Paolo Bacigalupi.

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