Drapetomania

By João Ventura

Aldous was a fanatic of alternative medicines, a fervent supporter of every measure aimed at combating Big Pharma.

At the Academy of Well-Being that he attended, a lecture had been announced by Professor John Cartwright, from the Faculty of Strange and Misdiagnosed Diseases at the Free University of Florida. He entered the auditorium — the lecture had already begun — sat down, and opened his laptop to take notes.

Aldous checked Wikipedia to get some basic information about the topic of the lecture. The entry #drapetomania gave him a rather uncomfortable feeling. A disease whose symptom was the tendency to run away in search of freedom?! He began to pay attention to the speaker.

“(...) and contrary to what my great-great-grandfather Samuel Cartwright believed, drapetomania does not affect only the Black population. It has been increasingly diagnosed among Caucasian populations and other ethnic groups (...)”

What he was reading on Wikipedia pushed Aldous beyond the limits of credibility. Curing a disease with whippings and the amputation of toes?! It was too much! He shut the laptop and got up to leave.

The speaker stopped what he was saying and addressed Aldous directly:
“Where are you going, sir?” And he continued, now addressing the audience: “You can see here an example of a person infected by the disease. It is a clinical case well suited for illustrating the treatment...”

Aldous looked toward the auditorium door, now blocked by two muscular individuals. And Professor Cartwright, as he picked up the whip that was lying on the table, said to him:

“Come down here, if you don’t mind...”

Aldous noticed that on the table there was also an object that looked like a pair of pruning shears. Slowly, as if his body had a will of its own, he began to descend the steps of the auditorium...

About the Author

João Ventura writes short fiction, which has appeared in several websites (AntipodeanSF and Bewildering Stories among them), and also in printed form: Somnium, in Brazil; Dragão Quântico, Hyperdrivezine, Phantastes (Portuguese fanzines); Universe Pathways (in both the English and the Greek versions).

He had short stories in several Portuguese and Brazilian antologies: A Sombra sobre Lisboa (2006), Por Universos Nunca Dantes Navegados (2007), VaporPunk (2010), Antologia de Ficção Científica Fantasporto (2012),  Lisboa no ano 2000 (2013), Lisboa Oculta - Guia Turístico (2018), O resto é paisagem (2018), Almanaque SteamPunk (2019), Winepunk (2019), Regiana Magna (2020), Uma Década de Divergência (2023), Winepunk 2 (2025).

In 2018, a collection of his short stories (in Portuguese) came to light, with the title Tudo Isto Existe, and in 2025 a new one was borne, entitled O Cidadão sem Sombra.

 He is a retired engineering professor, and he finished recently a science communication book which has been submitted to a Portuguese publisher.

Those who read Portuguese can have a glance at some of his stuff in Das palavras o espaço (fiction) and Ciência de todos os dias (science communication).

He lives in Lisbon, Portugal.