Important and necessary readings on mothering, reproduction, sexuality, and the family are now available for $14.95 USD/$20 CAN from Demeter Press, www.demeterpress.org Available as PDFs 100-plus books to choose from on almost every imaginable motherhood topic Great for book clubs and classroom readings. Please click on the link below for the list of available titles and email Tracey Carlyle (carlyletracey@gmail.com) your order. Books will be emailed directly to you. An affordable and accessible way to read all the exciting fiction and research being published on motherhood AND a way to support our non-profit feminist press

Baby Monitor: A Novella





Price: $24.95

Page Count: 110

Publication Date: October 2027

ISBN: 978-1-77258-646-6

Thirty-something Izzy does not intend to have a baby – despite her husband, Patrick’s, pleas – but she finds herself pregnant all the same. Patrick is thrilled. Izzy is not. As she adjusts to the idea of potentially becoming a mother, technological tools purporting to support her motherhood journey are inserted into her life. When she expresses an escalating sense of an invasion of her privacy and a constant monitoring of her behaviour, her concerns are dismissed as the worries of a ‘new mother.’ When the same technology captures Izzy’s actions out of context, she is perceived as ‘not coping’ and her ability to mother is questioned. Izzy begins to dream of finding a space that is ‘technology-less,’ if such a place could even exist.

Baby Monitor is a novella of speculative fiction. A dystopian imagining and inquiry: ‘What if the devices used to monitor babies became a means of monitoring mothers.’

“With the current and rapid advancement of AI, Baby Monitor astutely anticipates the horrifying and insidious levels of surveillance that may inhabit the lives of families by 2030. Like Margaret Atwood, Victoria Bailey crafts a timely and compelling dystopia that foreshadows the sinister use of AI, tech, cameras, screens and apps by relatives, physicians, and the state to monitor the health of infants and the conduct of caregivers. Children and mothers alike are tracked through baby gear, such as car seats, strollers, carriers, highchairs, sippy cups, wearable blankets, cribs, clothing, mattresses, and linens. Change tables, diaper bags, breast pumps, and nursing wear ensure they are keenly observed and controlled in ways that haunt the fictional characters and readers long after the closing page."
— Dr. Fiona Joy Green
Senior Scholar, University of Winnipeg

“Taking place in a near future world of 2030 that is as uncanny and unnerving as it is familiar, Baby Monitor provides sharp insight into reproductive rights and the ways tools meant to protect slip easily into instruments of surveillance and discipline. As the main character, Iz, shares her doubts and small resistances through pregnancy, labour, and early mothering in the relentless hum of monitoring technology, we are confronted with the question of who the watcher is: the devices, the state, or the ones closest to us. A must read for anyone interested in navigating mothering in the contemporary landscape.”
— Mairi McDermott, PhD
Mairi McDermott, PhD, is a m/otherscholar with the institutional title of Associate Professor of Curriculum and Learning at the Werklund School of Education, University of Calgary, who is interested worldmaking practices for life and livingness in mothering and education.

“Victoria Bailey delivers a compelling, fast-paced novella that tackles the hard choices mothers face too often. Focusing on the potential negative impact of technology in mothers’ lives, the social and internal panopticon, and gender norms in contemporary heterosexual relationships, this work asks readers to ask hard questions and examine the world around them in new ways.”
— Katie Bodendorfer Garner
Executive Director, IAMAS