Gold for Steam
(1) A research institute contacts an alternate reality,
(2) populated by a polygamist culture of humans with extremely heterozygous sexual features,
(3) who are at a medieval technological level,
(4) whom we have contacted because they have a surplus of gold which they are eager to trade for our technology.
(5) The Institute sends a female detective (Susan, the main character) to the other realm to investigate the sudden death, perhaps by heart attack, of our elderly representative there.
(6) Susan has just had a romantic breakup and is soured on the idea of men not being manly enough, soured on herself for having chosen a too-manly career path, when she is suddenly, ironically, thrust into a culture where she encounters more manliness than she could ever hope to see.
(7) She comes to understand the more intimate details of the culture while investigating the death of our representative, which proves to be a murder, not heart attack.
(8) Susan, like Anna of Siam, is offered a marriage proposal by her host, Torlat, the wealthiest man in North America.
(9) His proposal would consolidate his position as main trade representative.
(10) Torlat offers marriage despite the fact that he already has eight wives, potentially thousands of concubines, and is secretly bisexual, a crime punishable by death.
(11) Susan discovers her moral concern for the technologically backward culture and how the introduction of our technology (they want a steam engine) might cause them greater harm than did the steam engine of Christianity harm the New World.
(12) Susan is in a quandary at the marriage proposal and at an impasse of not solving the murder and is furthermore enamored of her host's neighbor (brother-in-law, Henifor) when the murderer makes his appearance and Susan solves the crime.
Discussion
Although otherwise completely human, they are obligate polygamists by nature, due to extreme heterozygous sexual diversity. They find our appearance repugnant since, to their eyes, our males look too feminine; our females, too masculine.
They have developed into a society which has learned to curb group-aggression by gelding their surplus male population at a nearly-universal religious ceremony. At the onset of puberty, most males choose this route through inclination, though some risk being 'duel fodder' and only a very few males survive to adulthood. The gelded majority develop into, intelligentsia, workforce, or priesthood.
Females are, all of them, available for marriage and/or child bearing or, for a few, as clergy.
The few surviving males have divided up the world into a hundred thousand fiefdoms which are run like Imperial Roman latifundia and the world is a very, very stable environment with a low population, hence, the technological backwardness of their culture.
But the males are themselves ruled by testosterone and personal duels, yet their culture has never known war due to their method of controlling aggression. To them, the very concept of group aggression -- war -- is as foreign a concept as is the absurd notion that mere gold has monetary value. However, they are not unsophisticated, not unaware of jealousy, trysts, greed, and the undercurrents of society.
This is kinda, sorta, 'chick flick' SciFi, but with some Richard Dawkins memes, Robert Ardrey territoriality, Matt Ridley's "Red Queen" and Desmond Morris "Naked Ape". Men may swagger and duel and die -- and some of them even get to rule -- but women run the show.
Best Regards,
RJW Seddon
"1120533003"
(2) populated by a polygamist culture of humans with extremely heterozygous sexual features,
(3) who are at a medieval technological level,
(4) whom we have contacted because they have a surplus of gold which they are eager to trade for our technology.
(5) The Institute sends a female detective (Susan, the main character) to the other realm to investigate the sudden death, perhaps by heart attack, of our elderly representative there.
(6) Susan has just had a romantic breakup and is soured on the idea of men not being manly enough, soured on herself for having chosen a too-manly career path, when she is suddenly, ironically, thrust into a culture where she encounters more manliness than she could ever hope to see.
(7) She comes to understand the more intimate details of the culture while investigating the death of our representative, which proves to be a murder, not heart attack.
(8) Susan, like Anna of Siam, is offered a marriage proposal by her host, Torlat, the wealthiest man in North America.
(9) His proposal would consolidate his position as main trade representative.
(10) Torlat offers marriage despite the fact that he already has eight wives, potentially thousands of concubines, and is secretly bisexual, a crime punishable by death.
(11) Susan discovers her moral concern for the technologically backward culture and how the introduction of our technology (they want a steam engine) might cause them greater harm than did the steam engine of Christianity harm the New World.
(12) Susan is in a quandary at the marriage proposal and at an impasse of not solving the murder and is furthermore enamored of her host's neighbor (brother-in-law, Henifor) when the murderer makes his appearance and Susan solves the crime.
Discussion
Although otherwise completely human, they are obligate polygamists by nature, due to extreme heterozygous sexual diversity. They find our appearance repugnant since, to their eyes, our males look too feminine; our females, too masculine.
They have developed into a society which has learned to curb group-aggression by gelding their surplus male population at a nearly-universal religious ceremony. At the onset of puberty, most males choose this route through inclination, though some risk being 'duel fodder' and only a very few males survive to adulthood. The gelded majority develop into, intelligentsia, workforce, or priesthood.
Females are, all of them, available for marriage and/or child bearing or, for a few, as clergy.
The few surviving males have divided up the world into a hundred thousand fiefdoms which are run like Imperial Roman latifundia and the world is a very, very stable environment with a low population, hence, the technological backwardness of their culture.
But the males are themselves ruled by testosterone and personal duels, yet their culture has never known war due to their method of controlling aggression. To them, the very concept of group aggression -- war -- is as foreign a concept as is the absurd notion that mere gold has monetary value. However, they are not unsophisticated, not unaware of jealousy, trysts, greed, and the undercurrents of society.
This is kinda, sorta, 'chick flick' SciFi, but with some Richard Dawkins memes, Robert Ardrey territoriality, Matt Ridley's "Red Queen" and Desmond Morris "Naked Ape". Men may swagger and duel and die -- and some of them even get to rule -- but women run the show.
Best Regards,
RJW Seddon
Gold for Steam
(1) A research institute contacts an alternate reality,
(2) populated by a polygamist culture of humans with extremely heterozygous sexual features,
(3) who are at a medieval technological level,
(4) whom we have contacted because they have a surplus of gold which they are eager to trade for our technology.
(5) The Institute sends a female detective (Susan, the main character) to the other realm to investigate the sudden death, perhaps by heart attack, of our elderly representative there.
(6) Susan has just had a romantic breakup and is soured on the idea of men not being manly enough, soured on herself for having chosen a too-manly career path, when she is suddenly, ironically, thrust into a culture where she encounters more manliness than she could ever hope to see.
(7) She comes to understand the more intimate details of the culture while investigating the death of our representative, which proves to be a murder, not heart attack.
(8) Susan, like Anna of Siam, is offered a marriage proposal by her host, Torlat, the wealthiest man in North America.
(9) His proposal would consolidate his position as main trade representative.
(10) Torlat offers marriage despite the fact that he already has eight wives, potentially thousands of concubines, and is secretly bisexual, a crime punishable by death.
(11) Susan discovers her moral concern for the technologically backward culture and how the introduction of our technology (they want a steam engine) might cause them greater harm than did the steam engine of Christianity harm the New World.
(12) Susan is in a quandary at the marriage proposal and at an impasse of not solving the murder and is furthermore enamored of her host's neighbor (brother-in-law, Henifor) when the murderer makes his appearance and Susan solves the crime.
Discussion
Although otherwise completely human, they are obligate polygamists by nature, due to extreme heterozygous sexual diversity. They find our appearance repugnant since, to their eyes, our males look too feminine; our females, too masculine.
They have developed into a society which has learned to curb group-aggression by gelding their surplus male population at a nearly-universal religious ceremony. At the onset of puberty, most males choose this route through inclination, though some risk being 'duel fodder' and only a very few males survive to adulthood. The gelded majority develop into, intelligentsia, workforce, or priesthood.
Females are, all of them, available for marriage and/or child bearing or, for a few, as clergy.
The few surviving males have divided up the world into a hundred thousand fiefdoms which are run like Imperial Roman latifundia and the world is a very, very stable environment with a low population, hence, the technological backwardness of their culture.
But the males are themselves ruled by testosterone and personal duels, yet their culture has never known war due to their method of controlling aggression. To them, the very concept of group aggression -- war -- is as foreign a concept as is the absurd notion that mere gold has monetary value. However, they are not unsophisticated, not unaware of jealousy, trysts, greed, and the undercurrents of society.
This is kinda, sorta, 'chick flick' SciFi, but with some Richard Dawkins memes, Robert Ardrey territoriality, Matt Ridley's "Red Queen" and Desmond Morris "Naked Ape". Men may swagger and duel and die -- and some of them even get to rule -- but women run the show.
Best Regards,
RJW Seddon
(2) populated by a polygamist culture of humans with extremely heterozygous sexual features,
(3) who are at a medieval technological level,
(4) whom we have contacted because they have a surplus of gold which they are eager to trade for our technology.
(5) The Institute sends a female detective (Susan, the main character) to the other realm to investigate the sudden death, perhaps by heart attack, of our elderly representative there.
(6) Susan has just had a romantic breakup and is soured on the idea of men not being manly enough, soured on herself for having chosen a too-manly career path, when she is suddenly, ironically, thrust into a culture where she encounters more manliness than she could ever hope to see.
(7) She comes to understand the more intimate details of the culture while investigating the death of our representative, which proves to be a murder, not heart attack.
(8) Susan, like Anna of Siam, is offered a marriage proposal by her host, Torlat, the wealthiest man in North America.
(9) His proposal would consolidate his position as main trade representative.
(10) Torlat offers marriage despite the fact that he already has eight wives, potentially thousands of concubines, and is secretly bisexual, a crime punishable by death.
(11) Susan discovers her moral concern for the technologically backward culture and how the introduction of our technology (they want a steam engine) might cause them greater harm than did the steam engine of Christianity harm the New World.
(12) Susan is in a quandary at the marriage proposal and at an impasse of not solving the murder and is furthermore enamored of her host's neighbor (brother-in-law, Henifor) when the murderer makes his appearance and Susan solves the crime.
Discussion
Although otherwise completely human, they are obligate polygamists by nature, due to extreme heterozygous sexual diversity. They find our appearance repugnant since, to their eyes, our males look too feminine; our females, too masculine.
They have developed into a society which has learned to curb group-aggression by gelding their surplus male population at a nearly-universal religious ceremony. At the onset of puberty, most males choose this route through inclination, though some risk being 'duel fodder' and only a very few males survive to adulthood. The gelded majority develop into, intelligentsia, workforce, or priesthood.
Females are, all of them, available for marriage and/or child bearing or, for a few, as clergy.
The few surviving males have divided up the world into a hundred thousand fiefdoms which are run like Imperial Roman latifundia and the world is a very, very stable environment with a low population, hence, the technological backwardness of their culture.
But the males are themselves ruled by testosterone and personal duels, yet their culture has never known war due to their method of controlling aggression. To them, the very concept of group aggression -- war -- is as foreign a concept as is the absurd notion that mere gold has monetary value. However, they are not unsophisticated, not unaware of jealousy, trysts, greed, and the undercurrents of society.
This is kinda, sorta, 'chick flick' SciFi, but with some Richard Dawkins memes, Robert Ardrey territoriality, Matt Ridley's "Red Queen" and Desmond Morris "Naked Ape". Men may swagger and duel and die -- and some of them even get to rule -- but women run the show.
Best Regards,
RJW Seddon
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Product Details
| BN ID: | 2940150407077 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | RJW Seddon |
| Publication date: | 10/06/2014 |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | eBook |
| Sales rank: | 712,898 |
| File size: | 2 MB |
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