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Mar. 29th, 2011 11:49 amFor those of you who have never read anything by Sheri S. Tepper, the thing about Sheri S. Tepper is that almost every one of her books is a Very Special Episode about Eco-Feminism Plus Some Other Stuff Sheri Tepper Really Wants To Talk About, As Filtered Through Enormous Amounts of Crack. My local library had about a million of her books when I was growing up, and I'm pretty sure they were the first feminist SF I had ever encountered. My tiny mind was BLOWN. You could write science fiction! About feminism! WHAT WAS THIS WHOLE NEW CONCEPT.
Now of course I look back and many of my vague memories make me go "OH SHERI TEPPER WHAT THE HELL," but, you know, vague memories are vague. Not having read any of her books for years and years, I suddenly had a strong urge to pick up one of the ones I remembered as being the most weird to see how I felt about it now, which ended up being Sideshow and was indeed just about as bizarre and lecture-y as I remember!
OUR SETTING:
ELSEWHERE, a planet composed of a zillion super-individual states, that diversity being STRICTLY ENFORCED by the Enforcers of the central government of Tolerance. All of the states have their own special terrible customs, like abusing women or sacrificing babies. In other words, an entire world created to be a giant straw-man argument against a policy of not interfering with other countries and different cultures.
OUR PROTAGONISTS:
ZASPER ERTIGON: The old retired mentor Enforcer, who once ILLEGALLY RESCUED A BABY from HUMAN SACRIFICE and has since become DISILLUSIONED with the whole system. Too old for this shit, and therefore doomed.
DANIVON LUZE: Has no idea that he was the ILLEGALLY RESCUED BABY and has become THE PERFECT ENFORCER. Has a magical sense of smell that can predict the future. Perpetually self-satisfied, kind of a jerk, Our Hero Sort Of.
FRINGE OWLDARK: Badass lady Enforcer with a Tragic Past, Loads of Insecurity, and Intimacy Issues. Our Heroine.
BOARMUS: Head Bureaucrat on Tolerance. Completely ineffectual.
JORY and ASNER: Heroes of previous Sheri S. Tepper books who appear here without much explanation.
BERTRAN and NELA ZY-CZORSKY: Hermaphroditic incestuous conjoined twins, randomly assigned different gender identities by their parents at birth, because WHY NOT. From Earth, sent to the plot via time travel, because again WHY NOT.
( OUR PLOT. Spoilers ahoy. )
Now of course I look back and many of my vague memories make me go "OH SHERI TEPPER WHAT THE HELL," but, you know, vague memories are vague. Not having read any of her books for years and years, I suddenly had a strong urge to pick up one of the ones I remembered as being the most weird to see how I felt about it now, which ended up being Sideshow and was indeed just about as bizarre and lecture-y as I remember!
OUR SETTING:
ELSEWHERE, a planet composed of a zillion super-individual states, that diversity being STRICTLY ENFORCED by the Enforcers of the central government of Tolerance. All of the states have their own special terrible customs, like abusing women or sacrificing babies. In other words, an entire world created to be a giant straw-man argument against a policy of not interfering with other countries and different cultures.
OUR PROTAGONISTS:
ZASPER ERTIGON: The old retired mentor Enforcer, who once ILLEGALLY RESCUED A BABY from HUMAN SACRIFICE and has since become DISILLUSIONED with the whole system. Too old for this shit, and therefore doomed.
DANIVON LUZE: Has no idea that he was the ILLEGALLY RESCUED BABY and has become THE PERFECT ENFORCER. Has a magical sense of smell that can predict the future. Perpetually self-satisfied, kind of a jerk, Our Hero Sort Of.
FRINGE OWLDARK: Badass lady Enforcer with a Tragic Past, Loads of Insecurity, and Intimacy Issues. Our Heroine.
BOARMUS: Head Bureaucrat on Tolerance. Completely ineffectual.
JORY and ASNER: Heroes of previous Sheri S. Tepper books who appear here without much explanation.
BERTRAN and NELA ZY-CZORSKY: Hermaphroditic incestuous conjoined twins, randomly assigned different gender identities by their parents at birth, because WHY NOT. From Earth, sent to the plot via time travel, because again WHY NOT.
( OUR PLOT. Spoilers ahoy. )
