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Science
fiction is a long put-upon genre, commonly dissed, dismissed,
and shoved aside by the literati as the ultimate in literary
less-than. But for fans, there is more to SF than rocket ships
to distant worlds and little green men. There are futures
of which we've only begun to dream and plays upon our shared
reality that trip us up and knock us over our noggins with
sheer wonder. Perhaps more importantly, truly good SF challenges
us to consider the finer shades of meaning in the world around
us and how it is constructed.
Marrying
queer female erotic fiction with SF, Periphery: Erotic
Lesbian Futures serves some of the best there is to offer
in both genres. Yes, there are green women, space ships, and
even giant, man-eating turtles, But there are also adventures,
cultural critiques, and some seriously hot sexiness.
Kicking
things off with a bit of flash fiction, the first story, "Origins,"
serves as an amuse bouche of what's to come. Think
A Midnight Summer's Dream gone gay, with just a little
bit more bliss, a dash of weirdness, and a sprinkling of the
unexpected. Next in "Touching Fire," lesbian fiction favorite
Nicola Griffith takes a decidedly more serious turn, exploring
that oft-rhapsodized-about line walked by artists, between
genius and madness. One of the standouts here, Griffith's
tale of desire, sacrifice, and technological virtuosity is
somehow both lean and luscious all at once.
Gwyneth
Jones offers a stunningly fun take on a classic premise in
SF: that of the futuristic prison colony. "The Voyage Out"
takes place as a group of prisoners (some of their offenses
criminal, some nebulously "political" in nature) await relocation
to the unknown or possibly to their doom. This story is perhaps
the strongest of a strong bunch in terms of plot and character,
and it is by turns dark, hopeful, and funny. Even at 18 pages,
making it one of the longer ones here, it ends far too soon.
"Mind
Games" is a bit of a mind fuck, but only in the best possible
sense. Set in a future where psychics are little more than
indentured slaves to the government, this story is by far
the darkest of the anthology. Tightly written and fast-paced,
the dramatic tension here is second only to the red hot sexual
tension between the two main characters. As for SF content,
author Tracey Shellito takes her queering of the tale one
step further; that the characters are gay is incidental, but
they are marked by and punished for their difference as psychics.
In the world she has created, the more powerfully and "dangerously"
psychic one is, the more rigidly one's freedoms are restricted.
What is a great SF and erotica piece can, on another level,
be read as a stark take on the social consequences of queer
visibility. To boot, it delivers the best twist ending of
the anthology.
By contrast,
the twist ending in "Angels Alone" could be seen coming a
mile away. That said, the premise of the story—about
a shape-shifter for hire on an assignment that may well prove
to be her undoing—as well as the dramatic tension and
the fine quality of the writing made it a good read nonetheless.
Author Carolyn Ives Gilman's story touches upon the ethics
of technological advances in medicine and corporate power
run amok, making for a seriously chilling, if predictable
conclusion.
The sex
in Sharon Wachsler's "Sideways" bears the distinction of making
it the hottest story here. It is also, hands down, the one
posing the scariest future. Set circa 2060, in a United States
where the political parties have been swallowed entirely by
creepy corporations and the religious right, the government
has scapegoated the disabled and legalized their extermination.
Doubly stigmatized, the disabled lesbian protagonist of "Sideways"
struggles simultaneously to keep her head down and survive
and to wage a subversive ideological war against the dominant
regime, completely redefining terrorism as we know it. As
one of only a scant handful of stories in Periphery
in which the crux of the erotic element rests upon sex that
happens within a pre-existing relationship, the sexual heat
and tenderness between the two characters plays a counterpoint
to their bickering relationship dynamic. The end result is
characters who are achingly real and caught up in a world
gone madder still than the crazy one in which we live.
Edited
by Lynne Jamneck and packing thirteen tales, Periphery
is one of those rare books that challenges the brain as much
as it entertains and excites. At a point in time where the
instability in the US infrastructure and political landscape
alike finds so many of us questioning what kind of future
lies before us, this book is a timely and highly enjoyable
foray into tomorrow.
(August,
2008)
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