![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
florianschildHalfway Human is the first novel published in the Twenty Planets series by Carolyn Ives Gilman. Twenty Planets is a loosely connected set of books and novellas that take place in the same universe. There are a few crossover characters, but each novel/novella is definitely a stand-alone. I recommend starting with her first novel: Halfway Human.
Halfway Human is a sci-fi story revolving mainly around two characters: Val Endrada and Tedla Galele.
Valerie Endrada is a young scientist and scholar from a planet called Capella Two. She is looking for a big break in an economy that is dominated by "infocompanies", which buy, sell, and copyright all sorts of data and information. Tedla is a refugee on Val's planet, an alien from a planet that has been sealed off from research for 60 years. Val meets Tedla by chance when Tedla is brought in to a free clinic after a suicide attempt. She begins talking to Tedla, and through their conversations we get a flashback storyline of Tedla's life leading up to the present.
The book alternates perspectives as Val first listens to Tedla give an oral account of their life story, then reads the field notes of another scientist - Alair Galele - reflecting on his interactions with Tedla.
The planet that Tedla is from is known to the Capellan scientists as Gammadis. On Gammadis, there are three biological sexes: male, female, and an asexual third sex known as neuters (or blands). Children on Gammadis are born without gender, and live that way until about age 14 when they begin to develop sexual characteristics. Blands are those whose bodies do not change, but remain physically asexual. The society looks down on blands, regarding them as mentally and socially inferior. Treatment of blands ranges from childlike condescension to fear, disgust, and abuse. They are kept physically separated, forced to live in "grayspace" (basically service corridors) and work in menial jobs such as laundry, kitchen, and housekeeping. Blands are also the primary caregivers to children and work in manual labor positions like ranching and mining. Meanwhile, humans (blands are not considered human by anyone on Gammadis, including the blands themselves) live high-minded lives of art, music, culture, or study.
As Tedla tells Val about life on Gammadis, it begins to become clear that there are political and economic forces that are beginning to close in around Tedla, and Val will have to decide what she's willing to sacrifice in order to save Tedla, if she even can.
Tedla Galele
"The patient was crouched in a chair in hospital pajamas, knees drawn up to its chest. Val stared, fascinated. The person beyond the glass fit none of her half-formed expectations. She had pictured something eunuchlike and faintly repulsive, but the neuter's face instead had an androgynous, Greek-sculpture beauty: classic bone structure, long lashes, dark brows under curly golden hair."
Tedla is a hot mess of a character, and with good reason. Their life since age 14 has been one trauma after another, with very little happiness in between. That said, Tedla is sweet, intelligent, thoughtful, introspective, and brave. There's nothing that I love more than a stoic character who perseveres despite getting dealt a shitty hand in life, and Tedla is that to a T.
Valerie Endrada
"Val caught a glimpse of herself in an architectural mirror, and realized that the surroundings made her look underdressed and undergroomed. Her thin, pointed face looked alert, like some small, wily animal's, under her black cap of hair."
Val is a smart, ambitious, scrappy, principled, *awesome* character. She's a wife and mother, and she's trying to balance her career goals with the responsibilities that she feels as the sole provider for her family. She's a great foil to Tedla throughout the story, because she can see Tedla for who they are when they're blinded by self-doubt. She immediately sees in Tedla someone who needs a family and unconditional love, and is basically the first person to offer that in Tedla's life.
The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula LeGuin (for themes of gender)
The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell (for themes of first contact)
There are lots of themes that are touched on in the novel, particularly gender, sexuality, asexuality, trauma and recovery, power dynamics and consent issues, class oppression, the ethics and practices of anthropology (or xenology as they call it in sci-fi), and culture clash between alien planets. If any of that appeals, there will be something that will pique your interest.
Halfway Human is available in print at Amazon/BN/other online sources. Here's the amazon page for it. (note the used copies for as little as $2.35 USD). The ebook is probably the most cost-effective way to read it. It goes for $4.99USD on Kindle/Nook/Kobo/etc.
There isn't much going on for this fandom yet, but since work is technically part of an ongoing universe of writing by Ms. Gilman, I think there's future fandom potential.
For now, check out/join the Twenty Planets DW community:![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
twentyplanets
There are two lovely works of fanart by Mister X, which you can view on their tumblr: HERE (Warning: blog is NSFW).
And that’s all folks!
(cross-posting fromsmallfandomfest)
Plot Summary
Halfway Human is a sci-fi story revolving mainly around two characters: Val Endrada and Tedla Galele.
Valerie Endrada is a young scientist and scholar from a planet called Capella Two. She is looking for a big break in an economy that is dominated by "infocompanies", which buy, sell, and copyright all sorts of data and information. Tedla is a refugee on Val's planet, an alien from a planet that has been sealed off from research for 60 years. Val meets Tedla by chance when Tedla is brought in to a free clinic after a suicide attempt. She begins talking to Tedla, and through their conversations we get a flashback storyline of Tedla's life leading up to the present.
The book alternates perspectives as Val first listens to Tedla give an oral account of their life story, then reads the field notes of another scientist - Alair Galele - reflecting on his interactions with Tedla.
The planet that Tedla is from is known to the Capellan scientists as Gammadis. On Gammadis, there are three biological sexes: male, female, and an asexual third sex known as neuters (or blands). Children on Gammadis are born without gender, and live that way until about age 14 when they begin to develop sexual characteristics. Blands are those whose bodies do not change, but remain physically asexual. The society looks down on blands, regarding them as mentally and socially inferior. Treatment of blands ranges from childlike condescension to fear, disgust, and abuse. They are kept physically separated, forced to live in "grayspace" (basically service corridors) and work in menial jobs such as laundry, kitchen, and housekeeping. Blands are also the primary caregivers to children and work in manual labor positions like ranching and mining. Meanwhile, humans (blands are not considered human by anyone on Gammadis, including the blands themselves) live high-minded lives of art, music, culture, or study.
As Tedla tells Val about life on Gammadis, it begins to become clear that there are political and economic forces that are beginning to close in around Tedla, and Val will have to decide what she's willing to sacrifice in order to save Tedla, if she even can.
Characters
Tedla Galele
"The patient was crouched in a chair in hospital pajamas, knees drawn up to its chest. Val stared, fascinated. The person beyond the glass fit none of her half-formed expectations. She had pictured something eunuchlike and faintly repulsive, but the neuter's face instead had an androgynous, Greek-sculpture beauty: classic bone structure, long lashes, dark brows under curly golden hair."
Tedla is a hot mess of a character, and with good reason. Their life since age 14 has been one trauma after another, with very little happiness in between. That said, Tedla is sweet, intelligent, thoughtful, introspective, and brave. There's nothing that I love more than a stoic character who perseveres despite getting dealt a shitty hand in life, and Tedla is that to a T.
Valerie Endrada
"Val caught a glimpse of herself in an architectural mirror, and realized that the surroundings made her look underdressed and undergroomed. Her thin, pointed face looked alert, like some small, wily animal's, under her black cap of hair."
Val is a smart, ambitious, scrappy, principled, *awesome* character. She's a wife and mother, and she's trying to balance her career goals with the responsibilities that she feels as the sole provider for her family. She's a great foil to Tedla throughout the story, because she can see Tedla for who they are when they're blinded by self-doubt. She immediately sees in Tedla someone who needs a family and unconditional love, and is basically the first person to offer that in Tedla's life.
You May Enjoy This If You Also Liked...
The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula LeGuin (for themes of gender)
The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell (for themes of first contact)
Themes Explored
There are lots of themes that are touched on in the novel, particularly gender, sexuality, asexuality, trauma and recovery, power dynamics and consent issues, class oppression, the ethics and practices of anthropology (or xenology as they call it in sci-fi), and culture clash between alien planets. If any of that appeals, there will be something that will pique your interest.
Where to Find It
Halfway Human is available in print at Amazon/BN/other online sources. Here's the amazon page for it. (note the used copies for as little as $2.35 USD). The ebook is probably the most cost-effective way to read it. It goes for $4.99USD on Kindle/Nook/Kobo/etc.
Fandom
There isn't much going on for this fandom yet, but since work is technically part of an ongoing universe of writing by Ms. Gilman, I think there's future fandom potential.
For now, check out/join the Twenty Planets DW community:
twentyplanetsThere are two lovely works of fanart by Mister X, which you can view on their tumblr: HERE (Warning: blog is NSFW).
And that’s all folks!
(cross-posting from
smallfandomfest)
