Praxis by David Gerrold

[profiterole_reads]

The novella Praxis by David Gerrold (The Man Who Folded Himself) was interesting. In order to escape being sentenced to the Labor Corps, James and José opt to emigrate to Praxis, a colony world with only men, and get fake-married to improve their chances.

Let's talk about wrong expectations. None of the story actually takes place on Praxis, only in the training camp, though the camp is also men-only.

The story isn't exactly m/m, it's more of a queerplatonic relationship at this point, though they talk about maybe having sex in the future.

Comments

[tjs_whatnot]

Haha! Somehow I started following this author on FB without realizing he was a novelist? I think I thought he worked in TV? Which apparently he does? IDK. I just know I usually really appreciate his take on things but we had a bit of a disagreement about Shel Silverstein (of all things), but he was super gracious about it in the end. (I wasn't the only one who disagreed with him and voiced our opinions; didn't want you think that I, personally, one-on-one argued with him 🤣).

[profiterole_reads]

He does both. I'm not sure I've seen anything he's done for TV, but I know he's written the Star Trek episode The Trouble with Tribbles.

[mothereader]

The synopsis reminded of Ethan of Athos by Lois McMaster Bujold. It is part of the Vorkosigan series, but it’s one of the few books in it that is fine to read without that larger context.

Athos is a planet with an all male population where homosexuality is the norm. Ethan is an obstetrician who left his planet to track down the missing shipment of ovarian tissue, because the ovarian tissue available on Athos is no longer viable. I recommend the “Critical Reception” of the Wikipedia article for more on the themes in the book, without many spoilers.

[profiterole_reads]

I adore Ethan of Athos. I've read it twice (not the rest of the series, I know that it's very long) and I've also read some Yuletide fics for it. <3

I enjoy the single-gender planet trope. If you ever want to try a women-only one, my faves are Ammonite by Nicola Griffith (starts a little as hard sci-fi, but quickly switches to science fantasy) and Queen by JS Fields (intersex rep from an intersex author).

[mothereader]

I adore Vorkosigan series; I read it at least half a dozen times. There are a few queer characters throughout the series: Aral (main character in the first two books, ordered chronologically, and a side character in a bunch more by the virtue of being the main character’s father) is bisexual, Bel is a hermaphrodite (genetically engineered race). Bujold also retconned a polyam relationship that includes Aral and Cordelia (and Jole is also bisexual). It’s such a good idea—I can see it for them—but I hate the execution. There’s probably more, but mostly as less significant side characters.

I’m not sure that I could say that enjoy single-gender planet trope based on one story, but it’s true that Ammonite has been on my TBR list for a while.

[profiterole_reads]

So many books, so little time...

[halfcactus]

The story isn't exactly m/m, it's more of a queerplatonic relationship at this point, though they talk about maybe having sex in the future.
This sounds so on-brand for this author haha ty for sharing!

[profiterole_reads]

My only other experience with his work is The Man Who Folded Himself, which had a lot of sex scenes, including orgies.