profiterole_reads: (Star Trek - Kirk and Spock)
profiterole_reads ([personal profile] profiterole_reads) wrote2025-06-04 05:37 pm

Praxis by David Gerrold

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.
tjs_whatnot: (reading leads to...)

[personal profile] tjs_whatnot 2025-06-05 01:18 am (UTC)(link)
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 🤣).
mothereader: Yuuri smiling while wearing a face mask. (smiling)

[personal profile] mothereader 2025-06-05 07:13 am (UTC)(link)

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.

mothereader: A dark image of a library shelf with a black ladder across it. (books!)

[personal profile] mothereader 2025-06-05 07:02 pm (UTC)(link)
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.
halfcactus: an icon of a manga shiba inu (Default)

[personal profile] halfcactus 2025-06-06 04:45 am (UTC)(link)
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!