The Dreaming Jewels/The Cosmic Rape/Venus Plus X
1990
First Published
4.18
Average Rating
537
Number of Pages
THE DREAMING The story follows an 8-year-old boy named Horton "Horty" Bluett, who runs away from his abusive family, carrying only a smashed jack-in-the-box named Junky. Horty takes refuge among the "strange people" in a traveling circus, disguised as a girl. The owner of the carnival, Pierre Monetre, is a disgraced doctor and scientist with a deep hatred of mankind. Having discovered intelligent extraterrestrial life in the form of crystal-like jewels, Monetre works to unlock the source of their great power and, ultimately, destroy mankind. This book was also published as "Synthetic Man". THE COSMIC The Cosmic Rape is also known as To Marry Medusa (1987). Expanded from the novelette "To Marry Medusa". The Medusa, a hive-like being with a consuming appetite to absorb all life in the universe, had come to Earth and taken control of its first human being, a skid-row drunk. Through him it would possess the world... VENUS PLUS Charlie Johns has been snatched from his home on 61 North 34th Street and delivered to the strange future world of Ledom. Here, violence is a vague and improbable notion. Technology has triumphed over hunger, overpopulation, pollution, even time and space. But there is a change Charlie finds even more gender is a thing of the past. Venus Plus X is Theodore Sturgeon's brilliant evocation of a civilization for whom tensions between male and female and the human preoccupation with sex no longer exist. As Charlie Johns explores Ledom and its people, he finds that the human precepts he holds dear are profane in this new world. But has Charlie learned all there is to know about this advanced society? And why are the Ledom so intent on gaining Charlie's approval? Unsettling, compelling, and no less than visionary, here is science fiction at its a novel whose wisdom and lyricism make it one of the most original and insightful speculations on gender ever produced.
Avg Rating
4.18
Number of Ratings
71
5 STARS
42%
4 STARS
35%
3 STARS
21%
2 STARS
1%
1 STARS
0%
goodreads
Author
Theodore Sturgeon
Author · 48 books
Theodore Sturgeon (1918–1985) is considered one of the godfathers of contemporary science fiction and dark fantasy. The author of numerous acclaimed short stories and novels, among them the classics More Than Human, Venus Plus X, and To Marry Medusa, Sturgeon also wrote for television and holds among his credits two episodes of the original 1960s Star Trek series, for which he created the Vulcan mating ritual and the expression “Live long and prosper.” He is also credited as the inspiration for Kurt Vonnegut’s recurring fictional character Kilgore Trout. Sturgeon is the recipient of the Hugo Award, the Nebula Award, and the International Fantasy Award. In 2000, he was posthumously honored with a World Fantasy Award for Life Achievement.
