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The Lani People
The Lani People
The startling science ficton novel of a new breeding system which produced a strange race of beautiful females--all expertly trained to make men feel like gods.
Book Excerpt
sibly it was due to the fact that his father was the commander
of a Shortliner and most of his formative years had been spent in
space. To Kennon, accustomed to the timeless horror of hyper
space, all planets were good, broad open places where a man could
breathe unfiltered air and look for miles across distances
unbroken by dually bulk heads and safety shields. On a planet
there were spaciousness and freedom and after the claustrophobic
confinement of a hyper ship any world was paradise. Kennon
sighed, finished his letters, and placed them in the mail chute.
Perhaps, this time, there would be a favorable reply.
CHAPTER II
Kennon was startled by the speed with which his letters were answered. Accustomed to the slower pace of Beta he had expected a week would elapse before the first reply, but within twenty-four hours nine of his twelve inquiries were returned. Five expressed the expected "Thank you but I feel that your asking salary is a bit high in view of you
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A bit oldfashioned Scifi novel about humanoid aliens, bred for work and pleasure of the humans. A vet is offered a job to care for them and discovered an unwanted truth. Its maybe a little bit sexist from this times point of view, but wellwritten.
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Summary: An ambitious animal vet takes a sketchy job with a ruthless businessman on a distant planet, only to discover that his female livestock charges are all-too-human.
So I do consider myself a feminist. But I’m not really the offendable type. This was so bad and deliberately offensive as to be just gd hilarious.
Case in point…
By the end, big boss eventually must acknowledge that Lani are people. (And by the way, if that’s the big question of the book, why put the answer in the title?) He flies into a bitter moral outrage, at once self-blaming and self-righteous. “What kind of man did you take me for?!” and such.
UM — you’ve spent centuries enslaving, selling, and breeding a race of beings that think, talk, sing, cry, and worship gods. But NOW, because you know we can inter-breed, NOW you feel bad?
“Which makes me — what?” cries Boss, clutching his head. “A murderer? A slaver? A tyrant? What am I?”
But here’s what rules: Doc — who worked to prove that Lani are human but really totally hearts Boss — leaps to his defense.
“An innocent victim of circumstances,” chides Doc.
Oh yes he did.
So I do consider myself a feminist. But I’m not really the offendable type. This was so bad and deliberately offensive as to be just gd hilarious.
Case in point…
By the end, big boss eventually must acknowledge that Lani are people. (And by the way, if that’s the big question of the book, why put the answer in the title?) He flies into a bitter moral outrage, at once self-blaming and self-righteous. “What kind of man did you take me for?!” and such.
UM — you’ve spent centuries enslaving, selling, and breeding a race of beings that think, talk, sing, cry, and worship gods. But NOW, because you know we can inter-breed, NOW you feel bad?
“Which makes me — what?” cries Boss, clutching his head. “A murderer? A slaver? A tyrant? What am I?”
But here’s what rules: Doc — who worked to prove that Lani are human but really totally hearts Boss — leaps to his defense.
“An innocent victim of circumstances,” chides Doc.
Oh yes he did.
09/16/2010
In fact the discussion on the
qualification of individuals as
human or not is quite presently
relevant. In fact, it is the crux of the discussion on the ethical
argument against abortion.
That makes it a quite relevant little
moral tale...
qualification of individuals as
human or not is quite presently
relevant. In fact, it is the crux of the discussion on the ethical
argument against abortion.
That makes it a quite relevant little
moral tale...
05/23/2010
Entertaing story, got a little talky at the as the characters get into slavery and compensation to slaves. Made me wish I had a Lani woman.
09/21/2008
Riveting story in that you aren't quite sure where it's going at first. Does raise some ethical questions, but nothing that ruins a good read.
09/17/2008
SF novella centering on medical/veterinarian work and ethics issues, esp. the (also legal) question when a presumed species should be called human or alien. Having an interesting plot, the story is well readable for anyone. As the subject is a bit irrelevant (no chance of finding other races of Homo sapiens), there isn't much depth to the discussion on human-ness.
11/10/2007
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