BVC Announces Women’s Country by Steven Popkes
Women’s Country
Brother to Jackals, Book 2
by Steven Popkes
One night with reporter Tamar Longren changes everything.
Exposed to the world, gorilla Lethias becomes an overnight sensation—and a political weapon. The Oregon Initiative would make his existence illegal. Religious zealot and presidential candidate Melissa Adenour brands him abomination incarnate.
Thrust onto the campaign trail for incumbent President Shuman, Lethias discovers that politics is a blood sport. Between rallies and speeches, an impossible dialogue emerges across the divide—two people speaking to each other through speeches, a conversation disguised as combat where every phrase carries the weight of desire and betrayal.
On their hidden island, the ape colony’s situation grows desperate. Marcus arms his apes with guns, preparing for the coming war. But in Women’s Country, scientist Carroll Sims and gorilla Jefferson are conducting experiments that could change everything and could save them or destroy them.
The question isn’t whether the world will discover the breeding colony. The question is what the apes will become before it does.
Women’s Country expands on hard SF concepts of biology and physics while diving deep into the brutal machinery of American politics, exploring what it means to be human when humanity itself is no longer alone.
Brother to Jackals, Book 2
____
Steven Popkes’ work has appeared in many “Best of” collections as well as a Nebula nomination. He lives in New England where he also makes ceramic bells and grows bananas. Additionally, he is a aerospace software engineer.
Buy Women’s Country at the Book View Café bookstore
Read a Sample
Mister Coyotee
Excerpt from the Mr. Coyotee Show, subscribed service:
Disclaimer
Mister Coyotee is an animated system interviewing representations of actual human people. Resemblances to individuals, living or dead, are not coincidental at all. Resemblance of Mister Coyotee to an actual coyote, real or mythical, is marginal at best. The guests of the show may or may not be simulated, in whole or in part, at our discretion.
M.Coyotee
Our next guest today is Jim Secondson, Vice President of the Hopi Development Corporation. Good afternoon, Mr. Secondson.
J.Secondson
Good afternoon, Mr. Coyotee.
M.Coyotee
The Hopi Development Corporation has become quite important to our country in the last twenty years.
J.Secondson
Yes. Since the Restoration, HDC and Navajo Limited, together, are responsible for eighty-seven percent of all Cori manipulation of microscopic systems. We owe a lot to Ethan Cori. Even though he wasn’t a Hopi or any other kind of Native.
M.Coyotee
Well, I sure don’t understand it. Or what it means to the Hopis.
J.Secondson
Cori determined there was a connection between the mind and the world around us. Many people had said this before—priests, gurus, and mystics—but Cori was a physicist and he modeled it in a way it could be proved. He linked the mental or psychic world to the physical world. They were really two forms of the same thing.
M.Coyotee
You mean like ghosts?
J.Secondson
(beat) Uh, sure. In a way, I suppose.
M.Coyotee
These abilities are latent in everyone, correct?
J.Secondson
Yes. But it’s like any other ability, Mr. Coyotee. Lots of people can run, but only a few have the talent to run sprints in the Olympics. Of those few who have the talent, only a few have the cultural support. Of those who have the support, few have the opportunity. And of the few who have the opportunity, only a few have the motivation to go ahead and do it. That’s why only a few contestants, out of all the available people in the world, can compete in the Olympics.
M.Coyotee
But what has that got to do with ghosts?
J.Secondson
Eh. Not much, Mister Coyotee, but it has a lot to do with the Hopi Development Corporation. When scientists figured out that the connection between the mental and the physical was real, they looked for somebody who had the talent and training to explore it. They couldn’t find anybody like that in mainstream America. It was like looking for Olympic athletes in a computer factory.
M.Coyotee
Olympic ghosts!
J.Secondson
(aside) I’m going to fire that PR kid.
(beat.)
Uh, right. Some people might have the talent but they were already busy building computers.
M.Coyotee
And that’s where the Hopi ghosts came in?
J.Secondson
(aside) Murder. Not a jury in the world would convict me.
(beat.)
Well, we’re not ghosts. We’re a thriving community and a profitable corporation. But wherever Americans are using Cori Physics, the Hopi Development Corporation is right there to help.
M.Coyotee
And we use it everywhere, don’t we? In spite of the ghosts.
J.Secondson
(aside.) Just go with it.
There are no ghosts in our machine, Mister Coyotee. It’s pure science given to us by the Earth God. From making computers to growing crops to practicing medicine, the Hopi Development Corporation is there. Building a better future for us all.
M.Coyotee
But we’re the ghosts in your machine, subscribers. Wherever you are, good evening or good morning, and from Mister Coyotee, good night.