- Publisher : Starship Sloane Publishing Company, Inc.
- Publication date : October 26, 2024
- Language : English
- File size : 2235 KB
- Print length : 149 pages
- Kindle: $8.99
- Paperback: $12.99
DAVID GERROLD’S PRAXIS EXPLORES THE DIFFICULTIES OF PLANETARY COLONIZATION
David Gerrold’s PRAXIS is a great variation on the concept of designing the best method of colonizing a planet. It’s a “monosexual” colony — in this case, all men. In this future time, authorities have determined that if you include women in a planetary colony, some men get all crazy around them, while others want to start families. Either way, both sexes become distracted from the work of creating a viable society.
Our protagonist, James Patrick Dolan (“Jamie”), is destined to become part of such a society after his arrest following a celebration of a sports victory that he considered a party but the authorities considered a riot.
His choice of sentences: a very large fine which he can’t afford or joining the Labor Corps, which amounts to indentured servitude. Only it turns out there’s a third choice, which he hopes is a better one. He can go to work on a colony planet, Praxis. This is one of those men-only colonies, the government maintaining that it learned the hard lesson of what happened on another planet, Miranda, that allowed both women and men. Couples there refused to limit the number of children they were having and the human settlements became so overpopulated they couldn’t establish the industrial expansion needed to maintain the colony. It failed. So Praxis will be men-only.
Even in this society, the authorities prefer to see couples emigrating. So when Jamie is approached by another prisoner, Jose, to become his husband, he hesitates, then agrees. The relationship is one of convenience, and is not sexual. They support one another through the intensive physical and mental training they must undergo to qualify for Praxis.
That training includes how to coach one another. As their Senior Trainer reminds them:
“I’m not going to Praxis, remember? You’re going to have to take care of each other. And coaching is part of it.”
Jamie finds that, “Interesting.” And it may be the most important lesson he and the rest of his team learn.
We’ve seen a long tradition of such SF stories of people working to qualify for this kind of a journey. Many, if not most of them, involve military units, with the most famous probably being Robert Heinlein’s STARSHIP TROOPERS (we’re talking about the book here, not the movie). But Gerrold’s tale emphasizes the mental and emotional journeys Jamie and Jose must undergo, and the need for the group heading to Praxis to bond, to learn to protect one another and become a true team. The authorities admit it’s a social experiment, and the novel demonstrates both the promise and the pitfalls of that experiment. This emphasis on mental and emotional journeys may reflect Gerrold’s own experience with personal development courses.
PRAXIS looks at the societal, sexual, and personal results of training for such a colony. Fans of pew-pew-pew SF will be disappointed, but those looking to read a well thought-out examination of an alternate society will find a rich depiction of one. I’m eager to see a sequel.
