Melissa Scott - Shadow Man

trade: specifically, the semi-organized business of sex (paid for in money or favors) between off-worlders and indigenes of either legal gender; because these transactions take place outside the normal social systems, and involve unusually large sums of money and/or metal as inducement, an indigene in trade, whether a man or a woman, is not necessarily considered to be a prostitute. By extension, the term also covers indigenes and off-worlders who facilitate the buying and selling of sexual favors, and the various permits that allow off-worlders to stay on Hara.

vendee : a man or woman who holds customary or legal title to a space in a recognized market.

vieuvant : an “old soul,” a man or woman who is recognized as a reliable and accurate conduit for the will of one or more of the spirits; some vieuvant s speak only for one spirit, others for more than one.

Watch: the largest division of Haran society, based on the original divisions of the ship that brought the first colonists to Hara. There are five Watches: White (command), Blue (medical/scientific), Black (engineering), Green (land-trained colonists), and Red (ocean-trained colonists). Watches retain certain administrative duties, and are also used to determine marriageability; the larger clans are split between Watches to help keep the genetic mix stable.

Watch Council: the closest thing to a central governing body on Hara, the Watch Council consists of three representatives from each of the Watches, elected from the clans within that Watch according to a complex (and variable) formula based on both population and wealth.

wrangwys : literally, “wrong way,” generally used to refer to herms, mems, and fems, and anyone whose sexual preferences don’t match the male/female model; has been adopted by that group as a self-referential term and is not insulting within the group.

wry-abed : the politest colloquial term for men who prefer to have sex with men and women who prefer to have sex with women.

wyfie : literally, “little wife,” implying a less-than-satisfactory substitute; colloquial and offensive term for a fem or a homosexual man.

Melissa Scottstudied history at Harvard College and Brandeis University, and earned her PhD. in comparative history. She published her first novel in 1984, and has since written some two dozen science fiction and fantasy works, including three co-authored with her partner, Lisa A. Barnett.

Scott’s work is known for the elaborate and well-constructed settings. While many of her protagonists are gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender, this is perfectly integrated into the rest of the story and is rarely a major focus of the story. Shadow Man , alone among Scott’s works, focuses explicitly on issues of sexuality and gender.

She won the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer in Science Fiction in 1986, and has won several Lambda Literary Awards.

In addition to writing, Scott also teaches writing, offering classes via her website and publishing a writing guide.

Scott lived with her partner, author Lisa A. Barnett, in Portsmouth, New Hampshire for 27 years, until the latter’s death of breast cancer on May 2, 2006.

The Game Beyond

A Choice of Destinies

The Kindly Ones

Mighty Good Road

Dreamships

Burning Bright

Trouble and Her Friends

Dreaming Metal, a continuation from Dreamships

Night Sky Mine

The Shapes of Their Hearts

The Jazz

Five-Twelfths of Heaven

Silence in Solitude

The Empress of Earth

The Armor of Light

Point of Hopes

Point of Dreams

Proud Helios (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine)

The Garden (Star Trek: Voyager)

Conceiving the Heavens: Creating the Science Fiction Novel

Paragons of Queer Speculative Fiction

Lethe Press

Maple Shade NJ

Copyright Melissa Scott 1995, renewed 2009. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form, except for brief citation or review, without the written permission of Lethe Press. For information write: Lethe Press, 118 Heritage Avenue, Maple Shade, NJ 08052.

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Book Design by Toby Johnson

Cover Design by Thomas Drymon

Published by Lethe Press, 118 Heritage Avenue, Maple Shade, NJ 08052.

1-59021-242-8 / 978-1-59021-242-4