Flesh And Gold [Paperback]

Phyllis Gotlieb (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 15, 1999

A mature alien woman judge sees an amphibious human woman, obviously a slave, displayed in a tank in front of a sex palace. And so an interstellar plot of murderous proportions involving many races and planets, galactic corporations, exploitive sex and horrible slavery is revealed.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Don't blink or you'll miss something in Canadian writer Phyllis Gotlieb's richly detailed mystery set on alien worlds seething with seedy life. Travelling judge Skerow, of a race of moral haiku-writing telepathic sauropods, stumbles upon two mysteries while on duty on grimy mining planet Fthel V. The same day she discovers her senior judge and colleague of 25 years was under investigation for accepting bribes, said colleague is murdered in his bedroom; and Skerow espies a genetically-altered, almost-human mermaid held captive in the display tank of a brothel window.

Gotlieb's handling of a wide cast of alien, human, and post-human characters will appeal to fans of James Tiptree, Jr. Most intriguing are the Lyhhrt, who've left their home planet for an indentured servitude of 125 standard years, to act as physicians and metalworkers for the Zamos corporation of casinos and entertainment-plexes. Lyhhrt actually resemble brains, but look like robots since they encase themselves in beautifully-welded metal bodies.

In Gotlieb's future, flesh is bought, sold, molded and used with the ease of gold. But some things are still worth fighting for, and the scales of justice pass sentence on greed, malice, and the breeding of slaves. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

Canadian Gotlieb turns in a typically convoluted performance, a mystery set on several exotic worlds. Her protagonist, a gill-breathing lizard-woman named Skerow, is a circuit judge about to end her duties on Fthel V, a grimy mining planet. But when the senior judge, Thordh, is murdered, Skerow must unravel the story of his death. Thordh was involved with slavery, mining gold with forced labor. But the flesh of Gotlieb's title also refers to prostitution, since an almost human woman is murdered, too, in the making of a snuff film. Her murderers can be traced to the mining operation, and the mining operation to . . . The plot is a teaser, waylaid by poetic asides about the customs of aliens and telepathic encounters with the dead, and it may be best to read Gotlieb for her sly humor: the running jokes about the food on Fthel V, for instance, and the silliness of being arrested for smuggling lima beans. Like Lewis Carroll, Gotlieb is clever in an almost nonsensical way. John Mort --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Tor Books; First Edition edition (March 15, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312868308
• ISBN-13: 978-0312868307
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,132,644 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent on all counts..., January 18, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Flesh And Gold (Paperback)

Several admirable plot synopses have already been provided above, so I'll try to stay away from a summary. But I will say that "Flesh and Gold" is an excellent book: as science fiction, as a mystery, as a novel with real and believable characters. Set in the same future universe as Gotlieb's "A Judgement of Dragons" and its sequels, the story features an amazing array of aliens and humans whose environment is as fantastic as the characters themselves. Skerow is a Khagodi, a telepathic saurian whose world's atmosphere is so thin that all its stars can be seen in the daytime; she works as a circuit judge on Fthel V, otherwise known as Starry Nova, which is a seedy flash-brilliant world full of crime and entirely fascinating. Kobai is a "delphine," a kind of mer-woman bred as a gold-finding slave in the seas of Khagodis...without the knowledge of the Khagodi government. The Lyhhrt are protoplasmic lumps who build themselves intricate workshells of precious metals; the Praximfi change shape as part of their religious rituals; determining the gender of a Pinxin gives the studious reader a headache. The human characters are no less compelling. Ned Gattes, a professional gladiator and part-time GalFed agent, gets stuck with the role of hero-in-spite-of-himself; yet he's not a stock character by any means, but as fully-fleshed as Skerow or Kobai or even Skerow's bottled-brain ancestors who have gone a bit nuts as a result of their immortal confinement but are still willing to give their great-great-great-granddaughter a helping hand.

The true test of any book is whether or not it can hold up under a second reading. So far "Flesh and Gold" has taken two readings without hurt and I expect a third will be equally as good. This is a special kind of book. Gotlieb does not write science fiction about gadgetry; there is no "gimmick" to the story. Nor are the characters a framework to hang the mystery on; that has no trick to it either. Phyllis Gotlieb writes intricate fiction about people-and whether they are human, saurian, or robotic, she makes them real. And that makes it good.

10 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Thank you!, January 12, 2001

By 

Phyllis Gotlieb (Toronto Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Flesh And Gold (Paperback)

As a satisfied customer I'd like to thank you kindly for including my own book in your list of recommendations for me. I can say without reservation that after three years of hard work wwriting it I have already read it many times.

Yours faithfully

Phyllis Gotlieb

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Gorgeous writing, wonderful 1960-ish space-opera, January 6, 2004

By 

Peter D. Tillman (Taos, NM USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Flesh And Gold (Paperback)

________________________________________
Rating: "A". Gorgeous writing, wonderful 1960-ish space-opera
plot, marred by an unsuccessful ending. Recommended.

Sta'atha Anfa Skerow is a senior interworld judge on the GalFed
Assizes Circuit. A citizen of the Northern Spine Federation on
Khagodis, she resembles (to Solthree eyes) a "streamlined baby
allosaurus". A routine smuggling trial on Fthel V opens a trapdoor
into a cesspool of treachery and corruption, cruelty and murder,
slavery and redemption in a far-distant future.

"My knife is missing," Nohl said.

"What does that matter?" Ferrier turned his eyes from the smoking
volcanic peak on the horizon to the east and watched the waters of the
bay dancing in glints of light from the lowering sun. On Khagodis the
air is so thin that the stars are sometimes visible in daylight; now
in the flaring blue Ferrier could see three of the system's other
worlds. He had hooked the oxygen tube into the corner of his mouth and
it bubbled slightly.

Amber lights glinted on Nohl's scales. With a pearl talon he flicked
away an insect buzzing near his eye and looked down at the the thin
figure whose head came to his elbow. Ferrier was wearing white against
the equatorial heat; his short jacket was closely fitted, and had
double-breasted black buttons. Nohl was thinking that Ferrier's eyes
were like the buttons, fixed and sharp on white skin. A thin skin over
arrogance and greed.
* * *

She felt other eyes on her. The madam, a blue-skinned Varvani woman,
was standing in the doorway; she balanced her elephantine legs on gold
clogs, and the enormous bosom above her chain-mail skirt was tattooed
with red kissystars... "Don't block the window, dear heart. You want a
sample, come on in."
* * *

Zella's people [on New Southsea] were secular fundamentalists who
lived on solar energy, avoided electronics more complicated than
radios, raised all their own food, and went to bed with the chickens.
The energetic young left early and sometimes came back when they were
tired. Zella did not repudiate her community's ideals, but wanted
excitement. She was getting it.

Well. The first two paragraphs open the novel. What can I say?
"Gee, I wish I could write like this?"
Instead, here is Ursula K Le Guin's cover quote:

"Sex, violence, intricate plotting, light-speed pacing, an amazing
variety of aliens, touches of Philip K Dick's sardonic humor and
Cordwainer Smith's obstinate idealism make this novel dazzling."

"Flesh & Gold" is a delight to read. I found myself constantly backing
up to reread choice bits, and to check earlier glosses on the large
and, umm, colorful cast. Gotlieb's prose is spare, elegant, polished
to a lapidary glitter. As I approached the end, I wondered how she
would tie off loose threads and resolve the novel. Well, she didn't.
The book just tails off and stops.

Oh well. Jack Vance never figured out how to end a novel either.
So - enjoy the ride, which is truly exhilirating, and brace yourself
for a cold-water dump back into Real Life.

review copyright 1998 by Peter D. Tillman