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    Recognition: A Novella
    Recognition: A Novella
    Recognition: A Novella
    Ebook93 pages1 hour

    Recognition: A Novella

    By Ann Herendeen

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    This novella introduces Amelia Herzog, author of the Eclipsis series of memoirs, writing under her married name, Amalie, 'Gravina Aranyi (Lady Amalie).

    Sometimes you're still coming of age at thirty-five. Sometimes you have to travel halfway across the universe to find your home.

    Life on sweltering Planet Earth isn't working for Amelia Herzog. She's light-sensitive, with protective third eyelids that appear at the first glimmer of UV rays. And she hears other people's thoughts, a one-way conversation that's more isolating than intimate.

    Eclipsis, a cold, dark planet settled centuries ago by refugees from Earth's climate catastrophe, a place where eco-tourists visit but no one wants to live, seems like the perfect place for Amelia to disappear. Instead, she discovers a world of choices, the possibility of love and, perhaps, a way to turn a curse into a gift.

    In Recognition, the first book of the ECLIPSIS series of Lady Amalie's memoirs, Amelia takes a job on Eclipsis and meets the one person who truly shares her thoughts. Before long she's on her way to a new career, a new identity, and a chance to realize her full potential as a telepath.

    With the ECLIPSIS series, Ann Herendeen writes, as always, from "the third perspective," taking readers back to the future as she puts her unique twist on the sword-and-sorcery genre.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherAnn Herendeen
    Release dateJul 11, 2011
    ISBN9781465902436
    Recognition: A Novella
    Author

    Ann Herendeen

    Ann Herendeen, a native New Yorker and lifelong resident of Brooklyn, received a B.A. in English from Princeton University and an M.L.S. from Pratt Institute. She works as a cataloging librarian specializing in natural history. Ann's first novel, Phyllida and the Brotherhood of Philander, was published in 2008.

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      Book preview

      Recognition - Ann Herendeen

      ECLIPSIS

      RECOGNITION

      Book One of Lady Amalie’s memoirs

      by Amalie, Lady Aranyi

      edited and with an introduction by Ann Herendeen

      Copyright © 2011 by Ann Herendeen

      This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living, dead, or undead, is purely coincidental. All rights reserved. No part of this publication can be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, without permission in writing from the author or publisher.

      Smashwords Edition: July 2011

      Cover image: Danielle Jacobs

      Table of Contents

      About the Author/Editor

      Dedication

      Editor’s Introduction

      CHAPTER ONE

      CHAPTER TWO

      CHAPTER THREE

      CHAPTER FOUR

      Preview: CHOICES

      Preview: TWO WEEKS AT GAY BANANA HOT SPRINGS

      Two Weeks At Gay Banana Hot Springs

      Monday: The First Week

      About the Author/Editor

      Ann Herendeen is the author of two Harper Paperbacks: Phyllida and the Brotherhood of Philander (2008); and Pride/Prejudice (2010), a Lambda Literary Award finalist for Bisexual Fiction. She lives in Brooklyn. www.annherendeen.com

      Dedication

      To David Garfinkle, the first openly bisexual man I knew: Beauty is truth, truth beauty. May you rest in peace.

      And to mi querido amigo, Jorge Castilla Casares, who knows everyone’s real name.

      Editor’s Introduction

      It gives me great pleasure to introduce these memoirs from my old friend, Amalie, ‘Gravina Aranyi (Lady Amalie).

      I knew Amalie as Amelia Herzog, back in the days before computers, when the typewriter was the writer’s tool of choice—yes, we’re that old. Like me, Amelia was a misfit, uncomfortable and out of place; but where I used writing to escape, Amelia simply disappeared, into one of those sword-and-sorcery worlds that were popular among fans of feminist science fiction. In the beginning I heard from her quite frequently, but over the years the correspondence tapered off, as it usually does. She would send a brief note at holidays (hers, not ours), to let me know she was still alive. The sad truth is, involved in my own career, I forgot all about her. Until now.

      As it turns out, Amelia thrived in her new home. For her, the move to the world she calls Eclipsis was an act of liberation. Sword-and-sorcery (S&S) sounds dated now, perhaps even more than feminism, but the genre began as a way for women to find their voice in the male-dominated world of Sci Fi. The science fiction that survives today rarely resonates with readers because of its science, but more often because of its fiction. The once-futuristic ideas of robots and space aliens, time machines and travel to distant galaxies still work for readers, when they do, because of the radically different approaches they bring to answering the same old questions.

      That favorite fictional device, the alternate universe, frees writer and readers to (re)examine the eternal, unresolvable problems of men and women, human nature, war and politics, without the constraints of realistic fiction. S&S was especially valuable for the way it allowed women readers and writers to explore issues of sex roles and gender norms—those unimportant social problems that were dismissed or obscured by the big ideas of conventional, masculine Sci Fi.

      In becoming Lady Amalie, Amelia found her true self, as she wrestled with one of the eternal women’s problems: what happens when what you’re supposed to want turns out to be what you really do want? Like Elizabeth Bennet of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, Amelia discovered that wealth, status and power can be very conducive to love, especially when embodied in a handsome and intelligent human form. And like Elizabeth and all Cinderellas, Amelia won her place in life, not by being rescued, but because she, too, was gifted. She recognized her mate, her equal partner, and claimed him—and her home.

      With the introspection and leisure of middle age, Lady Amalie had the desire to record her unique experiences, and began writing her memoirs. Now, with the publishing world undergoing a radical transformation, with e-books challenging the established print format and its gatekeepers, the mainstream publishers, Lady Amalie felt the time was finally right to share her story. She has entrusted her extensive body of work to me, along with permission to format and edit it, and make it available online.

      Yes, obviously, Lady Amalie is a pseudonym. But it’s simplistic, perhaps even incorrect, to say that we’re the same person. The Ann Herendeen who wrote the first of these stories almost fifteen years ago is not the Ann Herendeen who is editing them now. Ann Herendeen went on to write and publish two novels: Phyllida and the Brotherhood of Philander and Pride/Prejudice. She is working on a third novel, called Last Dance. Her long-term goal is to be recognized as a writer, with no adjectives in front of that word.

      Herendeen’s and Lady Amalie’s works do share some themes, most notably the adoption of the third perspective, the point of view of the woman in a polyamorous marriage to a bisexual husband and his male companion. But there are other themes in Lady Amalie’s writing that developed specifically from her time: the concerns of second-wave feminism and the beginning of the concept of female empowerment.

      The woman who became Amalie, ‘Gravina Ardanyi, is the product of a very different road taken. Lady Amalie’s memoirs tell the story of a woman with a gift that is also a curse: a talent or ability, along with a difference in appearance, that sets her apart from society. Today there are many works of popular fiction that portray telepathy and its inconveniences as a disability or a deformity. But younger readers may not realize that it was only a couple of decades ago that what we now celebrate as difference was a genuine handicap, that outmoded word, especially for women who were judged on their appearance and who were not seen as, or allowed to be, sexual beings if they did not meet their culture’s standard of beauty.

      Even traditional ability came with a price. The popular fiction of the past is full of stories about talented women in all fields who had to choose between family life and using their gift, whatever it was.

      Lady Amalie’s extensive memoirs do not resolve this issue; they merely present one woman’s unconventional solution in an imaginary world that feels both foreign and familiar. If some of Lady Amalie’s revelations seem less groundbreaking now, it’s because of the work that her spiritual sisters contributed. We should be thankful for it, while remembering where Lady Amalie belongs in the continuum.

      I think Lady Amalie has something valuable to say. But what matters to readers is whether her story is entertaining and absorbing. I found it so, or I would not have accepted the task of editing. Although she did not write her memoirs in chronological order, I am presenting them that way, as it’s easier to follow and makes a more straightforward narrative.

      A note about the setting: the world here called Eclipsis

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