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A Voice Out of Ramah
THE WOMEN served, bred, and obeyed — never questioning the dark Divine Will that yearly claimed the lives of their sons.
THE MEN ruled, meditated, and sired — if they survived.
THAT WAS THE WAY IT HAD ALWAYS BEEN on Marah, where a deadly virus attacked young males and left only a few to reach maturity... the way it had always been until a beautiful and forceful Terran female landed and began asking questions — and a devoted, true-believing Shepherd named Jared began having doubts!
Cover illustration by H.R. Van Dongen
THE MEN ruled, meditated, and sired — if they survived.
THAT WAS THE WAY IT HAD ALWAYS BEEN on Marah, where a deadly virus attacked young males and left only a few to reach maturity... the way it had always been until a beautiful and forceful Terran female landed and began asking questions — and a devoted, true-believing Shepherd named Jared began having doubts!
Cover illustration by H.R. Van Dongen
211 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1979
101 people want to read
About the author
Lee Killough
52 books15 followersLee Killough has been storytelling since the age of four or five, when she began making up her own bedtime stories. So when she discovered science fiction and mysteries about age eleven, she began writing her own science fiction and mysteries. Because her great fear was running out of these by reading everything her small hometown library had. It took her late husband Pat Killough, though, years later, to convince her to try selling her work. Her first published stories were science fiction and her short story, "Symphony For a Lost Traveler", earned a Hugo Award nomination in 1985.
She used to joke that she wrote SF because she dealt with non-humans every day...spending twenty-seven years as chief technologist in the Radiology Department at Kansas State University's Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital before retiring to write full-time.
Because she loves both SF and mysteries and hated choose between the two genres, her work combines them. Except for one fantasy, The Leopard’s Daughter, most of her novels are mysteries with SF or fantasy elements...with a preference for supernatural detectives: vampire, werewolves, even a ghost. She has set her procedurals in the future, on alien words, and in the country of dark fantasy. Her best known detective is vampire cop Garreth Mikaelian, of Blood Hunt, Bloodlinks, and Blood Games. Five of her novels and a novella are now available as e-books and she is editing more to turn into e-books.
Lee makes her home in Manhattan, Kansas, with her book-dealer husband Denny Riordan, a spunky terrier mix, and a house crammed with books.
She used to joke that she wrote SF because she dealt with non-humans every day...spending twenty-seven years as chief technologist in the Radiology Department at Kansas State University's Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital before retiring to write full-time.
Because she loves both SF and mysteries and hated choose between the two genres, her work combines them. Except for one fantasy, The Leopard’s Daughter, most of her novels are mysteries with SF or fantasy elements...with a preference for supernatural detectives: vampire, werewolves, even a ghost. She has set her procedurals in the future, on alien words, and in the country of dark fantasy. Her best known detective is vampire cop Garreth Mikaelian, of Blood Hunt, Bloodlinks, and Blood Games. Five of her novels and a novella are now available as e-books and she is editing more to turn into e-books.
Lee makes her home in Manhattan, Kansas, with her book-dealer husband Denny Riordan, a spunky terrier mix, and a house crammed with books.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
April 19, 2020
An aged forgotten book picked off a friends book shelf. Mine is the first review this year. It was a very interesting read about gender roles and really under-rated story.
The preview on goodreads makes it sound much trashier than it is! Would recommend if you can find a copy.
The preview on goodreads makes it sound much trashier than it is! Would recommend if you can find a copy.
February 9, 2019
This is a great book hurt by it's cover. It examines some gender role assumptions and has a great twist to the plot. I recommend it. Any book I still remember well after 40 years is probably worth reading.
February 20, 2019
A first contact novel. This one between humans separated for 500 years on different planets. A small expedition reaches Marah 500 years after it was first settled and has to get to grips with a society that has evolved in a slightly different direction.
The story is well written with the exposition meshed nicely with the action. Each of the key characters has strong and believable reasons for their actions, including an intensely personal conflict of loyalties. The action is shared between two likeable characters, one from each society and mostly in different locations. While the setting is only moderately exotic, it works as a necessary setting for the story to work. The book requires a suspension of disbelief on one of its key points but I found it easy enough to overlook that in return for a good story centred around gender politics.
The story is well written with the exposition meshed nicely with the action. Each of the key characters has strong and believable reasons for their actions, including an intensely personal conflict of loyalties. The action is shared between two likeable characters, one from each society and mostly in different locations. While the setting is only moderately exotic, it works as a necessary setting for the story to work. The book requires a suspension of disbelief on one of its key points but I found it easy enough to overlook that in return for a good story centred around gender politics.
December 6, 2024
Uh... Let's see. This one, if only it were better. First of all, 2 or more chapters in, no clear main character. Lots of words without going anywhere, even though the book is relatively short. Only by the middle does it really have a definite character stand out. Stuff happens, people die. But, I tell you what, not enough stuff happens.
But maybe it's me. This is how I read a book. I just start reading, fast, and I expect to start seeing a movie in my head, and if that doesn't happen, well, that tells me the book is not as good as it could be.
This one, I am reading, fast, and rarely am I seeing a movie in my head. That's a problem.
But maybe it's me. This is how I read a book. I just start reading, fast, and I expect to start seeing a movie in my head, and if that doesn't happen, well, that tells me the book is not as good as it could be.
This one, I am reading, fast, and rarely am I seeing a movie in my head. That's a problem.
May 26, 2024
Found this book at a thrift store - so glad I gave it a shot! Agreed with the other commentors.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews