Discarded Faces is a future history, in the tradition of the future histories of Robert Heinlein, Isaac Asimov, and Ursula K. LeGuin, but its emphasis on the inner life of the main character is inspired by the works of Orson Scott Card.
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The fundamental premise of the work is as follows. During the 22nd century, a number of planets circling other stars were terraformed and colonized from Earth. When an alien species made interstellar travel impossible by seizing control of the entrances to the wormholes that connected the colonies, they lost contact with each other. On one of them, Fifth Earth, an environmental disaster wiped out much the colonial population. Many of the dead had essential technical skills. Many animal species imported from First Earth die off as well. The survivors degenerated into a culture reminiscent of First Earth’s Middle Ages. Memories of First Earth and the colonization became hazy and encrusted with mythology. In response to the shock of the mass dying, the survivors created a new religion, Kadmonianism, incorporating many features of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Its scriptures are called the Dryk Kudaish, which contains large extracts from the Bible and Koran plus some other writings. The descendants of the survivors eventually created a new technical civilization, which after about 2000 years bears a general resemblance to late 20th century First Earth. The story takes place in the Empire of Danallo, the dominant nation-state of Fifth Earth, and takes place at the end of this period. Danallo is a highly regimented police state run by an elite group called the NTP. The NTP strictly controls education, the news media, popular entertainment and even religion to ensure conformity to the regime’s militaristic and xenophobic values. The population is segregated by race, all non-whites being separate and not equal. The Seventh Secretariat roots out political opposition, the Eighth Secretariat eliminates Gays and Lesbians, and ScholaPol prosecutes people for heresy. Currently, the Empire is fighting a war of counter-insurgency with Amrath Kalb. The war on drugs prosecutes the underground tobacco trade, while ignoring the addictive injectable drug Kondro. So you can see that, although Discarded Faces deals with contemporary issues, it is hardly "politically correct." |
There is an opposition party in Danallo, but everyone knows the NTP uses computers to manipulate elections. The real opposition lies in youth gangs and in the dissident wing of the Kadmonian religion. The main character is a teenage girl, Peb Corbo, a member of the Young Heroes gang. This gang has a good reputation in their neighborhood because they don’t steal or engage in the Kondro trade, although some use illicit tobacco. (The Young Heroes gang contains both boys and girls.) They also attend the sermons of Daat Sukhair, a radical preacher who is challenges the regime’s policies. Peb works with some of her friends at a plant making ray-guns for the armed forces.
Peb is not political, but because she has a secret Lesbian girlfriend, she has a stake in resisting the regime. A military coup by the Army is being planned, but the Army will not move unless assured of widespread popular opposition to the regime. To demonstrate this, Peb and her friends seize guns at the factory, and turn them over to their gang. The gang members disarm the local security force and take over the neighborhood, suppressing the Kondro trade in the process. The Seventh Sec counterattacks with armed helicopters, and with a special nerve gas that knocks people unconscious so they can be arrested later.
No, I'm not going to give away the ending.
On Tuesday, September 2, 1997, at 9:30 PM Eastern Daylight Time, I completed the MS of Discarded Faces, and took it to a copy service to have copies made for submission. Then I started sending out query letters. Five years later, Discarded Faces has finally been accepted for publication! A newly-founded small press, KingRoyPublishing, based in Las Vegas, Nevada, published it in November 2002. Both downloadable and hard copy versions are available. Return to the button bar to find out where to buy it.
