Nursing Strike
Leah->Jellia: I need you!
Jellia: What is it?
Leah: Bentin is going on a nursing strike!
Jellia: Well, I don’t know that much about nursing. Why don’t you ask Lydia.
Leah: No, silly. It’s his right. But this means I need to choose another en-drek!
Jellia: Well, I don’t know all that much about that, either.
Leah: You are my best friend! I don’t know how it happened, you being from exo and all, but you are my best friend. And, besides, you married a li-kesh…
Jellia: Oh, thinking of going for eager?
Leah: I think so…
Jellia: Well, you know that Thomas is getting close.
Leah: Oh! No!! You can’t really think…
Jellia: It would be convienient and, it isn’t like he hasn’t drawn you since forever. He already knows…
Leah: Code and Custom!! But, but he isn’t out of kesh yet.
Jellia: He’s getting close. I don’t know… can you ask the med tech?
Leah: I think so. I’ll ask my progenitor. Oh. That would be convenient, no?
Jellia: Yeah. Ride together to school, talk at lunch. He’ll be going straight to Ska-drek, I think he’ll like that.
Leah: Yeah.
Jellia: You still there?
Leah: Just a sec.
Jellia: It’s been a lot longer than ‘a sec’.
Leah: Hang on
Jellia: Hanging….
Leah: Well, OK, it’s done.
Jellia: Wait? What?
Leah: I snipped my progenitor, and he snipped the med tech, apparently that is his job in a case like that, and she agreed to release him. Oh, and apparently she’s going to make a deal of it and do it right in school!
Jellia: No?!
Leah: Yeah. In three decas.
Contract Marriage
Contract marriage is an adult dystopia examining the issues of marriage. Like 1984 and Brave New World, Contract Marriage treats the relations between the sexes as a fundamental aspect of how a society is formed and, thus, how a society can go wrong.
Unlike those dystopias, Contract Marriage isn’t all horrible all of the time. The characters for the most part have a good time and get along in their society. But the issues of sexuality, of marriage or not, monogamy or not, faithfulness or not, and gender roles… keep coming up and causing tension and conflict and joy and pain.
My desire is that my readers would be thinking along with my characters about these issues and perhaps even arrive at the same place (minus the flying cars).
Thank you for reading Von’s Substack. I would love it if you commented! I love hearing from readers, especially critical comments. I would love to start more letter exchanges, so if there’s a subject you’re interested in, get writing and tag me!
Being ‘restacked’ and mentioned in ‘notes’ is very important for lesser-known stacks so… feel free! I’m semi-retired and write as a ministry (and for fun) so you don’t need to feel guilty you aren’t paying for anything, but if you enjoy my writing (even if you dramatically disagree with it), then restack, please! Or mention me in one of your own posts.
If I don’t write you back it is almost certain that I didn’t see it, so please feel free to comment and link to your post. Or if you just think I would be interested in your post!
If you get lost, check out my ‘Table of Contents’ which I try to keep up to date.
Von also writes as ‘Arthur Yeomans’. Under that name he writes children’s, YA, and adult fiction from a Christian perspective. His books are published by Wise Path Books and include the children’s/YA books:
The Bobtails meet the Preacher’s Kid
and
As well as GK Chesterton’s wonderful book, “What’s Wrong with the World”, for which ‘Arthur’ wrote most of the annotations.
Arthur also has a substack, and a website. On the substack you can listen to some of his published books. Free.
Thanks again, God Bless, Soli Deo gloria,
Von
Other Stories
Island People’s is not my only story on Substack. I have two light dystopias, or cultural sci-fi, or one of them is military sci-fi with aliens… Science Fiction can be difficult to categorise :)
Article 17: Intro
She was pretty, popular, snobby, and a planetary governor’s daughter. He was the son of shopkeepers, a social misfit, and a decorated hero. She thought she was there to dance. He had other ideas.
And a fantasy-esque series of morality tales:
Prologue IP0
Island People is a young adult fantasy book centring on a young prince. The book starts with his kidnapping and follows his adventures as he not only escapes from his kidnapper but gains critical allies and friends.