Alqua Dreams

by Rachel Pollack

The corpse people of Planet Keela believe that life is an illusion. Earthman Jaimi Cooper finds their practices bizarre but is attracted by a beautiful tribeswoman. Cooper's task on the planet Keela: offer the native Lukai fair price for their rare ore rhovium, but first convince the powerful Death Woman that he and the Lukai themselves are more than illusions in a world where everyone has already died. The fascinating story of one man confronting a totally alien culture.

Genres: Science Fiction

254 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1987

About the author

Rachel Grace Pollack was an American science fiction author, comic book writer, and expert on divinatory tarot. Pollack was a great influence on the women's spirituality movement.

Reviews

[Joachim Boaz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Full review: https://sciencefictionruminations.com...

“To the Lukai, when a mother bore a child both the mother and child were really dead souls, locked in fake bodies. ‘The child cries,’ the Death Woman told Cooper, “because it still remembers the truth'” (28).

At first glance the mission was like so many others: negotiate with a native people, the Lukai, over a rare resource that facilitates space travel. But Jaimi Cooper is plunged into an ontological nightmare, he is branded as an alqua, “someone who suffers an illusion” (20). According to the Lukai, “you are [...]"

[Justin Howe · Rating 2 out of 5]

A bad book by an author I otherwise like. This has the problem that when we learn what makes the main character tick we have to wonder why any competent organization would send him to do the job he's tasked with doing.