Ibis

by Linda Steele

When Padrec Morrissey and his crew crashland on Ibis 2, they find themselves trapped in the midst of a bizarre civilization organized like a hive of bees in which the majority of denizens are neuter and only the "Queens" are intelligent

Genres: Science Fiction, Romance, Fiction

221 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published September 3, 1985

Reviews

[Bill FromPA · Rating 3 out of 5]

A spacefaring human scientific expedition is stranded on the planet Ibis 2, where the dominant species is a race of humans who have evolved along the lines of an insect colony, led by a small group of females who are the only intelligent members of the group, the rest being either instinctual warriors, servants, or breeders. The human survivors are enslaved by the Ibisians, with the main male character, Padrec Morrissey, the expedition’s exo-botanist, becoming the property and sexual partner of Anii, the queen of the hive society. Morrissey falls in love with Anii and the plot centers on his conflict between remaining with her or aiding the escape plan of his fellow humans, whose captivity has become essential to the stability of Anii’s reign.
In an opening blurb Steele describes this as “a science-fiction romance, a love story between a human man from a crashed Terran research vessel and a female from the native, and very different, human species.” Indeed, the emphasis here is on the emotional life of Morrissey and his relationship with Anii, with action and plot mainly serving to develop the relationship and to throw light on it by the choices both parties are forced to make. What makes this story unusual in my experience is that, rather than the square jawed Earthman subduing the Amazonian space queen, as in so many films of the 50s, here the hero is subdued by the queen, becoming sexually and emotionally in thrall to her and accepting submission to her as the fulfillment of his love. Because of the nature of this relationship and the author’s concentration on it, the book seemed to me to be a bondage-romance in the form of a science fiction novel, a kind of Sacher-Masoch in space.

[Michele · Rating 4 out of 5]

The headdress and scarab motifs worn by the woman on the cover led me to hope that there might be some ancient Egyptian elements to the story, however, I was mistaken. The story follows Padrec, a botanist, who is captured by an alien Ibisian woman (Anii), whose hierarchal structure is hive in nature. Anii becomes queen of the nom, which includes the surviving crew that Padrec is part of. Padrec must navigate his conflicting feeling for Anii and the crew who have been relegated to a life of servitude, including sexual slavery. Somewhere I read that the author was writing a space romance and Ibis is definitely that. However, she also explores the psychological landscape of both races. Although not mentioned elsewhere as far as I know, I think that Padrec's struggle with Stockholm syndrome is also part of the narrative and provides an additional layer of context to the overarching story.

[Kevin Wilson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very excited to announce the publication of my article on Ibis (1985) in the new online magazine Typebar Magazine, currently unpaywalled:

Sadomasochism in Space: Lost Worlds of Gender Representation in 1980s Science-fiction Romance

Read to learn more about this “lost work” of “lost world” literature, a mass-market paperback possessing an emotional sophistication and psychological subtlety unique for 1980s era science fiction and surprising for a work this neglected.

I attempt to place the novel in its historical context and discuss broader philosophical questions of markets and meaning-making.