Aye and Gomorrah

Science Fiction is often called the “Fiction of Ideas”. The premise for many sci-fi stories begins with “What if there was a world where…” and the author develops a story from the question. “What if there was a world where aliens invaded and built a new society” is a popular one, as is “What if there was a world overrun by technology?” Plenty of mainstream scif-fi stories follow this concept.

In the short story “Aye, and Gomorrah…” by Samuel R. Delaney, the question asked is “What if there was a world where all astronauts were neutered?” An interesting question indeed, but it serves as a solid foundation for a story. We are given backstory as to why they are neutered, which is to avoid the effects of gamma radiation in space. With that backstory, the author can now develop the effects it has on these people. Never experiencing puberty causes these people to grow up to be androgynous, non-sexual adults. The final and most important piece of this story is how does it affect the rest of society? That’s where we get the subculture of frelks and how the interact with the astronauts, who are dubbed Spacers. From this simple question, the author has developed a society with subcultures. In a longer form novel, this idea could be expanded upon even further, with notions of how this government operates, how the subcultures go to war with each other, how the Spacers begin rebelling against being forced to be neutered: the possibilities are endless. It just goes to show how a little spark of imagination can be expanded upon to develop an entire world of ideas.