Glory Season by David Brin
"Glory Season" is a science fiction novel set on the colonized world of Stratos, where an attempt to create a feminist utopia has led to a unique society primarily composed of female clones. Utilizing genetic engineering, the inhabitants reproduce through parthenogenesis, resulting in genetically identical daughters who form family clans that trace their lineage back to founding mothers. However, the need for male genetic material complicates this societal structure, as summer births also yield genetically varied children, including males, thus ensuring a continuing population.
The story follows Maia and her twin sister, Leie, who are summer variants and must navigate their world independently according to clan traditions. Their adventures reveal Maia's exceptional ability to recognize patterns, which aids her in overcoming challenges. The plot thickens when Renna, a male emissary from the Human Phylum, is introduced, leading to unexpected friendships and conflicts as Maia and Renna attempt to escape from captivity together. As the narrative unfolds, it raises questions about the potential evolution of Stratos society in light of external influences and the choices it faces regarding its future—whether to embrace change or cling to its established ways. The novel ultimately explores themes of identity, societal structure, and the impact of contact with broader humanity.
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Subject Terms
Glory Season
First published: 1993
Type of work: Novel
Type of plot: Science fiction—utopia
Time of work: The distant future, on another world
Locale: The planet Stratos
The Plot
Glory Season, set on the colonized world of Stratos, explores how humans might attempt to create a feminist utopia. Genetic engineering has helped to create a pastoral society of female clones. Parthenogenic reproduction, taking place in Stratoss winter season, produces female clones genetically identical to the birth mother. These genetically identical women form family clans, with the clans that trace back to the founding mothers generally being the largest and most influential. Unfortunately for the Founder’s plans, men are needed to “spark” the cloning process, and genetically variant children are also born, in the summer. Half of the summer variants that are born are male, providing a self-perpetuating population. The majority of Stratoin inhabitants are clones, genetically identical to their birth mothers. The entire society has been genetically and socially engineered to reduce female and male interaction.
Maia, the main character, and her twin sister, Leie, are summer variant children five Stratoin years old (the equivalent of fifteen Earth years). They must, as clan tradition dictates, make their own way in the world, leaving their clone family. The two girls hope to capitalize on their twin heritage to find their niche in the world and be able to establish their own clan. Their work and adventures take them on mast rigger sailing ships and over land by foot, wagon, and horseback. Leie is the more defiant and socially aware of the twins; Maia is the more introspective. That proves to be an advantage for Maia as she grows through the tribulations encountered throughout the book.
Stratos faces change because it has been contacted by the rest of humanity. Renna, a male emissary from the Human Phylum, visits Stratos and is kidnapped by a clan hoping to use him for political gain. Through a series of mishaps, Maia loses her sister, Leie, and is thrown into captivity in the same prison as Renna. Unaware that Renna is male, Maia develops forms of communication with him based on her unusual ability to recognize patterns and her non-female-like interest in the computer game called Life. Through their indirect communication, Renna and Maia plan an escape and develop a strong friendship. During their rescue, Maia is perplexed to discover that her friend is actually male and the emissary from the Human Phylum. Maia and Renna repeatedly fall in and out of enemy hands, sometimes not knowing who is friend and who is foe.
Following science-fiction traditions, Maia is exceptional rather than typical of her society. Her ability to recognize and interpret patterns gets her in and out of scrapes throughout the book, providing clues and answers to riddles posed by the loss of historical knowledge by her society. During the course of the story, all the mysteries except one are eventually solved for the reader. David Brin leaves open the question of how reuniting with the rest of humanity will change Stratoin society. Will it grow up as Maia has, or will it stubbornly choose to remain static, pastoral, chauvinist, and isolationist?