A Question of Humanity: A Review of Ken Hart’s Behind the Gem

 (Gypsy Shadow Publishing, 2010), ISBN: 978-0-9844521-7-0
By Joey Madia
Behind the Gem is an entertaining and thought-provoking journey through one man’s experience with an alien race. Solidly sci-fi, but with the kind of sentiment and romance not usually found in the genre, Hart’s tale provides plenty of action, technology, and telepathy as it poses many of the Big Questions.
            When a hostile race of aliens called the Baleorans attacks Earth, a group of humans, trapped in a building transplanted on another planet, struggle to make sense of their present and their future. One of their number, a man named Raymond Meinhardt, winds up the captive and soon after the Consort of one of a race of kangaroo–horse hybrid type beings, eight feet tall, called the Draasen. They are a race of telepaths with advanced technology and a feminine-ruled society.
            Raymond, a former Army Ranger with experience in Vietnam, struggles to adapt to his new surroundings. His resistance, conformity, and ultimate independence within the society of the Draasen makes for fascinating reading and the opportunity to consider questions such as: What makes a Human human? Is it physiology or behavior? Molecules or morals? When we are in a foreign land, whose rules apply? How does individuality co-exist with a society based in many ways on groupthink and Protocols?
            As with all the best science fiction, the aliens can be considered as a metaphor for our own co-existence as individual races, countries, and religious groups on planet Earth. Raymond’s struggles are our own.
            The Draasen society is well-developed, with plenty of political and class-based intrigue and conflict. It creates the necessary drama when things begin to stabilize for Raymond and escalates the pace when he begins to build a new family among the Draasen.
            In his biography, Ken Hart tells us that he has come to writing late in his life, after the military took him to Vietnam and Iraq. He has a natural talent for storytelling and it is clear that his life experiences have given him ample knowledge and understanding, creating a richness to both the characters and worlds he creates.

            If you are interested in learning more about Ken Hart and other titles he has authored, visit www.kenhartscifi.com

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