Synopsis: Xen by D J Solomon

Synopsis

Spoiler Warning

      What if, in the near future, an everyday misanthrope engineers the Apocalypse,
creating an intelligently designed new world order? With evil cast out and half the
population vanished overnight, there is now only one daily ritual for the chosen: All
must celebrate their salvation with dutiful recitations from the ten books of XEN.
      Written in Ancient English, the story begins during the age of adolescence for
Earth and Wind, when Fire is smoldering. With sufficient cooling, Water is born and life
develops. Confused about the vagaries of hominids, Wind frets about the future. One
step ahead, Water wagers him that mankind will avoid self-destruction and mature into
a brother of theirs, a challenge he accepts.
      Much later, in the 21st century, Pawkey Seneschal, a geneticist, attends a
professional conference alone. He loathes his second wife and scrutinizes women as
sexual pawns. Wherever he goes, his conceit bars respect for any minority, religion,
government, cause, or business; he heaps contempt on the overweight and
uneducated. Even the convention hotel is lacking in every conceivable way, as he
wonders whether the brochure said “newly decorated” or “shortly detonated.”
      Water enlightens this irrepressible cynic by implanting an idea during his dreams,
months after the symposium. She then goes into deep meditation, ignoring the
relentless slaughter and depravity. Wind doesn’t share her insouciance. He continues
to keep score, taunting her over the status of their bet. Her serenity disrupted and
finally provoked, she goads him into a cataclysmic debate.
      Eventually Pawkey implements a eugenics program during a time of global
economic privation and experiments on millions of people. With answers to all the
questions about humanity, he unleashes a virus, ridding the world of the incorrigibles.
The survivors, whose only common denominator is kindness in their hearts, are
bequeathed an extra chromosome--the battle of the sexes is over. In his final act, he
leaves a coded message that will stand for millennia.
      When he takes to his grave the origin of the plague, he unwittingly triggers
another doomsday countdown. Billions are gone, the infestation extinguished as
quickly as it came, and those remaining must move civilization forward. Out of
reverence for the boundless dead, they never look back.
Nothing about life is the same; not language, work, health, diversion, love and sex,
stuff, religion, children, animals, or even the elements. All social interactions are
governed by two rules written into the new DNA.
      Subsequent Eartherian generations conquer space and discover thousands of
alien species incapable of interstellar travel. This conundrum threatens to shatter their
tranquility when, 500 years later, Peregrinians materialize on Earth. Along with other
extraterrestrials, they have been clandestinely observing the mayhem since the Stone
Age, galvanized by the Apocalypse. Become pariahs or acknowledge your true origins
and join our intergalactic consortium, they warn.
      After every Eartherian is forced through Peregrine technology to witness a
creation of Pawkey’s machinations, the Minister of Earth mandates the writing of XEN.
To be read aloud daily, this sacred text will form children’s earliest memories and
chronicle the evolution of Homo sapiens (man the wise) into Femina persapiens
(woman the wiser).
      Wind and Water settle the bet.

***Because of the advanced vocabulary and uncensored nature of the characters'
thoughts, this (unexpurgated version of the) book is not recommended for readers
under the age of 16.***

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OCLC KEY WORDS: Fiction--xenophobia, misanthrophy, feminism, weather, philosophy. Allegories,
humorous stories, utopias, science fiction

Xen, Ancient English Edition, Complete & Unexpurgated
"Translated" by D. J. Solomon
Released November 2004
Avar Press, $13.95    Paperback binding 188 pages 5.5x 8.5"
ISBN 0-9760660-0-9

In this Apocalyptic tale, a misanthropic geneticist designs a world without evil,
ending the battle of the sexes, but unwittingly triggers another doomsday
countdown. Neither conspiracy theorists nor the plutocrats get it right in this
political satire of the new world order.

XEN is the tale of a eugenicist who becomes the pawn in a wager between the
Elements over the fate of mankind. But it is also:

1.        A whimsical myth about a bet between Wind and Water over the fate of
mankind and Earth herself.
2.        A eugenics program that breeds out our xenophobia, ridding the world of
hate & prejudice.
3.        A catalog of all the atrocities and depravity of Mankind.
4.        An allegory where the battle of the sexes is settled once and for all.
5.        A proof that mankind is innately flawed and cannot be fixed; he must be
scrapped for a superior species that is empowered by women.
6.        The last testament of Mankind.
7.        A tribute to the robustness but persistent vagaries of the English language.
8.        An acceptance of the difficulty in pinning anything down, since (most)
everything is relative.
9.        How fire got banned from Earth.
10.        How vegetarianism triumphed and animals came no longer to be exploited
for food and raw materials, or in any other fashion.
11.        An exercise in absurdly esoteric language, laid low by strong language and
outright vulgarity.
12.        About the power of first thoughts and the difficulty in suppressing them.
13.        A first contact with extraterrestrial life capable of interstellar travel, but in
reverse.
14.        A story about good versus evil.
15.        A future perfect Utopia on Earth.
16.        A personal call to action to cultivate kindness in our hearts and treat others
as we would like to be treated.
17.        A question, do the ends justify the means?