Romanon is a Military Science Fiction novel written by Naturalised-American Science Fiction author Jerry Howard Frye first published in 1984. the book received positive praise from Critics and was nominated for the Hugo, the Nebula and the Philip K. Dick Award. It is well known as a novel containing intricate plot and very developed characters and setting that has been set forth as Jerry Frye's Magnum Opus in his later life.
Setting[]
The Novel is set in Sector 349910-B, a Beta sector somewhere in the Milky Way, not far from Earth. The year is 3492 AD, 1000 years after the Diaspora of Earth's population and the expansion of the Solar System. The first half of the novel is set aboard the Starship Glastner, commanded by General Saul Irongrip and it follows the story of a woman named Alicia Romanon, the wife of recently deceased soldier Julia Romanon, being the last remaining member of the Order of the White Balance.
The second half of the novel precedes the first half in terms of chronological order, being set aboard the Space Destroyer Dalia and follows the story of Julia Romanon, the last remaining soldier of 3rd Platoon after a vicious virus spread aboard from an unknown origin, turning the soldiers into mutated monsters. It tells the story of how Julia dies and her relationship with her wife, Alicia Romanon.
Summary[]
In the beginning of the book, the first line states that, "By decree of Terran law, no child is to be born, therefore sex is prohibited between a man and a woman." From this, it explains how the exploitation of Lesbian and Homosexual Marriage came to pass, explaining how it was more common to find same-sex marriage in the systems now and how it is the norm and to see a Man-woman couple would be catastrophic to society.
The beginning is narrated by Alicia Romanon, a female Journalist who had been introduced aboard the Starship to get a first class ticket to express news, being able to report about the latest events in the lower Milky Way. After being consulted for a News Station to be created aboard the Starship Glastner, she eventually finds a job doing so. She reveals that after seven years aboard the Starship, she fell in love with a female soldier, Julia Romanon, who became her wife after five dates and a night of excitement.
Switching to current events, the Starship Glastner has been on full alert since the death of Julia Romanon and how the Space Destroyer Dalia was destroyed by a large mass of mutants created by the virus released on the ship. Alicia snoops about the issue and confronts the Admiral aboard the ship due to the exercises being pulled and the reason for the Dalia's destruction. She convinces him to spill what he knew about the virus and where it came from and he confessed the virus was place aboard the ship to see if the mutation would occur without need of a biological setter, a device to speed mutation in species and Natural Selection becomes unnatural.
Due to this unsettling discovery, she rushes to confront the General about the issue and it becomes aware that even General Saul Irongrip was aware of the Virus aboard the ship, but knew he was too late to stop it since he had been informed of it afterwards. Alicia mourns Julia and hopes that she will join her one day.
It is then revealed that she is a practitioner of a religion, which is forbidden ever since the Terran decrees were issued. The Order of the White Balance was originally founded by soldiers aboard the Starship in hopes to blossom forth the idea of God again and to bring balance back to humanity. After being caught praying to God, she was taken to General Saul and accused of being a Priestess. General Saul agrees to deal with the subject personally, but intended originally to do something entirely unheard of since the decrees: He planned to Rape Alicia.
After Alicia was raped and mutilated, she was taken to a hospital where the doctors mended her wounds and she became stable after five days of intensive care. After cross-examinations, it was found that Alicia was pregnant. astonished by this new information, the Doctors report to General Saul who informs them that Alicia will be the Catalyst that changes the Milky Way.