Aye, and Gomorrah

Infobox short story
name = Aye, and Gomorrah
author = Samuel R. Delany
language = English
genre = Science fiction
published_in = Dangerous Visions
publication_type = anthology
publisher =
media_type =
pub_date = December 1967

"Aye, and Gomorrah..." is a famous science fiction short story by Samuel R. Delany. It is Delany's first sold short story, and won the 1967 Nebula Award for best short story. Before it appeared in "Driftglass" and "Aye, and Gomorrah, and other stories", it was first published as the closing tale in Harlan Ellison's seminal 1967 anthology, "Dangerous Visions". It was controversial because of its disturbing sexual subject matter.

It takes place in a world where astronauts, known as Spacers, are neutered before puberty to avoid the effects of space radiation on gametes. They are fetishized by a subculture of 'frelks', those attracted by the Spacers' unattainability and unarousability ('free-fall-sexual-displacement complex'). The mischief-loving Spacers exploit this for amusement and money -- and possibly out of loneliness and a desire to recapture their lost sexuality. The story tells of a Spacer's poignant meeting with a female frelk.

Frelk is used as a derogatory term by the spacers in the story, who nonetheless engage in prostitution by accepting money to give frelks the pseudo-sexual contact they desire.

External links

*isfdb title|id=68754|title=Aye, and Gomorrah
* [http://www.scifi.com/scifiction/classics/classics_archive/delany3/delany31.html SciFi.com: "Aye, and Gomorrah" (text of short story)]