The Urielite, however, has an unprecedented offer for Hal: they have discovered a habitable planet only a few light years away, and they need a linguistics expert to help them communicate with the Ozagenians who live there. Hal is terrified when he's approached by a Urielite, one of the high priests in charge of both religion and politics on Earth.

The only pleasure he takes is in his work, researching linguistics.

Hal, like all other citizens, lives in constant fear of being sent to H. Anyone whose failings are considered too heavy are sent to H, from where nobody has ever come back. He marries the woman he's told to, in spite of his personal distaste for her, avoids alcohol, keeps his face covered when he needs to do something so base as to eat a meal, and reports all his failings to the gapt. The Lovers tells the story of Hal Yarrow, an ordinary man who struggles to make a living in the strict society of future Earth. Perhaps she's just getting what she can before the tentacles eat them alive.Īs always, book rating is the overall average of the stories. My general rule of thumb is that if his bra has a bigger cup size than mine, it's time to run away, but she doesn't seem to have an issue with it. In fact, he may have more cleavage than the alien chick, which just goes to prove her courage. (Warning: link is so very not work safe.)Ĭover dude has some pretty impressive moobs there. The image is appropriate enough considering the content of the stories, but what's with the pink tentacles pulling them in? Ahead of its time Strange Relations may have been, but there aren't any mentions of hentai. Well, I just so happen to have a science fiction library, so I figured I'd better check 'em out. At the time, they were considered groundbreaking and incredibly controversial, and they've been said to belong in every science fiction library. For anyone who's unaware, Strange Relations is a collection of two novellas and several short stories, all of which were originally published in the 50s and 60s.

Strange Relations by Philip José Farmer