So, lately I’ve been working my way through Tracy St. John’s Kalquor universe. It started out as one series, but now has spun off with two more solid series, and then some shorts. I am really enjoying these books, and I keep going back and forth in between the two main series, The Clans of Kalquor, which was first, and Clan Beginnings. There’s also a new series called Clan Companions.
OK, so here’s how the books work. Kalquor is an alien planet (obviously) where women are slowly dying out. There was a virus that went through and killed off a lot of women back in the day, and what Kalquoran women are left are often infertile. To help make the most of the remaining women, and to, you know, give the guys some relief, they form family groups, or clans. Kalquor men break down into 3 distinct breeds, Dramok, Nobek, and Imdiko. Dramok are the leaders, Nobek are the warrior/protectors, and Imdikos are the caregivers. Each clan has one man from each breed in them. And they get together the same way that any relationship would. The guys meet, court, fall in love, and have awesome sex, often seriously kinky.
When the Clans books start out, the Kalquorans are at one generation or so away from extinction. The best scientists have been working on trying to figure out what to do to make their women fertile again. They’ve also taken to testing out other species to see if they can cross-breed, but so far no one has shown up. Then, voila, Earthers happen.
This Earth is a world-wide theocracy. And not a nice theocracy. We’re talking the nasty, conservative, makes evangelicals look liberal kind. It’s the kind where women don’t do anything that may draw attention to themselves, because they all know that they are just one teeny tiny step away from work camps or even execution. Women who are sexually assaulted are found guilty and punished because they tempted the men into assaulting them and they are now sexually impure. It’s not a nice place for anyone to live, let alone women. The Kalquorans come to them and ask them if they can test to see if they are compatible, because apart from one real difference, they are identical, physically. The one difference? The Kalquoran males have two self-lubricating cocks.
Well, Earth, of course, wants to have nothing to do with the demons who mate in groups, have the wrong number of appendages, and have sex with other males. Plus, you know, Earthers are God’s only creations, so they can’t possibly be related to or compatible with aliens.
Some women manage to leave the planet, but they are still watched very carefully by the government, and they are all told to stay away from the Kalquorans. But one woman didn’t listen. Amelia was talking to one of the clans while they were on another planet, and they tested her and found out that Earther women were compatible. When the Earther government found out, it turned really ugly.
The rest of the series involves clans finding their Mataras, or lifebringers, and the struggles that they go through. That’s all set against the larger story arc. You could, maybe, read them as a standalone, but you would be confused, so you really should read them all in order.
Beginnings is the stories of the various clans that show up in Clans as they get together. You get to see what brought each clan together and what they had to deal with to get there. The books aren’t in order to the way that they show up in Clans, and there aren’t as many of those as there are Clans, at least as of yet. It really is interesting to get to know those guys before they get together with their women. There is a lot of sex, a lot of it kinky, but very awesome.
The Clan Companions series only has one book so far, but it deals with one Kalquoran male who prefers males and an Earther male that is gay. It’s a great book, and is related to the greater series.
I really enjoy reading these books, and I think when I get to the last one, I’ll have to turn around and reread them.
In Between the Pages 