re:mote voices

Title: Maul
Author: Tricia Sullivan
Publisher:Orbit

Maul is the latest novel by Tricia Sullivan, an American born novelist, living in the UK. A riotous work, which is described as "a science fiction novel of sex, shopping and terrorbugs" as a subtitle. Alternating between a shop and shoot trip to the mall - Sun Katz, a Korean American, and her friends have been called out by a rival gang due to a harsh review on sun's website. And a y-autistic male clone, who is acting as a guinea pig for farming new viruses, and gets caught in the struggle between the female hierarchy and a rogue male. 

Maul presents a version of a future where men are scarce - following on from the likes of The Gate To Women's Country by Sheri S Terper (which Sullivan acknowledges herself as an influence), or Stray Toasters by Bill Sienkiewicz (where male birth rates are dwindling) and Y: The Last Man by Brian K. Vaughan and Pia Guerra (where all men have been wiped out by a virus, except for one). Maul is perhaps closest to the territory of Y: The Last Man - viruses targeting the y chromosomes have swept the planet, making men scarce, such that remaining non-infected men are competed over fiercely - their sperm a precious commodity. At the same time there is the more mundane thread of the girl fight, but with that we get another insight to the world, and the microcosm that the mall represents. as events escalate their is a greater sense of madness, the play back and forth melding the plot together in a subtle fashion.

The results are bawdy and filled with humour. Sullivan establishing the base line of her science fiction starting point she then runs with it, pushes it, and gradually bends it - challenging the reader in some ways to keep up with her.