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Freireich, Valerie J

(1952-    ) US business transactional attorney and author who began publishing work of genre interest with "Ballgame" for Starshore in 1991. Her four novels to date – Becoming Human (1995), Testament (1995), The Beacon (1996) and The Imposter [sic] (1997) – are loosely connected within a broad Space Opera galactic civilization whose dominant union, the Harmony of Worlds, is, interestingly, heavily structured at the macro level – rather like a "hard state" as defined in Asian Drama (1968) by Gunnar Myrdal (1898-1987) – but libertarian as regards individual lifestyles. This pattern is undercut in both Becoming Human and The Imposter, the plots of both novels hinging on the complex consequences of treating Altered Humans, for instance Clones, as inferior. Though it is depicted in adequate detail, the galactic settings of Freireich's novels work primarily as backdrops for her sophisticated analyses of humans (and Altereds) in their multifarious interactions with the systems that impose, even in the future, morally dubious governance on their citizens. [JC]

Valerie J Freireich

born Chicago, Illinois: 21 July 1952

works

series

Harmony of Worlds

• Becoming Human (New York: Penguin/Roc, 1995) [Harmony of Worlds: pb/John Jude Palencar]
• Testament (New York: Penguin/Roc, 1995) [Harmony of Worlds: pb/John Jude Palencar]
• The Beacon (New York: Penguin/Roc, 1996) [Harmony of Worlds: pb/Barclay Shaw]
• The Imposter (New York: Penguin/Roc, 1997) [misspelling of "impostor" is sic: Harmony of Worlds: pb/Michael Herring]

links

• Internet Speculative Fiction Database
• Picture Gallery

Entry from The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction (2011-current) edited by John Clute and David Langford.
Accessed 08:06 am on 26 April 2024.
<https://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/freireich_valerie_j>