{"id":7454,"date":"2024-05-22T00:02:09","date_gmt":"2024-05-22T05:02:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/?p=7454"},"modified":"2025-05-05T22:45:35","modified_gmt":"2025-05-06T03:45:35","slug":"best-novel-finalist-review-gordon-hankas-provocative-gods-girlfriend-explores-coercion-consent-masculinity-femininity-and-basic-instincts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/best-novel-finalist-review-gordon-hankas-provocative-gods-girlfriend-explores-coercion-consent-masculinity-femininity-and-basic-instincts\/","title":{"rendered":"Best Novel finalist review: Gordon Hanka\u2019s provocative God\u2019s Girlfriend explores coercion, consent, masculinity, femininity and basic instincts"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Eric S. Raymond<\/a> and Michael Grossberg<\/a><\/p>\n

Subversive and satirical, God\u2019s Girlfriend<\/em>\u00a0challenges some of the deepest assumptions of today\u2019s politics and culture.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

One of five 2024 Prometheus Best Novel finalists, Gordon Hanka\u2019s provocative sci-fi novel raises thorny questions about ethics, religion, coercion and consent, the nature of masculinity and femininity and the use of weapons of mass destruction.<\/p>\n

The 540-page novel\u00a0<\/em>offers a taboo-shattering mixture of unorthodox libertarian provocations and Christian eschatology amid a life-or-death clash of two cultures: Earth humans and Wyrms, human refugees from another planet.<\/p>\n

Subtitled \u201cSci-Fi that should not be published,\u201d the novel blends SF and fantasy tropes from spaceships and advanced weaponry to the apparently supernatural, including Jesus\u2019 Second Coming.<\/p>\n

The story revolves around the rising tensions, conflicts and increasing likelihood of nuclear war between Earth governments, desperate to preserve their power, and the Wyrms, genetically modified to resist disease and political-psychological control.<\/p>\n

As the failing nation-states of Earth threaten nuclear apocalypse to wipe out the Outback-style beachhead of the Wyrms in Australia, all hell breaks loose. So does heaven, with the Second Coming of God in the unexpectedly modern form of Joshua, who has his own notions of good and evil and shifting ideas about which side should survive.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

REIMAGINING THE RAPTURE
\n<\/strong>
\nInstead of being taken into the heavens for the Rapture, the righteous must migrate to Western Australia, where God\u2019s chosen people have bought 9,900 square miles of arid desert to transform into a functional Wild-West-style frontier colony.<\/p>\n

As Wyrms settle Australia\u2019s desert, building a radically free and lawful but stateless colony to survive the End Times, Earth\u2019s rulers scheme to avert social collapse.<\/p>\n

What these nations \u2013 portrayed by Hanka as a vast looting mob run by ruthless and power-mad \u201cWasp queens\u201d – fear most is the loss of millions of the world\u2019s most productive men, who are emigrating to the Australian colony\u2019s so-called \u201cGalt\u2019s Gulch.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

As the most productive emigrate (functionally similar to the rational and productive going on strike in Rand\u2019s novel Atlas Shrugged)<\/a>,<\/em>\u00a0the result in the Earth nations is progressively expanding incompetence, dysfunction, corruption and breakdown of their already destructively overregulated and overtaxed economies.<\/p>\n

When desperate Earth governments fail in their devious efforts to infiltrate, disrupt and blow up the peaceful colony of Wyrms, their plans for war \u2013 including nuclear war \u2013 become a horrifying last-resort option.<\/p>\n

BELIEVABLE AND UNUSUAL CHARACTERS
\n<\/strong>
\nAt the center of the story are two sympathetic, believable characters: \u201cGod\u2019s girlfriend\u201d Luci Dark, a cussedly independent-minded and somewhat unusual Wyrm trying to prevent war; and heroic Tom Pine, who has aided the Wyrms and now wishes to join the Wyrm colony.<\/p>\n

Perhaps Hanka\u2019s most audacious and unusual character is Joshua, revealed to be the literal child of God \u2013 and at least partly within the fundamentalist Old Testament view of a wrathful God. Yet Joshua also reveals himself to be very human, capable of doubt, frustration, indecision \u2013 and romantic\/sexual relationships.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Libertarian Ron Paul, a former US Congressman, presidential candidate and author<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Some of the story\u2019s most engaging humor and wry repartee arise from Joshua\u2019s complicated love affair, history and casual intimacy with Luci. Their droll attitudes and amusing comments amid wide-ranging discussions about the ongoing world crisis, theology and their own relationship do a great deal to lighten up and humanize an otherwise sobering and apocalyptic plot.<\/p>\n

God\u2019s Girlfriend<\/em>\u00a0also weaves into its tall-tale world-building such real people as Chuck Norris and Ron Paul – who show up at one of the colony\u2019s gates in a recreational vehicle packed with pregnant girlfriends.<\/p>\n

A SOBERING VIEW OF HUMAN MOTIVATIONS
\n<\/strong>
\nThe novel\u00a0<\/em>also challenges preconceptions about human psychology, especially Hanka\u2019s merciless account of how motivations actually work.<\/p>\n

Affirming a politically incorrect and even brutal realism based on evolutionary biology, the novel highlights how powerful and deep-rooted are our mostly unconscious instincts reflecting mating behaviors and the sexual drive.<\/p>\n

Facing such realities becomes a key and revelatory theme.<\/p>\n

Hanka finds both serious implications and rueful sobering humor in a transformative ritual that immigrants to the colony must undergo to become Wyrms \u2013 a risky process that forces them to directly face and experience the instinctual forces inside their own bodies and brains.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cYes, when you look inside your mind, you will see your sex monkey, and yes, it does make most of your decisions,\u201d a colony member warns a newcomer.<\/p>\n

After so much build-up and mystery about the Wyrms and how they\u2019re transformed in earlier novels in Hanka\u2019s Gaia\u2019s Wasp series, God\u2019s Girlfriend<\/em>\u00a0finally takes us inside the process. After Pine enters the colony, he must undergo the drastic and potentially deadly multi-step ritual to become a Wyrm.<\/p>\n

HOW HUMANS BECOME WYRMS (AND WHY IT MATTERS)
\n<\/strong>
\nThe Wyrm self-programming creates several levels of disinhibition, each evoked by specific stimuli that Wyrm ethics deem aggressive. The result is a ruthlessly efficient and automatic but graded system of deterrence against aggressors.<\/p>\n

One of the most provocative aspects of Hanka\u2019s novel is his portrayal of Wyrms, pushed past a certain point by violent attacks or explicit threats of invasive force, engaging in shocking but necessary violence in self-defense.<\/p>\n

The novel incorporates dialogue and flashbacks revealing how this system evolved on the Wyrms\u2019 colonized planet. On their homeworld, the Wyrms were a small minority coexisting with Wasps, humans with a dominant envy agent in their society of mind. Backed by large numbers, Wasp leaders hated and wanted to destroy the Wyrms, who therefore had to come up with an implacable counter-threat or face extinction.<\/p>\n

While readers might quibble with the importance Hanka gives to his portrayal of the human subsystem he dubs \u201cthe Wasp,\u201d the story persuasively dramatizes a society-of-mind model of human consciousness and behavior.<\/p>\n

Perhaps most intriguing are the story elements showing how many of our mental processes are instinct-driven, taking place out of sight of the subsystem that thinks it\u2019s \u201cI.\u201d (Every mystic, or regular meditator, learns this humbling truth.)<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Writer Gordon Hanka (Photo courtesy of Hanka)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

CAN RELIGION OR REASON ALONE SAVE US?
\n<\/strong>
\nAlthough God\u2019s Girlfriend<\/em>\u00a0takes seriously the existence of the son of God, one could argue that Hanka, an atheist, actually includes no supernaturalism in his world-building.<\/p>\n

Instead, he recasts some of the Christian eschatology within the mold of pretty hard SF (while not even allowing a common but unscientific trope of much science fiction: Faster-than-light speed. Even \u201cGod\u201d can’t break lightspeed!)<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

That mention of \u201cGalt\u2019s Gulch,\u201d meanwhile, is just one among several mostly positive references to Ayn Rand\u2019s individualists\u2019 utopia in Atlas Shrugged.<\/em><\/p>\n

Characters sympathetically discuss Rand\u2019s Objectivist philosophy and note her libertarian followers. To some libertarian readers, the novel\u2019s explicit references to both libertarianism and Objectivism<\/a> may seem like catnip.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Yet a closer reading uncovers Hanka\u2019s more nuanced perspective, at once sympathetic to yet critical of both systems of thought.<\/p>\n

Among other issues, God\u2019s Girlfriend<\/em>\u00a0asks whether Christians and libertarians are inherently enemies with radically opposed belief systems \u2013 or whether, just maybe, they have the potential to become friends and allies in saving civilization and freedom.<\/p>\n

A DRAMATIC CLIMAX TO HANKA\u2019S SERIES<\/strong>
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

God\u2019s Girlfriend<\/em>\u00a0benefits from a few built-in advantages narratively, since it\u2019s the fifth and final novel in Hanka\u2019s Gaia\u2019s Wasp<\/em>\u00a0series and brings his apocalyptic future clash of civilizations to a dramatic climax and plot resolution.<\/p>\n

Writing under the satirical pseudonym Dr. Insensitive Jerk (also a fair and explicit warning to readers), Hanka previously wrote and self-published Gaia\u2019s Wasp<\/em>\u00a0(Book 1), Dandelion Slap<\/em>\u00a0(Book 2), Sainthood in Sixty Seconds<\/em>\u00a0(Book 3 and a 2022 Best Novel nominee) and A Beast Cannot Feign<\/em>\u00a0(Book 4 and a 2023 Best Novel finalist.)<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

As in previous novels in the series, God\u2019s Girlfriend<\/em>\u00a0explores the human capacity for self-deception, mocks the excesses of government regulation and bureaucracy, and as a cautionary tale, shows the tragedy of mutual misunderstandings that can spark conflict and violence between radically different cultures and mindsets.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

In many ways, the entire Gaia’s Wasp sequence does something difficult, rare and of special interest to the Prometheus Awards: The series poses hard, frequently evaded questions about what it would take to make a fully free society actually work, and in the process, develops some novel answers.<\/p>\n

POSING THE HARD QUESTIONS<\/strong><\/p>\n

As a former academic PhD economist and University of Chicago graduate whose free-market analyses and articles are cited over 1,000 times in peer-reviewed economic research, Hanka has been trained to go beyond the surfaces of human action and interaction while exposing popular misconceptions.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Writer Gordon Hanka (Photo courtesy of author)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In God\u2019s Girlfriend,<\/em>\u00a0Hanka often applies that background to reveal fresh insights, <\/strong>often with a strongly satirical thrust.<\/p>\n

His central insight and plot premise, developed throughout the progressively-better-written series, is that ungovernability is (or can be) a reflex that can solve the problem of collective action against tyrants.<\/p>\n

Especially during Tom\u2019s training in the colony to become a Wyrm, the story reveals exactly how Wyrms\u2019 become ungovernable (i.e. strongly resistant to any form or degree of tyranny, while remaining peaceful and respectful of other people\u2019s rights in normal and voluntary everyday social-economic interactions).<\/p>\n

As described by Best Novel judge William H. Stoddard,<\/a> those dialectical scenes of training imply that Wyrms have three successive tripwires:<\/p>\n

First, a Wyrm whose property is held for ransom becomes irrationally violent and attempts to kill the holder, even at the cost of their own life.<\/p>\n

Second, when facing a crowd that\u2019s 80% Wasps (broadly defined as human beings who are parasites, living by harming their hosts), their shackles open. In such emergencies, they can<\/em>\u00a0kill the entire crowd, even if it contains some Wyrms, although they\u2019re not irrrationally compelled to kill. If attacked with unprovoked violence, they can choose to kill the individual attacker (but in the latter case, it must be an actual attack, not a verbal threat).<\/p>\n

Third, when a Wyrm faces a serious prospect of all Wyrms being killed, they are irrationally compelled to kill the entire collective body of killers.<\/p>\n

DEFENDING FREEDOM AGAINST TYRANNY
\n<\/strong>
\nThus, God\u2019s Girlfriend<\/em>\u00a0poses a challenge to conventional thinking about war situations, collective dangers and the basic libertarian principle of non-aggression. While many modern libertarian and classical liberal theorists advocate scenarios of minimal escalation in the proper use of force,<\/strong>\u00a0Hanka will have none of that.<\/p>\n

Instead, he suggests that if we truly want to be free in a world of ongoing tyranny, war, statism and mass-murdering collectivism, playing \u201cnice\u201d won\u2019t do it. What will be effective in upholding life, liberty and justice for all, Hanks suggests, is a visible commitment to use overwhelming force against any developing threat of mob violence or mass destruction.<\/p>\n

In game theory, that\u2019s called a commitment strategy \u2013 and is viewed as extremely effective in many situations. In truth, that strategy may not be the only way to solve that problem, and it has some harsh consequences that may be difficult for many to accept.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Yet, by throwing into bold relief the key libertarian issues of coercion, consent, the use of force in self-defense and how to fight and end tyranny, Hanka forces readers to ask whether anything else could<\/em>\u00a0work.<\/p>\n

Arguably, Hanka\u2019s theory doesn\u2019t depart from libertarian ethics, but offers simply a different and darker model than the current consensus allows among theorists \u2013 one that implies a stable solution for the classic iterated Prisoner\u2019s Dilemma.<\/p>\n

Overall, Hanka means God\u2019s Girlfriend<\/em>\u00a0to be not just provocative but shocking, even or especially to libertarians, to make us think about the hard questions to which too many of us believe we already have the answers.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

READ REVIEWS OF ALL FIVE 2024 BEST NOVEL FINALISTS!
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

Check out the other four Best Novel finalists, which have previously been reviewed here on the Prometheus blog:\u00a0Critical Mass<\/a>, Theft of Fire<\/a><\/em>,\u00a0Lord of a Shattered Land <\/em><\/a>and Swim Among the People.<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Capsule descriptions of all five 2024 Best Novel finalists are included in the LFS press release<\/a> announcing this year’s Prometheus Awards finalists.<\/p>\n

ABOUT THE CO-REVIEWERS:<\/strong>
\n<\/strong>* Eric S. Raymond<\/a> was one of the pioneers of the modern open-source movement. His website is\u00a0http:\/\/www.catb.org\/~esr\/<\/a><\/p>\n

* Michael Grossberg,<\/a> a veteran journalist and award-winning arts critic and newspaper feature writer\/reporter based in Ohio, co-founded the Libertarian Futurist Society in 1981-1982 to help sustain the Prometheus Awards.<\/p>\n

Both Raymond and Grossberg serve as judges on the Prometheus Award Best Novel Judging Committee, which selects the annual slate of finalists from works nominated by LFS members.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

IF YOU WANT TO KNOW MORE ABOUT THE PROMETHEUS AWARDS:<\/strong><\/p>\n

* Prometheus winners:\u00a0<\/strong>For the full list of Prometheus winners, finalists and nominees \u2013 including the annual Best Novel and Best Classic Fiction (Hall of Fame) categories and occasional Special Awards \u2013 visit the enhanced\u00a0Prometheus Awards page<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>on the LFS website, which now includes convenient links to all published essay-reviews in our Appreciation series explaining why each of more than 100 past winners since 1979 fits the awards\u2019 distinctive dual focus on both quality and liberty.<\/p>\n

* Read \u201cThe Libertarian History of Science Fiction,\u201d<\/strong><\/a>an essay in the international magazine\u00a0Quillette<\/em>\u00a0that favorably highlights the Prometheus Awards, the Libertarian Futurist Society and the significant element of libertarian sf\/fantasy in the evolution of the modern genre.<\/p>\n

*\u00a0Watch <\/strong>videos of past Prometheus Awards ceremonies (including the recent 2023 ceremony with inspiring and amusing speeches by Prometheus-winning authors Dave Freer and Sarah Hoyt),Libertarian Futurist Society panel discussions with noted sf authors and leading libertarian writers, and other LFS programs on the Prometheus Blog\u2019s\u00a0Video page.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

* Check out the Libertarian Futurist Society\u2019s Facebook page<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0for comments, updates and links to Prometheus Blog posts.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

*\u00a0Join us! <\/em><\/strong>To help sustain the Prometheus Awards and support a cultural and literary strategy to appreciate and honor freedom-loving fiction, \u00a0join<\/a>the Libertarian Futurist Society, a non-profit all-volunteer association of freedom-loving sf\/fantasy fans.<\/p>\n

Libertarian futurists believe that culture matters! We understand that the arts and literature can be vital in envisioning a freer and better future – and in some ways can be even more powerful than politics in the long run, by imagining better visions of the future incorporating peace, prosperity, progress, tolerance, justice, positive social change, and mutual respect for each other\u2019s rights, individuality and human dignity.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Eric S. Raymond and Michael Grossberg Subversive and satirical, God\u2019s Girlfriend\u00a0challenges some of the deepest assumptions of today\u2019s politics and culture. One of five 2024 Prometheus Best Novel finalists, Gordon Hanka\u2019s provocative sci-fi novel raises thorny questions about ethics, religion, coercion and consent, the nature of masculinity and femininity and the use of weapons … Continue reading Best Novel finalist review: Gordon Hanka\u2019s provocative God\u2019s Girlfriend explores coercion, consent, masculinity, femininity and basic instincts<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2353,8,2605],"tags":[1838,558,167,1517,2357,372,2362,2366,2364,2354,2256,1842,2363,2360,2361,2358,2356,2355,765,2365,2367,2359],"class_list":["post-7454","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-book-reviews","category-review","category-sequels","tag-a-beast-cannot-feign","tag-atlas-shrugged","tag-ayn-rand","tag-best-novel-finalist","tag-christianity","tag-coercion","tag-consent","tag-evolutionary-biology","tag-femininity","tag-gaias-wasp","tag-gods-girlfriend","tag-gordon-hanka","tag-masculinity","tag-non-aggression-principle","tag-nuclear-war","tag-objectivism","tag-prisoners-dilemma","tag-sainthood-in-60-seconds","tag-spirituality","tag-the-sex-drive","tag-warms","tag-wasps"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pe8nGl-1We","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7454","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7454"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7454\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7593,"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7454\/revisions\/7593"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7454"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7454"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7454"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}