Dark Water's Embrace

Often compared to Ursula K. Le Guin's ground-breaking The Left Hand of Darkness, Dark Water's Embrace is a fascinating look at issues of human (and alien) sexuality. Stephen Leigh creates a rich world with elaborate care and uses this alien backdrop to delve into issues of survival, sexuality and the meaning of life itself.

The colony's doctor, Anais, herself suffers from a sexual deformity. However, her world is turned upside down when she discovers that the preserved corpse of a long-extinct native race carries exactly the same deformities as herself.

What is the connection? And can she find the answer to this mystery that has reached back from time to haunt both her and the colony struggling to survive against impossible odds?

This edition includes eight new appendices by Stephen Leigh.