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Beggars in Spain: Difference between revisions
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It's 2008, [[Twenty Minutes Into the Future]]. Leisha Camden is a [[Born Winner]]: her daddy's rich, her mama's good-looking, [[Hair of Gold]], [[Blue Eyes|Eyes Of Blue]]... and the latest genemods, the one that make you [[The Sleepless|not need to sleep]]. This particular genemod is a very new technology, and Leisha is only the 21st human being ever born with it. The other 19 are healthy, sane, cheerful and incredibly smart; all of them go on to become luminaries in their fields. The 20th was shaken to death by parents who [[Reality Ensues|hadn't reckoned on a baby that cried 24/7]].
A [[Cyberpunk]] novel by way of [[Genetic Engineering Is the New Nuke]], the ''Beggars'' trilogy has a lot of technology in it, obviously; in addition to "genemods", as they're called, there's Cold Fusion, invented by a guy named Kenzo Yagai. He also invented Yagaiism, which Kress admits to having based on [[
The other emphasis of the trilogy, the ''real'' emphasis, is prejudice. [[What Measure Is a Non-Human?]] Every single character in the series is asking this, and what's interesting is that every single character in the series has a different way of defining 'human.' To most people, the Sleepless—intelligent, overachieving, blessed with superb emotional stability—aren't human... especially when it's discovered that the Sleeplessness gene unlocks some sort of radical [[Healing Factor]], making the Sleepless functionally immortal. To the Sleepless, ''[[Muggles]]'' aren't human: not because they have to waste a third of their life in comatose nonproductivity, but because they prefer to [[Wangst]] and bask in the culture of entitlement rather than apply themselves. With [[Fantastic Racism]] flying in both directions, it isn't long before open hostilities and byzantine plans begin to sprout.
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And then things go ''really'' [[Off the Rails]].
One part [[
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* [[A-Cup Angst]]: Diana Covington has some of this going on.
* [[Artistic License: Biology]]: science currently believes that long-term sleeplessness is impossible, as sleep serves as a necessary pressure valve for a number of mental, emotional and physiological processes; for instance, mood imbalance is associated with sleep deprivation. Kress [[Hand Wave|handwaves]] this via [[Insane Troll Logic]] ("Exactly--remove sleep entirely and the mood disorders will disappear with it!"), but since sleeplessness is a [[Necessary Weasel]] we put up with it.
* [[Becoming the Costume]]: the whole point of Theresa Aranow's biofeedback techniques.
* [[Bio Augmentation]]: the Change syringes, full stop.
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* [[May-December Romance]]: amongst Sleepless, this can be common. Possibly justified by the lack of aging.
* [[Might Makes Right]]: one of the guiding principles of Sanctuary, when you get down to it. "We don't recognize that weakness has a moral claim on competency."
* [[Mohs Scale of Science Fiction Hardness]]: Despite being [[
* [[Morally-Ambiguous Doctorate]]: not even discussed, just taken for granted. A big theme of the series is technology running away with itself, and a key measure of various characters is how willing they are to use whatever new tech has come along, regardless of whether their goals are beneficial or not.
* [[Muggle Born of Mages]]: six Sleepless marriages produce sleeping children during the 21st century, due to genetic regression to the mean. The five born on Sanctuary are [[All of the Other Reindeer|quietly done away with]].
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* [[The Spock]]: ''all'' Sleepless, by virtue of being unable to sleep and thus having no access to the safety valve of the unconscious. (Seriously, Leisha dies at the age of 106. She sleeps ''once'' in her life, when she takes a drug at age 16. Imagine being conscious for 90 years straight, by the way.)
* [[Stepford Smiler]]: all the characters to a certain extent—being a Sleepless means being an instant celebrity—but Jennifer Sharifi the most. Leisha's mother Elizabeth as well, for the short time she's in the story.
* [[Sudden Sequel Death Syndrome]] in every book after the first.
* [[Supporting Protagonist]]: the second book's central character is Miranda Sharifi. She does not narrate.
* [[Switching POV]]: the first book features primarily Leisha, with help from, in order: Susan Melling, Jordan Watrous, Jennifer Sharifi, Drew Arlen and Miri Sharifi. The second is all [[Point of View|first-person]] narration from Drew, Billy Washington and Diana Covington. The third uses Lizzie Francy, Jennifer Sharifi, and Jackson and Theresa Aranow.
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