Claiming T-Mo

Bacon (Dying & Other Stories) explores a four-generation alien family saga in this gleeful, wacky debut. A boy born into the matriarchal Grovean culture is named T-Mo by his mother, a Grovean child bride, and Odysseus by his father, an adult Sayneth priest. This curses him with dual natures: T-Mo is happy and warmhearted, and Odysseus is cruel and temperamental. The story chronicles the many struggles of the girls and women he loves as T-Mo and hurts as Odysseus, among them his mother, his human wife, his daughter, and his granddaughters; several of these characters exist only in service to T-Mo/Odysseus’s story, and most are underdeveloped. Although the story is rife with imaginative concepts and fascinating alien cultures, Bacon’s lush imagery often sacrifices clarity for style. For better or worse, Bacon never shies from the darkly provocative (including implied incest and numerous adult male characters abusing, grooming, and marrying girls and young women) or the bewildering. Fans of space opera with far more emphasis on personal matters than on intrigue or warfare may find much to enjoy, but others will be put off by the questionable romantic and sexual elements. (Aug.)