aledis castillo

Introduction by Aledis Castillo -

• Gregory Casparian's Turkish-Armenian origins
• Great Eastern Crisis influence on the novel
• Place in early queer SF

An Anglo-American Alliance is one of the first queer SF titles from the 20th century, written by a Turkish-Armenian immigrant to the United States. Interweaved with the romantic storyline between initially two women, which then becomes between a transman and his lover, to end happily, are a thinly veiled discourse on the misuses of power to the detriment of the masses.

Margaret and Aurora are two young women at a finishing school in (the then-future) 1960 who find one another and fall in love, only to be pulled away by their world's rigidly defined gender roles, in which they are denied politics and are destined to conform. Margaret meets the mysterious Dr. Hyder Ben Raaba, whose skills transform her into into a man and, born anew, seeks out Aurora so they can finally be together.

Now a man, Spencer is free to marry Aurora, move into politics, and put to the world to rights and tackle the evils of entrenched world power.