HEART OF GOLD

The feudally matriarchal, blueskinned indigos—their menfolk are drones—own vast estates and consider themselves superior to the feudally patriarchal, technologicallyminded, goldenskinned gulden, whose women are chattels. Still, some indigo males work in the city, and some gulden males will work alongside indigo females; at biracial Biolab, indigo Nolan Adelpho specializes in developing antibiotics for diseases that affect only gulden. Other gulden, however, protesting indigo annexation of gulden lands, are turning to terrorism; Jex, the son of gulden leader Chay Zanlan, presently languishes in jail. His lover, indigo rebel Kit Candachi (her father was a rich and famous friend of the gulden) doesn't believe he's a terrorist, even after she's nearly killed in a bomb blast. Meanwhile, Nolan accidentally discovers that Biolab boss Cerisa Daylen has developed a disease to kill all gulden. She's already infected Chay Zanlan during his recent visit with Jex, and the disease will spread rapidly. Nolan, aware that Kit is Jex's lover, kidnaps her and forces her to take him to Chay Zanlan. Nolan explains what's going on and offers help to find a cure. As Kit and Nolan inevitably fall in love, Nolan ponders radical ways of forcing the races to work together.

A telling profile of a racially divided society, and a pretty good love story too; despite a few procedural problems, another top-notch outing for the underappreciated author of Wrapt in Crystal (1999), etc.