11 - Anglo-American Alliance A Comic Love Story of the Future by Gregory Casparian

Praised by io9 as the first lesbian science fiction novel, *An Anglo-American Alliance* is a whimsical exploration of love, transformation, and geopolitics set in the imaginative year of 1960. In this world, the Anglo-American Alliance reigns as a global government, heralding a new era of technological and social progress. Yet, even in this seemingly utopian time, the love that dare not speak its name remains taboo. The narrative centers on the secret romance blossoming between two women, Margaret MacDonald and Aurora Cunningham, at a ladies seminary in Cornwall. As they navigate their hidden desires, they also learn to harness the powers of science and technology to turn their dreams into reality. Please note While the novel offers progressive insights on sexuality and gender identity, it also reflects the prejudices of its era, containing instances of ethnocentrism, antisemitism, and casual racism that may be uncomfortable for some listeners. - Summary by ChuckW

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Chapter ten of An Anglo American Alliance. This is a
LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain.
For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org.
Recording by Chuck Williamson. An Anglo American Alliance by Gregory Kasparian,

(00:25):
Chapter ten, the Transformation. The seaside resorts on Long Island
were deserted by the gay health seekers from the adjacent cities,
and the inhabitants of the villages along the south shore
from Rockaway to Montauk had dwindled their normal number of

(00:45):
rural residents, except the city of b which, on account
of its shipping interests, still retained a lively activity. The
day was dismal and damp, foreboding a rainy spell. There
were scarcely any people on the street, and at dusk,
when the Montak Express stopped at the station of b

(01:09):
there were only a few passengers to alight. One of
them was a young woman attired in black with a
thick veil of similar hue drawn over her face. She
looked furtively up and down the platform with painful anxiety,
and a spying and automobile. A few rods below the station,

(01:31):
walked toward it hesitatingly, at the same time pulling from
her wrist bag a crimson handkerchief. The chauffeur on the
machine seemed to understand the meaning of the signal, for
at once jumping down, he advanced to meet the stranger.
After several words were exchanged in subdued tones, he escorted

(01:54):
the veiled lady to the vehicle, and in a few
minutes they were beating down the road toward the Hindoo
Doctor's Sanitarium. The woman, of course, was Margaret MacDonald, and
the chauffeur none other than the Levantine jew Esau, the
doctor's discreet servant. When they arrived at Ben Raba's domicile,

(02:19):
it was almost pitch dark, and not a soul could
be seen in the vicinity. At the ringing of the
door bell, ben Raba himself appeared and sedately welcomed Margaret,
conducting her into the reception room. Shortly after, when Esau
had withdrawn, they were sitting tete a tete at a table,

(02:42):
pursuing some mysterious documents to which at last, Margaret, taking
a pin, subscribed her signature. The documents were nothing else
than the legal contract which Margaret had signed offering her
a willing subject to undergo a mental and physical metamorphosis,

(03:05):
an absolving bin Raba from any responsibility if the experiment
should prove unsuccessful or fatal. After a fortnight of dietary preparation,
Margaret was taken into the laboratory of the Wizard and
immediately hypnotized by him into a state of cataleptic coma.

(03:27):
An awful sensation crept over one upon looking around about
this den called the laboratory, glittering saws and scalpels were
hung in rows on the walls, Lances, beakers, and retorts
were scattered on the tables and on the floor, and
one hundred and one other apparatus and bottles could be

(03:49):
seen upon the shelves. A big cat owl perched on
a pedestal in one corner, and a black tomcat with
intense green eyes proud about the room gave to the
scene a cabalistic and weird aspect. Here among these uncanny surroundings,

(04:10):
doctor hyderbin Rabba isolated and busied himself with continuous vigilance
for many months in order to achieve an undertaking that
seemed miraculous and impossible. Through the lapse of so many
long and tedious months, doctor hyderbin Rabba had come to
the completion of his assiduous labors, labors which had almost

(04:35):
exhausted his consummate skill in hypnotism, surgery and magic. After
a final but scrupulously careful examination of the patient, assuring
himself that every muscle, nerve, gland, and artery were in
their proper place, he paused a moment before the prostrate body.

(04:57):
It was a solemn and tragic moment. Signs of intense
anxiety were visible upon his otherwise imperturbable visage, betraying the
fact that he was in a crucial predicament. What if,
on awakening the patient he found her a maniac, irrevocably

(05:18):
bereft of reason. What if his reincarnated subject should prove
to be a hideous Frankenstein or a monstrosity devoid of
finer senses? What if she should prove to be a
man with effeminate mind and manners? Such and a thousand

(05:38):
other similar fears and misgivings were flashing in that moment
through his mind. Confident of his ultimate success and undaunted
with apprehensions, he assumed a determined countenance, and commenced to
undo the hypnotic spell in order to restore his subject

(05:59):
to life and energy. With eyes dilated, eyebrows knit, an
arm stretched, holding in one hand a magic wand this
future Mephisto uttered some mysterious words in sepulchral intonations, snapped
his fingers three times, and presto, the spell was broken.

(06:24):
The full magical effect of his audacious undertaking was evident,
for scarcely had the last syllable of those mysterious and
incomprehensible words left his shriveled lips. When a sudden trimmer
shook the frame of Margaret, and with a subdued groan
indicative more of a sensation of bliss than of pain,

(06:47):
she opened her eyes. A triumphant smile pervaded her countenance,
as if awakening from a utopian dream. Doctor bin Rabba, meanwhile,
perceiving the crowning success of his work, and standing beside her,
began to exclaim with rapturous joy metam psychosis, medam psychosis.

(07:13):
The patient at once became conscious that her bodily transformation
was complete, for it did not take long to realize it.
As he stood there a beautiful specimen of manhood. This
miraculous transformation brought to light another remarkable mental discovery. It

(07:34):
was discovered by the doctor that all the accomplishments, knowledge,
and mental attributes possessed by Margaret prior to her reincarnation
had been intensified a hundredfold in their entity into those
of an aggressive, daring, and strenuous masculinity. Margaret, assuming forthwith

(07:58):
a masculine name, remained a few months under the care
and tutelage of Ben Raba in order to acquire further
important knowledge and hypnotism, diplomacy, et cetera that would be
of invaluable service in his future career, and it was
not until September, almost one year after the advent of

(08:19):
the patient, that he reluctantly bade good bye to Hider
bin Raba and was again lost in the vortex of humanity.
End of Chapter ten