Daughters of Khaton

Daughters of Khaton is a 1987 short novel by Merril Mushroom.

A space crew lands on a world where women have formed a harmonious relationship with nature as embodied in the Hylantree. The Hylantree helps the women reproduce (providing babies from a pod, in fact). Of the space crew (5 men and 1 woman), the woman and one man elect to stick around on the planet. Some of the portrayals of men are stereotyped: a stereotyped macho captain and a loathsome aggressive rapist crew-member. However, two other crew members turn out to be gay, a fifth is a nice young man, and the sixth has a spiritual awakening on the planet.

Publications

• 1976: An excerpt from this book appeared in a different form with the title Excerpt from "Sisterworld" in Sinister Wisdom, Charlotte, NC, #1 or #3, July 1976.
• 1987: Lace Publications, Denver, Colorado. ISBN 0-917597-03-6. (Copy available at San Francisco Public Library.)