The Matter of Seggri is an exploration of What If. What if the current localized trend toward gender imbalance in some parts of the world were reversed (more women than men), increased (to about 16 to 1), and made permanent? How would that be reflected in the culture? As a man it is hard for me to relate. How much of what she has written is she trying to draw from today? Do women today really feel even a little bit as isolated or objectified as the men in this story? Perhaps I'm reading too much into this one. This story is told using the device of a series of reports from cultural anthropologists reporting from their observation and study of the culture. It features an interesting story-within-a-story, in which a Seggrian short story is included as part of the report.

Unchosen Love and Mountain Ways are both set on Planet O, a world in which "moiety" renders roughly half of the population sexually unavilable via an incest taboo. The first story explores how the complexity of a marriage involving four people might be just a little more complicated than our own two-person relationshi[s when it comes to unrequited passion. There's a little twist thrown in for fun, too. Mountain Ways is a story about a violated taboo in Shakespearean style. In the end, do the conspirators get away with it? This amusing tale is even more fun, as...well...you can read it for yourself.

It is hard for me to describe Solitide adequately. It is a story told from the perspective of the daughter of one of those cultural anthropologists I mentioned earlier. Set in an apparently post-holocaust world, it is almost a tragic tale of a mother losing a daughter, perhaps through too much focus on her work. It could as easily be a telling of the strength of cultural patterns on children, with an emphasis, again, on how a culture can be powerfully slanted against the male gender. There are several more ways to read the story as well, and I probably haven't thought through them all yet. One thing for sure, Solitude is a fitting title.

Old Music and the Slave Women is an addition to a previous series of stories the author had written, but stands well on its own. Following the life of "Old Music" as he finds himself valued only as a pawn in a game of civil war, he develops an interesting relationship with the slaves of his captor. As with most of Le Guin's writing, this story does not line up with stereotypes - the slave owners on this world are black, the slaves - and our unfortunate diplomat - is white.

Exploring religion, The Birthday of the World shows us first contact from the point of view of the alien race. As their religous system breaks down after a strange prophecy and the death of their god, the gods-in-waiting face new challenges, including an unexpected fulfillment of the prophecy. This story presents an interesting view of deity from the inside. It may fit into the pattern of the other stories in this collection,