Cosmogoria

This book is a collection of three novellas: âCosmogoria: A Tale of Two Galaxies,â âThe Villa,â and âThe Last Four Wives of Jamil el- Jamali.â

âCosmogoria: A Tale of Two Galaxies,â begins like a classic Star Trek adventure, but ends with a possible explanation of the destiny of the universe. It covers several generations and introduces the concepts of âthought-travelâ and âclone-travel.â

In âThe Villaâ, a happily married husband and wife, writers and translators, have been on the international âlecture circuitâ for some time. However, in this tale, they go to a third-world country for the first time, and learn some new things about themselves. There are mystical overtones to this story.

The third novella, âThe Last Four Wives of Jamil el-Jamaliâ takes place mostly in the Sultanate of Oman in the middle of the twenty-first century. At the opening, Jamilâs wife, who had made his life miserable, is dead, and his uncle advises him to follow the Qur-an and take four wives, âdoing justice to all four.â He can certainly afford it, since he is a very successful jeweler. Hence, one by one he marries women, each having different backgrounds. Things begin to happen to the various relationships, not so much because of Jamilâs attitude, but more because of the attitudes of two of his wives. Womenâs liberation in the Muslim world is a developing phenomena at this time, and is a new factor in Jamilâs life. There is considerable sexual activity in this novella, but it is handled poetically, given the setting, and in keeping with the âtoneâ of the entire work.