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The Fortress
The Fortress | S A. JONES
6 posts | 3 read | 7 to read
The Fortress asks questions about consent, power, love and fulfilment, and is absorbing, explicit, confronting and moving.Jonathon Bridge has the corner office, the tailored suits and the impeccable pedigree. He has a fascinating wife, a child on the way and a string of nubile lovers on the side. He's a man who's going places. His world is our world: the same chaos and sprawl, haves and have-nots, men and women, skyscrapers and billboards. But it also exists alongside a vast, self-sustaining city-state called The Fortress where the indigenous inhabitants ? the Vaik ? continue to live much as they have always done. The Vaik is an all-female civilisation.The Fortress is cloistered from the outside world and connected to it by an arcane tradition that permits female victims of male violence to order their assailants into The Fortress indefinitely. Another way a man may enter The Fortress is as a supplicant. When Jonathon's pregnant wife Adalia discovers the ugly sexual violence pervading Jonathon's top-tier firm, she agrees to continue their fractured relationship on one condition: that Jonathon become a supplicant for a period of one year. Jonathon's arrival at The Fortress begins with a recitation of the conditions of his stay by Mandalay, the Vaik to whom he is assigned: he is forbidden to ask questions, to raise his hand in anger and to refuse sex. At times self-justifying, at other times lost, Jonathon is utterly unprepared for what will happen to him over the course of the year ? not only to his body, but his mind and his heart.The Fortress is a psychological examination of the dark heart of modern masculinity. It is interested in what male sexual submission looks like and how a female civilisation might operate. It wants to know if readers can be aroused by sex scenes that have nothing to do with female objectification ? and even if such arousal is possible. It asks questions about consent, power, love and fulfilment in a pacey, explicit and confronting read.
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ReadingEnvy
The Fortress | S.A. Jones
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This book takes some of the tropes from early feminist sci-fi (women only or matriarchal) and pulls it into the near present, in an era of #metoo and consent. The central character has been sent to The Fortress after his wife catches him cheating, again, and must submit to whatever happens there. In his former life he was a high powered executive so it is quite the change. I read it in a day and was uncomfortable and delighted simultaneously.

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Kaylamburson
The Fortress | S.A. Jones
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I'm so excited to announce that the 1st book from Erewhon Books, a new speculative fiction publisher, went on sale today! I've worked with them behind the scenes on the launch, but of course, it isn't ideal timing for them to debut their first work. BUT it IS the perfect time to READ. Please consider supporting THE FORTRESS. This story is dismantling the patriarchy and scrutinizing toxic masculinity, power, consent, and privilege.

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BookishEscapade
The Fortress | S A. JONES
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Pickpick

While this story made me wildly uncomfortable at times, this story twisted the patriarchy and made sure that women were entirely in control of a society which stood the test of time for centuries. I recommend for anyone who wants their thoughts to be tested, pushed outside of their comfort zone and for fans of The Handmaids Tale to read this. Definitely thought provoking!

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BookishEscapade
The Fortress | S A. JONES
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Powerful.

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BookishEscapade
The Fortress | S A. JONES
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My husband bought me this book for Christmas! Never heard of the author or the story, intrigued by the alternate patriarchal society though. Has anyone read it? Let me know your thoughts! Have a Merry Christmas all 🎄

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Kaylamburson
The Fortress | S A. JONES
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Pickpick

I have so many thoughts rolling through my head about our society, this dystopian society, and the balance of right and wrong and what makes it one or the other. This is essentially like an inverse Handmaid's Tale where men are sent to The Fortress as punishment or to submit to the lives of The Vaik. Men can't ask questions, must obey all Vaik, and can't refuse sex. I definitely think this will provoke lots of conversations upon pub in 2020.

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