Unveiling a Parallel: A Romance (Mint Editions)

Unveiling a Parallel (1893) is a novel by Alice Ilgenfritz Jones and Ella Merchant. Alongside Mary E. Bradley Lane’s Mizora (1890) and Elizabeth Corbett’s New Amazonia (1889), Unveiling a Parallel is an important early work of feminist utopian science fiction. “Having launched my aeroplane on the current of attraction which flows uninterruptedly between this world and that, traveling was as swift as thought. My impression is that my speed was constantly accelerated until I neared my journey’s end, when the planet’s pink envelope interposed its soft resistance to prevent a destructive landing. I settled down as gently as a dove alights, and the sensation was the most ecstatic I have ever experienced.” A nineteenth century voyager travels by aircraft to the planet Mars, where he encounters two advanced civilizations of Martians. In Paleveria, women have taken control over men by adopting their tactics for violence and oppression. Their capitalist society is highly stratified, allowing wealthy women to hold all financial and political power. In Caskia, men and women have learned to live in harmony. Unlike their neighbors, they value egalitarianism, art, and intellectual advancement over wealth and power. Before returning to Earth, the voyager learns as much as he can about these Martian civilizations, speaking with their leaders to gain a better understanding of the values that guide their progress.

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Alice Ilgenfritz Jones (1846-1905) was an American novelist. She was the author of High Water Mark (1879), Beatrice of Bayou Têche (1895), and The Chevalier of St. Denis (1900). With Ella Merchant, she is the coauthor of Unveiling a Parallel (1893), a pioneering work of feminist science fiction published during a period of increased interest in utopianism in the United States and around the world.