The Sanctities of Light is a space opera novel (the first in a series) narrated by Ilona Celesta, a young woman who inherits the title of Enlightened One, the head of her people’s ruling body, after the death of her predecessor. The first in her family to rule since Meira, who is remembered as a hero for banishing an unspeakable evil, Ilona finds herself on the frontlines of a war that has been brewing for generations. She is determined to prove herself worthy of carrying on her family’s legacy. But after she is captured in combat, she learns that her enemies’ leader has overwhelming evidence that she may be fighting on the wrong side of history. The reach of the evil her ancestor battled has traveled farther than she realized, and the lies that built the Celesta name are just the beginning.

In the wake of a ship's rebellion that left the aircraft in the hands of authorities and its crew either imprisoned or hospitalized, former Captain Alberta Ramira finds herself in need of work and out of a ship while law enforcement finishes investigating the incident. She joins the "ferkeeps," a unit of law enforcement tasked with making sure expectant mothers are healthy and abstaining from substances that could be harmful to their unborn children. Although Ramira is initially unhappy with her temporary new job, she quickly becomes enmeshed with her colleagues, especially one, Turi, for whom she develops feelings. That sense of camaraderie presents a challenge when she is approached by one of the investigators offering the immediate return"”and upgrade"”of her ship if she will only testify against her colleagues for enabling drug use and trade among their clients. Meanwhile, Niagara, recovering from her physical and emotional wounds from the ship's rebellion, is whisked away at the behest of her mother, colony chancellor, on a luxury spaceship carrying diplomats to the colony's capital on Terra for the upcoming legislative session. Under constant guard should anyone threaten the chancellor's daughter, Niagara has to forget the norms of her last four years as an indentured sailor and brush up on her social graces. But when the indentured on that ship rebel, she has to use both halves of herself to strike a compromise between indentured and the captain to ensure they all reach Terra safely. As Ramira and Niagara struggle against the social and civic structures in more civilized climes, Vicky heads for the wilds of Eden, plunging into a perilous forest in search of an expert on the language and culture of the aliens who previously occupied the planets in the colony. The trees and vines are hard enough to cut through without strange and bloodthirsty animals and insects lurking nearby, and despite her most careful efforts, Vicky is seriously wounded. She finds help, though, in a commune of colony deserters hiding in the center of the forest. The expert she was looking for is there, too. Vicky must decide if she will stay safe in the commune, cut off from her family and friends but free of the obligations waiting for her within the colony's reach, or brave the forest again to return to civilization.

This study comprises a close reading and textual analysis of The Sentients of Orion, a space opera series by Australian author Marianne de Pierres, with a view to investigating the representations of gender in modern, popular science fiction by women authors. I hypothesise that de Pierres will pose a fictional enquiry into gender, based on the richness of science fiction by women, but that a closer examination of physical and emotional intimacy (both positive and negative) in these ‘less literary works’ will prove de Pierres’ gender enquiry to be superficial and inconsistent in nature. My main approach is a qualitative exploration of selected incidents through the theoretical lenses of feminist literary criticism, gender theory and, where applicable, queer theory. While I draw eclectically on these interpretive paradigms, my approach is most closely aligned with poststructuralist feminism. Proving the first part of my hypothesis, my findings show that de Pierres does pose an enquiry into gender through her portrayal of plot and character. The particular focus on the intimacies involving the heroine, women, men, and alien characters, proves the second part of my hypothesis incorrect as it reveals how de Pierres not only deeply and consistently challenges the heteronormative status quo, questioning dynamics in relationships, gender roles, ageism, sexism and societal stereotypes, but also provides possible alternatives. / English Studies / D. Litt. et Phil. (English)