Lion's Blood : alternate history done right

[marina_bonomi]

Every now and then, either on LiveJournal or one of the various blogs and sites about books I read, I find threads recommending books by POC authors or alternate history titles: Lion's Blood (Insh'Allah) is both.

i discovered Steven Barnes' works years ago, via his cooperation with Larry Niven, the Dream Park series (I don't know a single role-

Comments

[la_marquise_de_]

And up here in Northern Europe, pretty much every group would and did enslave and sell war captives and people snatched in raids. Many Irish, English, Frankish, Germanic, Slavic and Welsh people ended up as slaves after viking raids. The Celts were themselves active slave-takers and traders (oddly, that bit never gets into modern Celtic romantic fantasies). Right down into the 18th c. people could be sold into bond-service due to debt.

[marina_bonomi]

*nods* exactly.

I heard different takes on bond-service: some say it was slavery with a prettier name, some say that it was 'merely' temporary servitude until one had worked his /her debt off. I suspect it could be either depending on circumstances, but it's just a feeling, can you shed some light on the matter for me? :)

[la_marquise_de_]

It's a bit modern for me, but what I know of it tends to suggest it was slavery-in-all-but-name, as food, accommodation etc was added to the debt, which thus tended to grow, not diminish.

[marina_bonomi]

Thank you. Yes, why free somebody that was already trained if you had ways to keep him/her bound? From the owners side it makes perfect, perverted sense, just like many mining companies in the Third World use(d ?)to do, indebting miners with the 'loan' of equipment and having the company shop as the only source of...everything.