New Book Alert: Shaare Emeth The Gates of Truth (The Love of the Tayamni Book 3) by T.A. McLaughlin; Gender Identity, Sexuality, and St. Louis Setting Play A Large Part In Latest Tayamni Outing

 

New Book Alert: Shaare Emeth The Gates of Truth (The Love of the Tayamni Book 3) by T.A. McLaughlin; Gender Identity, Sexuality, and St. Louis Setting Play A Large Part In Latest Tayamni Outing

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews

Spoilers: Now we come the to latest volume of T.A. McLaughlin's The Love of The Tayamni series, a complex science fiction saga which covers ancient aliens, time travel, intergalactic warfare, racism, sexuality, gender roles, and everything else in between.

The first book, Love of the Tayamni, introduces the concept that the pagan polytheistic gods were an ancient alien race. They mixed their DNA with that of the humans on Earth and created hybrids that were half Earthling and half Tayamni. They possessed several abilities such as traveling through time which proved useful in their intergalactic war against the cruel and manipulative Potacas and Tlaloc species.

The first book centered mostly on Batresh, the daughter of the Matriarch, head of the Tayamni. Batresh is sent forward in time to 1960's Mississippi to protect Denny Shields, a young boy who is the reincarnation of the Matriarch and is destined to accept that role in the future. Many complex themes are introduced, but the main storyline is pretty simple. It concerns Batresh's struggles protecting Denny from the prejudices and racism of the era of which the Potacas and Tlalocs feed off.

The second book, The Judgement of Seth, expands and opens up the concepts explored by the previous book. This book concerns Namazu, Batresh's sister, who travels to other planets to protect the Tayamni and recruit other alien species to take part in the conflicts against the Potacas and Tlalocs.

Book #3, Shaare Emeth The Gates of Truth, is similar to The Love of The Tayamni. The plot is mostly set on Earth and ignores the intergalactic largeness for another story of prejudice and hatred, this time towards the LGBT+ community. Also similar to the first book, most of the action centers on a few characters in one setting. This time the main character that receives the most attention is Denny Shields, who is now a young adult living in 1977 St. Louis.

From the moment during the end of The Judgement of Seth, that Batresh asks the haunting question "What's a gay bashing?" it becomes apparent that the themes of sexuality and gender identity that were in the background in the first two volumes have come forward in this one.

Denny has fled his abusive Tupelo home and his hateful racist father to start a new life in St. Louis, Missouri. As a child, he had been abused by his father, who dismissed his interest in dolls and girl's clothing as "evil." It took until the second book when he is still a child to believe that he is not evil, his father is. 

The third book is set during Denny's adulthood where he has removed himself from his toxic upbringing but is still uncertain about himself and who he really is. Coming to terms with his sexuality, he breaks up with a female friend after realizing that he can no longer live a lie. Denny gets accepted into the St. Louis Symphony Chorus and makes some new friends, a few whom he finds very attractive. Meanwhile, Batresh, now in a new form, has caught up to the young man and hopes to guide him to his destiny. Denny also catches the ire of a young homophobe who has intergalactic influences helping him unleash his more violent tendencies.

This is my favorite book in the series for many reasons. One  reason is deeply personal. My family moved to the St. Louis area in 1992 and of all places, this area feels like home to me. So I am filled with childish glee whenever I read something with a St. Louis setting. It's fun and personal when you recognize the place names in which the author describes. 

I know about Powell Symphony Hall with its red hallways, walls, and seats. I have been to Forest Park with its free Art Museum, History Museum, Science Center, and Zoo (in keeping with the time period the Art Museum, in the book, hosts the famous King Tut exhibit.) I visited the Jefferson Expansion Memorial AKA The Arch though fear of heights and crowds with closed in spaces have kept me from taking the elevator. (Unfortunately, I haven't yet been to the new improved downtown area and would love to see what they have done with it.)

I recognize streets like Grand, areas like Soulard, and places like the St. Louis Central Public  Library and Washington University.

The shoutouts to the area are brilliant and allow Readers who aren't familiar to picture it in their heads and experience it vicariously. Readers who have lived there will have fun reliving a place in which they are familiar that is now inhabited by intergalactic aliens.

The other reason that this book is the best in the series so far is McLaughlin's treatment towards the characters by overlapping their personal journies with the larger science fiction aspects that go into play.

Most of this book's plot is something that can be found in any genre: the search for identity, discovering who a person is and where they fit in their world. We, the Readers, know  where Denny's future is headed as do the Tayamni, but he doesn't. He has dreams, flash backs, and maybe flash forwards of being the Matriarch, but he doesn't understand them. Even if he did, right now, he is more concerned about the current issues of being an adult: finding his own path, getting a job and earning money, and forging new friendships and romantic relationships. This is where Denny is right now and McLaughlin is in no hurry to push him forward. In fact, it becomes clear that what Denny perceives as typical experiences could turn out to be important lessons that he will learn and put into practice one day as the Matriarch. After all, his experiences in Mississippi and Missouri teach him a lot about equality, understanding, acceptance, and unity, traits which will be very useful one day.

Denny is on a journey of self discovery and part of that is learning about his sexuality and gender identity. He explains to a friend, Bob, that he was kicked out of his home at 16 years old after his father tricked him into reading a book by a gay author. On his own, Denny read works by authors like Oscar Wilde to realize that his feelings are perfectly normal and innate. It is the heteronormative society that is flawed in their lack of acceptance of different facets of sexual experiences and gender identities.

While in St. Louis, Denny befriends various men like Bob and David, who introduce him to the night life like Llewellyn's and Herbie's, the latter of which boasts that it's one of the few gay clubs with clear and open windows. (Since homosexuality was considered illegal until the late '60's to early 70's, many gay themed bars and nightclubs had covered or blackened windows so no passerby could peek inside and see who was hanging out there.) 

One of the most powerful symbols in the book is Shaare Emeth, The Gates of Truth. Denny sees this sign when his friend, Naomi takes him to a synagogue shabbat and he sees the gates for the first time. He sees it right before the congregation erupts into a hateful rhetoric against Southern Baptists and anyone else who isn't like them (not unlike the church services of Denny's youth which he gladly left). Observing the Gates of Truth, Denny finds his own gateway. He realizes that he must live his own truth and live honestly as an out and proud gay person.

While Denny is going on this personal journey towards truth and self discovery, the science fiction aspects are also apparent in the book. Batresh, assuming the form of Miriam, a fellow Chorus member, has an extended conversation with her late mother's spirit. She reminds her of her task to watch Denny, the vessel which houses her essence. Batresh also discovers things aren't always as they seem as a nunnery near Fontainebleau College is revealed to be a secret organization of female Tayamni who use the convent as a front for their real mission and deity worship.

Of course, the Tlalocs rear their ugly hateful heads when one is bound to Charles, whose homophobic tendencies lead to violence.. This book implies many of mankind's hatreds and prejudices are inspired, egged on, and fed off by the Potacas and Tlalocs. The sad truth is, in reality, humanity doesn't need such outside influences from outer space. We are more than capable of being cruel, divisive, hateful, and violent on our own.

Shaare Emeth is the next step in an involved and fascinating series. It is clear that another volume is on its way and judging by a conversation with McLaughlin, there will be others. If the attention to character, theme, and detail in setting is as brilliant as the first three books, it should be a great, exciting, and well written experience.