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When Charley (mount name Smiley) meets his father for the first time (Heron and Merry Mary were mated and separated by the Hoots soon after Charley was born), he resists betraying either his Master, the Hoot [[heir apparent]], or anything that might help the resisting humans because his life as a mount (breed [[Seattle, Washington|Seattle]]) is the only one he's ever known.
When Charley (mount name Smiley) meets his father for the first time (Heron and Merry Mary were mated and separated by the Hoots soon after Charley was born), he resists betraying either his Master, the Hoot [[heir apparent]], or anything that might help the resisting humans because his life as a mount (breed [[Seattle, Washington|Seattle]]) is the only one he's ever known.

The story culminates when the unidentified power source the Hoots use to maintain dominance over humans begins to wear down. After his father's death, Charley becomes [[de facto]] leader of the Free Humans and, in open negotiations with his former Master, now leader of the Hoots on Earth, agrees for humans and Hoots to work together rather than kill one another.


[[Category:2002 novels|Mount, The]]
[[Category:2002 novels|Mount, The]]

Revision as of 07:11, 9 January 2008

The Mount
Cover of first edition (paperback)
AuthorCarol Emshwiller
LanguageEnglish
GenreScience fantasy novel
PublisherSmall Beer Press
Publication date
2002
Publication placeUnited States
Media typePrint (Paperback)
Pages232 pp
ISBNISBN 1-931-52003-8 Parameter error in {{ISBNT}}: invalid character

The Mount is a 2002 science fantasy novel by Carol Emshwiller. It won the Philip K. Dick Award in 2002, and was also nominated for the Nebula Award for Best Novel in 2003.

The author was inspired to write The Mount after she took a class in the psychology of prey animals. After the class, Emshwiller wondered what it would be like if a smart prey animal rode a predator, and she saw no way to express that idea except as science fiction.[citation needed]

Plot summary

The title character and first-person narrator, Charley, is a young man who like all humans is impressed into service as riding mounts (e.g. horses) for the physically dimunitive Hoots. Humans in Charley's world, a pastoral Earth, have existed in a master-slave relationship with the Hoots for centuries. The Hoots, who have no way to return to their home planet, maintain the natural systems that keep the world running. Escaped mounts like Charley's father, formerly the Guards' Mount known as Heron, lead assaults on the stables where humans are kept and seek to unify their own people against the Hoots.

When Charley (mount name Smiley) meets his father for the first time (Heron and Merry Mary were mated and separated by the Hoots soon after Charley was born), he resists betraying either his Master, the Hoot heir apparent, or anything that might help the resisting humans because his life as a mount (breed Seattle) is the only one he's ever known.