Fruits of Our Labor

A new world is emerging, one parthenogenetic birth at a time.

It's 2049 and American women have legally recognized human asexual reproduction. Samara yearns for freedom from her dying relationship, and a child of her own—fully her own. Yet as parthenogenetic birth takes hold and the role of men in the survival of the species wanes, protest and outcry sweep across the nation.

It’s 2062 and Sierra, one of the first “partho princesses”, is bullied relentlessly as she grows up and seeks her own place in this new pressure cooker of evolving gender roles and norms.

It’s 2085—the aftermath of the “Days of Horror”, a period of violent backlash from displaced men—and a professor of history looks back on the rise of PG birth in an attempt to understand, and communicate, the full impact of this era of genetic and political upheaval.

Together, these three converging perspectives tell the story of a profound societal transformation that asks what it means to have autonomy, who reaps the rewards, and who the future is for.

"Fruits of Our Labor is an unapologetically opinionated exploration of the growing pains associated with a world in transition. Patterson's compulsively readable prose sets up a frame to show a changing world and the impact it has on those who change with it... and those who don't. A thoughtful exploration of gender, power structures, and the dangers of wrathful rhetoric." —M.J. Kuhn, Best-selling author of Among Thieves, Thick as Thieves, and Killswitch Protocol

"Patterson writes the future with the weight of history behind every page. Fruits of Our Labor carries grief, reverence, and an unflinching eye for the choices that reshape the world. It isn't just high-concept speculative fiction; it's a story that bleeds." —S.J. Lee, author of the Altered Earth series, and All That Holds Between

"Fruits of Our Labor is for the now. In fact, the now should’ve arrived many years ago. It’s a story where the world finally places women in legitimate power, and Ian Patterson writes it with such care and gusto that we can’t help but believe." —France Pinzon, author of Intrinsic

"Ian Patterson has done something extraordinary. He has written a tale about the progress of progress. With expert craft and pristine sentences, Fruits of Our Labor presents a kind of feminist telos, an imagining of something impossible but also eerily, unavoidably, familiar. Heartfelt and never belabored, it’s the kind of book any writer wishes they wrote." —Eponynonymous, author of The People in The Box

"Fruits of our Labor manages to be both timely and prescient, working as both an exploration of current social issues and a warning to future generations. Ian has a sharp pen and a sharper understanding of the issues at stake. Yet it's not all grim future history; it also provides hope to anyone who puts love and autonomy before hatred and control." —Ryan Kunz, author of Valkyrie Moon