The protagonist of "Bloodchild," Gan, is a Terran—a human—living on an alien planet among its powerful insect-like hosts, the Tlic, some time in the future. The story opens on Gan's "last day of childhood." The events that unfold describe a rite of passage that takes place in a society where these two different species must depend on one another in order to survive. Gan's family has a special relationship with a particular Tlic named T'Gatoi. T'Gatoi has been a friend of Gan's mother, Lien, since childhood. When, generations earlier, Terrans arrived on the Tlic planet, the Tlic species was dying out. The Tlic needed Terrans in order to reproduce, using the Terrans' bodies to incubate their eggs. Despite the fact that the Tlic are more powerful physically and politically, they remain dependent on Terrans for the survival of their species. According to...