The Core of the Sun
It follows a young, misunderstood woman in the Eusistocratic Republic of Finland, seeking her missing sister, Manna, and her next fix of illegal chiles—by any means necessary.
This disguised morlock combats her oppression and the pain of losing her missing sister, Mira/Manna, by ingesting illegal chile peppers that she obtains with the help of her partner, Jare.
As the government begins to crack down and chile pepper suppliers run dry, Jare discovers a drug ring fronting as a religious group—the Gaians.
Although it appears the Gaians are interested in lucrative gain, their true intentions are to create a hybrid chili pepper that allows the capso to transcend their physical body, similar to shamanism.
This happens after Vanna has already ingested her last dose of The Core of the Sun, allowing her to invade Harri's thoughts and prevail against him as well as find out where her sister is.
In the Afterword of the novel, Johanna Sinisalo thanks Jukka "Fatalii" Kilpinen for enhancing her knowledge of chili peppers by extending an invitation to his farm.
[2] In The Core of the Sun's Afterword, Sinisalo describes the Transcendental Capsaicinophilic Society[3] as "a real, though somewhat tongue-in-cheek, group that can be found on the Internet".
Belyayev's experiments actually took place beginning in 1959, and involved breeding foxes with the goal of "recreating the evolution of wolves into dogs".
Arguably the most remarkable observation made of these experiments was how short an amount of time it took to reduce and eradicate what were considered unfavorable traits in the foxes.
Sinisalo uses these observations as foundation for the laws that the Eusistocratic Republic of Finland enforces to ensure the "positive racial hygiene" of its citizens.
According to the Afterword of the novel, her research into Belyayev was done through Tiina Raevaara's book Koiraksi ihmiselle (On Dogs and Humans, Teos, 2001) as well as a National Geographic article.
Because Vanna is able to recognize the constraints of gender roles and sexism, she uses her femininity to her advantage, tricking men into believing she is less intelligent and helpless, while actually being clever and self-educated.
These terms are used to oppress their female citizens by confining them to two groups: elois and morlocks, neither of which allow for any kind of individuality or autonomy.
Sinisalo defines an eloi as the slang word for a "femiwoman", which refers to the "sub-race of females who are active on the reproductive market and are distinguished by their dedication to the overall advancement of the male sex".
Their education consists only of skills to make them the best wives possible; they learn only things that help them to cook, clean, and provide comfort for their future husbands.
In The Core of the Sun, morlocks are defined as a slang term for a "neuterwoman", which refers to the "sub-race of females who, owing to physical limitations (infertility, etc.
), are excluded from the mating market...a disposable segment of society whose use is limited mainly to serving as a reserve labor force for routine tasks".
