I have to agree with Reaves and Ben - don't write it off as unpublisheable. Once you've got it past us and done whatever else you need to do to get it as good as it needs to be, start sending it off.
I don't see that anything you provided in the summary is a deal-breaker (of course, I'm not an authority on what's saleable). Like they've said, you'll never really know until you start putting it out there. You may want to consider doingsome research - can you find anything else
like Phyles? Even stories with only a single aspect that you may consider similar to something in Phyles might be enough that you can pitch it to a publisher based on that element - and what's different. People DO like different. There are also presses out there, especially small presses which can often afford to take more risks, that like experimental work. So yeah, once you send it's ready, start sending it out. (Better yet, shop it to an agent, who'll have a much better idea what to do with it.) If you're on the fence about whether it's a good fit for them, query anyway. The worst they can say is no.
A way to get a feel for whether or not it's publishable might be to try and publish a chapter or excerpt of the story that stands fairly well on its own in a litmag. I will admit I'm not a hundred per cent certain on this, but I don't believe that it will negatively effect your ability to sell the book later because they deal with different rights. In fact, it may well help.
While you're sitting on your thumbs waiting for responses from publishers and agents, remember don't just have to .. uhh... sit on your thumbs. (Sorry, I'm not in a particularly eloquent mood right now.) You can record a dummy podcast or two, see what your reaction is - and maybe a few other people - whether you can make it a successful podcast, and whether you WANT to, since I'm sure going the Defendi Route involves a beastly amount of work. Heck, you could record a dummy episode and throw it up here so we could give it a shot, if you wanted.
Incidentally, it's not taboo to write books in present tense. Admittedly, I've only seen it once, with a little book called the Yiddish Policeman's Union, by Michael Chabon. You may have heard of it. It won a Hugo award. And a Nebula.
So... put it out there, before you write it off.