Home > Science Fiction & Fantasy > General Science Fiction > Darwin's Children

Darwin's Children

List Price: $7.99

Save 5.0%

You Pay: $7.59

Want this eBook?Our eBook Library Software is required to purchase and download eBooks. Download it here.

Tell a Friend

Overview

Greg Bear's Nebula Award-winning novel, Darwin's Radio, painted a chilling portrait of humankind on the threshold of a radical leap in evolution-one that would alter our species forever. Now Bear continues his provocative tale of the human race confronted by an uncertain future, where "survival of the fittest" takes on astonishing and controversial new dimensions. DARWIN'S CHILDREN Eleven years have passed since SHEVA, an ancient retrovirus, was discovered in human DNA-a retrovirus that caused mutations in the human genome and heralded the arrival of a new wave of genetically enhanced humans. Now these changed children have reached adolescence . . . and face a world that is outraged about their very existence. For these special youths, possessed of remarkable, advanced traits that mark a major turning point in human development, are also ticking time bombs harboring hosts of viruses that could exterminate the "old" human race. Fear and hatred of the virus children have made them a persecuted underclass, quarantined by the government in special "schools," targeted by federally sanctioned bounty hunters, and demonized by hysterical segments of the population.

Editorial Reviews

In this masterful sequel to his Nebula Award-winning Darwin's Radio, Bear takes us into a near future forever changed by the birth of millions of genetically enhanced babies to mothers infected with the SHEVA virus. These children may represent the next great evolutionary leap, but some fear their appearance rings a death knell for traditional humanity. Geneticist Kaye Lang, archeologist Mitch Rafelson and their daughter, Stella Nova, have been hiding from an increasingly repressive U.S. government that wants to put the so-called "virus children" in what are essentially concentration camps. Eventually, the family is captured, and when Mitch resists he's arrested on a trumped-up charge of assaulting a federal officer. In later years, Kaye returns to genetics and Mitch, once he's out of jail, to archeology, but neither gives up hope of finding and freeing their daughter. Meanwhile, Stella, imprisoned but surrounded by her own kind, begins to explore the full significance of what it means to be post-human. Though cast in a thriller mode, like much of Bear's recent work, this novel may contain too much complex discussion of evolutionary genetics to appeal to Michael Crichton or Robin Cook fans. Nonetheless, Bear's sure sense of character, his fluid prose style and the fascinating culture his "Shevite" children begin to develop all make for serious SF of the highest order. (Apr. 1) Forecast: An eight-city author tour, plus national print advertising in both mainstream and SF/fantasy publications, should launch this into bestseller territory. Look for further award nominations for Bear, as well as the forthcoming Warner Bros. movie based on his novel The Forge of God. Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information. -- PUBLISHERS WEEKLY.

Author Information

Bio of Greg Bear

Greg Bear was born in San Diego, California, on August 20th, 1951, to Wilma M. and Dale F. Bear. His father was in the navy, and by the time he was twelve years old, he had traveled to Japan, the Philippines and Alaska, as well as various parts of the United States. At age 14, he began submitting pieces to magazines and at 15 he sold his first story to Robert Lowndes' Famous Science Fiction. It would be five years before he sold another piece, but by 23 he was selling stories regularly. Bear finished his first novel at 19, but didn't sell it till 13 years later. The first novel he did sell was Hegira. In 1983, Arkham House published his first collection of short fiction, The Wind From a Burning Woman. A second collection, Tangents, was published by Warner Books in August of 1989. In 1983, Bear was nominated for the Nebula Award for his short story, Petra. In 1984, Hardfought and Blood Music won the Nebula Awards for best novella and novelette; Blood Music went on to win the Hugo Award. The novel version of that story, also called Blood Music, won the Prix Apollo in France and was nominated for the Hugo and Nebula awards. In 1987, Tangents won the Hugo and Nebula awards for best short story. Moving Mars won the 1994 Nebula for best novel. Darwin's Radio was awarded the Nebula in 2001. Both Dinosaur Summer and Darwin's Radio have been awarded the Endeavour for best novel published by a Northwest science fiction author. Bear's novels have been translated into 17 different languages. A short story, Dead Run, was adapted by Alan Brennert for the second Twilight Zone television show. The White Horse Child appeared in 1993 as a CD-ROM multi-media presentation from eBook. Bear also did freelance work, covering the Voyager planetary encounters for the San Diego Union. He's written articles on film for the Los Angeles Times. Between 1979 and 1982 he reviewed books for the San Diego Union Book Review supplement. Opinion pieces have been published in New sday and other journals and newspapers around the world. Bear frequently lectured at San Diego City Schools, acting as a roving teacher and conducting short classes on ancient history, the history of science, and science fiction/fantasy. Bear co-edited the Forum of the Science Fiction Writers of America for two years with his wife. And for two more years, acted as chairman of the SFWA Grievance Committee, then served as Vice President of SFWA for a year, and President for two years. He served on the National Citizens Advisory Council on Space Policy, a private group consisting of scientists, military specialists, space scientists and engineers, astronauts, and writers. He is also a consultant with the Sigma Group, which has advised Sandia National Laboratories, as well as Microsoft and other software companies. He has consulted for the U.S. Army and the CIA on security matters in the wake of 9/11/2001. And in 2000, Bear lectured at the FBI Academy in Quantico, Virginia, on the nature and future of crime and criminal justice. Bear is also an illustrator and his work has appeared on Galaxy, Fantasy and Science Fiction and Vertex, and books both hardcover and paperback. He was a founding member of ASFA, the Association of Science Fiction Artists.

Customer Reviews

There are no customer reviews available at this time. To add your review, Register or Sign In to your account using our free eBook Library Software.

Additional Info

Imprint

Del Rey

Filesize

976.67 KB

Number of Pages

512

eBook ISBN

9780345464910

Awards

  • Arthur C. Clarke Award

Excerpt from: Darwin's Children by Greg Bear



1


Spotsylvania County, Virginia

Morning lay dark and quiet around the house. Mitch Rafelson stood with coffee cup in hand on the back porch, dopey from just three hours of sleep. Stars still pierced the sky. A few persistent moths and bugs buzzed around the porch light. Raccoons had been at the garbage can in back, but had left, whickering and scuffling, hours ago, discouraged by lengths of chain.

The world felt empty and new.

Mitch put his cup in the kitchen sink and returned to the bedroom. Kaye lay in bed, still asleep. He adjusted his tie in the mirror above the dresser. Ties never looked right on him. He grimaced at the way his suit hung on his wide shoulders, the gap around the collar of his white shirt, the length of sleeve visible beyond the cuff of his coat.

There had been a row the night before. Mitch and Kaye and Stella, their daughter, had sat up until two in the morning in the small bedroom trying to talk it through. Stella was feeling isolated. She wanted, needed to be with young people like her. It was a reasonable position, but they had no choice.

Not the first time, and likely not the last. Kaye always approached these events with studied calm, in contrast to Mitch's evasion and excuses. Of course they were excuses. He had no answers to Stella's questions, no real response to her arguments. They both knew she ultimately needed to be with her own kind, to find her own way.

Finally, too much, Stella had stomped off and slammed the door to her room. Kaye had started crying. Mitch had held her in bed and she had gradually slipped into twitching sleep, leaving him staring at the darkened ceiling, tracking the play of lights from a truck grumbling down the country road outside, wondering, as always, if the truck would come up their drive, come for their daughter, come to claim bounty or worse.