Darwin's Radio by Greg Bear, Nebula Award science fiction book

Denver Science Fiction & Fantasy Book Club

SCIENCE FICTION BOOK SELECTION
DARWIN'S RADIO
by
GREG BEAR

Darwin's Radio (1999)
2000 Nebula Award Winner
2000 Hugo Award Nominee

US Ballantine paperback
538 pages (left)

UK HarperCollins paperback
439 pages (right)

From the back cover of US paperback:
       Ancient diseases encoded in the DNA of humans wait like sleeping dragons to wake and infect again -- or so molecular biologist Kaye Lang believes. And now it looks as if her controversial theory is in fact chilling reality. For Christopher Dicken, a "virus hunter" at the Epidemic Intelligence Service, has pursued an elusive flu-like diseases that strikes down expectant mothers and their offspring. Then a major discovery high in the Alps -- the preserved bodies of a prehistoric family -- reveals a shocking link: Something that has slept in our genes for millions of years is waking up.
       Now, as the outbreak of this terrifying disease threatens to become a deadly epidemic, Dickon and Lang must race against time to assemble the pieces of a puzzle only they are equipped to solve -- an evolutionary puzzle that will determine the future of the human race...if a future exists at all.

From the back cover of UK paperback:
       The discovery of a mass grave of mutated villagers in the Caucasus; a mummified prehistoric family revealed by ice-thaw high in the Alps; a mysterious new disease that strikes only pregnant women, resulting in miscarriage -- three disparate facts that will converge into one science-shattering truth.
       So-called junk genes that have slept in our DNA for millions of years are waking up; the women who miscarry become spontaneously pregnant again without sexual activity. The new babies are not normal.
       Governments enact emergency measures: segregation of the sexes, abortion of all foetuses. Only three scientists in the world believe it isn't a plague: famous biologist Kaye Lang, disgraced paleontologist Mitch Rafelson and the government's 'virus hunter' Christopher Dicken. Can their leap of faith overcome mass panic and superstition?

Read for group discussion on August 9, 2000

Aaron's book review of Darwin's Radio on Fantastic Reviews (includes US hardback cover)

Our book group has also read the following books by Greg Bear:
-- Blood Music in January 1995
-- Eon in December 2007

RATINGS:
How we each rated this book

Dan	-	Amy	8	10 Wow! Don't miss it 8-9 Highly recommended 7 Recommended 5-6 Mild recommendation 3-4 Take your chances 1-2 Below average; skip it 0 Get out the flamethrower! U Unfinishable or unreadable - Skipped or no rating given
Cheri	9	Barb	7
Aaron	8	Cynthia	6
Kerry	7	Jackie	8

Bibliography:
Greg Bear (1951- ) is a US science fiction writer.

Awards:
1983 Nebula Award for Best Novella "Hardfought"
1983 Nebula Award for Best Novelette "Blood Music"
1984 Hugo Award for Best Novelette "Blood Music"
1986 Nebula Award for Best Short Story "Tangents"
1987 Hugo Award for Best Short Story "Tangents"
1994 Nebula Award for Best Novel Moving Mars
2000 Nebula Award for Best Novel Darwin's Radio

Darwin series:
-- Darwin's Radio (1999)
-- Darwin's Children (2003)

Eon series or The Way series, hard SF:
-- Eon (1985)
-- Eternity (1988), sequel to Eon
-- Legacy (1995), prequel to Eon

Forge of God series:
-- The Forge of God (1987), tells of the end of the world
-- Anvil of Stars (1992), deals with the human survivors

Songs of Earth and Power, fantasy:
-- The Infinity Concerto (1984)
-- The Serpent Mage (1986)
These books are revised and combined as Songs of Earth and Power (1994)

Other Novels:
-- Psychlone (1979), also published as Lost Souls (1982))
-- Hegira (1979)
-- Beyond Heaven's River (1980)
-- Strength of Stones (fixup 1981).
-- Blood Music (1985), about genetic engineering
-- Queen of Angels (1990), set in a future, transformed future Los Angeles
-- Moving Mars (1994), about a Martian colony
-- /(Slant) (1997), explores the possibilities of nanotechnology
-- Dinosaur Summer (1998)
-- Vitals (2002), a SF thriller
-- Dead Lines (2004)
-- Quantico (2005)
-- City at the End of Time (2008)

Several short novels (novellas) are Hardfought (1983, in Tor double with Cascade Point by Timothy Zahn) and Heads (1990). Sisters (1992) is a chapbook.

He also wrote the second book of the Isaac Asimov inspired Second Foundation Trilogy, Foundation and Chaos (1998).

Bear edited the anthology New Legends (1995, with Martin H. Greenberg).

Short story collections:
-- The Wind from a Burning Woman (1983)
-- Early Harvest (1988)
-- Tangents (1989)
-- The Venging (UK 1992), contains The Wind from a Burning Woman plus two stories
-- The Collected Stories of Greg Bear (2002)
-- W3 Women in Deep Time (2003)
-- Sleepside: The Collected Fantasies of Greg Bear (2004)

Media related books:
-- Star Trek #15: Corona (1984)
-- Star Wars: Rogue Planet (2000)

Links:
Aaron's book review of Darwin's Radio on Fantastic Reviews
Greg Bear: The Official Site
Greg Bear - Wikipedia
Greg Bear Darwin's Radio - an infinity plus review
scifi.com: Science Fiction Book Reviews - Darwins Radio
urbanophile.com review: Darwin's Radio by Greg Bear
Fiction Factor - Review of Darwin's Radio
nesfa.org: Darwin's Radio -- Greg Bear

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This page was last updated December 03, 2008