Darwin's Radio : A Novel

HUGO AWARD FINALIST • “WOW! What a splendid (scary) notion: a human upgrade! What a superb plot! Darwin's Radio is bloody damned good.”—Anne McCaffrey“Virus hunter” Christopher Dicken is a man on a mission, following a trail of rumors, government cover-ups, and dead bodies around the globe in search of a mysterious disease that strikes only pregnant women and invariably results in miscarriage. But when Dicken finds what he's looking for, the answer proves to be stranger—and far deadlier—than he ever could have imagined. Something that has slept in human DNA for millions of years is waking up. Molecular biologist Kaye Lang has spent her career tracing ancient retroviruses in the human genome. She believes these microscopic fossils can come to life again. But when Dicken's discovery becomes public, Lang's theory suddenly turns to chilling fact. As the outbreak of this terrifying disease threatens to become a deadly epidemic, Dicken 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.Praise for Darwin's Radio“Bear is one of our very best, and most innovative, speculative writers.”—New York Daily News“Superb... Bear's novel is frighteningly believable with a lot of clearly explained hard science, but the personal struggles of the well-realized characters keep everything on a human level.”—Focus“Bear is a writer of passionate vision.”—Locus“Darwin's Radio scores a high rating on the thrill monitor.”—Birmingham Post (England)“Absorbing and ingenious.”—Kirkus Reviews A mass grave in Russia that conceals the mummified remains of two women, both with child -- and the conspiracy to keep it secret ... a major discovery high in the Alps: the preserved bodies of a prehistoric family -- the newborn infant possessing disturbing characteristics ... a mysterious disease that strikes only pregnant women, resulting in miscarriage. Three disparate facts that will converge into one science-shattering truth. Molecular biologist Kaye Lang, a specialist in retroviruses, believes that ancient diseases encoded in the DNA of humans can again come to life. But her theory soon becomes chilling reality. For Christopher Dicken -- a "virus hunter" at the Epidemic Intelligence Service -- has pursued an elusive flu-like disease that strikes down expectant mothers and their offspring. The 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, Dicken and Lang, along with anthropologist Mitch Rafelson, 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. -- Provided by publisher In An Ice Cave In The Swiss Alps, Mitch Rafelson, A Renegade Paleontologist, Discovers A Frozen Neanderthal Family, Including An Oddly Evolved Infant. Meantime, In Soviet Georgia, Kaye Lang, A Microbiologist, Is Investigating A Massacre Site, Where Pregnant Women Were Exterminated. These Events Relate--by Way Of Elliptical Scientific Reasoning--to A Retrovirus Being Hunted By U.s. Government Scientist Christopher Dicken. Called Sheva, It Causes Genetic Mutations In Embryos And May Also Be An Agent Of Evolution, Ushering Into Being A New Race Of Humans. Is It A Sexually Transmitted Disease? Or, More Sinister, Is It A God-sent Means Of Delivering Up A New Adam For The Millennium? - P.w. Greg Bear. A Del Rey Book--t.p. Verso. "In an ice cave in the Swiss Alps, Mitch Rafelson, a renegade paleontologist, discovers a frozen Neanderthal family, including an oddly evolved infant. Meantime, in Soviet Georgia, Kaye Lang, a microbiologist, is investigating a massacre site, where pregnant women were exterminated. These events relate--by way of elliptical scientific reasoning--to a retrovirus being hunted by U.S. government scientist Christopher Dicken. Called SHEVA, it causes genetic mutations in embryos and may also be an agent of evolution, ushering into being a new race of humans. Is it a sexually transmitted disease? Or, more sinister, is it a God-sent means of delivering up a new Adam for the millennium?"--Page W The flat afternoon sky spread over the black and gray mountains like a stage backdrop, the color of a dog's pale crazy eye.