Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/18/84; site topaz.ARPA Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!allegra!bellcore!decvax!genrad!panda!talcott!harvard!seismo!columbia!topaz!@RUTGERS.ARPA,@SRI-CSL:Hank.Walker@CMU-CS-UNH.ARPA From: @RUTGERS.ARPA,@SRI-CSL:Hank.Walker@CMU-CS-UNH.ARPA Newsgroups: net.sf-lovers Subject: Book Review: Emergence by David R. Palmer Message-ID: <853@topaz.ARPA> Date: Sun, 3-Mar-85 16:01:02 EST Article-I.D.: topaz.853 Posted: Sun Mar 3 16:01:02 1985 Date-Received: Wed, 6-Mar-85 02:43:13 EST Sender: daemon@topaz.ARPA Organization: Rutgers Univ., New Brunswick, N.J. Lines: 24 From: Hank.Walker@CMU-CS-UNH "Emergence" is David R. Palmer's first novel. It was issued by Bantam in paperback last November. Emergence is based on the novelette "Emergence" and the novella "Seeking" which appeared in the January 5, 1981 and February 1983 issues of Analog magazine. Rewritten versions of these stories comprise the first third of the novel. These stories won Palmer a Nebula nomination, two Hugo nominations, and two John W. Campbell nominations for best new writer. And these were his first two stories! Emergence chronicles the adventures of 11-year-old Candy Smith-Foster. She is a disease-immune superhuman homo post hominem, "man who follows man", created by fetuses exposed to a flu epidemic. A biowar has wiped out homo sapiens. Hominems are divided into two classes, the AAs, recognized, studied, and given all the advantages in life, and the ABs, with ordinary upbringings that turned many into sociopaths. Armed with an AA address list, Candy sets out with her pet macaw Terry on a quest to find AAs, solve the mystery of why they have all moved away, while meeting up with other people, both good and bad. Spider Robinson's cover blurb states "This is probably the best first novel I have ever read." I completely agree. The two Analog stories were easily as good as their awards competition. Do other people have their choices for best first novel? Possibilities that come to mind are Brin, Varley, and Forward.