.KEYWORD ppbookmonth0800
.FLYINGHEAD PALMPOWER BOOK CLUB
.TITLE Beggars in Spain, the perfect ebook for sleepless nights
.OTHER
.SUMMARY Fresh on the heels of the sequencing of the human genome, Fictionwise.com has released an ebook version of a classic novella by Nancy Kress exploring the dangers of genetic engineering. Eliot Mercury reviews this involving tale that epitomizes the expression, it’s not nice to fool with Mother Nature.
.AUTHOR Eliot Mercury
In June of this year, scientists announced they had succeeded in sequencing the human genome, opening the door to a new future of genetic engineering. How long will it be before we begin custom-designing our children? What will the consequences be? Those questions of tomorrow are being explored today in the realm of science fiction.
Beggars in Spain, a novella by Nancy Kress, was first published in 1991 and was hailed as a great story on genetic engineering. It also achieved the rare honor of being both a Hugo and a Nebula award winner. In an extremely timely move, Fictionwise.com recently released an ebook version of Nancy Kress’s novella, available in Doc format for $2.49. Fictionwise.com also has an audio interview with Nancy Kress (using RealPlayer) on their site.
.H1 Insomnia envy
Kress says in the audio interview that the idea for this story came from her jealousy of friends who only needed four or five hours of sleep per night. She reports she needs a solid nine hours. Kress mused about how much more she could accomplish in life if all those hours "wasted" in sleep were made productive.
As the story opens, a wealthy financier makes use of genetic engineering to produce a "designer daughter." He demands that the scientists in charge ensure that she be smart, pretty, and, most importantly, have no biological need to sleep. The story follows this bio-engineered girl-Leisha Camden-from pre-birth through her twenties. During this time, several thousand more "Sleepless" children are produced. A backlash develops against the Sleepless, and much of the story revolves around the different ways Sleepless people react to the sudden outbreak of hate.
The backlash includes various laws passed to discriminate against the Sleepless. For example, an Olympic hopeful who happens to be Sleepless is banned from competing, because her ability to practice 12 hours per day, even while attending high school full time, is seen as an unfair advantage. The state of Georgia makes sexual intercourse between Sleepless and normal people a crime. More extreme forms of discrimination and violence also appear.
One group of the Sleepless decides on an isolationist approach. They plan to build a remote, contained city in which they will trade their talents with the outside world in safety. Another group pushes for integration with society. The Sleepless face additional problems as the story progresses and more social consequences of their engineered biology are revealed.
.H1 Rich in themes and ideas
Besides the genetic aspects of the story, Kress mixes in not a small amount of economic philosophy. Leisha’s father is a proponent of a philosophy called Yagaism, which holds that the only moral way to live is by each individual producing what they do best and trading it to others. The symbol of this approach is the contract, representing the free exchange of goods and services. The name of the novella, Beggars in Spain, is actually a reference not to genetics but to an argument against this theory, and much of the story involves Leisha’s internal struggle to embrace both the individual achievement demanded by Yagaism as well as the incorporation of compassion for the less fortunate (as represented by the Beggars in Spain analogy).
In addition, the author manages to build rich characters by showing their interpersonal struggles. Leisha has a sister who is "normal" and openly ignored by their father, causing severe conflict between the two sisters. Leisha herself comes into conflict with her father later in her life, and she even has several heated exchanges with some of the other Sleepless.
Indeed, it is Kress’s ability to merge these various themes of genetic engineering, personal struggles, and economic philosophy that make this such a great novella. Kress comments in her interview that she prefers the novella form. A novella is defined as a short work of between 17,500 and 40,000 words. Beggars in Spain is about 25,000 words, or about one third the length of a typical novel. She says that this length of story gives the author enough room to build compelling characters but is short enough not to require multiple subplots that are typical of novels. Thus, the drama can remain on target and concentrated.
Although the novella is great, and a landmark of sorts, that’s not to say it’s perfect. For instance, some of Kress’s extrapolations of the benefits of Sleeplessness seem to be a stretch. It’s also hard to believe there aren’t any negative side effects to the extensive genetic modification and manipulation of all manner of hormones necessary to remove the need for sleep, as proposed in the story. However, I would consider these to be minor points, small flaws in an otherwise very precious gemstone. I am willing to suspend my disbelief for the greater ideals and goals of the storyline.
If you’re looking for a novella-length work to give you a few hours of pleasurable reading, and if you’re a fan of the grand ideas science fiction can often provide, this one is strongly recommended.
.H1 Other Kress shorts
Fictionwise.com is also providing a bundle of four Kress genetics stories that includes Beggars in Spain. You may also buy the other three stories ala cart. Here are short reviews of each, in order of how much I liked them:
.H2 Evolution
This short story shows us a world in which antibiotic-resistant bacteria has run amok in hospitals, causing terrorist activity directed against doctors who abuse antibiotics. The plot is fast-paced and the characters richly developed. Given that some forms of tuberculosis are already highly resistant, we may actually face the grim future portrayed here, but the story, in general, is not a downer. After Beggars in Spain, this was my second favorite of the four stories in this bundle. It has a length of 9,400 words, and is priced at $1.19.
.H2 Dancing on Air
This complex novella applies genetic engineering to the art of ballet. The plot is thick with twists and turns, and there are some very interesting segments in which the point of view character is a semi-intelligent bio-engineered dog. This is a great buy if you’re a patron of ballet or want to learn some ballet terminology. The science concepts are all there too, and there’s a little murder mystery thrown in for good measure. I enjoyed it even though I’m not a big ballet fan. At times I found the descriptions of ballet moves incomprehensible and perhaps once or twice tedious, but it’s a small price to pay for an otherwise excellent story. This story was nominated for both the Hugo and Nebula awards. It has a length of 21,000 words, and is priced at $1.85.
.H2 Margin of Error
This low-priced story is quite short; you can read it in less than ten minutes. It shows two sisters pitted in a struggle after one leaves her genetic engineering firm to become a mother. It’s nice, but not as good as the others in this bundle. Kress appears to be right in her assessment that she’s more attuned to novellas than very short stories like this one. The low price, however, justifies this as a reasonable way to spend a few minutes of reading time. It has a length of 2100 words, and is priced at $0.39.
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.H1 Product availability and resources
For more information on Fictionwise.com’s release of Beggars in Spain and other great books, visit http://www.fictionwise.com.
.H1 Bulk reprints
Bulk reprints of this article (in quantities of 100 or more) are available for a fee from Reprint Services, a ZATZ business partner. Contact them at reprints@zatz.com or by calling 1-800-217-7874.
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.BIO Eliot Mercury is a staff writer for Fictionwise.com at http://www.fictionwise.com. He can be reached at mercury@picoturbine.com.
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