Archive for the 'Darwin's Paradox' Category
Nina will be starting her American Book Tour shortly, beginning with the west coast. In the next few weeks, as she crosses America, you may see her smiling face in your local Barnes & Noble or Borders bookstore, where she will be doing signings (and possibly readings). Cities we have targeted include (but are not limited to):
- Spokane, Washington
- Bozeman, Montana
- Sioux Falls, South Dakota
- Omaha, Nebraska
- Kansas City, Kansas
- Columbia, Missouri
- Saint Louis, Missouri
- Louisville, Kentucky
- Chicago, Illinois.
Look for Nina’s ongoing commentary as she journeys across America on her personal blog, The Alien Next Door.
Nina’s book got some very nice reviews from fellow Canadian authors, Lynda Williams (author of Righteous Anger and others of the Okal Rel Universe series) and Jennifer Rahn (The Longevity Thesis). Nina recently reviewed Lynda’s book, Righteous Anger on Lynda’s blog, Reality Skimming. Here’s what these authors had to say about Darwin’s Paradox:
“Lively action with a people plot”
By Lynda Williams (The Okal Rel Series)
Darwin’s Paradox is rich with real science and people who care about each other, whether in a good way or a bad one. Lovers of techno-thrillers will enjoy the blend of super AIs and biological AIs bent on meddling with mankind. At the same time, Darwin’s Paradox injects hope into a post holocaust type of setting threatened with a typically SF scenario of doom. Munteanu writes with energy and a lively sense of joy in her work. Her main character, Julie, possesses the superpowers of an info-age homo superior: she can communicate pseudo-telepathically with others like herself and with AIs. In addition to her mental gifts she is also physically superior. What’s unusual about her as a homo superior heroine is her role as the unwitting vector of the plague that decimated her people. While Julie contends with the twists and turns of the plot, she is simultaneously threatened by the risk of losing her husband and daughter, both literally and emotionally. The challenges she navigates are personal, throughout, in parallel with the fast-paced action.
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“Nina gives more than a story”
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By Jennifer Rahn (The Longevity Thesis) |
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Imagine a mysterious virus that devastates half a population, while giving certain individuals enhanced mental abilities, allowing them to “psychically” link to a server containing an artificial intelligence that seems to be developing autonomy. What if that virus turned out to be deliberately engineered? What would be the motivations of the designer? What if the virus turned out to be more than it seemed, and had ideas of its own?In “Darwin’s Paradox”, Nina Munteanu (author of “Collision with Paradise”, and “The Cypol”) serves up a dually plotted story that’s part novel, part philosophical treatise on the nature of mankind and its inexorable evolution, driven by both natural and man-made pressures. Julie Crane, the central character, is a woman with a complicated and violent past, who must deal with the life she left behind to protect the peaceful existence she enjoys with her family now. As the novel opens, the back story and contemporary plot line are unfolded concurrently, until they eventually collide, and Julie is faced with the struggle of her life against unknown political forces in Icaria-5, her previous home, from which she had to flee as an unfairly labeled murderer and deliberate spreader of Darwin’s Disease. She’s never sure of who her allies or enemies are as she struggles to free herself from old accusations . . . and neither is her innocent, 12 year old daughter, who naively stumbles into her mother’s past.Looking for a thinking person’s novel? Give “Darwin’s Paradox” a try.
I met Nina briefly in Paris and we got her book, Darwin’s Paradox, into the hottest bookstore there: Shakespeare and Company. This bookstore, which offers shelves of books from a variety of genres and topics–and all in English–is situated in the Latin Quarter, which for centuries has been the centre of bohemian Parisian creativity and intelligentsia.
For over fifty years, the bookshop has housed numerous writers and hosted readings by published and unpublished authors. Run by Sylvia Whitman, daughter of the legendary George Whitman, the bookstore looks like something in a Harry Potter movie, with stacks upon stacks of all sorts of literature. Upon entering, you’ll find yourself in a place Henry Miller described as “A wonderland of books”.
Shakespeare and Company is open evey day from 10:00 to 23:00. If you’re touring Paris go check it out. The selection of English books is impeccable, with many by local writers.
If you’re a young traveling writer looking for a place to crash, Sylvia might put you up too!
While I was there, we briefly toured the city, including the impressive Tuillerie Gardens on the Right Bank.
Nina took me to her “outdoor” office, located in Place Saint-Michel on the Left Bank with a great view of Notre Dame Cathedral. I asked her how she liked Paris over a pastis (anise-based liqueur) and cafe creme.
“I love Paris,” she said. “I love everything about it, the food, the people, the architecture, the streets…The street performers who sing with feeling…the couples kissing on every street corner…that quiet reserve that just melts once they recognize that you are lost… their reverence for art and literature… Parisians know how to live. They have no problem waiting at length in line for fresh croissants at their favorite patisserie or will linger over lunch at a cafe to discuss the finer points of life over an espresso or cheese and wine. They are so civilized.”
I asked her how her research was going.
“I confess that I have done some of my best work here… that pastis can be very inspirational!” Nina confided to me with that typical impish smile of hers.
Brian Brown of Dragon Page recently reviewed Nina’s book, Darwin’s Paradox. This is what he had to say:
The Gist: Julie Crane has a lot of skeletons in her closet. She had the unleashed the Darwin virus on the world, murdered a government official, and then ran away from all the chaos she had created.
That is what the history books say, but often history is changed, twisted and confused from what really happened.
Julie fled into the wilderness outside of the cities with her husband. Outside of the influence of everyone and everything Julie learned to live in this wilderness. She gives birth to her daughter Angel and looks forward to living a life with nature.
All of this is shattered when Julie discovers that she is being hunted again. She makes a journey back to the city, alone. Julie’s daughter convinces her father to go after Julie and they too make their way to the city.
Back in the city Julie is confronted with the political intrigue, societal differences, and the mass of humanity she left behind.
It’s up to Julie, her family and new friends to unravel what is true and what is false and set things right for the future
The Good: This is a book of heavy, heady concepts in this book, chaos theory, human neurophysiology, ecosystems and sustainability, viruses, AI’s and more. It really gives some oomph behind the story of Julie and the other characters.
The vision of the future is well done and I’m a sucker for near future stories that have all of the elements of political intrigue, cybernetics, rebels against the system, AI’s going wonky, and a glimpse at future life.
The Bad: The human story elements seemed a bit weaker than the world itself and the concepts of humans living in the future. It seemed that Julie was moving on a very linear path through the world and not really deviating. For me, some of the supporting characters seemed more interesting, like her daughter Angel or the quirky, sleazy ex-Mayor.
It’s a bit confusing at the start with the barrage of the background information you get at the beginning.
The Ugly: Nothing really ugly to report.
Nina Munteanu weaves a good story that has some large concepts peppered through it. The story does have warts but they are easy enough to gloss over and dig into the main story. There are some nice twists and turns and rabbit holes to follow the tale down. I hope that future books have more about the world, the citizens who inhabit it, and the politics of city states.
I easily recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a nice mix of science fiction, political intrigue and some big scientific concepts. Go pick it up!
Nina recently made signing appearances at two Indigo bookstores on the North Shore of Vancouver, British Columbia. She met many interesting people and signed lots of books.
“I really enjoy meeting my readers and having stimulating discussions with people on topics of evolution, chaos theory, endosymbiosis and the like,” said Munteanu in a recent interview in a downtown bistro over a glass of red wine. “I find the readers at Chapters to be generally very intelligent with a diversity of backgrounds and interests. It doesn’t matter whether they buy the book or not; they always have something interesting to say about these topics. For instance, I met Tove Peterson, a scientologist who writes poetry and belongs to the Northshore Writers Club. There’s Stephen who’s favorite author is Wilbur Smith. There’s Martin, a physicist who builds solar power projects; then there’s Joanna Schilling, a keen evolution student at Langara College; and Phil who went to Ryerson with Robert J. Sawyer. As Forrest Gump said, ‘you just never know what you’re gonna get’.”
Nina continues her local booktour with signings in March at the Langley Chapters (Langely Centre on March 9th), the Surrey Chapters (Strawberry Hill on March 15th), the Vancouver Chapters (Broadway & Granville on March 22nd), and the Burnaby Chapters (at Metrotown Centre on March 29th). She then takes her booktour abroad to Europe and finally ends in Eastern Canada (Ottawa) in April.
