Central Kansas Library System

An elegant and far-ranging novel exploring the nature of life, death, and humanity Josepha is more than three hundred years old, but she doesn't look a day over twenty-two. When she was fourteen, she wanted to die, but an overdose of pills was not enough to kill her. Soon after that came the Transition-the great breakthrough that offered extended life to all humanity-and so for three centuries, death has been denied her. There are those who flee from...

The famous astrophysicist Paul Swenson creates five perfect clones in his own image. The Swenson clones are the targets of criticism, hostility and abuse from a frightened public that does not understand their strange existence. However, they must survive, for Paul Swenson has cloned them in order to accomplish an important task. This is the story of their loves and battles, triumphs and terrors, as they struggle to save their futures and the collective...

The Venus Project calls upon the strongest and most courageous to create a prosperous world in the dismal wilderness of Venus. Those who demonstrate the skill and the passion to embark on this adventure must transform the barren planet in the midst of political and cultural unrest. When Risa and Benzi, children of Iris, one of the first people to partake in this project, find themselves in opposing forces on the battlefield, it is their love and perseverance...

In an untamed garden, a woman discovers the price of freedom Aniya is a perfect creature. Using the power of the Net, she has banished all of her painful memories, allowing herself to live in a state of perfect contentment on a far-future Earth. In order to have companions, she creates two eidolons-living beings imprinted with all of Aniya's thoughts, feelings, and desires. Of the two creatures, Orielna is happy to live in her creator's shadow, but...

Iris Angharads, a determined, independent woman, sets herself one massive goal: to make the poison-filled atmosphere of Venus hospitable to humans. She works day and night to realize her dream, with only one person sharing her passion, Liang Chen. It seems impossible to make Venus, with its intolerable air and waterless environment, into a paradise, but Iris succeeds. And in doing so, she also creates a powerful dynasty, beginning with her first born,...

Great science fiction looks outward toward the intricacy of the universe in order to look inward at the complexity of the human condition. In Thumbprints, Nebula and Locus Award–winning author Pamela Sargent brings together short stories from across her career, each filled with rich characterization and eclectic, fascinating plots. From Mongolia to Venus, from the distant past to the near future, these works of short fiction explore what it means...

On the colony of Home, which is divided into Dome Dwellers and the River People, seventeen-year-old Bian travels from her small village to seek out the Dome Dwellers after a bright light is seen in the sky, a sign that a sentient starship is returning.