Eusebio Franklin, a school teacher from a small community, is faced with the most terrifying dilemma imaginable: should he carry out an act of mass terrorism in order to save the human race?
Eusebio has been chosen to defend our human race in a special session of the United Nations. It's the late 22nd century, and most people are genetically enhanced; Eusebio is among the minority that remain unimproved, known as Primals, consisting mostly of the impoverished global underclass. The UN is on the verge of implementing a "Proposed Extinction of the Primal Species" and Eusebio's been picked to represent his race in a last ditch legal effort to save the Primals from extinction.
It's a hearing like no other. Our human race is on trial. Our own sordid history--the devastation we've caused to indigenous cultures around the world, the destruction of our environment and of other species--becomes evidence in the case against our continued existence.
But as the hearing progresses, Eusebio is faced with a terrible decision. He's secretly visited by Yusef who represents the Rejectionists--a renegade group of Muslims, Sikhs and Hindus refusing to accept the d-humans' genetic optimization because it prevents them from knowing God. Yusef urges Eusebio to take the only meaningful action to save the human race from extinction: detonate a nuclear bomb hidden in the UN building in New York where the session is taking place.
As the story develops to its dramatic climax, Eusebio finds himself increasingly alienated from the d-human world, while Yusef's plot places him in an agonizing moral dilemma: whether to engage in an act of nuclear terrorism to preserve the human race.
In this novel, the reader faces challenging questions about spirituality, history and global politics: Could our race "evolve" itself to a higher plane? At what cost and benefit? If we lost what is now the "human race" as a result, would that be so bad, given our sordid and shameful history? On the other hand, is there something special, our soul, worth keeping at any price? Ultimately, the novel forces the reader to grapple with the fundamental question: what does it mean to be human?
Jeremy Lent is the author The Patterning Instinct: A Cultural History of Humanity's Search for Meaning (Prometheus Books, May 2017).
He is founder and president of the nonprofit Liology Institute, dedicated to fostering a worldview that could enable humanity to thrive sustainably on the earth. The Liology Institute (www.liology.org), which integrates systems science with ancient wisdom traditions, holds regular workshops and other events in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Formerly, Lent was the founder, CEO, and chairman of a publicly traded internet company. He holds a BA in English Literature from Cambridge University and an MBA from the University of Chicago.
More information: jeremylent.com
Eusebio Franklin, a school teacher from a small community, is faced with the most terrifying dilemma imaginable: should he carry out an act of mass terrorism in order to save the human race?
Eusebio has been chosen to defend our human race in a special session of the United Nations. It's the late 22nd century, and most people are genetically enhanced; Eusebio is among the minority that remain unimproved, known as Primals, consisting mostly of the impoverished global underclass. The UN is on the verge of implementing a "Proposed Extinction of the Primal Species" and Eusebio's been picked to represent his race in a last ditch legal effort to save the Primals from extinction.
It's a hearing like no other. Our human race is on trial. Our own sordid history--the devastation we've caused to indigenous cultures around the world, the destruction of our environment and of other species--becomes evidence in the case against our continued existence.
But as the hearing progresses, Eusebio is faced with a terrible decision. He's secretly visited by Yusef who represents the Rejectionists--a renegade group of Muslims, Sikhs and Hindus refusing to accept the d-humans' genetic optimization because it prevents them from knowing God. Yusef urges Eusebio to take the only meaningful action to save the human race from extinction: detonate a nuclear bomb hidden in the UN building in New York where the session is taking place.
As the story develops to its dramatic climax, Eusebio finds himself increasingly alienated from the d-human world, while Yusef's plot places him in an agonizing moral dilemma: whether to engage in an act of nuclear terrorism to preserve the human race.
In this novel, the reader faces challenging questions about spirituality, history and global politics: Could our race "evolve" itself to a higher plane? At what cost and benefit? If we lost what is now the "human race" as a result, would that be so bad, given our sordid and shameful history? On the other hand, is there something special, our soul, worth keeping at any price? Ultimately, the novel forces the reader to grapple with the fundamental question: what does it mean to be human?
Jeremy Lent is the author The Patterning Instinct: A Cultural History of Humanity's Search for Meaning (Prometheus Books, May 2017).
He is founder and president of the nonprofit Liology Institute, dedicated to fostering a worldview that could enable humanity to thrive sustainably on the earth. The Liology Institute (www.liology.org), which integrates systems science with ancient wisdom traditions, holds regular workshops and other events in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Formerly, Lent was the founder, CEO, and chairman of a publicly traded internet company. He holds a BA in English Literature from Cambridge University and an MBA from the University of Chicago.
More information: jeremylent.com
Jeremy Lent is the author The Patterning Instinct: A Cultural History of Humanity's Search for Meaning (Prometheus Books, May 2017). He is founder and president of the nonprofit Liology Institute, dedicated to fostering a worldview that could enable humanity to thrive sustainably on the earth. The Liology Institute (www.liology.org), which integrates systems science with ancient wisdom traditions, holds regular workshops and other events in the San Francisco Bay Area. Formerly, Lent was the founder, CEO, and chairman of a publicly traded internet company. He holds a BA in English Literature from Cambridge University and an MBA from the University of Chicago. More information: jeremylent.com
"A highly recommended instant classic" - 5-star review (out of 5), Apex Reviews. "One of the greatest independently published science fiction novels of our time." - BookReview.com "A gripping read that will keep readers up at night, slurping up the last few pages" - 5 star review (out of 5), ForeWord Clarion. "A philosophical suspense story that exhibits quick pacing, moral nuances and unexpected twists" - Kirkus Discoveries "Achieves a near flawless rhythm as the narrative builds. His prose... is as gifted as it is fearless" - Book Pleasures. "A very intriguing and thought-provoking work of science fiction that is all too close to being real." - Rebecca's Reads. "Allows the reader to get lost in the story... while contemplating the meaning of the human soul" - Feathered Quill. "In this ambitious and thought-provoking novel, Jeremy Lent's meticulously imagined future society is used as a means to take us to the very heart of the human condition. Intercut with gripping asides about how his imagined future world came to be, Lent's story focuses on Eusebio, his humane, everyman narrator, who is faced with a terrible decision. There are very few science fiction works out there which speak to both the head and the heart, but Lent has produced one, a book which stimulates both intellectually and emotionally. This is a genuinely great read, and a profound one, written with intense and audacious ambition, but without ever losing the human element. Read it - you'll be glad you did." - Ed Lark, author of Grief (nominated for the British Science Fiction Association Book of the Year, 2005)
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