Book description
In CHILD OF VENUS, The Project - the terraforming of Venus - has been
going on for centuries and it will be many more years before the
planet's surface has been rendered fully habitable and the human
settlers, the Cytherians, can leave their protective domes - but there
are those who are foolishly unwilling to wait. In a colony still ravaged
by the after-effects of a battle between two religious cults that
divided families and created civil war, Mahala Liangharad, a true child
of Venus, conceived from the genetic material of the rebels and brought
to birth only after their deaths, is seen as a beacon of hope and a
pointer to the way of the future. Nonetheless, Mahala sees herself in
conflict, bearing the burden of a strange birthright and the
responsibility of lifelong service to The Project.
Mahala fears the expectation of duty and that she may miss the chance
to discover her own destiny. Her world (and the worlds) are being torn
apart by a drive for independence from Earth by the Venus colonists and
by the rumors of a secret plan developed by the "Habbers,"
cybernetically enhanced dwellers in the mobile asteroid
"Habitats" who are another, and very different, set of humans
no longer tied to Earth. A mysterious call from deep space offers a
chance at her dream of destiny, along with a terrifying possibility of
losing touch with everything she has ever known and loved.
CHILD OF VENUS completes the Venus sequence and Pamela Sargent delivers
a dramatically and emotionally satisfying ending to this epic tale of
the terraforming of Venus by human colonists as she builds
imaginatively-detailed new worlds of breathtaking wonder and shows that
humanity may travel far but retains all the challenges that come with
being human, whatever form their evolution may take. Pamela Sargent
was born in New York in 1948 and attended the State University of New
York at Binghamton, attaining a master's degree in philosophy. She is
regarded as one of science fictions most important feminist writers and
has edited a number of acclaimed anthologies celebrating the
contribution of women writers to the SF field. She has been nominated
for or won the Hugo, Nebula, Tiptree and Sturgeon Awards. Pamela Sargent
lives in New York with fellow SF author, George Zebrowski.
