Book description
In the near future, war has torn the United States apart. Small
communities barely scrape by amidst climate change and economic
collapse. Powerful nation-states struggle over whatever resources
remain--technology in California, money in Chicago, oil in Texas. Some
small hope has arrived in the form of the Hocq, a group of aliens on a
mission to bring their advanced knowledge to Earth. But, as hostile
governments across the globe vie for that knowledge, a Hocq named Harrek
defects into outlaw territory. Diplomacy seems to have failed, and he
cant allow the wrong nation to gain such a huge advantage over the
others. Now its up to Lisa Marquez, the human who helped Harrek escape,
and Jeremy Clayton, a poor outland farmer, to keep the alien safe from
the military and outlaws. The clock is counting down, and Harrek needs
to get the Genesis File into the right hands before he gets found by the
humans...or the other Hocq. In Michael Cassutt's first novel, the author
takes standard SF story situations--post-holocaust tribal human
struggles, first alien contact--blends them together and and brings his
own uniquely original spin to a tried-and-true setting. Michael
Cassutt has published novels such as MISSING MAN, RED MOON and TANGO
MIDNIGHT, as well as short stories in ISAAC ASIMOV'S SF MAGAZINE, THE
MAGAZINE OF FANTASY & SCIENCE FICTION, and the WILD CARDS series. He
has also written scripts for such television series as THE TWILIGHT
ZONE, MAX HEADROOM, and THE DEAD ZONE, and served as producer for the
revival of THE OUTER LIMITS. His most recent SF novel, HEAVEN'S SHADOW,
a collaboration with David S. Goyer (screenwriter of BLADE, BATMAN
BEGINS and others) will be published in the summer of 2011. He lives in
Los Angeles.
