Ammonite - Softcover

Griffith, Nicola

3.89

6,238 ratings by Goodreads

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0345378911 ISBN 13: 9780345378910

Publisher: Del Rey, 1993

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Change or die: the only options available on the Durallium Company-owned planet GP. The planet's deadly virus had killed most of the original colonists -- and changed the rest irrevocably. Centuries after the colony had lost touch with the rest of humanity, the Company returned to exploit GP, and its forces found themselves fighting for their lives. Afraid of spreading the virus, the Company had left its remaining employees in place, afraid and isolated from the natives.
Then anthropologist Marghe Taishan arrived on GP, sent to test a new vaccine against the virus. As she risked death to uncover the natives' biological secret, she found that she, too, was changing, and realized that not only had she found a home on GP -- she herself carried the seeds of its destruction . . .
WINNER OF THE LAMBDA AND TIPTREE AWARDS

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Review:

In Ammonite, the 1994 James Tiptree Jr. Award winner, the attempts to colonize the planet Jeep have uncovered a selective virus that kills all men and all but a few women. The remaining women undergo changes that enable them to communicate with one another and the planet itself, and give to birth to healthy, genetically diverse children. Marguerite Angelica Taishan is an anthropologist who realizes this phenomena and makes the decision to give herself up to the planet to uncover its mysteries.

From the Publisher:

This first novel is one of the best books I've ever acquired and edited. What was most impressive about it was the minimal amount of editorial work and copyediting work it needed--it arrived in our offices in publishable form and just needed a few editorial comments from me, and a few commas and such from the copyeditor, to send it on its way. For a first novel, that's extremely rare (as well as extremely enjoyable for the editor!). Nicola Griffith has been a great writer from the start. Even with the pulpy cover we put on the book when we first published it, featuring what seemed to be a metallic jellybean rather than a spaceship, Ammonite went on to win a Lambda Award and the Tiptree Award for best novel dealing with issues of gender. It got rave reviews from Ursula K. Le Guin, Kim Stanley Robinson, and other renowned writers, and a great review in the New York Times as well. As a young editor, I was really proud of this one, and I still recommend it as thinking-person's SF to any friends or acquaintances interested in the genre.

--Ellen Key Harris, Editor, Del Rey Books

"A knock-out first novel" --Ursula K. Le Guin

"A marvelous blend of high adventure and mind-boggling social speculation--it marks the arrival of Nicola Griffith as a new sf star for the 90s." --Kim Stanley Robinson

"A noteworthy first novel...A powerful story of connection, allegiance, and obligation." --Vonda N. McIntyre

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