Friday, June 28, 2013

The Soul Gene / Lynn Demarest


Reviewed by: BigAl

Genre: Science Fiction

Approximate word count: 85-90,000 words

Availability    
Kindle  US: YES  UK: YES  Nook: YES  Smashwords: YES  Paper: YES
Click on a YES above to go to appropriate page in Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or Smashwords store

Author:

“Lynn Demarest was a newspaper reporter in South Florida in the 1980s. He then became a computer programmer. The Soul Gene is his debut novel.”

Description:

“Geneticist Bailey Foster's improbable discovery bolsters her own uncertain spirituality and changes the world.

Twenty-somethings Bailey Foster and Susan Griffin work as researchers for Bayner Genetics, a medical research lab owned by a non-scientific woman who was given the company by her dying parents. When the owner's daughter announces she is gay, she tells Foster and Griffin she wants them to find a cure for lesbianism.

Foster bristles -- homosexuality is not an illness -- but Griffin, who is herself gay, cheerfully accepts the assignment, knowing all along that she'll use the opportunity not to cure lesbianism but to secretly study her passion: Junk DNA.

The merging of Foster's personal search for spirituality with Griffin's scientific findings leads them to a discovery that will change people around the world, no one more than Foster and Griffin themselves.”

Appraisal:

This is my favorite kind of science fiction. Set in contemporary times and the real world as we know it, but with the twist of some new discovery or invention. The story becomes a thought experiment in how that new discovery might change the world. The Soul Gene takes place on the boundary of science and spirituality, yet for me managed to not trip any of the normal triggers that the second subject often does for me, where I’ll feel like the author is trying to lead me to a specific answer rather than letting me decide for myself. With interesting characters and a compelling story, The Soul Gene is both a good read and a fascinating thought experiment.

Format/Typo Issues:

No significant issues.


Rating: **** Four stars

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