Reviewed by: BigAl
Genre: Science Fiction
Approximate word count: 85-90,000 words
Availability
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on a YES above to go to appropriate page in Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or
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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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