Week 7 - Sci-Fi Annotation

"Your Earth is still your Earth, but between the efforts of your people to destroy it and ours to restore it, it has changed." 

(p. 36)

Author:  Octavia E. Butler

Title:  Dawn

Genres:  Science-Fiction

Publication Date:  1987

Number of Pages:  256

Geographical Setting:  Earth, Within Earth's Orbit

Time Period:  ~250 years into the future

Series:  Xenogenesis #1

Plot Summary:

Set several hundred years after a human-induced nuclear war decimates the population, Dawn opens with Lilith Iyapo - lone survivor of her family, husband and young son, who were not casualties from the war, but instead victims of an automobile accident beforehand. Lilith Awakens in a sterile, unrecognizable room, with vague memories of the war's aftermath and who she is, but nothing more. Soon after Awakening, she is interrogated by a quietly androgynous, disembodied voice that refuses to tell her who they are, why they are holding her, and where she is; rather, they insist on receiving information on her - her background and who she is - refusal to answer is met, not with threats or posturing, but with silence - an unnerving, eerie silence which her captors seem able to maintain for as long as necessary. After days of this treatment, Lilith finally answers and when it seems they have nothing more to say, she is told the truth - roughly 250 years have passed since the human population was destroyed by the final, nuclear war, and Lilith, along with others that could be saved, were rescued by an extraterrestrial race of beings called the Oankali.

Slowly, deliberately so, and methodically the Oankali reveal to Lilith the information she desperately seeks - What are the Oankali? Why save the sparse remnants of humanity? And especially, why choose her specifically to Awaken from suspended animation...? The Oankali describe themselves as genetic traders, their race propagates by bonding with and trading genes among other chosen species, making each species better in turn. Unfortunately, once the Oankali have chosen their next evolution's species, this gene trading occurs whether the species is willing or not... Lilith is told she has been chosen to be the first among this gene partnership; unbeknownst to her, during suspended animation her genes have already been altered slightly - curing her familial tendency for cancer, increasing her overall strength and vitality - and now she will be among the first to bond with an Oankali, learn from and train with it in order to become the "parent" teacher for the first group of humans Awakened, in preparation to be returned to Earth to make a new start, including procreating - with future generations being a wholly new species - a seamless blending of human and Oankali genes.

Lilith struggles to come to terms with so many life-changing revelations, and at first refuses to accept the role of 'new Earth settlement parent', however, the Oankali won't take no for an answer. Lilith grudgingly steps into the role, fulfills her training, and begins to Awaken and train her selected group of human survivors, but fiercely holds on to a secret mantra - she and her fellow group members will survive, and they will do whatever it takes to escape the Oankali and preserve all that it means to be human.

Subject Headings:

Nuclear warfare

Extraterrestrial beings

Human-alien encounters

Genetic engineering

Evolution

Survival

Appeals:

Story Line

"Story is central...[and] contain[s] an almost overwhelming richness of concepts as well as difficult questions that unfold on multiple planes" (Wyatt & Saricks, 2019, p. 95).

Plot-driven, Own voices

Frame / Setting

"Setting is crucial and invokes otherness of time, place, and reality. Both the physical setting of the story and the inherent technical and scientific detail create this essential frame...consistently evocative and visual" ( (Wyatt & Saricks, 2019, pp. 93, 95).

Language / Style

"...employs diverse language and styles, largely shaped by the subgenre...The disorienting effect of language underlines the otherness of the worlds or futures in which SF is set" (Wyatt & Saricks, 2019, pp. 96-97).

Tone

"...furthers the SF genre's appeal to the intellect...reinforces the point of SF in general: to confront and grapple with what it means to be human, the responsibilities and consequences of exploration, and the universality of the alien"  (Wyatt & Saricks, 2019, p. 98).

Thought-provoking

Characterization

"...characters...underscore issues and atmosphere. Aliens and otherworldly creatures emphasize the otherness of these stories...[they] may not dominate, but they certainly come in a wide variety and help authors explore gender, race, ethnicity, and even the concept of being"  (Wyatt & Saricks, 2019, pp. 94, 98).

Pacing

"...determined by the amount of action in the story line...more physical action and adventure elements are usually experienced as fast-paced...while those...stressing philosophical or psychological elements [are]...more leisurely"  (Wyatt & Saricks, 2019, p. 98).

3 Terms That Best Describe This Book:  Thought-provoking, Compelling, Intense



3 Relevant Fiction Works and Authors:

Semiosis by Sue Burke

In this character driven novel of first contact by debut author Sue Burke, human survival hinges on a bizarre alliance.

Only mutual communication can forge an alliance with the planet's sentient species and prove that mammals are more than tools.

Forced to land on a planet they aren't prepared for, human colonists rely on their limited resources to survive. The planet provides a lush but inexplicable landscape--trees offer edible, addictive fruit one day and poison the next, while the ruins of an alien race are found entwined in the roots of a strange plant. Conflicts between generations arise as they struggle to understand one another and grapple with an unknowable alien intellect.  --Goodreads

Common Appeals

Human-alien encounters - Survival - Thought-provoking - Compelling

Rosewater by Tade Thompson

Rosewater is a town on the edge. A community formed around the edges of a mysterious alien biodome, its residents comprise the hopeful, the hungry and the helpless—people eager for a glimpse inside the dome or a taste of its rumored healing powers.

Kaaro is a government agent with a criminal past. He has seen inside the biodome, and doesn't care to again—but when something begins killing off others like himself, Kaaro must defy his masters to search for an answer, facing his dark history and coming to a realization about a horrifying future.  --Goodreads

Common Appeals

Human-alien encounters, First contact, Own voices, Compelling

White Queen by Gwyneth A. Jones

When humanoid aliens invade Earth early in the twenty-first century, they claim to desire only a peaceful settlement, but their presence changes the world in disturbing ways.  --NoveList

Johnny Guglioli used to be a journalist, but his QV virus has rendered him an outcast. In exile from his native America, he encounters an enigmatic young woman. He is convinced she is an alien, and that she is part of a small force sent to reconnoiter Earth.  --Goodreads

Common Appeals

Human-alien encounters, Extraterrestrial beings, Compelling




3 Relevant Non-Fiction Works and Authors:

Extraterrestrial: The First Sign of Intelligent Life Beyond Earth by Avi Loeb

Harvard’s top astronomer lays out his controversial theory that our solar system was recently visited by advanced alien technology from a distant star.

In late 2017, scientists at a Hawaiian observatory glimpsed an object soaring through our inner solar system, moving so quickly that it could only have come from another star. Avi Loeb, Harvard’s top astronomer, showed it was not an asteroid; it was moving too fast along a strange orbit, and left no trail of gas or debris in its wake. There was only one conceivable explanation: the object was a piece of advanced technology created by a distant alien civilization.
 
In Extraterrestrial, Loeb takes readers inside the thrilling story of the first interstellar visitor to be spotted in our solar system. He outlines his controversial theory and its profound implications: for science, for religion, and for the future of our species and our planet. A mind-bending journey through the furthest reaches of science, space-time, and the human imagination, Extraterrestrial challenges readers to aim for the stars—and to think critically about what’s out there, no matter how strange it seems.  --Goodreads

Hacking Darwin: Genetic Engineering and the Future of Humanity by Jamie Metzl

Passionate, provocative, and highly illuminating, Hacking Darwin is the must read book about the future of our species for fans of Homo Deus and The Gene.

After 3.8 billion years humankind is about to start evolving by new rules...

From leading geopolitical expert and technology futurist Jamie Metzl comes a groundbreaking exploration of the many ways genetic-engineering is shaking the core foundations of our lives -- sex, war, love, and death.

At the dawn of the genetics revolution, our DNA is becoming as readable, writable, and hackable as our information technology. But as humanity starts retooling our own genetic code, the choices we make today will be the difference between realizing breathtaking advances in human well-being and descending into a dangerous and potentially deadly genetic arms race.

Enter the laboratories where scientists are turning science fiction into reality. Look towards a future where our deepest beliefs, morals, religions, and politics are challenged like never before and the very essence of what it means to be human is at play. When we can engineer our future children, massively extend our lifespans, build life from scratch, and recreate the plant and animal world, should we?  --Goodreads

Imagined Life: A Speculative Scientific Journey Among the Exoplanets In Search of Intelligent Aliens, Ice Creatures and Supergravity Animals by James Trefil and Michael Summers

The captivating possibilities of extraterrestrial life on exoplanets, based on current scientific knowledge of existing worlds and forms of life

It is now known that we live in a galaxy with more planets than stars. The Milky Way alone encompasses 30 trillion potential home planets. Scientists Trefil and Summers bring readers on a marvelous experimental voyage through the possibilities of life--unlike anything we have experienced so far--that could exist on planets outside our own solar system.

Life could be out there in many forms: on frozen worlds, living in liquid oceans beneath ice and communicating (and even battling) with bubbles; on super-dense planets, where they would have evolved body types capable of dealing with extreme gravity; on tidally locked planets with one side turned eternally toward a star; and even on "rogue worlds," which have no star at all. Yet this is no fictional flight of fancy: the authors take what we know about exoplanets and life on our own world and use that data to hypothesize about how, where, and which sorts of life might develop. Imagined Life is a must-have for anyone wanting to learn how the realities of our universe may turn out to be far stranger than fiction.  --Goodreads

References

Butler, Octavia E. (1987). Dawn. Warner Books.

Goodreads. (2024). Extraterrestrial: The First Sign of Intelligent Life Beyond Earth. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/48930288-extraterrestrial?ref=nav_sb_ss_1_16

Goodreads. (2024). Hacking Darwin: Genetic Engineering and the Future of Humanity. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40597264-hacking-darwin?ref=nav_sb_ss_1_14

Goodreads. (2024). Imagined Life: A Speculative Scientific Journey Among the Exoplanets In Search of Intelligent Aliens, Ice Creatures, and Supergravity Animals. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/43508672-imagined-life?ref=nav_sb_ss_5_13

Goodreads. (2024). Rosewater. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/38362809-rosewater?ref=nav_sb_ss_1_9

Goodreads. (2024). Semiosis. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/35018907-semiosis?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=GtNmY92AQs&rank=1

Goodreads. (2024). White Queen. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/955166.White_Queen?ref=nav_sb_ss_1_15

NoveList. (2024). White Queen. https://web-p-ebscohost-com.ezproxy.monroe.lib.in.us/novp/detail?vid=2&sid=02d2eab4-e98f-4c99-9d22-8332238fd6f6%40redis&bdata=JnNpdGU9bm92cC1saXZl#UI=036786&db=neh

Wyatt, N., & Saricks, J. G. (2019). The readers’ advisory guide to genre fiction (3rd ed.). ALA Editions.