Black Milk

Five genetically enhanced childhood friends learn the truth behind their alterations in this coming-of-age SF novel from the Hugo Award–winning author.

Ryder remembers everything he has experienced and witnessed. He can recall the exact words spoken in every conversation, see the most intricate details of his surroundings, and feel his precise emotions from the past. His memories of these moments replay in his mind with uncanny accuracy even as he absorbs current events. Although Ryder's parents find his ability unnerving, they permit their child to receive the tailored genetic refinements that make him extraordinary.

Dr. Aaron Florida, geneticist and philanthropist, is renowned and beloved as "Father to the World." For fifty years, his experiments altering Earth's flora and fauna have benefited humanity. A generation of children—like Ryder and his four best friends—possess enhanced physical and mental attributes that Florida believes will help them thrive in their endeavors. Unfortunately, he never considered that advanced children are still children, experiencing growing pains unique to their nature that their parents are ill-equipped to guide them through. 

Now, Florida has lost control of one of his off-world projects, and all of Earth is threatened by what he created. To save the human race, he must implement his contingency plan and rescue the children his science fathered. But Ryder and his friends discover that their benefactor harbors secrets and motives far from his image as the world's altruistic hero.