Ram-2050

From rain forests of Hawaii to hidden coves of the Caribbean, this story brings futuristic technology to an age-old battle between good and evil. In this innovative retelling of the classic Ramayana epic, CEOs replace kings, sects of professional geeks replace sects of priests, and the hero has superhuman abilities from genetic engineering rather than divine intervention. This action-packed, yet philosophical tale explores the boundary separating humans from animals. It envisions a world where humans and animals work to promote the common good.


“Evolutionary biologist Roughgarden [Evolution’s Rainbow] reaches back two millennia to turn the Ramayana into science fiction, changing its poetry to hard science… staying faithful to the essence of the original stories… [Ram-2050] should satisfy fans of technical and naturalistic SF.” — Publishers Weekly 

“gripping” — Marc Bekoff, University of Colorado 

“relevance” — Mandakranta Bose, University of British Columbia 

"humorous” — Freddy Christiansen, Aarhus University

“delightful” — Simon Levin, Princeton University 

“imaginative” — Chase Mendenhall, Stanford University 

“fast-paced” — Anil Menon, Science Fiction Writer 

“radical” — Barbara Smuts, University of Michigan 

“positive” — Jeremy Van Cleve, University of Kentucky 

“wisdom” — Michael Weisberg, University of Pennsylvania 

For full text of blurbs and other reviews, please visit Ram-2050.com.


Joan Roughgarden is an evolutionary biologist and ecologist from the University of Hawaii and Stanford University. She has published fieldwork from eastern Caribbean islands and the rocky intertidal zone of California. She has authored or edited eight nonfiction texts and monographs, including Evolution’s Rainbow, winner of the 2005 Stonewall Prize for nonfiction from American Library Association. Ram-2050 is her first novel.