



Survival
Species Imperative #1
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4.1 • 14 Ratings
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- $3.99
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- $3.99
Publisher Description
Herself a biologist, Julie E. Czerneda has earned a reputation in science fiction circles for her ability to create beautifully crafted, imaginative, yet believably realized alien races. In Survival, the first novel in her new series, Species Imperative, she draws upon this talent to build races, characters, and a universe which will draw readers into a magnificent tale of interstellar intrigue, as an Earth scientist is caught up in a terrifying interspecies conflict. Senior co-administrator of the Norcoast Salmon Research Facility, Dr. Mackenzie Connor, Mac to her friends and colleagues, was a trained biologist, whose work had definitely become her life. And working at Norcoast Base, set in an ideal location just where the Tannu River sped down the west side of the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific Coast was the perfect situation for Mac. She and fellow scientist Dr. Emily Mamani were just settling in to monitor this year's salmon runs when their research was interrupted by the unprecedented arrival of Brymn, the first member of the alien race known as the Ohryn to ever set foot on Earth.
Brymn was an archaeologist, and much of his research had focused on a region of space known as the Chasm, a part of the universe that was literally dead, all of its worlds empty of any life-forms, though traces existed of the civilizations that must once have flourished in the region. Brymn had sought out Mac because she was a biologist -- a discipline strictly forbidden among his own people -- and he felt that through her expertise she might be able to help him discover what had created the Chasm. But Mac had little interest in alien races and in studies that ranged beyond Earth, and as politely as she was capable of, she tried to make it clear that she was unwilling to abandon her own work.
However, the decision was soon taken out of her hands when a mysterious and devastating attack on the Base resulted in the abduction of Emily, and forced Mac to flee for her life with Brymn and the Earth special agents who were escorting him. Suddenly, it appeared that Earth itself might be under attack by the legendary race the Ohryn called the Ro, the beings they thought might be the destructive force behind the Chasm. Cut off from everything and everyone she knew, Mac found herself in grave danger and charged with the responsibility of learning everything she could that might possibly aid Earth in protecting the human race from extinction...
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Must one species' evolution ensure another's extinction? Canadian author Czerneda (To Trade the Stars) attempts to answer that loaded question by focusing on the unique but dangerous relationship that biologist Mackenzie "Mac" Connor forges with Brymn, a Dhryn archeologist and the first of his race to visit Earth, in this imaginative, if somewhat slow-moving not-so-distant-future novel set in the Pacific Northwest and the far reaches of space. The story comes alive whenever the workaholic, emotionally withdrawn Mac interacts with the seven-armed Brymn, "a giant bearlike being," who at one point applies makeup to go diving with salmon. Trouble arrives in the form of the alien Ro, who kidnap Dr. Emily Mamani Sarmiento, a colleague of Mac's at Norcoast Salmon Research Facility. Blamed for creating the Chasm, a zone of space littered with worlds that have been sucked dry of all life forms, the Ro also want Brymn and Mac. The Interspecies Union's representative, Nikolai "Nik" Trojanowski, whose mysterious attraction to the straight-laced Mac adds romantic heat to the proceedings, helps the two escape to Haven, the Dhryn homeworld. Unfortunately, Brymn and Mac soon find no place is safe from one species' imperative to survive at any cost. A planned sequel may try to answer the next vital question can friendship evolve to forgive the ultimate betrayal?
Customer Reviews
Biologist n SciFi Fan Hooked!
As a fan of wonderfully written science fiction books everywhere I was happy to read the trilogy of Survival, Migration, and Regeneration. Add in that I have a degree in Biology with a subspecialty in Molecular Biology and a final specialty in ichthyology these books were tailor made for me! But you don't have to be a biologist or Gene Freak like am to enjoy these books! The wit and determination of the main character that she can't possibly help because she "just studies salmon" could't be more wrong, so armed with her wit and wisdom and a great dose of knowledge she goes forth with much self sacrifice : and so, by example, she teaches a whole new generation that one person can and often does make a critical difference with hard work and dedication to one's field, and sometimes we even end up in other fields entirely, so we must not become so stiff necked, unbending, and narrow visioned/ minded in our chosen fields that one misses out on all of the wonders that abound. Spread these books, enjoy them for their great storytelling, add to it straight on biology and extrapolations of possibilities in the icthy and other fields of Molecular Biology and Mendelean Genetics that all together makes us keep on dreaming and reaching not only for the stars, but for our own Earth and all the life and study and care that she requires and has waiting for us from lakes to streams and rivers to oceans and beyond...dive in and take biology and science fiction with both hands and fill your dreams and then....your off!
Stephen
BS Biology
Specialty in Aquatic Zoology
Specifically the Vertebral Molecular Reproductive Endocrine Systems of the Bony Fish, Carassius Auratis.