The Child Garden: A Low Comedy [B1020]

1994 PB in excellent condition. Winner of the Arthur C. Clarke and John W. Campbell Memorial Awards. "An exuberant celebration of excess set in a resource-poor but defiantly energetic twenty-first century."-The New York Times. "Excellent. . . . Dark and witty and full of love, closely observed, and sprinkled with astonishing ideas. Science fiction of a very high order."-Greg Bear. "One of the most imaginative accounts of futuristic bioengineering since Greg Bear's Blood Music."-Locus.

In a dystopian future London, humans photosynthesize, organics have replaced electronics, viruses educate people, and very few live past forty. But Milena is resistant to the viruses. She's alone until she meets Rolfa, a huge, hirsute Genetically Engineered Polar Woman, and Milena realizes she might, just might, be able to find a place for herself after all.

Geoff Ryman is the author of the novels The King's Last Song, Air (a Clarke and Tiptree Award winner), and The Unconquered Country (a World Fantasy Award winner), and the collection Paradise Tales. Canadian by birth, he has lived in Cambodia and Brazil and now teaches creative writing at the University of Manchester in England.

From recent Amazon/GoodReads reviews: "Boldly imaginative, with a plentiful amount of odd characters and surreal events, The Child Garden is a quality read for lovers of unconventional speculative fiction. Geoff Ryman's absorbing narrative incorporates deep exploration of his main protagonist and her peculiar friends and acquaintances, building a fantastical journey of revelation and self-discovery that is both stylishly written and perfectly paced. I enjoyed all of the odd people and events, the intriguing theatrical and musical elements, and the book's overall eccentricity - this story may deeply puzzle some readers, but for those with a liking for mature work within this genre, The Child Garden is an infectious treat."; "Geoff Ryman is a genius! I have loved this book for years, and i cannot believe it was written so long ago."; "Absolutely astonishing!!! A work of toweringly imaginative humanism. It's been a while since a novel has blown my mind like this has. A great, wild work of fiction. Of any kind."