Sims, the 2004 Prometheus winner for Best Novel, is on sale.
The novel, by five-time Prometheus winner F. Paul Wilson, is available as an ebook for 90 percent off at both Amazon (for $1.99) and Bookbub (for $2).
One of Wilson’s most libertarian science fiction novels, Sims offers a cautionary tale about genetic engineering and the struggle of the sims, a genetically engineered cross between humans and champinees, for freedom and respect.
His central question: Should genetically enhanced creatures be viewed as animals, to be owned, or as human, with basic rights?
Wilson explores such basic libertarian issues with gripping drama in this plausible, suspenseful and well-paced scientific thriller.
Here’s the Bookbub description:
“In the near future, genetically altered chimps handle most manual labor — but as lawyer Patrick Sullivan helps them unionize, he discovers the genetic engineering corporation’s dark secrets… A page-turning sci-fi novel “full of rewarding surprises” (Booklist), from a New York Times bestselling author!
“F. Paul Wilson, a practicing physician as well as the bestselling author of the Repairman Jack series, turns his attention to the day after tomorrow and shows us how genetic engineering might change the world.
“Just a few hundred genes separate humans from chimpanzees. Imagine someone altering the chimp genome, splicing in human genes to increase the size of the cranium, reduce the amount of body hair, enable speech. What sort of creature would result?
“Sims takes place in the very near future, when the science of genetics is fulfilling its vaunted potential. It’s a world where genetically transmitted diseases are being eliminated. A world where dangerous or boring manual labor is gradually being transferred to “sims,” genetically altered chimps who occupy a gray zone between simian and human. The chief innovator in this world is SimGen, which owns the patent on the sim genome and has begun leasing the creatures worldwide.
“But SimGen is not quite what it seems. It has secrets . . . secrets beyond patents and proprietary processes . . . secrets it will go to any lengths to protect. Sims explores this brave new world as it is turned upside down and torn apart when lawyer Patrick Sullivan decides to try to unionize the sims.
“Right now, as you read these words, some company somewhere in the world is toying with the chimp genome. That is not fiction, it is fact. Sims is a science thriller that will come true. One way or another.”
One other detail to mention about Sims is that it’s a stand-alone novel, and thus a good way to familiarize yourself with Wilson if he’s new to you.
Wilson’s three other Prometheus-winning novels include Wheels within Wheels, Healer and An Enemy of the State – all part of his LaNague Federation interstellar-space series, well worth reading, too, but requiring a larger investment of your time.
For more about Sims, read the Prometheus Blog’s review-essay Appreciation.
ABOUT THE PROMETHEUS AWARDS AND THE LFS
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Libertarian futurists understand that culture matters. We believe that literature and the arts can be vital in envisioning a freer and better future. In some ways, culture can be even more influential and powerful than politics in the long run, by imagining better visions of the future incorporating peace, prosperity, progress, tolerance, justice, positive social change, and mutual respect for each other’s rights, human dignity, individuality and peaceful choices.
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