Natural History [Hardcover]

"Thought-provoking.... Fans of the sweeping, politically and psychologically aware space opera of Iain M. Banks and Ken MacLeod will be intrigued by Robson's setting and the new slant she takes on universal questions."
--"Publishers Weekly" --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

In the far future, humanity has engineered itself into new forms capable of spaceflight, the terraforming of planets, and the exploration of the deepest oceans. Evolution has reached a new zenith, and it seems there is no environment we cannot conquer. But when intersteller voager meets apiece of alien technology in a head on collision, the results go to show that the synthesis of the human race and its own technology is not the first or the most advanced of its kind in the galaxy.

It is in the far future. The human species has diversified. Alongside the seed-forms of the Unevolved (ordinary humans) live and work the Augmented, people who have been forged, not born. Nonetheless the Augmented are human beneath their vast and complex biotechnological bodies which allow them to live deep in the oceans and out in space. As far as they're concerned, however, the old ties of blood and genes may just be ancient history. When a new solar system is found, containing an Earth-like world, full of abandoned alien cities and devoid of intelligent life, the Augmented see it as their Forge-right to claim this place as a homeworld. After all, the aliens who once lived there have followed the same path beyond the limits of genetics and organics, adapting themselves to new environments, and heading for the frontiers of deep space. Allegedly... --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Born and brought up in Leeds, where she still lives, Justina Robson started writing in her teens. Her first novel Silver Screen was published by Macmillan to great critical acclaim.