genetopia
about the book - publishing
history - samples - what they
said
latest: more reviews.
about the book
This one's been a long time coming. 
It
dates back to my second professional sale, a story called 'Passion Play' which
was published in Robert Holdstock and Christopher Evans' Other Edens III
back in 1989. As soon as I wrote that story I knew I had to explore its warped
future of accelerated and distorted evolution at novel-length. I spent over
a decade thinking about it, and at last it's finished and with a publisher.
Of course, the finished novel bears almost no resemblance whatsoever to the
story that triggered it.
January 2005: I've just seen the roughs of Brian W Dow's cover artwork and
they're fantastic, perfectly capturing the spirit of the novel.
May 2005: a Genetopia page
has gone up on the Pyr website.
October 2005: Cover artist Brian Dow
is featuring the Genetopia artwork at his website.
November 2005: Two of my favourite writers, Michael Swanwick and Kit Reed,
kindly agreed to read advance copies of Genetopia, and what's more they
liked it! And gave us quotes to use in the publicity!
The first review has appeared at Trashotron: quotes
below.
December 2005: And another of the two finest writers in the field, Stephen
Baxter and Peter Hamilton, have said lovely things about the
book. Steve describes it as "masterfully written", while Peter says
it's "thoughtful and imaginative ... a welcome return for a progressive
and skilful writer."
And to cap a great run of comments, Genetopia has Pyr's
first ever starred review in Publishers Weekly!
January 2006: The reviews are coming in at a steady trickle now - nice ones
in Philadelphia Weekly and Emerald City.
February 2006: And another in SF Revu, plus interviews at Sci
Fi Wire, infinity plus and Alien
Online. And a stunning review in Locus!
March 2006: Another interview, this time at SFF
World, along with a great review.
And yet another interview up at SF
Site, along with a Genetopian
extract.
April 2006: Great review at Eternal
Night.
May 2006: And further excellent reviews at SF
Site, by John Clute in Interzone, SciFi
Weekly, and elsewhere.
Order online from Amazon.com
or Amazon.co.uk.
history
Published in the US by Pyr Books, February 2006.
305pp
ISBN: 1-59102-333-5
Hardcover (6" x 9")
$25
samples
An extract is available online at the University of Essex writing journal extracts.
The original story, "Genetopia",
was written to explore the novel's background - having spent years doing the
research and thinking it through, I wanted to get into that world! This story
went online at infinity plus in February 2006.
what they said
"Keith Brooke's prose achieves a rare honesty and clarity, his characters always
real people, his situations intriguing and often moving."
--Jeff VanderMeer, World Fantasy Award winner
"I am so here! Genetopia is a meditation on identity - what it means
to be human and what it means to be you - and the necessity of change. It's
also one heck of an adventure story. Snatch it up!"
--Michael Swanwick, Hugo award-winning author of Bones of the Earth
"Keith Brooke is a wonderful writer. His great gift is taking us into
worlds we never imagined, looking at the futurescape through the eyes of people
a lot like us. When Flint's sister goes missing in a treacherous civilization
driven by bioengineering gone mad, his dangerous, exciting search for Amber
casts new light on families and the uses of power in a future that may be approaching
as we speak."
--Kit Reed, author of Thinner Than Thou
"If you're looking for great, well-written new science fiction novels
by writers you have a reason to trust, then Brooke is now your man ... a combination
of excellent prose and really, really weird adventures in a carefully conceived
environment ... a pretty wild new vision. Combining the surreal feel of literary
magic realism with 'far out' science fiction visions, Brooke forges boldly into
a landscape that is no less strange than we are ... along comes someone like
Brooke, who puts a shiv in your worldview that slowly but surely topples everything
you've thought and felt."
--Trashotron
"Keith Brooke's Genetopia is a biotech fever dream.
In mood it recalls Brian Aldiss's Hothouse, but is a projection of twenty-first
century fears and longings into an exotic far future where the meaning of humanity
is overwhelmed by change. Masterfully written, this is a parable of difference
that demands to be read, and read again."
--Stephen Baxter, Philip K Dick award-winning author of Evolution
and Transcendent.
"Keith Brooke has produced a thoughtful and imaginative version of the
future which avoids the standard glossy high-tech worlds of most science fiction
books these days. Instead, Genetopia brings a much needed level of uncompromising
reality back to the genre. A welcome return for a progressive and skilful writer."
--Peter F Hamilton, author of the Night's Dawn trilogy.
"British author Brooke's engrossing far-future parable intertwines old,
old human questions ... In this impressively conceived, poignantly drawn object
lesson in the implacability of mutability, Brooke posits one constant: that
only change is eternal."
--Publishers
Weekly starred review.
"A bit dark for my taste, but fascinating, never-the-less, in its view of a
constantly genetically-modifying world with evolution speeded up."
-- Philadelphia Weekly
"An entertaining and thought-provoking read. This world is wonderfully
imagined and intriguing ... Ultimately, the book is entertaining and, with its
wrestling over the definition of humanity, even thought-provoking."
-- SF Signal
"A fascinating scenario ... The premise is good, the setting impressively
realized and immersive, and the story reads like nothing else on the shelves
right now."
-- sfreviews.net
"Welcome to the world of Genetopia, a world in which absolute power
has corrupted mankind absolutely ... I suspect that Genetopia is rather too
disturbing to garner any major awards, but I warmly recommend it to next year’s
Tiptree Committee. It is, after all, a plea in favor of diversity ... A very
fine book."
-- Emerald City
"A marvelously rich book about what it means to be human and where we'll
go in the future. It's also about a boy's journey into manhood and all the lessons
he learns. In many ways this reminded me of Huckleberry Finn. It's a
book that makes you think and that makes it a book worth reading."
-- SF Revu
"A page-turner full of up-to-the minute ideas and explorations of genetic
viruses and infections."
-- BookPage
"Simply wonderful ... Keith Brooke has built an amazing society ... This
is a complete novel - I just could not find fault with it in any way ... I simply
cannot say how much I was impressed with the writing in this book."
--Eternal
Night
"Brooke infuses the story with mysteries, intrigue, and cool creatures
riding along the edge of a line blurring between Fantasy and Science Fiction
... a rewarding reading experience and another winner from the young and bold
Pyr imprint."
-- SFF World
"Superb parable disguised as a thriller."
-- 5* customer review at Amazon.com
"When Flint's sister disappears, he sets out on a dangerous journey to
find her. But the world through which he travels is an amazing creation of science
fiction - harrowing, thought-provoking and totally new."
-- Northfield News, MN
"!!!!! Must Read"
--Book Register
"A poignant story in a well-imagined world ... Brooke's degenerate far-future
world, filled with the remnants of biotechnology, is a startlingly original
creation, filled with memorable characters and places ... one of the most thought-provoking
novels of the year."
-- D. Douglas Fratz, SciFi
Weekly
"Keith Brooke's Genetopia is a fascinating creation... One of the
hardest things to do in life is to look change in the eye without flinching.
Keith Brooke's superb novel is an invitation to do so; and it's an invitation
you should accept."
-- SF Site
"Genetopia is quite remarkably fascinating... Genetopia
is a good surprise to read. Even its flaws are fun. I should say I liked the
book a lot."
--John Clute, Interzone
"Let Keith Brooke tell his tale in its cogent fullness. It is beyond any
facile summary, a minor masterpiece that should usher Brooke at last into the
recognized front ranks of SF writers."
-- Locus
keith brooke: home page