Everfree

In 2003, Nick Sagan exploded onto the scene with Idlewild, a highly original debut novel that inspired Stephen Baxter to say, "Sagan has a ferocious imagination." Edenborn returned to Sagan's hyperimaginative world with a stylish, thrilling work that was hailed by critics and embraced by readers. With Everfree, Sagan concludes the trilogy that is destined to become a classic.

As Everfree opens, a small group of humans has survived the apocalyptic epidemic called Black Ep, a disease that ravaged the world and left them alone on Earth. Their conflicting ideas about how a new, much less populated planet ought to be governed, however, are a source of terrible strife. The early "post humans" believed in The Doctrine: The post-plague world is collective. We're all in this together. Let's look out for each other, share the dirty work, give the needy what they need. Inevitably, though, as more survivors are roused from their frozen sleep, there are those who disagree. People who remember power are waking up to a new world, and they do not intend to wait their turn . . .

"Though Sagan's latest future thriller is supposed to complete a trilogy that began with Idlewild and Edenborn, it's stuffed with ideas that veer off into fascinating but underdeveloped tangents. The genetically altered young Post Humans of Sagan's first books have gone through their bloody personal crises and now have settled down to revive the people who had themselves frozen to escape a deadly universal plague. Since the ones who could afford cryogenic sleep were the most 'successful,' they tend to be insanely competitive, unwilling to be guided by their saviors. And so factions begin plotting to take control of the new utopia and to revive private armies for rival communities. The book ricochets through its complicated plot in short, snappy chapters, most of them dictated by Hal, the Post Humans' chief of security. Hal's an agreeably cynical observer, and his lively sections summarize the action well. However, so much is going on and flying off in so many directions, that the book finally reads like a tantalizing summary of a really interesting novel." Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)

Sagan contines the "roller-coaster ride of fusion fiction" (Neil Gaiman) thatbegan with "Idlewild" and continued in "Edenborn."

Nick Sagan, son of the late astronomer and novelist Carl Sagan, has been a screenwriter for ten years.