Synopses & Reviews
The classic science fiction novel, now back in print
1972 Locus Poll Award nominee, best SF novel
IN THE BEGINNING...
there was no Brooklyn, no St. Louis, no Shakespeare, no moon, no hunger, no death...
IN THE BEGINNING... there were no real men, no real women, nothing but dispassionately passionate ambisexuals of the lowest and highest order...
IN THE BEGINNING...
the heavens, the seas and the Earth belonged to more intelligent species than a man called Clay could ever have dreamed possible in his own time.
But his own time as a man had passed, and now his time as the son of man had come!
Clay is a man from the 20th Century who is somehow caught up in a time-flux and transported into a distant future. The earth and the life on it have changed beyond recognition. Even the human race has evolved into many different forms, now coexisting on the planet. The seemingly omnipotent Skimmers, the tyrannosaur-like Eaters, the sedentary Awaiters, the squid-like Breathers, the Interceders, the Destroyers—all of these are "Sons of Man". Befriended and besexed by the Skimmers, Clay goes on a journey which takes him around the future earth and into the depths of his own soul. He is human, but what does that mean?
Synopsis
Clay is a man from the 20th Century, an educated person who considers himself open-minded. Clay is befriended (if that's the word) by a group of humans called Skimmers, who can change form at will, sometimes male, sometimes female, sometimes a pale gray cloud that can travel interstellar space. All of the strange human forms are called "sons of men," races descended from Homo sapiens. With the Skimmers, and in spite of them, Clay goes on a journey of discovery, which takes him around the future earth into the depths of his own soul.
Synopsis
The classic science fiction novel, now back in print
Clay is a man from the 20th Century who is somehow caught up in a time-flux and transported into a distant future. The earth and the life on it have changed beyond recognition. Even the human race has evolved into many different forms, now coexisting on the planet. The seemingly omnipotent Skimmers, the tyrannosaur-like Eaters, the sedentary Awaiters, the squid-like Breathers, the Interceders, the Destroyers all of these are "Sons of Man." Befriended and besexed by the Skimmers, Clay goes on a journey which takes him around the future earth and into the depths of his own soul. He is human, but what does that mean?"
About the Author
Robert Silverberg has been writing science fiction for fifty years. Among his many books are such novels as Dying Inside, Lord Valentine's Castle, The Book Of Skulls, and Nightwings, and he has had more than five hundred short stories published as well. He is a five-time winner of both the Nebula award and the Hugo award. In 2004 he was awarded the Grand Master Nebula of the Science Fiction Writers of America, science fiction's highest honor.