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Clade (novel)

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Language
  
English

Media type
  
Print (Paperback)

Originally published
  
2 December 2003

Publisher
  
Bantam Spectra

3.2/5
Goodreads

Publication date
  
2 December 2003

OCLC
  
53835753

Author
  
Mark Budz

Country
  
United States of America

Clade (novel) t1gstaticcomimagesqtbnANd9GcQ6otWERIP59cjWJ

Pages
  
384 pp (paperback edition)

ISBN
  
0-553-58658-0 (paperback edition)

Genres
  
Novel, Science Fiction, Speculative fiction

Nominations
  
Philip K. Dick Award, Locus Award for Best First Novel

Similar
  
Mark Budz books, Science Fiction books

Clade is a science fiction novel written by Mark Budz, published in 2003. In Clade, an environmental disaster called the Ecocaust has caused sea levels to rise and causing additional strains on human resources. The government, in response, becomes more restrictive on human freedoms, and this novel explores what happens after the Ecocaust.

Contents

Plot summary

In Clade, the Ecocaust, an environmental disaster, causes major problems such as rising sea levels and additional strains on human resources. Although civilization recovers from this disaster, they do so at the expense of their previous freedoms. "Polycorps" develop from governments and corporations. The wonders of biotech introduce a new class system where human beings have been socially engineered at the molecular level through a process called "clading." This "clading" process places entire socioeconomic or ethnic groups made to be biologically predisposed to live in particular communities. If a person enters a community that they have not been claded to, the consequences could be devastating, resulting in sickness or death. Although it is not intentionally racist, businesses and retail outlets using this clading process to keep away the riffraff, will simply screen out clientele below a certain prosperity level. Therefore, a black market exists enabling people to buy the right biotech to inhibit the "pherions" in their systems to be placed in a certain clade.

The protagonist is a man named Rigo, a Latino from the San Jose clade who wants to move up in society. Rigo accepts a job at a biotech firm that develops special vegetation for a planned orbital colony. Although his friends look down on him with contempt for selling out, he still maintains a close relationship with his mother, lawless brother, and Anthea, his troubled girlfriend. At work, after Rigo fears being exposed to some dangerous pherions, he finds to his surprise that the company he works for eagerly wants to send some of the plants they've been working on into space; and they want Rigo to supervise the transfer. Something about the haste of the company leaves Rigo feeling fishy. The secrets of this story unravel one after another, leading to holes in the plot.

Awards

  • 2003 Philip K. Dick Award - nominee
  • References

    Clade (novel) Wikipedia