Winner of the Arthur C. Clarke and John W. Campbell Memorial Awards. "An exuberant celebration of excess set in a resource-poor but defiantly energetic twenty-first century."-- The New York Times "A richly absorbing tale--with a marvelous premise expertly carried out."-- Kirkus Reviews "Excellent. Dark and witty and full of love, closely observed, and sprinkled with astonishing ideas. Science fiction of a very high order.

"--Greg Bear "One of the most imaginative accounts of futuristic bioengineering since Greg Bear's Blood Music ."-- Locus In a future London, humans photosynthesize, organics have replaced electronics, viruses educate people, and very few live past forty. But Milena is resistant to the viruses. She's alone until she meets Rolfa, a huge, hirsute Genetically Engineered Polar Woman, and Milena realizes she might, just might, be able to find a place for herself after all. Geoff Ryman is the author of the novels The King's Last Song , Air (a Clarke and Tiptree Award winner), and The Unconquered Country (a World Fantasy Award winner), and the collection Paradise Tales . Canadian by birth, he has lived in Cambodia and Brazil and now teaches creative writing at the University of Manchester in England.