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Overview
Just a few hundred genes separate humans from chimpanzees. Imagine someone altering the chimp genome, splicing in human genes to increase the size of the cranium, reduce the amount of body hair, and enable speech. What sort of creature would result?
Sims takes place in the very near future, when the science of genetics is fulfilling its vaunted potential. It's a world where dangerous or boring manual labor is gradually being transferred to "sims”, genetically altered chimps who occupy a gray zone between simian and human. The chief innovator in this world is SimGen, which owns the patent on the sim genome and has begun leasing the creatures worldwide.
But SimGen is not quite what it seems. It has secrets . . . secrets beyond patents and proprietary processes . . . secrets it will go to any lengths to protect.
Synopsis
F. Paul Wilson, a practicing physician as well as the bestselling author of the Repairman Jack series, turns his attention to the day after tomorrow and shows us how genetic engineering might change the world.
Just a few hundred genes separate humans from chimpanzees. Imagine someone altering the chimp genome, splicing in human genes to increase the size of the cranium, reduce the amount of body hair, enable speech. What sort of creature would result?
Sims takes place in the very near future, when the science of genetics is fulfilling its vaunted potential. It's a world where genetically transmitted diseases are being eliminated. A world where dangerous or boring manual labor is gradually being transferred to "sims," genetically altered chimps who occupy a gray zone between simian and human. The chief innovator in this world is SimGen, which owns the patent on the sim genome and has begun leasing the creatures worldwide.
But SimGen is not quite what it seems. It has secrets . . . secrets beyond patents and proprietary processes . . . secrets it will go to any lengths to protect. Sims explores this brave new world as it is turned upside down and torn apart when lawyer Patrick Sullivan decides to try to unionize the sims.
Right now, as you read these words, some company somewhere in the world is toying with the chimp genome. That is not fiction, it is fact. Sims is a science thriller that will come true. One way or another.
Publishers Weekly
What started as a series of three inventive and exciting novellas by SF veteran Wilson has now become a single volume, complete with two new sections and a creepy, satisfying ending. In the near future, sims-chimpanzees enhanced with human DNA created by a company called SimGen-are used as cheap labor and medical guinea pigs while denied even the right to family. Patrick Sullivan, a labor lawyer, and Romy Cadman, an activist, team up to change the classification of sims from property to persons in order to improve their treatment and to bring SimGen's shady beginnings to light. In the fourth part, the search for the missing pregnant sim from the third novella, Meerm (2002), intensifies as further implications of her baby's nature emerge. The reader at last is able to follow the thoughts of Zero, the perpetually masked reclusive genius behind the effort to destroy SimGen, and, eventually, to learn his identity. Portero, the unreliable SimGen enforcer, finds his life spiraling out of control as Patrick and Romy continually gain ground with the help of newly discovered and somewhat disconcerting friends. Each section adds intrigue, portents of doom and layers to the characters-good and bad. While he neatly ties up all the loose ends in his frighteningly possible world, Wilson offers no simple answers. (Apr. 22) FYI: Wilson is also the author of The Haunted Air (Forecasts, Nov. 4, 2002) and other novels in his Repairman Jack series. Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.
Editorials
From the Publisher
Praise for Sims:“From a stew of greed, biomilitary secrets, and genetic engineering, he has created a Frankenstein for our era."—David Morrell
"As a timely warning of what we mustn't do, where we mustn't go, this is a must read."—Brian Lumley
“Creepy, satisfying. . . . Each section adds intrigue, portents of doom and layers to the characters – good and bad. While he neatly ties up all the loose ends in his frighteningly possible world, Wilson offers no simple answers.”—Publishers Weekly
“Wilson turns some pretty good phrases . . . [and] keeps the intrigue up nicely.”—The Union-Tribune [San Diego, CA]
"[Wilson uses] his medical background to create a memorable plot . . . . grippingly detailed [and] credible.”—Kirkus Reviews
“Sims does what good a narrative should do: it provides an interesting and suspenseful story involving characters deserving of the spotlight shone upon them. And for this reviewer, at least, the novel does something equally important: it encourages the reader to think.”—The Laissez Faire Electronic Times
“F. Paul Wilson is a writer's writer, and I grab anything he's written with enthusiasm. Sims is no different.”—Joe R. Lansdale