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Barsk: The Elephants' Graveyard

Barsk: The Elephants' Graveyard

by Lawrence M. Schoen
     
 

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The Sixth Sense meets Planet of the Apes in a moving science fiction novel set so far in the future, humanity is gone and forgotten in Lawrence M. Schoen's Barsk: The Elephants' Graveyard

An historian who speaks with the dead is ensnared by the past. A child who feels no pain and who should not exist sees the future. Between

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Overview

The Sixth Sense meets Planet of the Apes in a moving science fiction novel set so far in the future, humanity is gone and forgotten in Lawrence M. Schoen's Barsk: The Elephants' Graveyard

An historian who speaks with the dead is ensnared by the past. A child who feels no pain and who should not exist sees the future. Between them are truths that will shake worlds.

In a distant future, no remnants of human beings remain, but their successors thrive throughout the galaxy. These are the offspring of humanity's genius-animals uplifted into walking, talking, sentient beings. The Fant are one such species: anthropomorphic elephants ostracized by other races, and long ago exiled to the rainy ghetto world of Barsk. There, they develop medicines upon which all species now depend. The most coveted of these drugs is koph, which allows a small number of users to interact with the recently deceased and learn their secrets.

To break the Fant's control of koph, an offworld shadow group attempts to force the Fant to surrender their knowledge. Jorl, a Fant Speaker with the dead, is compelled to question his deceased best friend, who years ago mysteriously committed suicide. In so doing, Jorl unearths a secret the powers that be would prefer to keep buried forever. Meanwhile, his dead friend's son, a physically challenged young Fant named Pizlo, is driven by disturbing visions to take his first unsteady steps toward an uncertain future.

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Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly
★ 10/12/2015
Nebula- and Hugo Award–nominated Schoen (Calendrical Regression) spins an emotional, richly imagined tale in this novella. In the far future, the Fant, an outcast race of anthropomorphic “uplifted” elephants, are at the mercy of a powerful alliance of hundreds of worlds and races that would destroy them and their home planet, Barsk, in order to wrest control of the drug koph, which allows its users, known as Speakers, to speak to the dead. Jorl ben Tral (a member of the Fant and a Speaker himself) is compelled to discover why his best friend, Arlo, committed suicide, while Pizlo, Arlo’s six-year-old son, hears whispers that lead him to take his own fateful journey. Meanwhile, a young uplifted otter named Lirlowil is forced to put her own talents as a Speaker to the ultimate test. Schoen’s vivid writing makes the Fant and the other species intensely relatable, elevating familiar themes of predetermination, prophecy, and the power of memory. Even as the Fant face genocide, their bravery and spirit makes this a hopeful and very human tale in a posthuman world. Agent: John Silbersack, Trident Media Group (Dec.)
Hugo Award-winning author of Red Planet Blues Robert J. Sawyer

Weird, wise, and worldly, Barsk: The Elephants' Graveyard is a triumph.
Nebula Award-winning author of the Metropolitan se Walter Jon Williams

The second you encounter the arboreal uplifted elephants who speak with the dead, you know you're reading a work of singular imaginative power. It's a delight from beginning to end.
author of A Darkling Sea James L. Cambias

A captivating, heartwarming story in a unique and fantastic world... as rich and mysterious as Dune.
author of the Craft Sequence Max Gladstone

A heartfelt and wonderfully weird book: a space opera about kindness and memory.
author of Fire With Fire Charles E. Gannon

A masterful, onion-layered tale of pariahdom, treachery, and genocide that ultimately reveals the true deathlessness of hope and love.
author of Lockstep Karl Schroeder

Combines excellent characters and a fascinating world. What really makes it work is how he deftly weaves together startling SFnal ideas with character-based intrigue. You'll really care for these characters, even as you find them believably alien. I found it a compulsive page-turner and immensely enjoyable.
Hugo Award-winning creator of Schlock Mercenary Howard Tayler

Powerful. Grand in scope, yet deeply intimate. Schoen gives anthropomorphism some serious spirituality. It got inside my head in the way that only an exciting new idea can.
Library Journal
11/15/2015
In the future, humans have vanished; what remains are the anthropomorphic animals from the former Earth, who have spread throughout the universe bringing with them their own cultures and prejudices. The exiled Fants (elephants) on Barsk are even more separated than the other animal species. Their only contact is through the trade of koph, a special plant that gives certain creatures the ability to speak with the dead. It is this plant that is at the heart of the conflict that will test the resolve of two Fants as they uncover a shameful truth that the most powerful in the universe will do anything to keep secret. VERDICT Readers who like their sf to extensively delve into philosophical subjects will love this book. Schoen's (Calendrical Regression) quiet read muses on a variety of subjects, including memory, history, and sacrifice. The characters and world are so well drawn that it doesn't take long to understand the universe the author has crafted. There is plenty of crossover appeal in terms of ages and genres.—Laura Hiatt-Smith, Conifer, CO

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Product Details

ISBN-13:
9780765377029
Publisher:
Tom Doherty Associates
Publication date:
12/29/2015
Pages:
384
Sales rank:
190,687
Product dimensions:
5.60(w) x 8.30(h) x 1.40(d)

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