What do you think?
Rate this book
Mirabile
On the distant planet of Mirabile, a settlement of human colonists from Earth is jeopardized by genetic mutants of Earth plants and animals, and it is up to ecological troubleshooter Mama Jason to destroy the menacing mutants. Reprint.
Contents:
The Loch Moose Monster (1989)
The Return of the Kangaroo Rex (1989)
The Flowering Inferno (1990)
Getting the Bugs Out (1990)
Raising Cane (1991)
Frankenswine (1991)
Contents:
The Loch Moose Monster (1989)
The Return of the Kangaroo Rex (1989)
The Flowering Inferno (1990)
Getting the Bugs Out (1990)
Raising Cane (1991)
Frankenswine (1991)
288 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published October 1, 1991
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 74 reviews
November 9, 2021
This is delightful. It's funny and sad and full of lessons we on this real Earth should take notice of. I enjoyed it so much I started over again when I finished. Thanks to Sharon Lee for the recommendation.
July 5, 2012
This book, for me, comes attached to a story.
Around seventh grade, I read a collection of short stories, including The Loch Moose Monster. It was a collection aimed at teens, checked out of the public library in the town where I went to school, and the authors note said or implied that there were more stories, perhaps a book, set on the same wonderful world.
I remembered that the author had also written one of my favorite Star Trek novels, Uhara's Song...and that was it. This was pre-web, and at the very beginning of online catalogs, and when I went back a few years later for a re-read I went from one end of the alphabet to the other and couldn't find the collection. I tucked the information away in the back of my mind--this is still, mind you, pre- or very early Web, and well pre-Google, and there was no easy way to satisfy this tickle in the back of my mind.
Fast forward a few years--to 1997 or thereabouts, when I was at a science-fiction convention, doing my usual dig through the used booksellers. The author's name twigged some memory, and I pulled it out...and lo! the first story in the book was my missing story, and there were all the rest, and it was a WHOLE BOOK.
It took me about ten seconds to pay the nice man, and dash up to the nearest corner suitable for reading (a rather random armchair in a stairwell that I happened to know of because the elevators at that con were notoriously sluggish). I then ignored the next two hours of my schedule in favor of reading from cover to cover.
With a leadup like that I could hardly fail to love the book, and I did indeed adore it. I have an extremely soft spot for the initial conceit, of a colony fleet sent not only with embryos and gene banks but with the genes for different species stored in the unused portions of the DNA for others, so that every so often your dandelions might flower red and hatch out dragonflies. Or, given that genes have this unfortunate tendency to mutate, you might end up with the Kangaroo Rex, somewhere between Kangaroo and Tasmanian Wolf. It is certainly not the hardest science fiction out there, but it it a lovely combination of characters (particularly some of flora and fauna native to the planet--my favorite character in the book is Mabob, short for Thingamabob, three feet of dodo-shaped, green-scaled, orange-eyed eccentricity with an ear-splitting "GRONK"), setting, science, and humor. (see the kangaroo rex and Mabob...) It is, in short, just the sort of light, fun, well-written science fiction that I most enjoy.
Around seventh grade, I read a collection of short stories, including The Loch Moose Monster. It was a collection aimed at teens, checked out of the public library in the town where I went to school, and the authors note said or implied that there were more stories, perhaps a book, set on the same wonderful world.
I remembered that the author had also written one of my favorite Star Trek novels, Uhara's Song...and that was it. This was pre-web, and at the very beginning of online catalogs, and when I went back a few years later for a re-read I went from one end of the alphabet to the other and couldn't find the collection. I tucked the information away in the back of my mind--this is still, mind you, pre- or very early Web, and well pre-Google, and there was no easy way to satisfy this tickle in the back of my mind.
Fast forward a few years--to 1997 or thereabouts, when I was at a science-fiction convention, doing my usual dig through the used booksellers. The author's name twigged some memory, and I pulled it out...and lo! the first story in the book was my missing story, and there were all the rest, and it was a WHOLE BOOK.
It took me about ten seconds to pay the nice man, and dash up to the nearest corner suitable for reading (a rather random armchair in a stairwell that I happened to know of because the elevators at that con were notoriously sluggish). I then ignored the next two hours of my schedule in favor of reading from cover to cover.
With a leadup like that I could hardly fail to love the book, and I did indeed adore it. I have an extremely soft spot for the initial conceit, of a colony fleet sent not only with embryos and gene banks but with the genes for different species stored in the unused portions of the DNA for others, so that every so often your dandelions might flower red and hatch out dragonflies. Or, given that genes have this unfortunate tendency to mutate, you might end up with the Kangaroo Rex, somewhere between Kangaroo and Tasmanian Wolf. It is certainly not the hardest science fiction out there, but it it a lovely combination of characters (particularly some of flora and fauna native to the planet--my favorite character in the book is Mabob, short for Thingamabob, three feet of dodo-shaped, green-scaled, orange-eyed eccentricity with an ear-splitting "GRONK"), setting, science, and humor. (see the kangaroo rex and Mabob...) It is, in short, just the sort of light, fun, well-written science fiction that I most enjoy.
March 13, 2011
I re-read Kagan's collection of Mirabile stories on my birthday at my partner's recommendation. After all, there's rather a shortage of books about middle-aged folks who aren't interested in being a hero anymore. There's a shortage of books about getting the job done, and then getting it done again tomorrow because the work is never ending. A shortage of books talking about raising up the next generation to do your work because the work will be there long after you die. And there is a shortage, a shameful shortage, of works that make this sound like a really nifty way to live.
Mirabile does that.
This is a book for people with kids, or with a legacy of which their life is just one small part. It's a book for people who are tired of looking for the big reward that makes everything special, and who like the smaller rewards of companionship and well-cooked dinner. It's a book for everyone who has cursed the designers of the system in which they work, and who spend their days trying to make that system better for the next folks. It's a science fiction book about real life and real jobs and real families and real community, and my birthday was the perfect day on which to re-read it.
Mirabile does that.
This is a book for people with kids, or with a legacy of which their life is just one small part. It's a book for people who are tired of looking for the big reward that makes everything special, and who like the smaller rewards of companionship and well-cooked dinner. It's a book for everyone who has cursed the designers of the system in which they work, and who spend their days trying to make that system better for the next folks. It's a science fiction book about real life and real jobs and real families and real community, and my birthday was the perfect day on which to re-read it.
December 29, 2008
Stories from a cryptobiologist on the isolated colony world Mirabile. The book explains it thoroughly in the first five pages, so suffice it to say that Annie's job is a bit complicated seeing as how planting a tulip on Mirabile might produce a butterfly, and the butterfly might lay an egg that hatches a wasp.
Another mosaic novel, each piece a snapshot of introducing unstable Earth plant and animal life into the alien ecology of Mirabile. Sweetly transparent, simple, startlingly wholesome. Startling because I liked it; I was thoroughly charmed, actually. Seriously -- Kagan telegraphs every outcome five pages in and dropped an enormous infodump at the beginning by having Annie explain things to a character who couldn't possibly not already know them. And yet I was charmed. Otters that give birth to Odders -- ooh, and Mabob (as in thinga--) for an alien pet. It's one of those times where science actually does look like magic, and that's really cool. (Usually when people say that they're talking about quantum mechanics, and I'm like 'uh no, that just looks like science that you don't understand'.)
Totally a comfort book, sweet but not saccharine.
Another mosaic novel, each piece a snapshot of introducing unstable Earth plant and animal life into the alien ecology of Mirabile. Sweetly transparent, simple, startlingly wholesome. Startling because I liked it; I was thoroughly charmed, actually. Seriously -- Kagan telegraphs every outcome five pages in and dropped an enormous infodump at the beginning by having Annie explain things to a character who couldn't possibly not already know them. And yet I was charmed. Otters that give birth to Odders -- ooh, and Mabob (as in thinga--) for an alien pet. It's one of those times where science actually does look like magic, and that's really cool. (Usually when people say that they're talking about quantum mechanics, and I'm like 'uh no, that just looks like science that you don't understand'.)
Totally a comfort book, sweet but not saccharine.
March 21, 2020
Light, enjoyable collection of connected short stories told in a pleasing voice. These strike me as perfect juvenile stories though I can see how they'd be fun if encountered in sf magazines. There is little character development, what you see is what you get. Not that there's anything wrong with that for entertaining reading.
They are largely problem solving tales, wrapped in the intriguing environment of human colonists on Mirabile. Scientists who packed the colony ships with embryos also planned for emergency redundancy with some gene twisting so that each species contains the genes for other species. Which is super until your computer has a glitch that loses how to turn those genes off or on. When the Earth species react to the alien environment they reproduce with different species altogether, or sometimes with unexpected results of genes that mixed to produce monsters.
The fun is in watching Jason, the planet's genetic/environmental problem solver, evaluate and handle the various mutations along the way.
Perfect summer reading.
They are largely problem solving tales, wrapped in the intriguing environment of human colonists on Mirabile. Scientists who packed the colony ships with embryos also planned for emergency redundancy with some gene twisting so that each species contains the genes for other species. Which is super until your computer has a glitch that loses how to turn those genes off or on. When the Earth species react to the alien environment they reproduce with different species altogether, or sometimes with unexpected results of genes that mixed to produce monsters.
The fun is in watching Jason, the planet's genetic/environmental problem solver, evaluate and handle the various mutations along the way.
Perfect summer reading.
August 26, 2020
ENGLISH: Mirabile is a planet colonized by man, who has brought there a database of genetically manipulated terrestrial plant and animal genomes, from which unpredictable mixed species (dragon teeth) usually emerge. The description of the emerging biological phenomena is surprising and spectacular.
But I didn't like the fact that Kagan pays tribute to our current culture of disengagement by making her two protagonists (the old female narrator and a retired male explorer, two nice tireless elderly persons) share a bed without being married. I agree with Susan, a teenager who is shocked by their open necking. In fact, necking is mentioned so frequently, that it actually becomes sickeningly sweet.
By the way, Susan is a very strange girl. The six stories in the book are told in chronological order, following the romance between the two protagonists. But Susan's age is 16 in the second story, 18 in the third, and again 16 in the fourth and sixth stories. Those jumps in her age are inexplicable. (:-) Well, we can say that in the third story a typo slipped in, and Susan is actually 16 throughout the book, although the typo was not 16->18, but sixteen->eighteen.
ESPAÑOL: Mirabile es un planeta colonizado por el hombre, al que ha llevado una base de datos de genomas de plantas y animales terrestres manipulados genéticamente, de los que suelen salir especies mixtas impredecibles (dientes de dragón). La descripción de los fenómenos biológicos que van surgiendo es sorprendente y espectacular.
Lo que no me gustó es que Kagan paga tributo a la actual cultura de la desvinculación al hacer que sus dos protagonistas (la anciana narradora y un explorador retirado, ambos inagotables y bastante simpáticos, por cierto) compartan lecho sin estar casados. Estoy de acuerdo con Susan, una chica adolescente que se escandaliza ante los arrumacos de los dos viejos. Los menciona tantas veces que resultan empalagosos.
Por cierto, Susan es una chica muy rara. Las seis historias del libro van en orden cronológico, siguiendo la aventura amorosa entre los dos protagonistas. Pero Susan tiene 16 años en la segunda, 18 en la tercera, y otra vez 16 en la cuarta y la sexta. Esos saltos de edad son inexplicables. (:-) En fin, admitamos que en la tercera historia se coló un gazapo, y que Susan tiene 16 años durante todo el libro.
But I didn't like the fact that Kagan pays tribute to our current culture of disengagement by making her two protagonists (the old female narrator and a retired male explorer, two nice tireless elderly persons) share a bed without being married. I agree with Susan, a teenager who is shocked by their open necking. In fact, necking is mentioned so frequently, that it actually becomes sickeningly sweet.
By the way, Susan is a very strange girl. The six stories in the book are told in chronological order, following the romance between the two protagonists. But Susan's age is 16 in the second story, 18 in the third, and again 16 in the fourth and sixth stories. Those jumps in her age are inexplicable. (:-) Well, we can say that in the third story a typo slipped in, and Susan is actually 16 throughout the book, although the typo was not 16->18, but sixteen->eighteen.
ESPAÑOL: Mirabile es un planeta colonizado por el hombre, al que ha llevado una base de datos de genomas de plantas y animales terrestres manipulados genéticamente, de los que suelen salir especies mixtas impredecibles (dientes de dragón). La descripción de los fenómenos biológicos que van surgiendo es sorprendente y espectacular.
Lo que no me gustó es que Kagan paga tributo a la actual cultura de la desvinculación al hacer que sus dos protagonistas (la anciana narradora y un explorador retirado, ambos inagotables y bastante simpáticos, por cierto) compartan lecho sin estar casados. Estoy de acuerdo con Susan, una chica adolescente que se escandaliza ante los arrumacos de los dos viejos. Los menciona tantas veces que resultan empalagosos.
Por cierto, Susan es una chica muy rara. Las seis historias del libro van en orden cronológico, siguiendo la aventura amorosa entre los dos protagonistas. Pero Susan tiene 16 años en la segunda, 18 en la tercera, y otra vez 16 en la cuarta y la sexta. Esos saltos de edad son inexplicables. (:-) En fin, admitamos que en la tercera historia se coló un gazapo, y que Susan tiene 16 años durante todo el libro.
August 26, 2020
ENGLISH: Mirabile is a planet colonized by man, who has brought there a database of genetically manipulated terrestrial plant and animal genomes, from which unpredictable mixed species (dragon teeth) usually emerge. The description of the emerging biological phenomena is surprising and spectacular.
But I didn't like the fact that Kagan pays tribute to our current culture of disengagement by making her two protagonists (the old female narrator and a retired male explorer, two nice tireless elderly persons) share a bed without being married. I agree with Susan, a teenager who is shocked by their open necking. In fact, necking is mentioned so frequently, that it actually becomes sickeningly sweet.
By the way, Susan is a very strange girl. The six stories in the book are told in chronological order, following the romance between the two protagonists. But Susan's age is 16 in the second story, 18 in the third, and again 16 in the fourth and sixth stories. Those jumps in her age are inexplicable. (:-) Well, we can say that in the third story a typo slipped in, and Susan is actually 16 throughout the book, although the typo was not 16->18, but sixteen->eighteen.
ESPAÑOL: Mirabile es un planeta colonizado por el hombre, al que ha llevado una base de datos de genomas de plantas y animales terrestres manipulados genéticamente, de los que suelen salir especies mixtas impredecibles (dientes de dragón). La descripción de los fenómenos biológicos que van surgiendo es sorprendente y espectacular.
Lo que no me gustó es que Kagan paga tributo a la actual cultura de la desvinculación al hacer que sus dos protagonistas (la anciana narradora y un explorador retirado, ambos inagotables y bastante simpáticos, por cierto) compartan lecho sin estar casados. Estoy de acuerdo con Susan, una chica adolescente que se escandaliza ante los arrumacos de los dos viejos. Los menciona tantas veces que resultan empalagosos.
Por cierto, Susan es una chica muy rara. Las seis historias del libro van en orden cronológico, siguiendo la aventura amorosa entre los dos protagonistas. Pero Susan tiene 16 años en la segunda, 18 en la tercera, y otra vez 16 en la cuarta y la sexta. Esos saltos de edad son inexplicables. (:-) En fin, admitamos que en la tercera historia se coló un gazapo, y que Susan tiene 16 años durante todo el libro.
But I didn't like the fact that Kagan pays tribute to our current culture of disengagement by making her two protagonists (the old female narrator and a retired male explorer, two nice tireless elderly persons) share a bed without being married. I agree with Susan, a teenager who is shocked by their open necking. In fact, necking is mentioned so frequently, that it actually becomes sickeningly sweet.
By the way, Susan is a very strange girl. The six stories in the book are told in chronological order, following the romance between the two protagonists. But Susan's age is 16 in the second story, 18 in the third, and again 16 in the fourth and sixth stories. Those jumps in her age are inexplicable. (:-) Well, we can say that in the third story a typo slipped in, and Susan is actually 16 throughout the book, although the typo was not 16->18, but sixteen->eighteen.
ESPAÑOL: Mirabile es un planeta colonizado por el hombre, al que ha llevado una base de datos de genomas de plantas y animales terrestres manipulados genéticamente, de los que suelen salir especies mixtas impredecibles (dientes de dragón). La descripción de los fenómenos biológicos que van surgiendo es sorprendente y espectacular.
Lo que no me gustó es que Kagan paga tributo a la actual cultura de la desvinculación al hacer que sus dos protagonistas (la anciana narradora y un explorador retirado, ambos inagotables y bastante simpáticos, por cierto) compartan lecho sin estar casados. Estoy de acuerdo con Susan, una chica adolescente que se escandaliza ante los arrumacos de los dos viejos. Los menciona tantas veces que resultan empalagosos.
Por cierto, Susan es una chica muy rara. Las seis historias del libro van en orden cronológico, siguiendo la aventura amorosa entre los dos protagonistas. Pero Susan tiene 16 años en la segunda, 18 en la tercera, y otra vez 16 en la cuarta y la sexta. Esos saltos de edad son inexplicables. (:-) En fin, admitamos que en la tercera historia se coló un gazapo, y que Susan tiene 16 años durante todo el libro.
July 23, 2014
This playful work of ecological sf is considered a small classic. I read it years ago and was vaguely underwhelmed. I recently received a copy again and re-read it. I’m still a bit underwhelmed.
The planet Mirabile is a couple generations into being colonized. The original colonists built species redundancy into their gene banks, so that nothing can ever go extinct: cows sometimes give birth to deer, which in turn breed true except for when they give birth to goats, etc. But as always occurs, something went wrong en route and a lot of information was lost, including the instructions for how to stop animals and plants from unexpectedly producing different species. There are also problems with mutants and chimeras (Dragon’s Teeth), and interactions with the local flora and fauna. It’s up to ecological troubleshooter Mama Jason (Jason is both name and job title) to sort things out.
This is a fix-it novel, based on a set of independent stories. In each story, an ecological problem comes up and Mama Jason either comes up with a solution or points out to people that the ecology is working just fine on its own. There’s a lot of cute names, like kangaroo rexes, odders, and tulip bats. It’s refreshing to see a middle-aged heroine. And the worldbuilding is fun.
My two big problems with the book were that most of the characters are barely characterized chess pieces to be moved around to make the ecological puzzles work, and that the ecological puzzles aren’t all that cool: a basic fire ecology with the twist of a plant that sets itself alight, and several “you can’t kill that pesky creature because it’s eating another and even peskier creature/plant.”
Kagan was very talented and I wish she’d written more, but I like her Star Trek novel Uhura’s Song (which borders on original sf) best, and her linguistic sf novel Hellspark better.
The planet Mirabile is a couple generations into being colonized. The original colonists built species redundancy into their gene banks, so that nothing can ever go extinct: cows sometimes give birth to deer, which in turn breed true except for when they give birth to goats, etc. But as always occurs, something went wrong en route and a lot of information was lost, including the instructions for how to stop animals and plants from unexpectedly producing different species. There are also problems with mutants and chimeras (Dragon’s Teeth), and interactions with the local flora and fauna. It’s up to ecological troubleshooter Mama Jason (Jason is both name and job title) to sort things out.
This is a fix-it novel, based on a set of independent stories. In each story, an ecological problem comes up and Mama Jason either comes up with a solution or points out to people that the ecology is working just fine on its own. There’s a lot of cute names, like kangaroo rexes, odders, and tulip bats. It’s refreshing to see a middle-aged heroine. And the worldbuilding is fun.
My two big problems with the book were that most of the characters are barely characterized chess pieces to be moved around to make the ecological puzzles work, and that the ecological puzzles aren’t all that cool: a basic fire ecology with the twist of a plant that sets itself alight, and several “you can’t kill that pesky creature because it’s eating another and even peskier creature/plant.”
Kagan was very talented and I wish she’d written more, but I like her Star Trek novel Uhura’s Song (which borders on original sf) best, and her linguistic sf novel Hellspark better.
July 8, 2016
There's an interesting premise here. Settlers on another world have to deal with surprises hidden in the genetic codes of animals that they brought from earth. These "Dragon Teeth" might be benign ("odders"), or they might be dangerous ("Frankenswine.") The tone is light and positive, the people are plucky and resourceful, and apparently have boundless resources in spite of having lost data from the ships' (yes, plural) computers e/r to the new world.
I was completely bored by the whole thing.
Apparently Kim Stanley Robinson and Aurora have ruined me for happy stories of human settlement on other worlds. :( But there was also no CONFLICT, no tension, no suspense. Dog knows I don't want grimdark stories here. But everything's too easy. I just didn't believe it.
I'm glad other folks love and enjoy this book. I wish I could.
I was completely bored by the whole thing.
Apparently Kim Stanley Robinson and Aurora have ruined me for happy stories of human settlement on other worlds. :( But there was also no CONFLICT, no tension, no suspense. Dog knows I don't want grimdark stories here. But everything's too easy. I just didn't believe it.
I'm glad other folks love and enjoy this book. I wish I could.
June 25, 2016
A collection of linked short stories that were the best of humorous SF. A really nice plot foundation regarding mixing a planets native habitat with Earth habitat and a nice complication to add complexity. The solving of ecological mix-matches provides the impetus and the problem-solving and characters add to it.
October 9, 2022
This was a collection of short stories united by the same characters. The stories follow each other in chronological order. The action in every story takes place on a distant planet of Mirabile, which makes the entire book science fiction. Of a sort.
There are no battles and no space flights in the stories. The only science is biology. The protagonist is a biologist and geneticist, and her main job is to keep the Earth native species the colonists had brought to the planet of Mirabile and the Mirabile's native biota to work in harmony. Of course, crises arise now and again, and every crisis warrants its own story.
The book is low-key and fragmented. There are no villains there, only good people against nature. In a way, it is an idyll. But the protagonist is a wonderful female scientist, capable and warmhearted, and it was a quiet pleasure to read about her adventures.
There are no battles and no space flights in the stories. The only science is biology. The protagonist is a biologist and geneticist, and her main job is to keep the Earth native species the colonists had brought to the planet of Mirabile and the Mirabile's native biota to work in harmony. Of course, crises arise now and again, and every crisis warrants its own story.
The book is low-key and fragmented. There are no villains there, only good people against nature. In a way, it is an idyll. But the protagonist is a wonderful female scientist, capable and warmhearted, and it was a quiet pleasure to read about her adventures.
October 10, 2022
This is one of those books that people keep recommending to me - I finally got around to reading it! Really enjoyable, quirky science fiction novel featuring a terrific middle-aged heroine and her chosen family settling on a new planet. Kagen did a splendid job of melding ecological issues with terraforming, importing new species and related questions - how would humans resettle an Earthlike planet? What would they bring with them and how would it impact the existing ecology and their daily lives? She also did a nice job in suggesting a much more diverse population than a lot of sf of the time period generally included, plus a ton of story elements about mentoring young girls, in particular, in biology and STEM-related fields. This one is going on the comfort reads shelf!
October 19, 2022
A truly delightful set of stories happening on an alien planet with human colonists dealing with genetic surprises in the flora and fauna. Lots of fun!
July 28, 2023
Delightful hopepunk (feel good sci-fi) with a specific niche. Middle aged female scientist hero who saves the world in meaningful but small ways by stewarding plant and animal populations through gene editing, fieldwork and training the next generation. More exciting than it sounds and lots of fun alien species, what more could you ask for? Jo Walton recommended this one.
November 2, 2021
This is just exactly what I wanted.
I was out of good books to read, so I went back and read an interview with Martha Wells where she talked about her influences and favorite authors and I started tracking those people down. Which is how I found this delightful book.
It is technically not a novel so much as it is a collection of short stories told in sequence, but I found that structure really worked for me as a reader and for the story. Startlingly ahead of its time, this has a whole bunch of cool things to say about evolution and adaptability and I was here for all of it.
Especially the odders.
I was out of good books to read, so I went back and read an interview with Martha Wells where she talked about her influences and favorite authors and I started tracking those people down. Which is how I found this delightful book.
It is technically not a novel so much as it is a collection of short stories told in sequence, but I found that structure really worked for me as a reader and for the story. Startlingly ahead of its time, this has a whole bunch of cool things to say about evolution and adaptability and I was here for all of it.
Especially the odders.
February 16, 2023
Short stories about alien life. Fun read!
January 6, 2020
The set of genetic engineering short stories centered on the planet Mirabile are lighthearted stories that are long time favorites of mine.
Abstract: These stories are an interlinked set of short stories showcasing the adventures of Annie Jason Masmajean (a genetic engineer) and her friend Leonov Bellmaker Denness (a jack-of-all trades).
These stories are genetic engineering science fiction. The technical premise to all the stories is that during the colonization of Mirabile "extra" genetic material was tucked into the DNA of the transported species for redundancy. Unfortunately, the DNA didn't stay put, and various unusual (REALLY unusual!) genetic mutations appear from time to time (called "Dragon's Teeth" in the stories). As such, the stories are various explorations of different kinds of oddball genetic mutations - from Terran DNA, but on a non-Terran planet - both in plants and animals.
Overall, the environment and genetic alterations are well thought out. While these stories might not be "hard" science fiction of the spaceship and ray-gun type, they certainly are science fiction stories that fundamentally rely on science and technology (in this case, genetic engineering). I particularly liked the attention-to-detail in describing the entire ecosystem (not just the ecosystem germane to any particular story). I also liked the description of interlocking ecosystems (a key feature of our own world, but one that often doesn't make it into science fiction stories).
The character development is also quite strong (as with most interlinked short stories, the character relationships are developed across the various stories). The relationship between Annie Jason Masmajean and Leonov Bellmaker Denness IS a romantic one, but with strong practical underpinnings (he gives her a Kangaroo Rex as a courting present, what is she going to do in exchange?) The underlying frontier society is also developed reasonably well - certainly a bit idealized and optimistic - but appropriate for the relatively lighthearted nature of the stories.
Note: This is a new review simply because I've recently joined Goodreads. The stories have been in my personal library for many years.
Abstract: These stories are an interlinked set of short stories showcasing the adventures of Annie Jason Masmajean (a genetic engineer) and her friend Leonov Bellmaker Denness (a jack-of-all trades).
These stories are genetic engineering science fiction. The technical premise to all the stories is that during the colonization of Mirabile "extra" genetic material was tucked into the DNA of the transported species for redundancy. Unfortunately, the DNA didn't stay put, and various unusual (REALLY unusual!) genetic mutations appear from time to time (called "Dragon's Teeth" in the stories). As such, the stories are various explorations of different kinds of oddball genetic mutations - from Terran DNA, but on a non-Terran planet - both in plants and animals.
Overall, the environment and genetic alterations are well thought out. While these stories might not be "hard" science fiction of the spaceship and ray-gun type, they certainly are science fiction stories that fundamentally rely on science and technology (in this case, genetic engineering). I particularly liked the attention-to-detail in describing the entire ecosystem (not just the ecosystem germane to any particular story). I also liked the description of interlocking ecosystems (a key feature of our own world, but one that often doesn't make it into science fiction stories).
The character development is also quite strong (as with most interlinked short stories, the character relationships are developed across the various stories). The relationship between Annie Jason Masmajean and Leonov Bellmaker Denness IS a romantic one, but with strong practical underpinnings (he gives her a Kangaroo Rex as a courting present, what is she going to do in exchange?) The underlying frontier society is also developed reasonably well - certainly a bit idealized and optimistic - but appropriate for the relatively lighthearted nature of the stories.
Note: This is a new review simply because I've recently joined Goodreads. The stories have been in my personal library for many years.
June 8, 2011
This book is a treasure I've re-read just about every year for a couple of decades. I had to quit loaning it out because it was just too hard to replace and everyone I loaned it to loved it so much they kept my copy! It's funny, and heartwarming, and the heroine is a cranky middle-aged scientist who like to make out with her boyfriend whenever she gets a chance, which both amuses and appalls her teenage daughter.
If you demand that your science be likely, don't bother- it's very amusing but highly unlikely. If you like funny character driven stories with loveable people who don't kill anyone or blow anything up, but do watch out for one another and build lives for themselves you might well envy- this one is well worth searching for!
If you demand that your science be likely, don't bother- it's very amusing but highly unlikely. If you like funny character driven stories with loveable people who don't kill anyone or blow anything up, but do watch out for one another and build lives for themselves you might well envy- this one is well worth searching for!
July 12, 2012
This book isn't really a novel, rather a collection of short stories about one main character, Annie, on the planet Mirabike. She and the other colonists are descended from humans sent from Earth. The stories revolve around the different "Dragon's Teeth" and other genetic abnornalitues that are cropping up & causing problems. For being stories about plants, animals, and genetics, they were a lot more fun than you'd think. I really enjoyed reading about Annie & her team's deductions. The book doesn't feel dated at all, perhaps given the strong female protagonist. Lately it's felt hard to find good scifi that's also fun & well-written, I'd recommend this collection if that's what you're looking for.
April 23, 2008
This is a collection of short stories that are strung together. Kagan is an amazing author and has all these neat little touches. Many years later, the book hardly feels dated at all and she even gets email in there although she just calls it mail. I reread it upon hearing of her death and it made me quite sad to realize what a treasure we lost.
January 28, 2018
Great interconnected novellas all set on an alien world, descendants of earthlings trying to make it on the planet mirabile, super inventive and lots of not so hard to grasp science, and the protagonist is a kick ass older lady. Great to rediscover Kagan.
December 11, 2019
It saddens me to give such a horribly low rating for this book. I absolutely loved the late Janet Kagan's Star Trek novel "Uhura's Song", and I thought I would love Janet Kagan's original work just as much.
I couldn't even get through the first chapter/story of this book.
I had high hopes for Mirabile, and not just because of Uhura's Song. The premise of Mirabile sounded enjoyable and the titles of the chapters/stories were amusing, a kind of humor that is right up my alley. But Ms. Kagan clearly has a love for exploring alien or foreign cultures to the point of full-on immersion. Now, I've had friends who just live for that sort of thing, but for me it becomes too much of a struggle to understand what's going on for me to actually, you know, ENJOY the story. With Uhura's Song, the exploration of the alien culture in that novel was done with a familiar viewpoint and reference, the established human (and Vulcan) Trek characters. We learned things about the aliens at the same time our heroes learned them. But with Mirabile, from the very first page the narrative throws around a LOT of words and odd points of view that left me mostly confused, and these were humans, not aliens! I had the same trouble with Frank Herbert's Dune. it's like suddenly being dropped into a college class in the middle of the semester, or into a foreign country without a guide, and being expected to follow and understand what's going on! That may be a fun time for other readers, but I guess I hate immersion narrative where nothing is explained. I read sci fi and fantasy to escape, and while I have nothing at all against a story that makes me think, I shouldn't have to think about every single sentence because the context is totally unclear and gets in the way of understanding and enjoying the plot, characters and themes. Sorry, Ms. Kagan.
And I suspect the same is true for her other original novel, Hellspark, which I started to read last year before I had to take a break from it. I'm going to try it again soon, but I am not sanguine about it.
I couldn't even get through the first chapter/story of this book.
I had high hopes for Mirabile, and not just because of Uhura's Song. The premise of Mirabile sounded enjoyable and the titles of the chapters/stories were amusing, a kind of humor that is right up my alley. But Ms. Kagan clearly has a love for exploring alien or foreign cultures to the point of full-on immersion. Now, I've had friends who just live for that sort of thing, but for me it becomes too much of a struggle to understand what's going on for me to actually, you know, ENJOY the story. With Uhura's Song, the exploration of the alien culture in that novel was done with a familiar viewpoint and reference, the established human (and Vulcan) Trek characters. We learned things about the aliens at the same time our heroes learned them. But with Mirabile, from the very first page the narrative throws around a LOT of words and odd points of view that left me mostly confused, and these were humans, not aliens! I had the same trouble with Frank Herbert's Dune. it's like suddenly being dropped into a college class in the middle of the semester, or into a foreign country without a guide, and being expected to follow and understand what's going on! That may be a fun time for other readers, but I guess I hate immersion narrative where nothing is explained. I read sci fi and fantasy to escape, and while I have nothing at all against a story that makes me think, I shouldn't have to think about every single sentence because the context is totally unclear and gets in the way of understanding and enjoying the plot, characters and themes. Sorry, Ms. Kagan.
And I suspect the same is true for her other original novel, Hellspark, which I started to read last year before I had to take a break from it. I'm going to try it again soon, but I am not sanguine about it.
December 30, 2021
This is a collection of short stories all set on the world Mirabile, and all centering around Mama Jason and the unpredictable wildlife of the planet Mirabile. Settled by humans at some unspecified time in the future, it is now the site of a struggling human colony that arrived in damaged colony ships with genetically engineered embryos of earth wildlife, but incomplete instructions about both what they have, and how they have been altered. For reasons of efficiency that are a bit glossed over, it appears that when the embryos for the colony ship were created, DNA from multiple species were combined into each embryo, with instructions on how to activate one or the other genome depending on what the colonists wanted. Those instructions, however, were part of the data loss, with the result that the new colonists are stuck with a bunch of embryos that may not necessarily breed true. So flowers may, under the right environmental conditions, give rise to insects; deer may give birth to wild hogs; and stranger and more dangerous hybrids (locally called "dragon's teeth") can appear which Mama Jason and her team need to identify and take care of. Genetic analysis becomes a matter of fundamental importance and in these short stories Mama Jason and her team deal with a series of puzzles and crises relating to the strange local ecology and the place that earth wildlife is creating within Mirabile's ecosystem. Considering the age of the book it's got an impressively decent grasp of ecological and genetic issues, and in particular the way an ecosystem can be delicately balanced in ways that may not necessarily be immediately obvious to humans. It's very sad Kagan died so young and before writing more than she did, as her early stories were all very well thought out and interesting, and I'd have loved to read more of them.
September 5, 2022
https://wordnerdy.blogspot.com/2022/0...
This was a very charming and very interesting sci-fi book about a (middle aged) woman who works as a scientist on another planet, dealing with flora and fauna imported from earth several generations ago, only they have other stuff encoded in their genes for science reasons, and sometimes weird mutants crop up. And that’s not getting into the native plants and animals! I think this was initially a bunch of short stories, but all about the same characters, so there is a bit of repetitive exposition, but I didn’t mind bc the narrative voice is so grumpy and funny. (I was especially tickled at the many times she “necks” with her boyfriend.) I just really enjoyed this. A/A-.
This was a very charming and very interesting sci-fi book about a (middle aged) woman who works as a scientist on another planet, dealing with flora and fauna imported from earth several generations ago, only they have other stuff encoded in their genes for science reasons, and sometimes weird mutants crop up. And that’s not getting into the native plants and animals! I think this was initially a bunch of short stories, but all about the same characters, so there is a bit of repetitive exposition, but I didn’t mind bc the narrative voice is so grumpy and funny. (I was especially tickled at the many times she “necks” with her boyfriend.) I just really enjoyed this. A/A-.
July 4, 2020
Pleasant, fluffy, feel-good sci-fi, full of strange flora and fauna, people with big hearts, clever kids, and loving couples. Nothing bad ever happens.
The stories focus on Annie Masmajean. She's a kind-hearted, no-nonsense, middle aged geneticist and biologist on a human colonized planet, whose job it is to sort things out when half-otter half-moose creatures or other weird, potentially unpleasant, genetic implausibilities are discovered. It always works out in the end, leaving everybody happy.
The stories focus on Annie Masmajean. She's a kind-hearted, no-nonsense, middle aged geneticist and biologist on a human colonized planet, whose job it is to sort things out when half-otter half-moose creatures or other weird, potentially unpleasant, genetic implausibilities are discovered. It always works out in the end, leaving everybody happy.
January 7, 2024
Very unusual book. It feels like it may have been both overly simplistic but also ahead of its time for thoughts on ecology. It is wild to me that the thought of populating a whole new planet with earth species didn’t dialogue at all with the invasive species knowledge we have today. That said, the combination of frontiersman and geneticists and weird animals, and this strange society that was salvaged from earth did really work for me. I might have liked a full length book instead of the short stories, but that is my bias.
Worth a read just for the creativity Kagan delivers.
Worth a read just for the creativity Kagan delivers.
May 29, 2020
Time for a little optimism and joie de vivre?
If shows that these are short stories combined into an episodic “novel”, but the main storyline carries through well, and the engaging characters are confronted with intriguing dilemmas on a frontier world. The emphasis is on biology & genetics rather than politics and social structure, although the later is deftly sketched into the background.
If shows that these are short stories combined into an episodic “novel”, but the main storyline carries through well, and the engaging characters are confronted with intriguing dilemmas on a frontier world. The emphasis is on biology & genetics rather than politics and social structure, although the later is deftly sketched into the background.
February 6, 2017
Closer to one star than three, this was a book I read because I didn't know what else to read. Genetics doesn't work like that. The stories are sort of okay-ish once you accept the setting, but doing that was not easy for me.
June 23, 2018
Upset
Ebook does not contain the lead ins to each story. Lead ins add background to each episode.
The book itself is terrific. Been waiting ti get this book in e form. Very disappointed it doesn't have the extra between each story.
Ebook does not contain the lead ins to each story. Lead ins add background to each episode.
The book itself is terrific. Been waiting ti get this book in e form. Very disappointed it doesn't have the extra between each story.
February 20, 2020
This was a charming series of stories about the colonists on a new planet dealing with native vs. introduced (Terran) life forms. No conflict, very little plot, but the characters were likable and the strange flora and fauna very imaginative. I enjoyed it, but I'm unlikely to read it again.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 74 reviews