Mindscape

Nominated for the Philip K. Dick Award and short-listed for the James Tiptree, Jr. Award.

Mindscape takes us to a future in which the world itself has been literally divided by the Barrier, a phenomenon that will not be ignored. For 115 years this extraterrestrial, epi-dimensional entity has divided the earth into warring zones. Although a treaty to end the interzonal wars has been hammered out, power-hungry politicians, gangsters, and spiritual fundamentalists are determined to thwart it. Celestina, the treaty's architect, is assassinated, and her protoge, Ellini, a talented renegade and one of the few able to negotiate the Barrier, takes up her mantle. Now Elleni and a motley crew of allies risk their lives to make the treaty work. Can they repair their fractured world before the Barrier devours them completely?

What rich and provocative territory this amazingly written first novel explores, what memorable characters it compels us to confront – renegade gene scientists and ethnic throwbacks, slippery politicos and "expendable" Extras, ghost dancers and double consciousness diviners conjuring through an enigmatic veil – each struggling in complex circumstances to navigate survival, identity, and self in a world thrown off its course, each speaking in distinct voices that stay with you long after you've left their unforgettable stories.

Science fiction at its best, Andrea Hairston's Mindscape makes you want to cuss and shout for joy – it's vision, raw humanity, and ultimate hopefulness are exhilarating. What a pleasure it is to be invited into a world so large and muscular, so sensual and rooted in global history, a world in which not only the future but the past is at stake." Sheree Renee Thomas, Dark Matter: A Century of Speculative Fiction and Dark Matter: Reading the Bones, winner of the 2001 and 2005 World Fantasy Awards

"A fine debut novel! Andrea Hairston's voice is fresh and strong." – Greg Bear