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    Yesterday's Kin
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    Yesterday's Kin
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    Yesterday's Kin
    Ebook159 pages2 hours

    Yesterday's Kin

    By Nancy Kress

    3.5/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    Nebula Award Winner
    Locus Award Winner

    Aliens have landed in New York. After several months of no explanations, they finally reveal the reason for their arrival.

    The news is not good.

    Geneticist Marianne Jenner is having a career breakthrough, yet her family is tearing itself apart. Her children Elizabeth and Ryan constantly bicker, agreeing only that an alien conspiracy is in play. Her youngest, Noah, is addicted to a drug that keeps temporarily changing his identity. The Jenner family could not be further apart. But between the four of them, the course of human history will be forever altered.

    Earth’s most elite scientists have ten months to prevent a disasterand not everyone is willing to wait.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherTachyon Publications
    Release dateSep 9, 2014
    ISBN9781616961763
    Unavailable
    Yesterday's Kin
    Author

    Nancy Kress

    Nancy Kress is the author of more than thirty books, including novels, short story collections, and nonfiction books about writing. Her work has won six Nebulas, two Hugos, a Sturgeon, and the John W. Campbell Memorial Award. She expanded two of her Nebula Award winners into successful trilogies: the novella Yesterday's Kin into a trilogy (Tomorrow's Kin, If Tomorrow Comes, and Terran Tomorrow), and the novelette "The Flowers of Aulit Prison" into the Probability Trilogy. Kress’s work has been translated into two dozen languages, including Klingon, none of which she can read. She lives in Seattle with her husband, writer Jack Skillingstead, and Cosette, the world’s most spoiled toy poodle.

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    Reviews for Yesterday's Kin

    3.5/5

    73 ratings14 reviews

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    • 4/5
      Kress seems to do well with novella length stories and I liked this one a lot mixing family dynamics, politics, evolutionary genetics and first contact. Good stuff.
    • 4/5
      I loved the completely reasonable alien premise and focus on scientific work as well as family bonds. Though Yesterday's Kin suffered a bit from lack of space to world-build or develop character relationships, it was still a great and fast read. Full review to come on the blog.
    • 3/5
      It's odd when a novel of the future feels a little old-fashioned... there's nothing at all wrong with that, but to me, this feels like it harks back to a lot of books I've read that were published in the 70s and 80s. I just haven't encountered many not-too-long, idea-based hard sci-fi novels lately. Maybe I just haven't been picking them up?

      Actually this is more like epidemic-thriller meets hard sci-fi. Aliens arrive, and make first contact. Or - they sort of make first contact. They're quite reclusive, inside their shielded ship. They say, through their mechanical translators, that they are here on a mission of peace: they wish to work with humanity to discover a cure for a coming event that threatens to wipe out humanity: Earth will soon be passing through a 'spore cloud' full of a virus which, they say, will kill both humans and aliens, unless a solution is found.

      To this end, the aliens demand that a number of UN leaders and scientific experts be brought to them. One of these is the middle-aged geneticist Marianne Jenner. The aliens seem to think her recent paper in 'Nature' documenting a previously-unknown mitochondrial haplogroup is relevant to the current crisis - but she's not sure why.

      Conveniently, for purposes of the plot, each member of Marianne's family ends up embodying one of the different attitudes humanity takes toward the aliens: Marianne herself is open-minded and curious. Her daughter, a top Border Security officer, has one set of concerns. Her older son, an environmental expert on invasive plant species, sees the aliens as invaders. And her younger son, who's always been a social misfit, seeking to 'belong' through drugs, sees other possibilities in the aliens altogether.

      The plot presents some interesting scientific ideas, and throws in a few unexpected twists. It's a good, solid sci-fi novel.

      Many thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to read an advance copy. As always, my opinions are my own.
    • 5/5
      What if: Aliens have finally come to Earth and they are us? Now they are here, how long do we have to get to know them before everything we love is gone forever.

      Nancy Kress has written a fascinating book about what motivates people: family, survival, greed, fear. She centers her story on a family consisting of a mother, geneticist Marianne Jenner, her children, Noah, restless, addicted to a personality changing drug called sugar cane, Elizabeth, a tough law enforcement officer, and Ryan, an environmental scientist who studies invasive species.

      When the Deneb appear on Earth with their enigmatic message that they come in peace, it ignites a chain of events that will change how you view First Contact profoundly.

      What a fantastic story!!
    • 4/5
      Yesterday's Kin by Nancy Kress is a highly recommended short novel that succinctly captures a first contact story from the viewpoint of one family - with a twist.

      They said they were here making contact for a peace mission. At first the aliens, nicknamed Denebs, were staying in orbit off the earth, but then they asked permission of the UN to set up an embassy off shore from NYC. Then they requested specific visitors to their embassy and they revealed their true reason for making contact. The aliens claim there is a deadly interstellar spore cloud headed for earth and they want to warn earth scientists about it so they can find a cure/vaccination before it arrives in 10 months.

      The Denebs are also interested in the genetics research of Marianne Jenner. She recently published a paper on mitochondrial Eve and a new branch of her descendants. The aliens are interested in this research. Jenner is one of the scientists the aliens ask to the embassy. Yesterday's Kin focuses on the contact with the aliens but it also explores Jenner's family and their interactions during this time.

      There are pros and cons to Kress' story. This is a good hard science fiction read since Kress does use up-to-date scientific research in her story. She packs a whole lot into 192 pages, which is good for a simple fast read but bad for any sort of extensive character or plot development. Kress does manage to do an excellent job of telling the story and developing her characters in the limited number of pages, but I think it may have been better if there was a bit more development of the narrative. Even while I enjoyed the story a lot, I was left with a few questions. For me at least, the twist at the end was guessed well before anything was revealed.

      (I also wondered about the quote "My, people come and go so quickly here," being attributed to Alice in Wonderland, when most people will recognize it from the movie The Wizard of Oz. I'm not sure if it is in both works or not, but perhaps someone knows.)

      Disclosure: My Kindle edition was courtesy of Tachyon via Netgalley for review purposes.

    • 3/5
      Doctor Jenner has been invited aboard the mysterious alien ship that has been floating over New York's shore. The reason is unknown and no one has ever seen the elusive alien race as yet. In fact no one has ever spoken to them other than through computers. Why have they chosen Jenner, and why are they really here?

      Meanwhile Jenner's three children have their own individual beliefs and experiences surrounding the alien race. It is the two generations of Jenner who will become part of the forefront of change. They will be instrumental to alien-human relations, bring forth civilization changing information and change the course of human life.

      Although rather short, the story is deep and the world building intense. The reader is immersed in a world where aliens are part of daily life, alien drugs are a problem for the select few of us who have extreme reactions to them and pit mother against son in the battle between peaceful existence or violent retaliation.

      This story would have done well to explore the aliens' arrival the months before Dr Jenner's experiences - and could have used a more broad span of experiences (mainly the outside world which we lose sight of half way through the book). The lack of exploration of societal and cultural changes due to the alien visitors was largely ignored.

      The ending was abrupt with very little attention paid to how the revelation at the end would change human perception of self and the religious order of the world. On top of it all - the aliens merely disappear into space, after gifting us the most obscene gift in history.


      This being said, the book kept me wondering what was really going on and questioning the motives of the aliens. I found myself fascinated by the new technology that the aliens brought with them and the fantatic things that a utopian civilization could do with it. It also followed my own beliefs that a peaceful culture who came to earth would be appalled by the poverty, cruelty and dissociation for which humans are so notorious.

      A great read, a quick read but worth it. I can't wait to check out the author's other works for original and well developed reads.
    • 5/5
      Several months previously, an alien ship landed in New York Harbor. They suddenly really want to talk to Dr Marianne Jenner, author of a scientific paper all about mitochondria. They tell Jenner, and the UN Secretary General, some really interesting things. The aliens (humanity calls them "Denebs" even though they aren't from the star Deneb) and humanity are almost genetically identical. Also, very bad things are going to happen to Earth in less than one year.A group of Earth's best scientists, including Jenner, are taken aboard the ship in a desperate search, with Deneb help, for immunity from "it." Meantime, outside the ship, Jenner's family is fractured. She is a widow with three grown children, two of whom, on opposite sides of the political spectrum, are constantly arguing. The third, Noah, is a drug addict. The reaction of the rest of humanity to the news about Earth's future ranges from There Are No Aliens to riots and suicide bombers.Inside the ship, progress is slow, and the clock is running. As the end gets closer and closer, despair sets in among the scientists that they are not even close to a solution. Then the Denebs reveal the honestly real reason for their trip to Earth. Time will tell if Earth's spirit of friendship and cooperation will continue, or if the Denebs have committed a monumental error by getting all of mankind really angry at them.This book easily gets five stars. It is full of ideas on a variety of topics, it is really easy to read and the hard science is kept to a "reasonable' level. Will there be a sequel? I hope so.
    • 4/5
      The first book I read by Nancy Kress was Beggars In Spain and I loved it so I was very glad to have the opportunity to read this one. First contact stories are a favorite of mine and this one didn't disappoint though I did have a feeling throughout that there wouldn't be enough time to tell a satisfying story. I must admit that my worry was mostly for naught. By the end, it felt fairly complete and I chalk my want of more answer to some things (Noah and the sugarcane, why people with the extra haplogroup get the invites to the Deneb homeworld) to being a greedy reader. I won't spoil but I will say that I didn't exactly see the twist with the Denebs coming and it was a well done reveal. I also liked how Marianne's family and their relationships to one another played out. It felt uncomfortably real. I'd definitely recommend this to fans of Kress & also to science fiction fans in general. It was a very quick read and is the sort that stays with you, hovering in the back of your mind for some time after you've read it. Absolutely well done. As always, time spent reading Kress is time well spent and I look forward to her next. I received a copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for my honest review.
    • 4/5
      Free review copy. Novella about aliens who arrive in New York, announce that they’re related to humans and that a deadly spore cloud is coming to kill everyone in not too many months, and seek humanity’s help in finding a cure/vaccine. Kress as usual combines the personal and political; one of the main characters is a genetics researcher who’s discovered a new haplotype based on mitochondrial DNA, which just happens to be the haplotype to which the aliens are most closely related. Also, she has fraught relations with her daughter (a high-ranking police officer) and one of her sons (a drug addict). The former sees the aliens as a threat and the latter sees them as far better than anything on Earth. As usual with Kress, the characters are generally pretty selfish, but trying to do the right thing navigating scientific breakthroughs from within their own perspectives. If you like her other work then this will probably suit.
    • 4/5
      I would like to thank NetGalley & Tachyon Publications for granting me a copy of this e-ARC to read in exchange for an honest review. Though I received this e-book for free that in no way impacts my review. I honestly rate this book as 3.5 stars, but as that is not an option on most sites I shall round up and give this book 4 stars. The rounding up is based upon the concepts put forth, and potential dialogues that it will hopefully inspire.Goodreads Blurb:"Aliens have landed in New York. A deadly cloud of spores has already infected and killed the inhabitants of two worlds. Now that plague is heading for Earth, and threatens humans and aliens alike. Can either species be trusted to find the cure?Geneticist Marianne Jenner is immersed in the desperate race to save humanity, yet her family is tearing itself apart. Siblings Elizabeth and Ryan are strident isolationists who agree only that an alien conspiracy is in play. Marianne’s youngest, Noah, is a loner addicted to a drug that constantly changes his identity. But between the four Jenners, the course of human history will be forever altered. Earth’s most elite scientists have ten months to prevent human extinction—and not everyone is willing to wait."Based upon an interesting premise, this book explores a robust range of human reactions to the suggestion of radical change. Using the main human characters, the Jenner family, a variety of personality types and responses are explored. While many characters are introduced, I felt Marianne to be the focal point around which everyone else revolves. Likely because much of the story is told through her point of view, though we do get bits and pieces from her three children: Elizabeth, Ryan, and Noah.Each of her children are very different from each other, but Noah, the youngest, is clearly the most different. It's not just that he hasn't been able to settle on a career, or even settle on an opinion of who he is, but his responses to normal family behavior is also different. While the rest of the family are career driven, Noah is adrift and trying to find where he fits in. When the family communicates with one another it is always very loudly, and could be viewed as aggressively by an outsider. Noah, already feeling like an outsider in his own family, is put off even more by the assertive methods of communication his family relies upon. Marianne views him as her lost child, and is herself at a loss for ways to give him the help she feels he needs.The other two children are excellent representatives for gross generalizations of stereotypes in our society. Each in their own very different way desires closed borders, which doesn't mesh well with having aliens land in their backyard - aliens whose technology is far superior to anything on Earth. At least technology that involves space travel, etc. However these aliens, dubbed the Denebs, claim that their medical technology is only on par, if that, with our own. Where they lived there wasn't as much need for the sciences to develop in that direction, or so they say. Many on Earth simply don't believe them, not even the scientific teams selected to work with the Denebs on finding a cure for this disease. Marianne is one of those scientists, in fact she was specifically requested by the Denebs, which confuses her to no end. Her field is a branch of genetics, and they quite recently discovered a new haplogroup, which wasn't all that large a discovery in the face of aliens and deadly spore. The only unusual thing about it was that it was a very old line, one of the first divergences from Mitochondrial Eve. As such, it had mostly died out and was therefore only a relatively small portion of the global population.Marianne's discovery is fascinating if you are into genealogy, otherwise it is just used to move the story forward. But it is certainly a creative method, and is heavily tied in to the premise of the story. The pacing of the story is fairly smooth, with some very normal human moments in the face of looming extinction. While the top scientists in the world scramble to find a cure for this disease that will hit Earth in less than ten months, they also have moments where their minds wander, reflecting on their families, things they could have done better, or done at all, etc. Yet the book isn't all frantic doom and gloom. There are major discoveries, and literally life altering decisions to be made. Some of these decisions are full of joy, some are full of desperation. Others are made by human error, removing the option of choice altogether. And all of these have some sort of direct impact on the Jenner family, sometimes upon more than one member at a time. The ending was a bit anticlimactic for me in some ways, but spot on in others. And I truly enjoyed Marianne's final thoughts as the book ended.
    • 4/5
      This science fiction novella by the veteran Nancy Kress is quite an engaging read. I enjoyed the more science fictional elements in the story (the aliens, the first contact, the world’s reaction, the technical explanations, the twists in the plot…) but I found the main characters to be teetering dangerously on the edge of stereotypes. My other con would be that I like science fiction stories to be a bit more innovative or riskier, either in plot or in style, and I found this novella a bit too classic for my taste. But I’m afraid I found similar problems in Nancy Kress previous novella, After the Fall, Before the Fall, During the Fall, which won an Hugo Award, so I suppose this shouldn’t be a problem for most science fiction fans.Despite all this, I must say that the story is solid and highly readable, and that I would recommend it to any science fiction lover. In fact, I’ve just included it in my nominating ballot for this year’s Hugo Awards. And I’d even dare to recommend it to people who are not really into the genre, as I’m sure most of them will find it original, fast-paced and enjoyable enough for the couple of hours you just need to read it.
    • 4/5
      Review copyA quick comment on the cover art by Thomas Canty. Eye-catching and a nice blending of the extra-terrestrial and DNA themes of the story. This would make me pick up the book and at least see what it's about. Kudos.Nancy Kress is a well-respected and prolific SF novelist with more than 30 published novels to her credit. Her latest work, Yesterday's Kin, was published last September. It's a relatively short piece, coming in at a bit under 200 pages.Yesterday's Kin tells the story of the Deneb, visitors from another galaxy, but there's a twist. The visitors aren't exactly aliens. Their stated mission is peaceful, they're here to warn us of a "spore cloud" with an Earth trajectory,which could unleash a virus that could decimate the world's population. A lab is set up at their Embassy in New York Harbor in a race against time in a joint effort to find a vaccine to protect humans from extinction.But there is so much more to this multi-layered story. I particularly liked the writer's handling of the public's reaction to the space travelers and their stated purpose. In many ways it's the same way we react to change in the 21st century. I couldn't help but think about how divided we are over the Affordable Healthcare Act and how much of a panic there was over the Ebola threat. Take that and multiply it to a global scale.As much as the story is about visitors from another world and the horrors of global annihilation, it's mostly about family connectionsOverall, I found Yesterday's Kin to be an enjoyable read. True, not everything made perfect sense, but much of what I read for enjoyment makes no sense at all. I can certainly suspend my disbelief long enough to allow for a few leaps in logic.Available now from Tachyon Publications and the usual online retailers, Yesterday's Kin can be purchased in paperback and all of the popular e-reader formats.Recommended.
    • 2/5
      Not my favorite genre. Story about another universe that has some of the same DNA. They have a landing unit which communicates with this country. They said a big cloud of bacteria was coming which could wipe out the universe. Only some people were exempt. So they tested people among the population and those that wanted could leave with them. My last sci-fi for a decade or two.
    • 3/5
      A decent, if short, story, Yesterday's kin begins when Marianne, an evolutionary geneticist, is taken by the FBI to the UN. She doesn't understand why. Even though she's just made a discovery about human evolution - she helped identify a new sub-group of humans who share a common ancestor who lived 150,000 years ago - she knows she's nothing special. She's just a work a day scientist who made a discovery rather than proving an brilliant theory or inventing an elegant equation. She's more worried about her children, who constantly fight with each other when they happen to see each other, or with her when she gets a chance to see them when she's not working. She's most concerned about Noah, her youngest who doesn't fit in anywhere, and is addicted to a new drug that permits you to feel like someone else for a short time.It turns out the Aliens that arrived several months ago want to see Marianne, they are very interested in her genetics research and want her to continue it inside their alien Embassy floating in New York harbour. The aliens are friendly, or so they claim, but no-one has seen them. They eventually do show themselves, and they look a lot like us. They come baring bad news, the earth will soon be moving through a gigantic spore cloud that will kill all humans, they know as some of their colonies have been wiped out from the same cloud. They request humanities best scientists to help them find a cure that can help both the aliens and humanity, but they've only got 10 months to do it. Can the world's top scientists achieve that? Why are the aliens so secretive, why don't they share their own research with the humans? With riots, shootings and terrorists, will humanity even survive long enough to be destroyed by the spore cloud? Kress explores genetics, family politics, and human psychology all in an easy 200 pages