2006 novel by Shelley Jackson
Half Life First edition cover
Author Shelley Jackson Cover artist Jacket design by Roberto de Vicq de Cumptich Language English Genre Novel, alternate history Publisher HarperCollins Publication date
July 25, 2006 Publication place United States Media type Print (hardback & paperback) Pages 440 pp (first edition, hardcover) ISBN 978-0-06-088235-8 (first edition, hardcover) OCLC 63165002 813/.54 22 LC Class PS3560.A2448 H35 2006
Half Life is the 2006 debut novel of American writer and artist Shelley Jackson . The novel presupposes an alternate history in which the atomic bomb resulted in a genetic preponderance of conjoined twins, who eventually become a minority subculture.
Overview [ edit ]
The book tells the story of a disenchanted conjoined twin named Nora Olney who plots to have her twin murdered.
Reception [ edit ]
Half Life received mixed-to-positive reviews; Newsweek called it "brilliant and funny,"[1] and The New York Times , while praising Jackson's ambition as "truly glorious," added that "All this razzle-dazzle, all the allusions, [and] the narrative loop-de-loops [get] a bit busy."[2] It won the 2006 James Tiptree, Jr. Award for science fiction and fantasy .
References [ edit ]
Retrospective winners 1991–2000
A Woman of the Iron People by Eleanor Arnason (1991, tie)
White Queen by Gwyneth Jones (1991, tie)
China Mountain Zhang by Maureen F. McHugh (1992)
Ammonite by Nicola Griffith (1993)
"The Matter of Seggri " by Ursula K. Le Guin (1994, tie)
Larque on the Wing by Nancy Springer (1994, tie)
Waking the Moon by Elizabeth Hand (1995, tie)
The Memoirs Of Elizabeth Frankenstein by Theodore Roszak (1995, tie)
"Mountain Ways" by Ursula K. Le Guin (1996, tie)
The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell (1996, tie)
Black Wine by Candas Jane Dorsey (1997, tie)
"Travels With The Snow Queen" by Kelly Link (1997, tie)
"Congenital Agenesis of Gender Ideation " by Raphael Carter (1998)
The Conqueror's Child by Suzy McKee Charnas (1999)
Wild Life by Molly Gloss (2000)
2001–2010
The Kappa Child by Hiromi Goto (2001)
Light by M. John Harrison (2002, tie)
"Stories for Men" by John Kessel (2002, tie)
Set This House in Order: A Romance of Souls by Matt Ruff (2003)
Camouflage by Joe Haldeman (2004, tie)
Not Before Sundown by Johanna Sinisalo (2004, tie)
Air by Geoff Ryman (2005)
The Orphan's Tales: In the Night Garden by Catherynne M. Valente (2006, tie)
Half Life by Shelley Jackson (2006, tie)
James Tiptree Jr.: The Double Life of Alice B. Sheldon by Julie Phillips (2006, special recognition)
The Carhullan Army by Sarah Hall (2007)
The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness (2008, tie)
Filter House by Nisi Shawl (2008, tie)
Cloud and Ashes: Three Winter’s Tales by Greer Gilman (2009, tie)
Ōoku: The Inner Chambers by Fumi Yoshinaga (2009, tie)
Baba Yaga Laid an Egg by Dubravka Ugrešić (2010)
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