Mutagenesis

"Helen Collins' 'Mutagenesis' (Tor) is a big, old-fashioned sense-of-wonder interplanetary exploration /biological puzzle novel with feminist overtones. The novel pits microbiologist Mattie Manan from earth against the mystifying inhabitants of a former earth colony, Anu. Mattie finds herself on a quest for knowledge across a strange and often terrifying planet as she tries to understand how the strange males of Anu came to be the way they are and whether the women of Anu remain human after 500 years of biological experimentation designed not merely to hold them down, but also to rob them of their humanity."

- The Hartford Courant '93

"Helen Collins displays immense promise in Mutagenesis...
(it) should appeal both to fans of hard SF with a biological slant and to feminists, though not quite in the way one might expect."

- Analog Science Fiction and Fact March '93

"There is plenty of adventure and scientific puzzle, but particularly interesting is Collins' use of language. The story points up how language shapes people's thinking - overall the novel's language has an unusual feel: intuitive, playful, lumpy, engaging. It makes the people eccentric and real. Collins is a welcome new voice."

- Martha Soukup, The Washington Post 2/28/93
Recommended book for a Nebula.

"...The biological speculation is rather interesting, the characters much realer than the setting, and Collins manages to use their viewpoints and relationships as a vehicle for some interesting meditations on... gender roles and the artistic personality..."

- Norman Spinrad, Asimov's Magazine '93

"The book has a strong intellectual and emotional focus, but it is neither as tidy nor as pat as I at first feared it might be. I think that it is talking to itself rather than lecturing us, and that makes for a lively discussion."

- Locus Russell Letson Dec '92

"...Collins' debut is a well-thought-out, powerful, and often devastating feminist polemic."

- Kirkus Reviews Feb '93

"Surrogate motherhood and Genetic Engineering are on the cutting edge of science and technology, and that's not fiction. It's happening - now!"

- Eli K. Yim The New London Day

"Whose baby is the baby?...Is it the genetic engineer's baby?
The loso's (a nonhuman character in the novel)? The loso did give birth to it."