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At the age of five, Amira watched footage of the first zoi specimen arriving in our solar system, and she became instantly fascinated with the huge, cell-like creature floating among the stars.
Decades later, she and three other astronauts have taken residence in a zoi as it continues its voyage through space.
They have no way of steering its course. Communicating with their non-sentient host is limited to signals of physical needs. And while the zoi meets those needs, it also exposes its passengers to hormonal and even genetic alterations.
Now, as masses of biological material start growing on each astronaut, their interstellar journey begins a new stage--one with far-reaching consequences both for the humans and the zois.
Praise for Zoi:
"Zoi asks original, startling questions about first contact. Jane Mondrup gives us a clear, anguished voice that must weigh the risk of making dreams come true against an irrevocable choice-with no way to know what is the right choice. Again and again, I was moved by the struggle to retain human identity and purpose in the immensity of time and space."
- Sue Burke, author of the Semiosis trilogy
"Here is a fresh, original voice, telling her tale of a very different first contact with a cool elegance, dignity, and a deep love for life. It's squishy, intimate and filled with mystery, wonder-and a little shiver of body horror."
- Ian McDonald, award-winning author of Hopeland, The Dervish House, and Brasyl
"'Our body. Our Zoi.' Zoi journeys through time and space, eliding, through the titular entity, all boundaries between the inner and the outer, the singular and the multiple, and above all between the staggeringly alien and the cosily familiar. A cleverly executed balance of heartbreak and hope."
- J. S. Breukelaar, Aurealis and Shirley Jackson Award finalist for Aletheia and Collision: Stories
"Jane Mondrup's Zoi is a wonderful and gripping story about otherness, when "I" becomes "the Other". Deeply human and wonderfully written, it is a powerful novel and an essential companion to Stanislaw Lem's classic Solaris. A must-read for all lovers of sci fi with a real heart beating inside."
- Seb Doubinsky, author of The Sum of All Things and The Horror
"Inventive, clever, and pleasingly Cronenbergesque."
- Priya Sharma, Shirley Jackson Award and British Fantasy Award winning author of All the Fabulous Beasts
"Zoi is a new and refreshing take on first contact stories as well as the idea and role of the doppelgaenger. It is a quietly philosophical book about choices and determination that follows the narrator, Amira, on her journey of transformation and adaptation. With its diverse cast and contemporary views, I am tempted to call Zoi a modern Solaris, but it is an original novel that stands fully on its own. I found myself deeply invested in the book and would recommend it to fans of Sue Burke and Becky Chambers, and everybody else who enjoys science fiction that is both solid and approachable."
- Marie Howalt, author of the Moonless Trilogy, Colibri Investigations and A Study in Black Brew
