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Primal Tears - synopsis
A
cross between a human and a bonobo? Carl Sagan and others
have speculated: Is it possible? What kind of creature would
it be? And how might this affect our world?
Primal
Tears is the story of Sage, born to a young woman who
has volunteered to be a surrogate mother for an endangered
bonobo chimpanzee. The process goes awry, and Sage, a lovable
youngster, is neither completely one species nor the other.
When her existence becomes public knowledge, she needs all
the best characteristics of both species to find a place for
herself in our human-dominated world.
Book
Info: Frog/North Atlantic Books, 2005, $13.95
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Praise
for Primal Tears:
“PRIMAL
TEARS is primal storytelling, thoughtful and passionate. Kelpie
Wilson wonderfully expands our definitions of human and family.”
-- Greg Bear, author of Blood Music,
The Forge of God, Darwin's Radio, and Quantico
"What
a great book! I loved it, and found it to be totally enthralling.
As I read, I felt drawn deeper and deeper into a primal sense
of hope. Not a naive hope, not wishful thinking, but a hope arising
out of a sense of the immensity of human evolution and the profundity
of out interconnectedness with all of life. I hope everyone on
our dear and endangered Earth reads this book."
-- John Robbins, author of Diet for a New
America and Healthy at 100
"PRIMAL
TEARS is a novel of tremendous power.
Passionate and erotic, at times tenderly lyrical, it confronts
head-on, without flinching, brutal environmental and feminist
politics. Its protagonist, Sage, is unique, magical, and haunting."
--
Kate Wilhelm, author of The Unbidden Truth,
Clear and Convincing Proof, and Skeletons
"Kelpie
Wilson’s PRIMAL
TEARS
has rounded, memorable characters, evocative descriptions, lively
dialogue, an exciting plot, … and an understated, evenhanded
wit that is very engaging. … It is a clear-eyed, courageous
look at some of the most denied and neglected threats to the biosphere
and the place of humans in it."
--
David Rains Wallace, author of The Monkey’s
Bridge and The Bonehunters’ Revenge
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Primal
Tears Reviews
What
Are We? Kelpie Wilson's Primal Tears Offers One Response
"Not
long after 9/11, I found I had a sudden intense hunger to know what
was irreducibly human, to know exactly what we are, described with
the precision, detail and accuracy of science. My archaeologist
husband suggested lists of anthropology texts. My colleague, Truthout
Environment Editor Kelpie Wilson, sent me to Steven Mithin's wonderful
"After the Ice." But for all these books' inherent interest,
I did not find any answers there. On vacation this summer, I reread
Kelpie's intriguing first novel, "Primal Tears." While
Wilson also does not offer "answers" to the what-is-a-human
question, she takes her readers down a suggestive and intriguing
line of inquiry."
-- Leslie
Thatcher, Truthout
Read
the review and an interview with author here
“This
is a book that deals with serious issues and is unwavering in all
of its explorations. Top-notch near-future ecological speculation”
--
John Joseph Adams, Orson Scott Card’s
Intergalactic Medicine Show
Read
the whole review here
“Wilson's
storytelling talent really shines in this first novel...the main character
will feel like a good friend by the time you finish the book. And
you'll finish it fast—she has written a real page-turner...
In addition to raising some serious issues, she has permeated the
book with spirit and hope, particularly in the person of the main
character, Sage, whose sweetness is like hope itself.”
-- Karen Wood-Campbell, amazon.com reviewer
Read
the whole review here |
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Author
Profile Anneli
Rufus writes in the
East Bay Express:
Bonobos
are the beasts du jour. Social critics laud them for having so much
sex, some of it bi, much of it face to face, and for being a female-dominant
species whose males would rather boink than fight. It's not the
boinking that matters most to Wilson. "The big news about bonobos
is not the sex but their peacefulness. People crave peace and bonobos
show us how one peaceful primate society is organized. Human aggression
is destroying the planet. Bonobos are a brand-new story."
Read
the whole profile here
More
Reviews:
Dr.
Susan Block
Science
Fiction Weekly
Sentient
Times
Terrain
Earth
Island Journal |
SPECIAL
REPORT: My blog from the March for Women's Lives, April
25, 2004. The biggest march in the history of the USA! March
Blog
      Photo
Album
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Coming
Soon!
Primal
Tears: the graphic novel
by artist
Grace Roselli and
writer Kelpie Wilson

Meet
Sage - the bonobo-human hybrid girl. Visit Sage's
MySpace page for
more pictures and news!
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| SPECIAL
REPORTS |
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2007 Energy
Bill Reporting
When
the Democrats swept Congress in 2006, House Leader Nancy Pelosi
promised a new energy bill. After being strained through the Republican
roadblocks in the Senate, the final bill was weak tea served in
the corporate CAFE - CAFE for Corporate Average Fuel Economy, that
is.
Kelpie
Wilson's energy bill stories for Truthout are all collected on one
page here.
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| Yoga
Plus Feature:
Trees
Are the Ark that Can Save Us
Kelpie Wilson gives an update on the state of the
world's forests and new initiatives to save them in this report
in the Nov.-Dec. 2007 issue of Yoga Plus Joyful Living
magazine.
Kelpie is a Yoga Plus contributing editor. You can also
read her Yoga Plus article on terra preta at the website
of the International
Biochar Intitiative. |
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Special
Reporting from Australia in May 2007:
Reporting
on the International Agrichar Initiative Conference and a win-win-win
technology that could help with the climate, energy and food crises.
Plus reports on the Australian drought, Rupert Murdoch, whale lovers
and permaculture. Links
here.
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Presentations
click on menu tab for bigger version
Contact
Kelpie for speaking engagements by sending an email to my first name at
kelpiewilson.com
Radio
and Podcast Interviews with Kelpie Wilson
t
r u t h o u t
-- Kelpie Wilson is the environmental editor at truthout.org. Truthout
is a reader-supported online news service.
Article
Archive
-- articles and commentary originally appearing in various publications.
Kelpie
Wilson biographical information.
Earth
Island Angels
--Resurrecting ancient spiritual views on abortion and the need to balance
the human population with the environment.
My
Blog from the March for Women's Lives, April 25, 2004
Contact
Kelpie by sending email to:
my first name at kelpiewilson.com |