No duplication without express written permission. These are the complex and puzzling issues raised in Joan Slonczewski' s latest novel Brain Plague . In the far future, humanity has spread throughout the galaxy. Despite the advances of technology, all is not well in the universe. Humans still suffer addictions and homelessness.
Violence still occurs all too often.
But just like human beings, there are good micros and bad ones. The good ones are part of a carefully monitored program in which human hosts are matched with colonies of microbes. They communicate with her via nanotechnology implanted in her optic nerves. Thus begins Chrys's journey, learning to live with her new partners, suffering through the prejudice and hatred of others, reaching self-actualization in her art, and risking her life to discover the truth about the Brain Plague. While many SF novels find ways to bend the rules of physics, Brain Plague finds ways to bend the rules of the mind, and tinkers with our concept of individuality.