Semiosis is a 2018 science fiction novel by American writer and translator Sue Burke. It is her debut novel and is the first book of her Semiosis Trilogy series. It was first published in February 2018 in the United States by Tor Books, and in August 2018 in the United Kingdom by HarperVoyager. The book was translated into French by Florence Bury, and published in France in September 2019 by Albin Michel. Semiosis is about colonists starting a new life on the planet Pax and their alliances with sentient indigenous plant species. The title of the book refers to semiosis, a communicative process using signs. It was shortlisted for the 2019 Arthur C. Clarke Award, the John W. Campbell Memorial Award for Best Science Fiction Novel, the Kitschies Golden Tentacle for Best Debut Novel, and the Locus Award for Best First Novel. Semiosis also featured in the Chicago Review of Books' "10 Best Science Fiction Books of 2018". The sequel to Semiosis, Interference was published in October 2019 by Tor Books. The third book in the series is Usurpation. Burke also wrote three short stories set on the planet Pax: "Adaptation", written before she began Semiosis, and "Spiders" and "Cinderella Faraway", written after she completed the novel, but before it was published.
Plot summary To escape war and ecological disasters on Earth in the 2060's, a group of colonists attempt to forge a new life on a distant earth-like planet they name Pax (Latin for "peace"). They find the world is rich in flora and fauna, and appears to be ideally suited for establishing a new colony. But they soon notice that some of the plant life is sentient, and are manipulating them to further their own ends. The colonists find an abandoned alien city made of glass and relocate their colony there. But they discover that the city is controlled by an intelligent bamboo-like plant they later call Stevland. It attempts to domesticate them in order to flourish and expand, and the humans realize that to survive, they need to share the city with it. Over time, the colonists learn to converse with Stevland using signs, and an uneasy, but mutually beneficial alliance is formed. During one of the colonist's expeditions further inland, they meet the city's creators, the Glassmakers. The arthropod-like Glassmakers were themselves colonists and coexisted with Stevland, but they abandoned their home and became nomadic. Disease and illness decimated them and their social structures collapsed. The encounter with the Glassmakers is not friendly and leads to an attack on the city. With Stevland's assistance, the Glassmakers are repelled, and the humans, a few Glassmakers willing to coexist with them, and Stevland, form an alliance of peaceful coexistence.
Background In the mid-1990s Burke wrote an essay entitled "When Plants Kill". She had noticed that one of her house plants had killed another plant, and decided to undertake some research into plant behavior. She discovered that plants fight for light and nutrients, and will manipulate and even kill each other to get what they want. This formed the basis of the essay, which was published as "The Photosynthetic War" in 1997 in a science fiction magazine, Terra Incognita. In 1996 Burke participated in a Clarion Workshop, and the instructor gave the attendees a writing prompt about a wall that materializes between two warring armies. Burke considered the possibility of a planet with plants at war with each other and human colonists coming between them. This resulted in a short story "Adaptation", which she published in 1999 in LC-39, a science fiction magazine. Burke later expanded "Adaptation" into Semiosis, with the short story becoming the first chapter. Burke finished writing Semiosis in 2004, but she was unable to find a publisher. In an attempt to generate interest in the universe she had created, Burke wrote two short stories, "Spiders" and "Cinderella Faraway". "Spiders" was published in the March 2008 issue of Asimov's Science Fiction, and was later reprinted in 2009 in Year's Best SF 14. The success of "Spiders" attracted the attention of several publishers, but it was not until 2016 that a deal with Tor Books was signed. Semiosis was finally published by Tor in 2018.
… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.
