explorer / books · 1996
Coelestis
Paul Park’s only award entry in this dataset.
Published 1993 by HarperCollins · 304 pages
Nebula · 1996
FinalistOn the ballot with
This book is recorded on the Nebula ballot only. Each row shows the full Best Novel ballot for that award and ceremony year. Winners appear first.
Synopsis
On a distant planet colonized by Americans, the indigenous alien inhabitants undergo surgical and chemical modification to appear human and assimilate into colonial society. When political upheaval disrupts the supply of transformative drugs, a "modified" alien woman begins reverting to her original state, forcing both colonizer and colonized to confront the brutal realities of cultural erasure.
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