Review of HUMANITY'S EDGE by Tamara Wilhite

BLUPHI'ER Publishing, November 2005

Everyone loves 'father,' but how does it happen that there is only one parent? And why are there so many tunnels when so few 'children' remain? When one of the children investigates, she discovers that 'father' has been hiding too many secrets. A religious 'cult' seems to attract bad luck, yet it has truly loyal members--more secrets? A plan to control earthquakes backfires, and all of Earth is gradually becoming uninhabitable. After disaster, humans learn that they aren't the only intelligent species--will they be the dominant one? Resistance to disease may help--but it might be worse than death. A twist of birth results in premature brilliance, but premature aging as well. Telepaths battle for survival--and for dominance. Colonists to a new world wonder if they really are alone. Cyborgs battle bio-engineered creche-born--can humans even claim a part of the future? Engineered geniuses solve humanity's problems, but their own bodies are ticking time bombs. An experiment leads to a strange ability that comes only with someone else's death. Suicide becomes an artistic statement. Meat and burning charcoal become crimes.

In HUMANITY'S EDGE, author Tamara Wilhite creates an intriguing series of speculations. The stories are connected thematically as White explores what it means to be a human, and how humanity may change under the stresses it is certain to find itself falling under.

The stories collected in HUMANITY'S EDGE are well written and Wilhite asks intriguing questions. I think that the short story format worked against White, however. These stories are too important, and the questions White asks are too real to be summed up with the little end-twists that are the basic tool of the short story writer. I certainly found a lot to enjoy in HUMANITY'S EDGE, but I also felt like something was missing.

Two Stars

Reviewed 5/21/07

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