Umehara Katsufumi :: Intron Apocalypse

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Intron Apocalypse
by UMEHARA Katsufumi


Translated by Jim Hubbert

“DNA contains two types of base pair sequences. Exons are meaningful templates for making proteins. Introns are meaningless, random sequences. Yet introns account for ninety-five percent of human DNA. Why is such a huge proportion of the genome reserved for useless code?"

What if all that genetic information wasn't really useless? What if it was put there by someone, something, in the impossibly distant past, for a purpose? And what if humanity's interest in understanding and engineering human DNA unlocks something that should have remained hidden?

Award-winning science fiction author Umehara Katsufumi drags you screaming into a darker future as the monsters of our own genetic code come to life, revealing all too clearly humanity's fatal misunderstanding of its place in the universe... and its very reason for existence, weaving the Cthulhu Mythos, genetic engineering, and the battle against racial extinction into a masterpiece of horror.

The first part of this book was originally published in Shibano Takumi's famous Uchujin fanzine, promptly winning the 9th SF Fanzine Award.

The cover to this edition is by Noriyoshi Ohrai, and was originally used on the first book edition, published in 1993 by Asashi Sonorama as a matched, 2-volume edition. Both books had "ELI ELI LAMA SABACHTANI" printed across the front cover:

Cover to Japanese first edition

Details

  • Pages: 450–500 pages
  • Trade paperback 5" x 8" (127mm x 203mm)
  • ISBN
    Softcover: 978-4-909473-14-1
    Ebook: 978-4-909473-15-8
  • List Price
    Softcover: US$29.00
    Ebook: US$24.00
  • Cover: Noriyoshi Ohrai

In translation

  • Publication scheduled for late 2021

About the author

Umehara Katsufumi(梅原 克文; 1960–) graduated Kanto Gakuen University (Economics), publishing the first version of this text in the Uchujin fanzine to widespread acclaim in 1990. It remains in print. Other enormously popular works include Soliton no Akuma, dealing with unknown monsters of the deep sea, originally published in 1995 and winning the Mystery Writers of Japan Award in 1996.