Beggars in Spain
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Beggars in Spain is a science fiction novel by noted author Nancy Kress.
It was originally published as a novella in Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine. Kress expanded it, adding three new volumes and eventually two sequels, Beggars and Choosers and Beggars Ride. It is held to be an important work, and is often hailed for its predictions of future technologies and society.
The original novella won the Hugo Award and Nebula Award. The novel was also nominated for both the Hugo Award and the Nebula Award, but did not win.
The book deals with the issues of genetic modification to unborn babies and problems that may arrive within society from such technologies. Specifically, the book examines a genetic modification that renders the babies capable of never having to sleep. This allows the babies, as they grow, the chance to accomplish much more with their freed up time as well as a collection of secondary genetic traits. The books charts the reactions of society to the 'Sleepless' from the viewpoint of the 'Sleepless' group as they struggle to find a place in society and battle against the prejudices they face.
The book's protagonist, Leisha Camden, is a sleepless person who comes from an extremely rich family and whose life is paralleled and compared to that of her twin who is born without the genetic modification for sleeplessness.
These are the events of the first volume of Beggars In Spain, which consists entirely of the original novella.
Leisha Camden, born in 2008, is the twenty-first child born in American to have the Sleepless genemod (genetic modificaton). America has been revitalized by the invention (and nation-exclusive patents) of Y-energy, cold fusion, by noted Japanese Kenzo Yagai; economic and social philosophy has been revitalized by him as well. One of his most noted sponsors, Internet mogul Roger Camden, who felt he had wasted far too much of his life in sleep, requisitioned the Sleepless genemod for his as-yet-unconceived daughter Leisha. Her mother never approved. Sleeplessness as a genemod donates a number of secondary attributes--higher IQ and a sunnier disposition most notably; an increased benefit is having 1/3 more time to do things in, for Sleepless not only do not need sleep, but cannot (though they can be knocked unconscious). Almost every Sleepless born becomes immediately successful; their first, Kevin Baker, becomes the most successful computer software designer since Bill Gates at the age of 16 (in 2020); others go on to become accomplished athletes, writers, scientific researchers, consultants, etc.
Three do not. One is the twentieth Sleepless baby, who was shaken to death by irate parents, who had not counted on and could not deal with a baby that cried literally twenty-four hours a day. A second is Tony Indivino, bright but troubled. His mother had similar problems adjusting to his Sleepless ways, and Tony advocates a banding-together of all Sleepless in a sort of socio-economic fortress. He predicts that the "Sleepers" will soon begin to discriminate against Sleepless, and is quickly proved right: a Sleepless athlete is barred from the Olympics, for instance, because 16-hour practice days are impossible for all other competitors. Likewise some cities forbid Sleepless from running convenience stores, since they can outcompete all other "24-hour" establishments. He is eventually jailed (for illegal actions on behalf of the Sleepless community), though not before attracting the attention of Jennifer Sharifi, a Sleepless daughter of a movie star and an East-Indian oil tycoon. It is her money that purchases land in upstate New York, to create a Sleepless-only community known as Sanctuary.
The third is Bernie Kuhn. Though Sleepless, at 17 he is prey to the same errors in judgment as all other teenagers, and he drives his car over an embankment, leading to his death. Autopsy, however, shows something odd--every one of his organs is in pristine condition. Evidently Sleeplessness unlocks a heretofore-unknown cell regeneration system. The bottom line is that Sleepless will not physically age. Their estimated lifespan is totally unknown. They might be immortal.
It is in this environment that Tony Indivino, while defending his idea to create a Sleepless-only enclave to Leisha, poses the question that shapes the novel and gives it its title. "If people are only worthwhile so long as they contribute to society, what do you do when you're walking down the street in Spain and you see a beggar? Do you give him a dollar? Why? You're justifying his existence, which accomplishes nothing. What if you see six beggars? What if you see a hundred, and they gang together and steal your money and then beat you to death out of sheer jealousy of what you have and they can't?"
Beggars in Spain combines compelling character work with a similarly compelling view of a world altered by genetic modification (and, to a lesser extent, cold fusion, though this does not receive as much fanfare; it probably could have been left out). It addresses the age-old question of how humans react when a minority holds power. At heart, though, it asks a simple moral question: what do we owe the Beggars in Spain? And, if we suddenly find that we are those beggars, what might we demand?
