Setting a course for a post-apocalyptic world far removed from the universe of his previous novels-Lightpaths, Standing Wave, and Better Angels-Howard V. Hendrix tackles one of life"s most enduring questions: What does it mean to be human? In a dramatically altered near-future, the world"s newest technology resurrects a plague of apparent global madness that not only destroys ten thousand years of urban civilization, but also creates a world under the sway of the full moon-and a human race transformed in astonishing ways...