<DIV>?Intellectually provocative, knowledgeable, and literate. As our lives become increasingly determined by technology, we will need to turn to such thinkers as [Sharona Muir] to guide us through its dangers and pleasures.” ?<B>ALAN LIGHTMAN</B>, author of <I>Einstein’s Dreams</I><BR><BR>Sophie is an amateur naturalist with a rare genetic gift: the ability to see a marvelous kingdom of invisible, sentient creatures that share a vital, symbiotic relationship with humankind. To record her observations, Sophie creates a personal bestiary and, as she relates the strange abilities of these endangered beings, her tales become extraordinary meditations on love, sex, evolution, extinction, truth, and self-knowledge.<BR><BR>In the tradition of E.O. Wilson’s <I>Anthill, Invisible Beasts</I> is inspiring, philosophical, and richly detailed fiction grounded by scientific fact and a profound insight into nature. The fantastic creations within its pages?an animal egg that uses natural cold fusion for energy, a species of vampire bat that can hear when their human host is lying, a continent-sized sponge living under the ice of Antarctica?illuminate the role that all living creatures play in the environment and remind us of what we stand to lose if we fail to recognize our entwined destinies.<BR><BR><B>Sharona Muir</B> is the author of <I>The Book of Telling: Tracing the Secrets of My Father’s Lives.</I> The recipient of a Hodder Fellowship and National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship, her writing has appeared in <I>Granta, Orion</I> magazine, <I>Virginia Quarterly Review, Paris Review,</I> and elsewhere. She is a Professor of Creative Writing and English at Bowling Green State University. <I>Invisible Beasts</I> is her first novel.<BR></DIV>