Ian McDonald is a major SF writer, whose River of
Gods (2004) won the British Science Fiction
Association award for Best Novel, and was
shortlisted for the corresponding Hugo, Arthur C.
Clarke, and British Fantasy Society awards. Chaga
(published in the US as Evolution’s Shore) is the first
novel of his ‘Chaga Saga’ (1995–2000), about a
very unusual alien invasion of Kenya and the
southern hemisphere. It was short-listed for the John
W. Campbell Memorial Award for Best Novel in
1996. This study contains Notes, detailed Annnotations, an Essay and a Bibliography. The
Essay, called ‘The Heart of Chaganess’, details and
investigates McDonald’s use of Heart of Darkness,
Joseph Conrad’s famous novella of imperialism in
Africa, as a central part of his devastating indictment
of the ‘First World’s’ AIDS policy. Many illustrations
and hyperlinks.
