Ember From the Sun [Hardcover]

Mark Canter (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 1996

In the blue ice of an arctic cave, a scientist has made an extraordinary discovery: a woman's body, frozen for 25,000 years in a near-perfect state, with pliant tissues, vessels filled with blood--and an embryo waiting to be born....

They called her Ember, the child of their heart, born to surrogate parents who refused to yield her after birth.  Raised among the Quanoot Indians, Ember is as modern as those around her, a young woman struggling with a loneliness and yearning she does not yet understand.  Stronger than her classmates, imbued with the power to heal, Ember's soul resounds with the cries and whispers of a time she has never seen, and of a people who beckon her home.

Desperate to unravel the mystery of her birth, Ember embarks on a spellbinding journey to find the people who call to her in her dreams.  Guided by a shaman who has waited for her return, pursued by the man of science who brought her to life, Ember is drawn to a place where no one else can go--where her ancestors, the golden-skinned people of her dreams, wait for her to set them free....

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

A few years back, Canter, a journalist, dreamed up a great premise for his first novel: a Neanderthal alive in late-20th-century America. Problem is, two other writers have beaten him out?John Darnton in Neanderthal and Petru Popescu in Almost Adam. And Canter's story, despite its sincerity, has other problems. In it, a viable Neanderthal embryo is transplanted into a woman of the Quanoot tribe near Seattle. The child grows up as a golden-skinned girl, Ember, with powers of healing and empathy that convince some that she is Sisiutlqua, a powerful shaman. If the narrative were told entirely from Ember's viewpoint, her growing awareness of the physical and mental attributes that separate her from her peers might have generated a gripping tale. But Ember's voyage of self-knowledge begins with the discovery by paleoanthropologist Yute Nahadeh, in the Alaskan tundra, of the perfectly preserved Neanderthal woman who is Ember's original mother. Because Canter emphasizes the human rather than the scientific aspects of Ember's story, and for most of the tale keeps Ember from knowing she's Neanderthal, the narrative is disjointed. Yute and a major subplot about gold mining on tribal lands all but vanish after Ember's birth, only to reappear years later when the heroine seeks the secret of her origins. This leads to inconsistencies in Yute's character, which shifts from driven doctor to patient observer to crazed scientist. In essence, this story is a classic fairy tale in which an outcast child learns her true nature when she discovers that her real parents secreted her with commoners. But Canter's approach fails to do his premise, or his characters, particularly the appealing Ember, full justice. 100,000 first printing; major ad/promo; Literary Guild and Doubleday Book Club selection; simultaneous BDD Audio; foreign rights sold in Britain, France, Sweden, Holland and Japan; author tour.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal

YA. A well-written thriller set in the 1970s. The story begins as Dr. Yute Nahadeh discovers a well-preserved, frozen Neanderthal woman in Alaska. As he studies the woman, he discovers that she was pregnant at her death. He decides to implant the embryo and create a Neanderthal to study firsthand. He finds a hungry, homeless teenage couple to serve as the surrogate parents. After the birth of the child, the couple decide that they cannot give her up and raise the baby girl named Ember. Neither of the parents knows her history. As Ember grows, she begins to question her heritage because she looks and acts so differently from other girls her age. The folks in her hometown either shun her or worship her for her differences. Ember eventually seeks out Dr. Nahadeh and they travel to the area where the frozen corpse was found. Ember's search for her people, Dr. Nahadeh's fanatical study of the Neanderthal, a modern mining project, and greed bring this novel to a surprising end. Readers will learn lots about the Neanderthal, contemplate the power of science, and enjoy a fast, good read.?Linda A. Vretos, West Springfield High School, Springfield, VA
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 418 pages
• Publisher: Delacorte Press; First Edition edition (September 1, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0385314574
• ISBN-13: 978-0385314572
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.4 x 1.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #814,233 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

THUMBNAIL BIO:

Mark Canter was raised in Kentucky hill country in a metropolis of 400 tobacco and hog farmers, where he belonged to the only Jewish family in the universe. In his dharma-bum youth, he hitchhiked and jumped trains across the Western States and Canada and went through jobs from pizza chef to surgical orderly, massage therapist to rock-show stagehand. After getting a journalism degree, he wrote for a few Florida newspapers before becoming senior editor of Men's Health magazine. His short stories have been published nationally and his debut novel, Ember From the Sun, was translated into nine foreign languages. Mark holds a master's degree in the Humanities ("With Highest Distinction") and teaches World Religions at Florida State University, where he specializes in "subverting the dominant paradigm."

LONGER, MORE LYRICAL STORY OF MY LIFE:

Born in the summer of '52, in Owensboro, Kentucky. Raised with two older brothers and a sister in the tiny town of Maceo (pop. 400) in rolling farm country along the Ohio River. Then we moved to the hills and lakes of Yelvington (pop. 75). My father was an orthopedic surgeon who had graduated from a Jesuit college in Baltimore; my best friend's father was a hog farmer who had learned all he could stand by the eighth grade.

I remember air thickened by the smell of horse manure flung from fertilizer wagons onto tobacco fields; sweet fumes of corn mash wafting from the giant Kentucky Bourbon whiskey distillery; fragrant tobacco leaves curing in tall barns, the tobacco dust so rich you could chew it; flood season and the stink of muddy river water mucking up each breath; hot summer days, when it's better to be outside than inside an outhouse.

Fresh from the boondocks, we arrived in 1964 on the unspoiled east coast of Florida near Cape Canaveral, when palms and wind-twisted pines still lined the endless beaches. Became a cool surfer dude all through junior high and high school; read Burroughs, Heinlein, Asimov, Sturgeon and Clarke, and felt it through my soul and through my soles when Saturn V rockets blasted off the cape with their Gemini crews.

Then skin cancer ate my step-father down to his bones and both my brothers got drafted. I went to live with my father (whom I hadn't seen for six years) in a Jewish suburb of Rochester, New York. It was the Summer of Love, but I could not have felt more landlocked or lonely. My senior year in high school--I'd never seen lox on a bagel, or a high school with a symphony orchestra; my classmates had never seen a green leaf of tobacco or a surfboard.

Awarded New York Merit Scholarship. Became conscientious objector. Dean's list at Boston U. Dropped out to pursue dharma-bum adventures. Hitchhiked and jumped trains across the Western States and Canada. Went through jobs from dishwasher to surgical orderly. Lived in two yoga ashrams and taught hatha yoga and meditation. Drummed and sang in a rock/jazz group and in an Afro-Cuban drum and dance ensemble. Drove a bloodmobile on a loop throughout upstate New York. Earned an undergraduate degree in counseling and became a professional listener at a home for runaway girls in Charlottesville, Virginia and a residential high school for emotionally disturbed teenagers in Citra, Florida. Joined an urban commune in Haight-Ashbury. Became a counselor at a Quaker wilderness camp for boys in Vermont. Paid my way through the University of Florida School of Journalism by working as a stagehand for rock bands, theatrical shows and the circus. Became a licensed massage therapist and practiced and taught massage for two years. Gave pre-med a try.

Then I became a feature writer at the Bradenton Herald: stripped with male strippers, dove with dolphins, jumped with skydivers, raced a stock car (blew the engine), and told the many-layered stories of the fishermen and gator-hunters and the granddaughters of slaves--the people of Manatee County, Florida.

At last, I'd found myself. Writing made me happy.

Married a nurse-midwife, Margaret, who grew up in Chile, Thailand and India. Got even happier. Fathered two sons--Orion and Blake--the orchards of my eye. Became senior editor at Men's Health magazine: wrote about prostates and baldness treatments, why men are fascinated by violence and how to drive a woman wild in bed. Cut back to contributing editor at Men's Health, while working on my first novel, Ember from the Sun. Sold it four weeks after typing the last word. It was published in 10 languages and became an audio book narrated by Irene Bedard, a Native American who provides the voice of Pocahontas in the Disney animation. Wrote a second novel, Down to Heaven, published in four languages, which became a bestseller in Holland.

Back to college: Master's degree with "Highest Distinction" from Florida State University's Program in the Multicultural Humanities. I now teach "Intro to World Religions" as an adjunct instructor in the religion department at FSU.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A camper who picked up your book., September 4, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Ember from the Sun (Paperback)

To Mr. Canter, this being your first novel, I have found it very good. I am a hard reader to please and this novel has kept me interested for the entire book. I have read the reviews after I read the book and tend to agree with some of them. This was too broad a subject to place between the pages of this novel. This subject could have been a trilogy. However, I totally disagree with the review of it being too much new age "voodoo". You have talent and promise. Write a sequel and give use hard pleasers something other to read than Ann Rice!

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Captivating story, January 26, 2006

By 

Arctic Fox (NC) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Ember From the Sun (Hardcover)

This was a great book. I am like some of the other reviewers, I like King and Rice, and can be easily let down. This book did not let me down. It was very entertaining, and I liked the blend of history and fiction. Would definitely read more of his novels.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Science and Mysticism compliment each other, September 8, 2003

By 

Nathan Fairchild "natefair" (Redding, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Ember From the Sun (Hardcover)

As a scientist and a mystic, I eye both warily when i read novels. I found the anthropology believeable and the mysticism--though slightly unique--enhanced the humanity of this novel about a barely human protagonist. Liking and relating Amber is easy, and understanding her genetic make-up follows logic. Soon I forgot about the science though, and got lost in a story as sweet and gripping as any I have read. I typically read a book slowly, but this one prevented the lawn from getting mowed and the history papewrs from being graded as I read voraciously, engrossed in the people, the places, the anthropology, and the mystery.