The Chrysalids Contest

"Watch Thou for the Mutant!"

Even before he could read, David Strorm could decipher the words of that commandment, burned into a large wooden plaque in his home. It is the governing directive of Waknuk, a rural farming settlement where David's father, Joseph, is its largest landowner and sternest enforcer.

Waknuk is a community of genetic fundamentalists. Its higher calling is rooting out all mutations in the district—plant, animal, and human—and destroying them.

David remains untouched by the community's cruel laws until the day he befriends Sophie, a girl concealing a minor physical abnormality. When Sophie is found out, she and her family flee to the Fringes, a frontier region overrun with genetic deviations. Beyond the Fringes lies "a huge desert of charcoal"—a land "black and harsh and empty."

David's anguish at Sophie's loss turns to fear when he discovers that he, too, is a mutant, the possessor of a rare, hidden power. As he makes gradual contact with other young people who have the same power, the risk of exposure to the community's unforgiving wrath grows.

David's story unfolds in The Chrysalids, by John Wyndham. For the first time in decades, this classic science-fiction novel is available in the United States in a new edition published by NYRB Classics. Current Science is offering copies of the book to the winners of its Chrysalids Contest. Top prize in the contest is $100 and a copy of the novel. Thirty other prizewinners will receive copies of the book. The contest closes Feb. 15, 2010, and winners will contacted by March 15, 2010.

To enter the Chrysalids Contest, answer these three questions. Then type your e-mail address in the designated box and press Enter.