I'm looking for a book I read in late 1992. I believe it had just come out and might have been the author's first novel. I purchased it at the Carnegie Mellon campus bookstore in Pittsburgh. The book was in English and was written by an American, male author. I believe the cover had some kind of big orb on it.
The story is about all of humanity waking one one morning after having the same dream and being given the same choice: either join the alien consciousness orbiting the planet and live forever, or remain human, stay on Earth, and they will repair the planet to undo all the environmental damage humans have caused. The rest of the novel follows the small band of survivors who choose to stay behind. It is not Left Behind by LaHaye and Jenkins. It is not religious in tone. The aliens don't figure prominently. They pretty much disappear after everyone makes their choice. It's mostly about people reforming civilization in a mostly empty world. But unlike most other post-apocalyptic fiction, there was no huge tragedy. It was a peaceful and voluntary exit. And the world isn't shattered, it is healing.
The story is about all of humanity waking one one morning after having the same dream and being given the same choice: either join the alien consciousness orbiting the planet and live forever, or remain human, stay on Earth, and they will repair the planet to undo all the environmental damage humans have caused. The rest of the novel follows the small band of survivors who choose to stay behind. It is not Left Behind by LaHaye and Jenkins. It is not religious in tone. The aliens don't figure prominently. They pretty much disappear after everyone makes their choice. It's mostly about people reforming civilization in a mostly empty world. But unlike most other post-apocalyptic fiction, there was no huge tragedy. It was a peaceful and voluntary exit. And the world isn't shattered, it is healing.
