Emergence

Blurb

Emergence is a science fiction novel written by David R. Palmer. It first appeared as a novella published in Analog Science Fiction in 1981. Analog also published Part II, 'Seeking,' in 1983. The completed novel then was published by Bantam in 1984. The plot follows a precocious 11-year-old orphan girl, living in a post-apocalyptic United States. It had three printings through July 1985, and was republished in 1990 as a "Signature Special Edition" with a few minor edits and a new afterword by the author.
Emergence was Palmer's first published novel. It was developed from a pair of Hugo and Nebula award nominated novellas originally published in Analog magazine. The novel itself was nominated for a Hugo Award, a pair of Locus awards, was a finalist for a Philip K. Dick Award, and won the Compton Crook Award.
Palmer's sequel to Emergence, entitled Tracking, was serialized in Analog in 2008. Wormhole Press was short-listed to release Tracking and re-release Emergence as both paperbacks and in hardcover, but as of October 2010 the publisher appears to be out of business.