What is "dreamsnake"

Dreamsnake is a 1978 science fiction novel written by Vonda N. McIntyre. Dreamsnake won the 1979 Hugo Award, the 1979 Nebula Award, and the 1979 Locus Award. The novel follows a healer on her quest to replace her "dreamsnake", a small snake whose venom is capable of inducing torpor and hallucinations in humans, akin to those produced by drugs such as LSD or heroin. According to the author, the world is Earth, but it is in our post apocalyptic future, scientifically and socially much different from modern Earth. A nuclear war has left vast swathes of the planet too radioactive to support human life, biotechnology is far more advanced than in today's Earth—genetic manipulation of plants and animals is routine, and alternate sex patterns and other-worldly tribalism put in appearances. It is originally based upon a novelette, Of Mist, and Grass, and Sand, for which McIntyre won her first Nebula Award in 1973.