Holy Fire
Bruce Sterling, Author Spectra Books $22.95 (0p) ISBN 978-0-553-09958-4
Humanity's ancient dream of immortality is on the verge of becoming reality in the challenging new novel from erstwhile William Gibson (see below) collaborator Sterling (Heavy Weather, 1994, etc.). In Sterling's late 21st century, advances in cybernetics, nano- and virtual technology and medicine have transformed Earth into a near paradise. Vice and illness still exist, but they're largely voluntary or self-created, the result of not controlling one's appetites and not using the medical facilities provided free to those who live socially acceptable lifestyles. Mia Ziemann is a 94-year-old medical economist in a world ruled by a ""post-human"" gerontocracy. Life-extension technology is the world's major growth industry and Mia, like many of the elderly, has invested everything into qualifying for new and experimental rejuvenation techniques. After undergoing one of the most radical such procedures, Mia can now pass for 20 but is borderline psychotic. She trades her careful, upscale existence for life on the streets with the restless young, wandering through Europe in search of stimulus and meaning. There, she finds herself surrounded by artists, anarchists and bohemians who, frustrated by their powerlessness, want to involve her in a radical scheme to change the world. Sterling is never an easy writer, especially for casual fans of SF. Here, as usual, he offers intellectual rather than action fare, as discussions of the morality of immortality alternate with debates over aesthetics and the future of high fashion. The future Sterling traces is plausible and provocative, particularly his consideration of several contrasting cultures, and of the disenfranchised who are unable to become ""post-human."" Those interested in serious speculative conversation set within a very strange near-future will find this much to their taste. Major ad/promo. (Oct.)
Details
Reviewed on: 09/02/1996
Release date: 09/01/1996
Genre: Fiction
Hardcover - 238 pages - 9780387245058
Hardcover - 90 pages - 9780309531795
Paperback - 103 pages - 9783540245117
Paperback - 146 pages - 9781578393374
Paperback - 224 pages - 9780415230100
Hardcover - 890 pages - 9780421859609
Paperback - 432 pages - 9780321262202
Paperback - 112 pages - 9780595333318
Hardcover - 1958 pages - 9781402033872
Paperback - 140 pages - 9780595334711
Compact Disc - 6 pages - 9780739321058
Hardcover - 132 pages - 9788474969689
Hardcover - 363 pages - 9781402034022
Hardcover - 335 pages - 9780691124070
Paperback - 168 pages - 9780759946736
Library Binding - 128 pages - 9780737732214