Bodies Of Tomorrow
© University of Toronto Press
Sci Fi and Futurists
By: Pat FerraraDate: Tuesday, February 20, 2007
After a lengthy hiccup in their publishing schedule, Tor Books finally got back on track this Tuesday with a slew of new novels from such powerhouse genre authors as Harry Turtledove, David Coe, and L.E. Modesitt, Jr. to round out a Weekly Book Buzz that’s dominated by SF goodness.
One of only two fantasy selections making its debut today is the re-release of Terry Goodkind’s fourth installment of the Sword of Truth series, Temple of the Winds, through Brilliance Audio Unabridged. Now’s a good time to delve into this soon-to-be completed epic on your commute to work before the fantasy series gets a cinematic overhaul by director Sam Raimi in the not-too-distant future.
Harry Turtledove weaves an alternate historical fiction of an early civilization’s first trek into the world beyond their glacier-ridden home in the hardcover release Beyond the Gap while David B. Coe amps up the warring tension in the Winds of the Forelands series with the fifth installment, Weavers of War, also on hardback.
Star Trek fans get a special treat with Glass Empires, the first part of the Star Trek: Mirror Universe series. Featuring characters from the original Star Trek, TNG, and Enterprise series, Glass Empires kicks off a mind-bending story that intertwines different times, personalities, and eras all within the Star Trek universe.
Past SF giants are not forgotten this Tuesday either as Ben Bova’s classic, Mars, gets its audiobook makeover and the 7th volume of Robert E. Howard’s sci fi work (Beyond the Black River) is released on hardback. Accompanied by these reprints are a couple books with fresh insights into science fiction and the authors that change and shape the genre. Jeff Prucher’s Brave New Words looks at the origin, evolution, and spread of the SF lexicon into numerous cultures while Brian Stillman’s Words of Wonder offers an in-depth study of key sci fi authors of the past eight decades.
Sherryl Vint, an assistant professor at St. Francis Xavier University, releases Bodies of Tomorrow, a philosophical expose on posthumanism through the University of Toronto Press. Adopting a speculative standpoint on theories and insights raised by authors such as Octavia Butler and William Gibson, this hardback offers an intriguing look into the metaphysical jump from physical presence to the state of sentient energy.
I for one am a sucker for all those Science and Discovery Channel shows that explore the possible future developments of current day technology. If you’re like me you’ll want to be sure you get a chance to check out the Discovery futurist miniseries 2057 that aired late last January (hopefully Stephen will keep you up to date on when they’ll be airing again in TV Wasteland). If you’ve been watching Discovery recently, you’ll know that tomorrow night at 8 PM ET they’re airing their third and final segment of FutureCar. If you haven’t seen the first two episodes the miniseries focuses on the impending developments in automotive type, design, and tomorrow night, power systems. Very cool stuff. That and a new episode of Lost… my hump day is looking better and better!
New in Hardcover:
Beyond the Gap © Tor Books
Count Hamnet Thyssen is a minor noble of the drowsy old Raumsdalian Empire. Its capital city, Nidaros, began as a mammoth hunters' camp at the edge of the great Glacier. But that was centuries ago, and as everyone knows, it's the nature of the great Glacier to withdraw a few feet every year. Now Nidaros is an old and many-spired city; and though they still feel the breath of the great Glacier in every winter's winds, the ice cap itself has retreated beyond the horizon. Trasamund, a clan chief of the mammoth-herding Bizogots, the next tribe north, has come to town with strange news. A narrow gap has opened in what they'd always thought was an endless and impregnable wall of ice. The great Glacier does not go on forever, and on its other side are new lands, new animals, and possibly new people. Ancient legend says that on the other side is the Golden Shrine, put there by the gods to guard the people of their world. Now, perhaps, the road to the legendary Golden Shrine is open. Who could resist the urge to go see? For Count Hamnet and his several companions, the glacier has always been the boundary of the world. Now they'll be traveling beyond it into a world that's bigger than anyone knew. Adventures will surely be had... Turtledove can articulate some of the most interesting and well thought out ideas with a knack for verisimilitude and credibility, I’m sure this latest is no exception.
Weaver’s of War, David B. Coe (Tor Books)
In the four previous books of his epic fantasy series, David Coe has woven a complex tapestry of magic and politics, courage and betrayal, love and hate. Now, he brings the many strands of this enthralling series together in a climactic novel that will thrill readers of epic magical fantasy. For years the magical Qirsi people who live among the Eandi courts of the Forelands have conspired, weakening alliances among the realms. The renegades are led by a mysterious Weaver named Dusaan with powers that allow him to appear in the dreams of his followers and to bind the magic of many Qirsi into a single weapon more potent than any the Eandi have faced in a thousand years. Now, his planning begins to bear fruit. He reveals himself to friend and foe alike, knowing that none can stand against him. Dusaan takes control of the Empire and begins his march toward war, enlisting those who serve him in other realms to join the battle, as the ranks of his army swell. Book five in the Winds of the Forelands series.
The Elysium Commission © Tor Books
L.E. Modesitt returns to SF with a whole new future world on the brink of destruction. A brilliant scientist on the planet Devanta has created a small universe contiguous to ours—and a utopian city on one of the planets. The question becomes, though, a utopia for whom? And why is a shady entertainment mogul subsidizing the scientist? More critical than that, does this new universe require the destruction of a portion, or all, of our universe in order to grow and stabilize? Blaine Donne is a retired military special operative now devoted to problem-solving for hire. He investigates a series of seemingly unrelated mysteries that arise with the arrival of a woman with unlimited resources who has neither a present nor a past. The more he investigates, the more questions arise, including the role of the two heiresses who are more, and less, than they seem, and the more Donne is pushed inexorably toward an explosive solution and a regional interstellar war.
Beyond the Black River, Robert E. Howard (Wildside Press)
The seventh volume of The Weird Works of Robert E. Howard continues reprinting Howard's fantasy from Weird Tales and Strange Tales in order of original publication. All texts have been meticulously restored to their original pulp appearances. Straight from the Conquering Sword of Conan series, this installment features the title story Beyond the Black River along with many of his other works from the mid 1930s and onward.
Brave New Words: The Oxford Dictionary of Science Fiction, Jeff Prucher (Oxford University Press)
The first historical dictionary devoted to science fiction, Brave New Words: The Oxford Dictionary of Science Fiction shows exactly how science-fictional words and their associated concepts have developed over time, with full citations and bibliographic information. It's a window on a whole genre of literature through the words invented and passed along by the genre's most talented writers. In addition, it shows how many words we consider everyday vocabulary (words like "space shuttle," "blast off," and "robot") had their roots in imaginative literature, and not in hard science. Citations are included for each definition, starting with the earliest usage that can be found. These citations are drawn not only from science fiction books and magazines, but also from mainstream publications, fanzines, screenplays, newspapers, comics, folk songs, and the Internet. In addition to illustrating the different ways each word has been used, citations also show when and where words have moved out of the science fiction lexicon and into that of other subcultures or mainstream English. Brave New Words covers the shared language of science fiction, as well as the vocabulary of science fiction criticism and its fans and those terms that are used by many authors in multiple settings. Words coined in science fiction have become part of the vocabulary of any number of subcultures and endeavors, from comics, to neo-paganism, to aerospace, to computers, to environmentalism, to zine culture. This is the first book to document this vocabulary transfer. Not just a useful reference and an entertaining browse, this book also documents the enduring legacy of science fiction writers and fans.
Bodies of Tomorrow: Technology, Subjectivity, Science Fiction, Sherryl Vint (University of Toronto Press)
Anxieties about embodiment and posthumanism have always found an outlet in the science fiction of the day. In Bodies of Tomorrow, Sherryl Vint argues for a new model of an ethical and embodied posthuman subject through close readings of the works of Gwyneth Jones, Octavia Butler, Iain M. Banks, William Gibson, and other science fiction authors. Vint’s discussion is firmly contextualized by discussions of contemporary technoscience, specifically genetics and information technology, and the implications of this technology for the way we consider human subjectivity. Engaging with theorists such as Michel Foucault, Judith Butler, Anne Balsamo, N. Katherine Hayles, and Douglas Kellner, Bodies of Tomorrow argues for the importance of challenging visions of humanity in the future that overlook our responsibility as embodied beings connected to a material world. If we are to understand the post-human subject, then we must acknowledge our embodied connection to the world around us and the value of our multiple subjective responses to it. Vint’s study thus encourages a move from the common liberal humanist approach to posthuman theory toward what she calls ‘embodied posthumanism.’ This timely work of science fiction criticism will prove fascinating to cultural theorists, philosophers, and literary scholars alike, as well as anyone concerned with the ethics of posthumanism.
New in Paperback:
World Leader Pretend, James Bernard Frost (St. Martin’s Press)
Xeres Meticula is a failure. A casualty of the dot-com bust, he now lives in his parent’s basement and spends all day on one pursuit, winning The Realm. Fortunately he’s not alone. Joining him in his world are Gek-Lin, an orphan in Thailand who spends her nights in an internet cafe; Dietrich Bjornson, a welder working in Antarctica; and Tres Rawling, a former Olympic skier for England whose career was cut short when an accident left him a quadriplegic; and many more. Together they communicate and connect, working to achieve virtual world dominance, but when tragedy on- and off-line occurs, can these real people trust each other enough to find the help they need?
The Plot to Save Socrates © Tor Books
Paul Levinson's astonishing new SF novel is a surprise and a delight: In the year 2042, Sierra, a young graduate student in Classics is shown a new dialog of Socrates, recently discovered, in which a time traveler tries to argue that Socrates might escape death by travel to the future! Thomas, the elderly scholar who has shown her the document, disappears, and Sierra immediately begins to track down the provenance of the manuscript, with the help of her classical scholar boyfriend, Max. The trail leads her to a time machine in a gentlemen's club in London and in New York, and into the past—and to a time traveler from her future, posing as Heron of Alexandria in 150 AD. Complications, mysteries, travels, and time loops proliferate as Sierra tries to discern who is planning to save the greatest philosopher in human history, or to do so herself. And she finds that time travel raises more questions than it answers. Fascinating historical characters from Alcibiades (of the honeyed thighs) and Thomas Appleton, the great 19th century American publisher, to Socrates himself appear. With surprises in every chapter, Paul Levinson has outdone himself in The Plot to Save Socrates.
Glass Empires, David Mack, etc. (Star Trek Books)
There are moments glimpsed only in shadow, where darkness rules and evil incarnate thrives. You hope against hope that in your lifetime, evil is relegated to the shadows. But what if it wasn't?
What if you lived in a universe where your life was measured only by what you could do for the Empire? What would you do to survive? Would you sell your soul to free yourself? If you were offered the chance to rule, would you seize it? If you could free your universe from the darkness but only at the cost of your life, would you pay that price? Star Trek: Enterprise: She seized power in a heartbeat, daring to place herself against all the overlords of the Empire. Empress Hoshi Sato knows the future that could be; now all she has to do is make sure it never happens. For her to rule, she must hold sway not only over the starship from the future but also over her warlords, the resistance, and her Andorian husband. As quickly and brutally as Hoshi seized power, imperial rule is taken from her. Her only chance to rule again is to ally herself with a lifelong foe, and an alien. Star Trek: One man can change the future, but does he dare? Spock, intrigued by the vision of another universe's Federation, does what no Vulcan, no emperor, has ever done: seize power in one blinding stroke of mass murder. And at the same instant he gains imperial power, Spock sows the seeds for the Empire's downfall. Is this a form of Vulcan madness, or is it the coolly logical plan of a man who knows the price his universe must pay for its freedom? Star Trek: The Next Generation: Humanity is a pitiful collection of enslaved, indentured, and abused peoples. No one dares to question the order, except at peril of their lives. One man survives by blinding himself to the misery around him. However, Jean-Luc Picard resists, just once. And in that one instant he unlocks a horror beyond the tyranny of the Alliance. Can a man so beaten down by a lifetime of oppression stop the destruction? Penned by David Mack, Greg Cox, Mike Sussman, Dayton Ward, and Kevin Dilmore, Glass empries is the first part of the Star Trek: Mirror Universe series.
Words of Wonder, Brian Stillman (Dinoship, Inc.)
Want to know what makes a science fiction writer tick? Words of Wonder: Conversations with the Greatest Science Fiction Authors of the Past Eight Decades includes in-depth, all-new interviews with the genre's greatest writers, going all the back tot he Grand Old Men of the Pulps, and finishing with the hottest SF writers of today. It’d be nice if you could find out some information on exactly who Stillman had interviewed for this print, I can’t find a decent synopsis anywhere on the web.
New on Audiobook:
Temple of the Winds of the Sword of Truth Series © Brilliance Audio Unabridged
Return to the world of Richard Cypher, whose adventures have stirred the blood and filled the hearts of legions of satisfied readers. When Richard was a simple woods guide, he never dreamed he would get caught up in magic, war, and dangers so extraordinary that the fate of his entire world would hang on his actions and decisions. Over the course of his journeys Richard learned to accept his true role, first as the Seeker and the wielder of the Sword of Truth, and then, in Stone of Tears, as the new Lord Rahl and the war wizard who led the fight against the Keeper and his dark minions. Everything Richard has learned thus far, all the wisdom, the magic, and the conviction he holds, will be for naught as the power-mad Emperor Jagang returns with his multitude of demonic underlings. For Richard must now challenge the impossible: the magic that thwarts magic, the three-thousand-years-sealed
Relic, Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child (Brilliance Audio Unabridged – MP3 CD)
Just days before a massive exhibition opens at the New York Museum of Natural History, visitors are being savagely murdered in the museum's dark hallways and secret rooms. Autopsies indicate that the killer cannot be human, but the museum's directors plan to go ahead with a big bash to celebrate the new exhibition in spite of the murders. Can a museum researcher find out what's going on before it's too late? I gotta say I found the movie adaptation to this novel to be quite entertaining, back in the days of good old-fashioned R-rated thrillers. David Colacci narrates on this MP3 CD audio format.
Mars, Ben Bova (Brilliance Audio Unabridged)
In this work from Ben Bova, the six-time winner of science fiction's Hugo Award, astronauts land on Mars and prepare for meteor showers and subzero temperatures… but not for everything they encounter. Told in a grand, sweeping style, it recounts the epic story of the first manned mission to Mars: man's great unconquered frontier. Narrated by Dick Hill.
That does it for this week’s edition of the Weekly Book Buzz. Be sure to stop back next Tuesday for all the latest on new sci-fi, fantasy, and horror book releases. Questions or comments? Hit me up at PFerrara.mania@gmail.com.
