McCarthy, Wil

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So ends the tale
Close to one of the best, and most overlooked, recent Hard SF series
Sad, elegaic, almost heartbreaking end to the Queendom of Sol
My reviews of previous books were wrong(sort of)
The mediocre immorbid's impressive resume

To Crush the Moon
Wil Mccarthy
Manufacturer: Spectra
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

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ASIN: 055358717X
Release Date: 2005-05-31

Book Description

In the conclusion to this epic interstellar adventure by Nebula Award nominee Wil McCarthy, humanity stands at a crossroads as the heroes who fashioned a man-made heaven must rescue their descendants from eternal damnation….

TO CRUSH THE MOON

Once the Queendom of Sol was a glowing monument to humankind’s loftiest dreams. Ageless and immortal, its citizens lived in peaceful splendor. But as Sol buckled under the swell of an immorbid population, space itself literally ran out….

Conrad Mursk has returned to Sol on the crippled starship Newhope. His crew are the frozen refugees of a failed colony known as Barnard’s Star. A thousand years older, Mursk finds Sol on the brink of rebellion, while a fanatic necro cult is reviving death itself. Now Mursk and his lover, Captain Xiomara “Xmary” Li Weng, are sent on a final, desperate mission by King Bruno de Towaji–one of the greatest terraformers of the ages–to literally crush the moon. If they succeed, they’ll save
billions of lost souls. If they fail, they’ll strand humanity between death–and something unimaginably worse….

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Wil McCarthy, after ten years of rocket science with Lockheed Martin, traded the hectic limelight of the space program for the peace and quiet (ha!) of commercial robotics at Omnitech, where he works as a research and development hack.

He writes a monthly column for the SciFi Channel's news magazine (www.scifi.com/sfw), and his less truthful writings have appeared in Aboriginal SF, Analog, Interzone, Asimov's Science Fiction, Science Fiction Age, and various anthologies. His novel, Bloom, was selected as a New York Times Notable Book. Further biographical and bibliographic information at: www.sff.net/people/wmccarth

From the Paperback edition.

Customer Reviews:

So ends the tale.......2007-01-12

Let's not dwell too much on what others have already said too many times over: this book and this entire series is rich in future science that is both relevant and philosophically consequential. A solid "A" for that effort, even if some of Mccarty's stuff is rather implausible.

As far as the novel's literary qualities go, it is perhaps the best book of the series. All 3 books (not counting Collapsium) read like tales - somewhat reminiscent of Larry Niven's Ringworld with the adventures that the characters are involved in. It is effortlessly captivating and does a great job of instilling that sense of wonder that (in my opinion) all good science fiction is supposed to do. We marvel not only at the stuff we've encountered before - faxes, wellstone, collapsium, etc. - but also at the way the crushed moon was engineered, from its collapsed core to its strange biosphere.

The novel's main strengths are thus twofold: 1) storytelling: see above; 2) details: they are what makes science fiction convincing. Think of Herbert's Dune: it was the details such as the water-saving suits and city-wide systems that made life on a parched planet plausible; think of McDevitt's best tales of extraterrestrial archaeology: again, detail is what makes those alien worlds so eerily familiar and so believable. The same holds true here: read the novel and you'll feel like you've seen the crushed Moon and the glow of the murdered Earth. Above all, do read the novel!

Close to one of the best, and most overlooked, recent Hard SF series.......2006-05-14

With To Crush the Moon Wil McCarthy brings one of the most satisfying recent series of Hard SF novels to a close. This series, collectively called, perhaps, The History of the Queendom of Sol, began in 2001 with The Collapsium (itself an expansion of a 1999 novella). That novel told of brilliant scientist Bruno de Towaji, who saves the Solar System three times from the dangers of super high-tech combined with a jealous rival. The Collapsium introduced the key technologies of the series: various types of programmable matter, and matter transmission. The latter technology, combined with an editing process, allowed for practical immortality. This first book was cheeky and playful and rather Tom Swift-like in ways.

The subsequent three novels are more closely linked, and quite a bit darker in tone. By the end of The Collapsium, Bruno had married the Queen of Sol. In The Wellstone (2003) his son, Bascal, was the ringleader of a group of young people frustrated by their lack of opportunity in a world of immortals. The main character is Bascal's friend Conrad Mursk. The two of them and a large group of rebellious youngsters are exiled to Barnard's Star at the end of the book, and Lost in Transmission (2004) tells of the establishment and ultimate failure of the Barnard's Star colony. Conrad chooses to return to Sol, and To Crush the Moon is the story of what happens after his return.

The Wellstone and Lost in Transmission both had sections set thousands of years in the future, with Conrad (now called Radmer) retrieving Bruno de Towaji from self-imposed exile and returning with him to an altered Moon (now called Lune), where the last significant remnants of humanity are fighting a war with emancipated robots. Earth and the other major planets have been "Murdered". To Crush the Moon tells first of the crisis in Solar System politics that led both to the alteration and terraforming of Luna into Lune, and then to the tragic missteps resulting in the "Murder" of Earth. Conrad and Bruno are central to these events, and so are their wives, Queen Tamra and Xiomary Li Weng (Xmary). Much of this section is savvy portrayal of what seems like inevitable political problems - particularly problems dealing with fanatics who wish to restore death to society, and with the impatient returnees from various failed star colonies. Then the conclusion continues the story of the far future war on Lune, with Radmer leading Bruno de Towaji on a desperate mission to, quite literally, save humanity.

The story is satisfying on multiple levels. The scientific (and politico-economic) speculation remains scintillating. The pure adventure aspects are thrilling. The prose is clever, sardonic, successfully darkly funny even in the shadow of the deaths of billions. Conrad and Bruno are very well realized characters, though most of the remaining characters are a bit flatter. (In particular the leading women, Tamra and Xmary, never really come to life.) Lines like "Bruno was elbow-deep in wormholes. Not literally, of course - he'd lost more than one arm that way already -" are simply delights. The ultimate scope of the story is really impressive, in space, time, and theme. The ending is perhaps a mild disappointment - it's logical enough, and the reader is not cheated, but it seems just a touch off tonally.

I've truly enjoyed this series of novels, and I confess to slight puzzlement that it hasn't received more notice. For my taste, this is what 21st Century SF ought to be. (Of course there are other recent SF stories that are also "what 21st Century SF ought to be", such as Charles Stross's Accelerando stories.) The latter three novels have all been mass market originals - perhaps their failure to appear between hard covers has told against them. If so, that's a shame - I urge readers to seek out these first rate novels.

Sad, elegaic, almost heartbreaking end to the Queendom of Sol.......2006-03-15

_______________________________________________________________________________
This is a sad book, an elegaic book, in some ways a heartbreaking book. McCarthy kicks out all the props from under his magnificent, glittering Queendom of Sol, and it falls like, well, a megaton of brickmail. Not a pretty sight. I suppose the author intends this as a cautionary tale. The series is structured as a classical tragedy: the sad consequences of human hubris.

My problem? Let me quote the perspicacious James Nicoll, over at rec.arts.sf.written: "My specific complaint is that the precise technological limitations introduced in _Lost in Transmission_ felt as though they did not arise from the logic of the technology but because the author had a particular direction he wanted to force the plot in." Ayup. In particular, the inexplicable (but, sadly, not unprecedented) error of not designing the Nescog [1] to fail safe -- since the alternative was Murdered Earth, and hundreds of billions of deaths. But, in this case, this is a severe WSOD-breaker: the designer had to face (and fix) a very similar disaster in book #1. Good engineers learn from their mistakes.

The ending? I first thought it was going to be the obligatory Hollywood happy-ever-after, but McCarthy likes to play with our expectations. So it's bittersweet and quite effective, if manipulative. There's a hook for a sequel [2], and a great (nearly) last line: "Live a little. Have some fun."

The "Queendom of Sol" future history is a remarkable literary achievement, one that will repay rereading. The series opened with 2000's universally-praised The Collapsium, a spectacular future technothriller, overplayed (imo) for laughs, but with as dazzling a set of bleeding-edge technogoodies as any hard-sf fan could imagine. The middle two volumes are understated, overlong and weren't as well-received [3]. The third, Lost in Transmission, is something of a downer. Well, so is the windup(?) fourth volume, but it does make you think. I'll be rereading it.

If you've missed the series, by all means start with vol. 1, The Collapsium. From there, you may want to consider jumping to this volume.
_______________________
[1] The New Systemwide Collapsar Grid, for rapid transit (etc.)
[2] --though the author's website does describe this as the final volume.
[3] McCarthy could have strenghened the series (imo) by judicious editing of vols 2 & 3 into a single volume.

Happy reading--
Peter D. Tillman

My reviews of previous books were wrong(sort of).......2005-10-22

I can admit it. this book is just plain good. I had said that I bought the entire series after reading the Collapsium (which was great) and was disappointed through the next two books. I was not looking forward to this book, but this was as good as the first book. Excellent in fact, and I discovered the difference. In both the first and last book, which are good, the plot is characterized by man versus man (or robot) and in the other two books (the second and third) the plot is mostly man vs society (yawn) and man vs nature (yawn). Now there are elements of each in all four books but the main plots are thos I just listed. Let me tell you man vs nature/society just is not that entertaining. It was intelligent and thoughtful but not that fun. The first and last books are also intelligent (which the author has obviously) but enjoyable. Read through the second and third novels (which should be combined into one shorter book) and find the light at the end of the tunnel. The series is saved.

The mediocre immorbid's impressive resume.......2005-09-04

While I like Wil McCarthy's vision of the capabilities of future technologies to reshape man's tools and environment, his view of the psychology of the radically life-extended or "immorbid" individual doesn't quite satisfy me. McCarthy seems to suffer from the anxiety of Robert Heinlein's influence, in that he portrays insenescent characters who, like Lazarus Long, live a succession of recognizably human lives, with a few medical enhancements along the way, instead of using their technologies to become something radically different from human, if only to see how it feels. Maybe I expect too much from science fiction from my long involvement in cryonics and my exploration of Transhumanist ideas, but I feel disappointed that the Queendom of Sol lacks room for truly "posthuman" entities.

On the other hand, McCarthy does convey a sense of how an ordinary person in that kind of society could over the centuries and millennia accumulate a respectable record of accomplishments just from learning and applying normal human skills. It reminds me of Leon Trotsky's fantasy in "Literature and Revolution" that under a utopian communism, where people had the freedom and the means to explore their biological potentials, the run-of-the-mill individual would display abilities comparable to Aristotle's, Goethe's and Marx's, while the superior individual would go way beyond the geniuses of the past. Maybe the ordinary guy does have that kind of potential within him, if he didn't age or get sick and he had the centuries to develop those kinds of cognitive powers from having to solve a much wider range of practical problems than he would have encountered in a "normal" human lifespan.

McCarthy does end his novel with a way for civilization to rebuild, so I look forward to more sequels where his ultramature hero Radmer can show once again what he has within him.

Hacking Matter: Levitating Chairs, Quantum Mirages, and the Infinite Weirdness of Programmable Atoms

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Quantum Dot/Wire , SET , QCA/MQCA , Neural nets
Is the Replicator from "Star Trek" Soon to Become a Reality?
If you're interested
Incredibly cool and entertaining
Star Trek Explained

Hacking Matter: Levitating Chairs, Quantum Mirages, and the Infinite Weirdness of Programmable Atoms
Wil McCarthy
Manufacturer: Basic Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0465044298
Release Date: 2004-04-13

Book Description

"The book's science is solid and McCarthy's fervor genuinely infectious. The future never felt so close." --Wired

Programmable matter is probably not the next technological revolution, nor even perhaps the one after that. But it's coming, and when it does, it will change our lives as much as any invention ever has. Imagine being able to program matter itself-to change it, with the click of a cursor, from hard to soft, from paper to stone, from fluorescent to super-reflective to invisible. Supported by organizations ranging from Levi Strauss and IBM to the Defense Department, solid-state physicists in renowned laboratories are working to make it a reality. In this dazzling investigation, Wil McCarthy visits the laboratories and talks with the researchers who are developing this extraordinary technology, describes how they are learning to control it, and tells us where all this will lead. The possibilities are truly astonishing.

Customer Reviews:

Quantum Dot/Wire , SET , QCA/MQCA , Neural nets.......2007-05-23

Quantum information encode on each photon; the race is too replace the transistor; quantum dot nanoparticles create entanglement, so that their relative positions determine their effect on another; when arranged in groups of eight, Quantum Celluar Automata (QCA) can carry out binary logic necessary fro today's computer operations.

QCA requires low temperators and the replacement is nanomagnets, 100 nm that mirror the function of transistor-based logic gates and matrix handles the logic operations.
MQCA envisons a all magnetic computer, operates at room temperature, fabricates easier, and advances magnetic storage industry. Wolfgang Porod created the process of magnetic patterning to produce a chip using arrays of separate magnetic domains.

"For a quantum computer, whose bits can be in two quantum states at once, both on or off at the same time, many solutions can be explored simulataneously.
Quantum dot system exhibits long-lasting coherence. QDOT arrays must be scaleable into large systems. Quantum machine requires large number of quantum switches working together as a group. When two elections occupy the same space, they must pair with oposite spin, one electron with up spin and the other with down. Eight converging wires or gates deposit the electrons in the dot one by one and electronically fine-tune the dot's properties so they would become entangled. The down-up, up-down configuration occurred simulataneously.

1. When a N layer istraped between two P layers, it attracts electrons into the middle layer and doesn't let them out. If the N layer is really thin, 10 nanometers, the trap approaches a quantum-mechanical limit, the de Broglie wavelength, and wave-like behavior moves along the vertical axises. Quantum wires can be practically used in optical computers, fiber-optic networks, and lasers.
2. Electrons will arrange themselves into orbitals around the positively charged nucleus; these orbitals and electrons determine the physical and chemical properties of an atom. When the electrons are trapped in quantum dots they will arrange themselves as though they were part of the atom, even though there's no atomic nucleus for them to surround. Which atom they resemble depends on the number of excess electrons trapped inside the dot. Electrons can be confinedelectrostatically, by electrodes, pumping electrons in out by varying the voltage of the fence. Kastner, in 1993 labeled the nanostructure an "artificial atom": single-electron transistor (SET), Coulomb Island, or zero dimensional electron gas, or colloidal nanoparticle or semiconductor nanocrystal. "One electron gets you hydrogen, two gets you helium, and so on. Each dot has its own unique periodic table, though; size and shape and composition of the device have a huge effect on how its electrons interact. We can easily call up an artificial, six carbon atom on the chip, buts its structure may or may not resemble that of a natural carbon atom." "Another prediction made by MIT theorist is that there should be quantum dot materials that behave as insulators when they contain an odd number of electrons, and as conductiors whey they contain an even number." "Large collections of quantum dots, along with metals and semiconductor substrate will be referred to as programmable materials."
3. "Quantum scientist have also shown that an array of Single electron Transistor - SETs create a form of neural network." SETs construct computers that use individual electrons to carry information. SET biggest problem is operating at room temperature. Quantum tunneling means the can "interact capacitively rather than by current flow throught the wires." "When their interactions result from the quantum tunneling of electrons, quantum dots can collectively behave as a form of quantum cellular automaton, QCA. QCA computers may show associative memory. If Decoherence can be avoid a qbit can form with a 0 or 1 or superposition state of both at the same time. 5 qbits could handle 32 states (2^n), simulateously; a conventional computer would handle 32 sets of 5 bits, or 160 bits in all. 64 bit encryption could be processed with one 64 qubit operation, whereas, a conventional computer requiring 2^64, 1.84 x10^19 operations or 292.5 years, 18 billion billion times more powerful than a 64 bit binary computer.

Is the Replicator from "Star Trek" Soon to Become a Reality?.......2007-04-21

Despite my intrinsic interest in such futuristic topics as programmable matter, the subject of Wil McCarthy's interesting journalistic account of research underway at laboratories around the world, I never know how much I should believe concerning these possibilities. More likely than not it will turn out to be just as real as speculations about flying cars in the 1930s or jet packs for everyone in the 1950s or...I could go on and on. In "Hacking Matter" McCarthy lays out a story as fantastic as any concocted by a master of science fiction. It has the attraction of ancient alchemy--of Midas turning anything to gold with his touch or Rumplestiltskin's spinning of straw into gold--and may be just about as real.

But there is a serious side to this, and McCarthy does a service by discussing the research underway to manipulate matter at the level of the molecule. Scientists already understand the process, and the very real science of nanotechnology is built on this knowledge. The U.S. Department of Defense, other government agencies, and some corporations are investing in this future technology. Their reasons for doing so are obvious, if we can transform one type of matter into another with the click of a mouse button the potential is incredible. Materials precious and difficult to obtain may be acquired quickly, easily, and safely. The potential to completely change the physical existence of all humanity should be apparent. This is a fascinating story, one that is probably realizable perhaps centuries in the future, that is if it realizable at all. But it is a fascinating line of scientific inquiry nonetheless.

If you're interested.......2006-01-02

You can also download this book free at
http://www.wilmccarthy.com/HackingMatterMultimediaEdition.pdf

Incredibly cool and entertaining.......2004-12-11

I think the previous reviewers have not been keeping up with the leaps and bounds that technology has been making with quantum dots. They exist folks and they are being used as we speak. While the applications for this technology as discribed in this book are not possible at this point in time, they should no longer be considered impossible. Just type 'quantum dots' in your search engine or check out some of the popular science websites. This is real and it is utterly facinating. Definately a good book but you'll need to read up on some basic quantum mechanics first to really enjoy it (the reason I gave it 4 stars and not 5).

Star Trek Explained.......2004-06-22

I think the content of the book was so far out into the future that suddenly Star Trek movies make sence. The material is discussing theory so much with real practical applications many decades away, that one cannot help but think of Star Trek. It is with programmable matter that the future trekies can enable themselves to own cool toys like tricorders, replicators, cloaking devices, shape shifters etc. I think an alternative title of the book could have been, "Star Trek Explained" :-)

Amazon.com

Wil McCarthy is a certified science fiction treasure. A real-life rocket scientist with a gorgeous writing style and rapier wit to boot, McCarthy continually sets a very high standard for good old-fashioned space stories. In The Collapsium, McCarthy builds on a lovely novella to tell the far-future story of two scientists entrenched in a rivalry that may save, or destroy, the solar system. Tamra Lutui, the Queen of Sol, brings together the brilliant enemies in order to prevent the Ring Collapsiter, a vast ring of strange matter, from falling into the sun. So it is that Bruno de Towaji, inventor of collapsium--crystals made up of tiny black holes that can transport matter instantaneously across vast distances--must find a way to work with Marlon Sykes, who came up with the Ring to change the nature of communication forever. McCarthy makes liberal use of his extensive science knowledge, especially when he describes the nature of high-concept physics ideas like collapsium or wellstone (programmable matter!), but luckily, his literary skills are up to the task of moving the narrative along, keeping us in suspense, and creating characters who are worth reading about. His descriptions of the physical phenomena surrounding the artifacts of high-energy material manipulation are deft and fascinating:

<blockquote>A handful of collapsons in low orbit had become--seemingly overnight--a nested cage of fractured spacetimes, one within the other like wooden babushka dolls, magical ones, straining at the very underpinnings of universal law. And orbiting right overhead!</blockquote>

Towaji and Sykes labor to save the Queendom and outwit the saboteur trying to wreck the Ring, all the while burdened by a byzantine and bureaucratic social structure with demands for party appearances, verbal sparring, and quick thinking. While those of us who aren't physics mavens might quail at some of the terms and ideas McCarthy casually uses, it's his characters and story that make The Collapsium a book to savor, a complex and layered story in the grand tradition of science fiction's masters. --Therese Littleton

Book Description

In this stunningly original tale, acclaimed author Wil McCarthy imagines a wondrous future in which the secrets of matter have been unlocked and death itself is but a memory. But it is also a future imperiled by a bitter rivalry between two brilliant scientists--one perhaps the greatest genius in the history of humankind; the other, its greatest monster.

The Collapsium

In a world of awesome technology, the deadly substance called collapsium has given humans all the powers and caprices--including immortality--of the gods they once worshiped. Composed of miniature black holes, collapsium allows the instantaneous transmission of information and matter--as well as humans--throughout the solar system. But while its reclusive inventor, Bruno de Towaji, next dreams of probing the farthest reaches of spacetime, Marlon Sykes, his ambitious rival in science--and in love--has built an awesome telecommunications network by constructing a ring of collapsium around the sun. It appears Sykes may be the victor--until a ruthless saboteur attacks the ring and sends it falling toward the sun. Now the two scientists must put aside personal animosity to prevent the destruction of the solar system--and every living thing within it.

Customer Reviews:

A good primer.......2007-01-09

Collapsium is the start of a series of novels that follow in its wake. Curiously, the opening act is actually far worse than what is to follow: "Wellstone," "Lost in Translation," and "To Crush the Moon" provide both better entertainment and better exploration of the implications of the marvelous technology that Maccarthy dreams up. So let us be clear on what Collapsium is and what it is not:
1) It IS a great appendix to reading the aforementioned novels. Besides having a scientific (sci-fi) appendix of its own that explains the (hypothetical) physics behind the technology, Collapsium is really kind of an appendix in its own right, and a decent enough reference to backgrounds of characters that are more fully developed in later novels.
2) It IS a book full of imaginative ideas. Sometimes overly so. Maccarthy's physics is solid, while his speculations on future physics span the full range of plausibility, from "maybe" to "no way!" - but all of it is imaginative, interesting, and good fun to think about.
3) It is NOT a particularly good novel in its own right. Really, the book consists of three somewhat independent and weak novellas: though ordered chronologically they do not share the coherence of ordinary chapters in a single book, and each presents an adventure of its own. The plot (or plots) are not all that engrossing, mainly because they all have a very simple "hero vs disaster" or "hero vs villain + disaster" linearity to them. And since these types of plotlines invariably end with a triumph of our hero, the intrigue is, for the most part, not there. Finally, as other reviewers have mentioned, the character development is somewhat lackluster.

The main raison d'etre for this book, as I see it, is that ideas in it have great POTENTIAL for a full-fledged development. Chief among these is not programmable matter or instant comminication afforded by the collapsiter grids, but the achievement of immorbidity. From this novel alone, it is hard to say what the author makes of it, but the promise is there.

So let me conclude with a recommendation. Skip this one and go straight for "Wellstone." If you enjoy it (which you should), but find yourself wanting details on the background of the Queendom of Sol, its historical figures, and its technological marvels, THEN read Collapsium.

Entertaining, some good ideas, but nothing spectacular.......2005-09-14

Don't get me wrong--this was a good book, I enjoyed reading it, and savored it up until the end. But apparently there are more books in this storyline, and I'm just not interested. That about sums up how I felt about this one.

For this one, I want to contrast some pros and cons point-by-point.

Pro: The characters are (mostly) interesting, and I wanted to see what happened with them. It's certainly outside my experience to come across a collapsium engineer, a madman who keeps cloned copies of his rivals to torture them, or a queen of the solar system.
Con: The characters are kind of ridiculous. Bruno is just too smart and perfect to take seriously, and the few attempts to make him human (like getting drunk at a formal dinner through technology advanced enough to perform any sort of alchemy, but not keep dinner guests from getting drunk--give me a break!) just come across as something added on after the novel was written in a weak attempt to make him human.

Pro: There are some neat technology ideas in this book, and they certainly play a part in the plot.
Con: The ideas are really nothing novel. There's nothing here that hasn't been explored, and probably better, by other fiction authors. The author's book Hacking Matter is probably more interesting from a science (or sci-fi) point of view. It's not hard to read this book and say 'Why, oh why if they had this sort of technology would they still do things this way??' If people had the kind of technology this book proposes, they wouldn't be living like they do--their world would be very different. The book tries to cover for that in several ways, playing into the queendom conceit and pushing certain things off into the world of the insane, like making the bad guy the only one who makes major biological changes to people. Why wouldn't people do this to themselves if they could? I mean, people already get tattoos, which are permanent and have no tangible benefits. People don't have a history of avoiding body modifications, and if they have an economic advantage....

Pro: The writing is pretty good, and the book was obviously edited and vetted by competent people. It was never painful to read, and many places were quite well written.
Con: The style is totally contrived, though this is not unintentional. I assume the style is based on the Queendom setting of the book, and how the author thinks people in such an environment might behave, think, and write. It mostly works, but not until you're well into the book. By the end, I really didn't notice it, but it can be awkward at times. In the end, I can appreciate it, but I'm not sure if it totally worked.

Overall, this was a pretty good sci-fi story, but not a book I'll remember a year from now.

hard sf.......2005-08-14

This truly is hard science fiction. Its good stuff. None of this Lois Mcmaster Bujold garbage, this guy actually understands what sci fi is.
Only complaint is that there was not enough action, most the plot is a psychological/scientific battle between two supergenius' about who can solve a problem the fastest and in the most ingenious fashion.

Wow! It's like living in a future full of excitement and (very) clever people! .......2005-07-16

McCarthy builds a world that continues to surprise throughout the entire book. There is enough solid and clever physics for hard science fiction fans to keep busy and enough interesting (and clever!) people to interest "people" people.

Read it!

"-"

... and now for something really different.......2005-04-01

This is the kind of book you can read to discuss with (and impress) your scientifically intellectual friends.

Timewise, the story is set sometime in the next century or two, it is full of some cool "scientific breakthroughs", with detailed (and usually pretty interesting) theoretical explanations. A lot of the science is quite unique; like the Wellstone material that can quickly form into almost any other imaginable material, or the anti-gravityish "ertial" (opposite of inertial) technology Bruno(the main character) invents that helps to propel his "rescue ship" to near lightspeed.

I wasn't used to the author's method of writing, so it felt a little odd reading the first chapter or so - but once I got used to it, the odd feeling wore off, and I found the book quite enjoyable, if not a quick read.

In addition to the science, the reluctant-hero plight of most of the main characters is fairly interesting; but there could have been a bit more variety to these characters, with too many having the same traits.

I got this book as part of the SFBC MONARCHS OF SOL anthology, and I'm moving on to the 2nd book of the set - THE WELLSTONE.

Average customer rating:

Intelligent examination of the problems of immortality
Leaves a little to be desired
Adolescent Angst in the Queendom of Sol
Basically fun along with some food for thought
Alarmingly Readable!

The Wellstone
Wil Mccarthy
Manufacturer: Spectra
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

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Similar Items:

Lost in Transmission
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To Crush the Moon
Hacking Matter: Levitating Chairs, Quantum Mirages, and the Infinite Weirdness of Programmable Atoms
Bloom

ASIN: 0553584464
Release Date: 2003-03-04

Book Description

In his Nebula Award–nominated novel The Collapsium, acclaimed author Wil McCarthy introduced a richly imagined future of boundless possibility, where poverty, war, and even death are banished forever. Only now that world’s exquisite perfection propels one restless young man toward the ultimate challenge.

The Wellstone

For the children of immortal parents, growing up can be hard to do. A prince will forever be a prince--leaving no chance for Bascal Edward de Towaji Lutui to inherit his parents’ throne. So what is an angry young blue blood to do? Punch a hole in the shadow he’s been living in by rallying his equally disgruntled companions to make an improbable spaceship, busting out of the so-called summer camp in which their parents have stowed them and making a daring escape across the vastness of space. Ne’er-do-well Conrad Mursk is just along for the joyride--until he realizes this is no typical display of teenage angst. The children are rising up in an honest-to-gods revolution. And, boyo, things are going to get raw.

Customer Reviews:

Intelligent examination of the problems of immortality .......2006-05-23

The Wellstone is the sequel to Wil McCarthy's The Collapsium, set some time later. Tech called fax filters has led to practical immortality (or immorbidity), which is a problem for the children. What will they do when they grow up? Their parents aren't about to vacate their jobs, for the most part. Some of these kids turn delinquent as a result -- or perhaps they would have been that way in any case. A number of kids are being disciplined by confinement to Camp Friendly, a "summer camp" located on a tiny "planette". One of these kids is the POV character, a young engineer named Conrad Mursk. Another is the Crown Prince Bascal, the son of Bruno de Towaji (hero of The Collapsium) and the Queen. Bascal is extremely talented, a noted poet and a born leader, and he is very rebellious, as well as very spoiled. He incites the boys to an act of sabotage -- they escape via fax to Denver and release a dangerous substance that turns programmable matter to junk. They are soon captured, and Bascal's furious parents return them to Camp Friendly, with even stricter confinement (no working Fax gates).

But Bascal is not to be thwarted. With Conrad's sometimes reluctant help, with the help of a semi-accidental recruit, a teenaged girl named Xmary who was arrested by mistake in the earlier incident, and with the continued help of Bascal's less intelligent henchmen, he hatches another audacious plot. They use the properties of programmable matter to create "homemade" solar sailship from the planette, and they head for the nearest working Fax gate. But a surprise awaits them there ...

I thought this even a better book than The Collapsium. It lacks the previous book's almost insouciant inventiveness -- the "Tom Swift" nature I referred to above. But the characters are done better, in particular Conrad himself, and Bascal as seen by onrad. Bascal is an interesting creation -- a nice mixture of admirable and dangerous characteristics. Conrad and Xmary are nicely handled positive characters -- their frustration at heir lot as children in a world with no room for them as dults is well portrayed. The book remains inventive, and often funny, with a dark undertone (reinforced by a downright grim prologue and epilogue) that lends a certain (forgive me!) gravitas to the theme.

Leaves a little to be desired.......2004-05-11

I was perhaps expecting something...different after reading the first book of the series (COLLAPSIUM). It was a tale of adult intrigue, romance, science fiction and an exploration of how longevity affects our society. The totally inappropriate title (WELLSTONE) suggest a foray into the wondrous possibilities of this miraculous material but alas we are left with a young male coming of age story.

This is not to say that the plot is bad or that the action is not authentic. As the father of two teenage boys, the author nails it on the head with his descriptions of group rivalry, efforts to be liked, the innner thoughts of teenagers, their moods and quick jealousies and inability to control their mouth or their actions. But it needed to be more than this. The one outstanding device was the use of Conrad, the reflective lad who never tried to fool himself although he did manage to fool others. The opening and the closing featuring the matured young man (who for some reason changed his name) are like bookends, enclosing a wild tale of rides to the heavens, group pranks and enough angst to build a wellstone cathedral.

Perhaps this was only a preliminary tale for the next in the series. Hopefully the boys will have matured and their actions will be more attuned to adult conduct. This is a good - though not great - read.

Adolescent Angst in the Queendom of Sol.......2003-10-24

The Wellstone is the second novel in The Queendom of Sol series, following The Collapsium. In the previous volume, Bruno foils a plot to destroy Sol, is crowned King of Sol, and replaces the fragmented and compromised Iscog with the Nescog, based on Sykes' designs for the Solar Collapsiter Ring. Of more importance, that which was lost was found, and he marries the recovered Tamra.

In this novel, a few decades have passed since the marriage; King Bruno and Queen Tamatra have a son, Prince Bascal. A born leader, he is most often found leading his companions into trouble. His parents have sent him to Camp Friendly on a miniature planet in the Kuiper Belt and he takes over the camp, terrifying the director and counselors, and then breaks out to return to Earth.

The prince has come back to Earth to start a revolution (which is a surprise to his fourteen male companions). They gather upstairs in a cafe outside Denver and start partying. The prince gains the confidence of a local girl, Xiomara Li Weng, and aspires to attain access through her to a network of young people in the Denver area. He is planning to trash the Queendom or, at least, the wellstone in it.

As the group is becoming organized, the Constabulary appears and place the escaped youngsters under arrest. At least, the cops think that they have all the escapees, but they fail to notice that one of the arrested boys is really a girl, Xmary, and so Feck is still at large. The revolution continues.

This story is told from the point-of-view of Conrad Mursk, one of the prince's companions. Conrad (as Radmer) is also the protaganist of the framing story, wherein he travels to a miniature planet to retrieve Bruno de Towaji to correct a problem with the "squeezed" Luna. The framing story occurs much later than the central tale, so far in the future that Bruno's thoughts have worn deep paths through his brain. For some reason, the facsimile machines and the collapsiter web no longer function, so Radmer has to fly through space in a brass ball, using chemical explosives to propel the craft and manual navigation to guide it; he almost misses the king's planetoid, whereupon he would have been lost in space forever.

This story is about the generation gap and immorbidity in the Queendom of Sol. The prince is a royal personage who may never reign, for his parents will potentially live forever. Moreover, his parents have been elected to the positions of Queen and King, so he might not be selected as King even if they abdicate.

Like many seventeen year olds, Bascal is trying to find his place in society and in life itself, but he sees no future in it for himself and his friends. Of course, his parents don't fully understand his complaints and the arguments have gone on so long that everybody is frustrated. The prince is ready to just start breaking things.

This novel is not quite dystopian, but it does illustrate the other side of material paradise. The basic premise is much like Heinlein's Beyond This Horizon, that material plenty and long life are not enough. Once mankind's physical needs are met and even luxuries are available to all people, what will each individual do to fill their lives? Most people have a need to achieve, but only a few individuals have the ability to create new things. What do the less talented people do to make their lives meaningful? If they cannot create, do they destroy things? This theme has been used before, but it worth repeating.

The framing story is interesting, yet confusing. Maybe it will lead to the next installment in this series.

Recommended for McCarthy fans and anyone else who enjoys hard science fiction about technologically advanced societies inhabited by realistic characters.

Basically fun along with some food for thought.......2003-06-07

I really liked THE COLLAPSIUM, but this sequel is even more fun and leaves me hoping for more. The ending is open enough for another sequel.

While THE COLLAPSIUM had a "Tom Swift" type quality, this one is a boy's adventure story retold for adults. While satirically light hearted, it does have a disturbing underlying theme reminding me of THE LORD OF THE FLIES.

This adventure is quite independent of THE COLLAPSIUM and just as enjoyable whether or not you've read the earlier book.

The conflict between the main two characters fuels the book. Like THE COLLAPSIUM, the themes of immortality and of cloning duplicate selves are thoroughly examined, especially in light of the psychological effect on human nature. This time, it's the effect on young people being raised with expectations of immortality that's spotlighted.

Highly recommended to all science-fiction fans, and to those periphally interested in the genre.

Alarmingly Readable!.......2003-03-14

I think this book would stand well on its own, but it is equally amazing as a sequel to The Collapsium, which seemed impossible to top. I rarely have the feeling that I can't put a book down, but this one kept me up all night and home from work the next day. The realism and depth of this society, and its fascinating uses of technology such as programmable matter and solar/laser sails, do not stop the book from being both funny and moving at the same time. What is it really like to be immortal, in an immortal society where every need is fulfilled? McCarthy's answers are surprising but ring true. Wow.

Average customer rating:

Interesting Lineup

Once Upon a Galaxy
Wil McCarthy
Manufacturer: DAW
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0756400910
Release Date: 2002-09-03

Book Description

...in these original new stories by today's masters of science fiction and fantasy. Two time-tested genres test the limits of "happily ever after" when beloved tales like "Goldilocks" and "Sleeping Beauty" are given an outer-space spin.

Customer Reviews:

Interesting Lineup.......2002-09-12

Lest's see... stories by Gregory Benford, Paul Di Filippo, Stanley Schmidt, Tanya Huff, and 10 others including Wil McCarthy himself. The skew is mainly but not totally toward hard science fiction. Some of the fairy tales are recognizable (even named the same as the original), and some are not. Are they well disguised, or perhaps original? Fine reads in any case. Much better than you usually find in these concept anthologies.

McCarthy's introduction is illuminating: "Fairy tales are among our most formative influences, adding a visceral heft and sting to the purely verbal warnings of authority. But fairy tales, without exception, hinge on a supernatural occurrence. And in a way, this seemed to undermine their authority, to relegate them to some other universe where things like that could really happen."

Book Description

David Sanger, an ambitious young physicist, attends a party at which a pompous older scientist, who just happens to have thrwarted the younger man's innovative ideas, is murdered. Suddenly it is not just David's career, but his life that is at stake. Are his ideas that important? Who's out to stop David from changing the world?

Customer Reviews:

Not McCarthy's strongest work.......2005-06-29

Originally I picked up on Mr. McCarthy for two reasons; He is a local author, and I truly enjoy his style.

"Murder in the Solid State" is indeed a tough read for one not already initiated to the authors style. The structure seems abrupt and over edited at times, but the science always flows freely. Through his other works (namely the "Wellstone" series) you begin to see the author emerge as a fiction writer alongside his scientific mind. "Murder","The Collapsium","Aggressor Six" and "Bloom" all contain an unnatural flow that reads more as "Comp Book" and less as flowing fiction. His characters seem harsher than intended, and all seem modeled after grant writers and university chair persons (in attitude at least).
With a few titles under his belt McCarthy truly flowers in his later works. It is in "The Wellstone" that I personally saw the first hints of truly epic potential. His current "To Crush The Moon" has been labeled as on par with Niven. I do not disagree with that statement.

Long story short is this: Read the later works FIRST, and if you can take the technical with a little less character development, go back and read the earlier books. They're truly worth the wait.

Murder And Early Nano.......2002-01-24

I have never read anything by Wil McCarthy previously, and he seems to be a decent writer. This novel is a combination murder mystery and science fiction tale. David Sanger is a nanotechnology researcher (the science of manipulating the ultra small, in case you don't know) and during a trade convention becomes entangled with a murder he did not commit, and it gets intense and complicated from that point on..........no more here, no spoilers!

Although it was not a page turner for me (it almost was) still it is one of only a handful of science fiction novels that portray the coming era of nanotechnology, in this novel it is in only the nascent beginnings. This is hard science fiction without any fantasy whatsoever, completely to my tastes. Character and plot development were acceptable, although the ending seemed to be a trifle rushed. Also, the novel could have been a bit longer to flesh out the nanotechnology ideas more thoroughly.

Good for a vacation read.......2001-03-22

I went on a trip down south this march and desired to get a couple of books that would not require a great deal of thinking and would keep me entertained. This book was one of them, and in that sense it did indeed fulfill the need I required. On the other hand, this does not say much for it as a book.

There is an interesting view of the future with the paranoid "Gray Party" seeking to control everything, the uncovering of a conspiracy and the cool gadgets that McCarthy comes up with. At the same time, I felt like the world he created made the mistake that many SF writers do...there is too much "Ooooh!Ahhh!" expected by the way it is written. It seems that it was to make us think it is all so neat. Now, if only I hadn't seen that in dozens of other books out there, not to say bad science fiction movies.

While I found the plot interesting, especially when our hero must hide from the authorities who wield their weapons of technology (hmmm...didn't I see that in Blade Runner?) it was too contrived and to unbelievable.

In terms of his writing style, McCarthy does seem to know some technical terms, but he throws them around and mixes it with "golly gee whiz" dialogue that makes for abrupt reading. His characters (especially Bowser) have some strange element about them that almost seems sinister - but I don't think he means them to have that.

It gets a three star because it did do the job *I* intended, but I doubt the job McCarthy intended.

Great combination of thriller and science fiction.......2001-02-05

I loved this one-- it was, to me, the perfect combination of a thriller and a thought-provoking science fiction novel. The novel takes place in the research laboratories of the beginning days of nanotechnology (prefiguring the awesome nanotech of McCarthy's later novel BLOOM). There is some interesting speculation about the effects of longevity on society, and the effects of nanotechnology, but the science speculation is not overshadowed by the thriller plot and the realistic characterization. A definite rec if you like both thrillers and sf, as I do.

Makes You Think..........1999-05-07

Against a backdrop of scientific breakthroughs and political oppression McCarthy manages to create an imaginative, if paranoid, look at the near future. Nanotechnology is no longer just a buzz word but an everyday element of life, though not truly understood by the average citizen. This makes the perfect breeding ground for shadow conspiracies. All in all Solid State makes for good, fast paced read that really makes you think.

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Underrated dark novel of the downside of immortality and super high tech
Come on people, 5 stars?
Queendom of Sol Part Three
More Technology, More Interesting People
Kind of misses the point

Lost in Transmission
Wil Mccarthy
Manufacturer: Spectra
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

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ASIN: 0553584472
Release Date: 2004-03-02

Book Description

In a novel that challenges our expectations at every turn, acclaimed author Wil McCarthy sweeps us into the future as only he can imagine it. Here is a thrilling odyssey of discovery and adventure aboard a ship of exiled rebels coming of age in an eternity that may be a lot shorter than anyone ever guessed.<br/><br/>Brash and idealistic, they were rebels without a cause in a world governed by science, reason...and immortality. Banished for their troubles to the starship Newhope, they now face a bold future: to settle the worlds of Barnard’s Star. Now King Bascal Edward de Towaji Lutui, former prince of the Queendom of Sol, together with Captain Xiomara “Xmary” Li Weng and her lover, first mate Conrad Mursk, face a perilous voyage with thousands of their fellow exiles. The journey will last a century, but with Queendom technology it’s no problem to step into a fax machine and “print” a fresh, youthful version of yourself. But what this crew of rebels will find is far from the paradise they seek. Before long, their optimistic young colony has started to show signs of strain. And worst of all, death itself has returned with a vengeance.

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Brash and idealistic, they were rebels without a cause in a world governed by science, reason... and immortality. Banished for their troubles to the starship Newhope, they now face a bold future: to settle the worlds of Barnard's Star. Now King Bascal Edward de Towaji Lutui, former prince of the Queendom of Sol, together with Captain Xiomara "Xmary" Li Weng and her lover, first mate Conrad Mursk, face a perilous voyage with thousands of their fellow exiles.

The journey will last a century, but with Queendom technology it's no problem to step into a fax machine and "print" a fresh, youthful version of yourself. But what this crew of rebels will find is far from the paradise they seek. Before long, their optimistic young colony has started to show signs of strain. And worst of all, death itself has returned with a vengeance.

Customer Reviews:

Underrated dark novel of the downside of immortality and super high tech.......2006-05-14

Lost in Transmission is the third of Wil McCarthy's novels set a few centuries in the future in the Queendom of Sol (and successor states). I have enjoyed all these novels, and I feel they are improving as the series continues. One reason for this may be the increasing dark tone -- the first novel was in some ways a Tom Swiftian tour of fun technology, while the subsequent novels have focussed increasingly on the human problems of McCarthy's future. I rank Lost in Transmission one of the best SF novels of 2004.

All three books are set in a wondrous technological future, based largely on programmable matter and on instantaneous matter transmission. Crucially, the latter wonder also leads to near immortality: one can be maintained at any desired age by filtering software in the "faxes," and one can be reinstantiated from stored copies in case of accident. In the first two novels, we saw how this bounty led to near-utopian conditions, but how human nature represented the snake in that garden. The first novel, The Collapsium, is an episodic story in which the great scientist Bruno de Towaji thrice saves the Solar System from destruction. Here the problem is human jealousy and the great power available from such high tech. In the second novel, The Wellstone, Bruno's son Bascal and his friends, frustrated by the place of youth in a world of immortals, play a number of increasingly dangerous pranks, and end up exiled to Barnard's Star.

Lost in Transmission, then, is the story of the journey to Barnard's Star and the effort to colonize one of the planets of that star. The main character, as in The Wellstone, is Bascal's close friend Conrad Mursk. Conrad is First Mate of the Newhope, their starship. His lover Xiomara Li Weng, or Xmary, is the Captain. Bascal is the leader of the expedition and will be King once the new planet is reached. Conrad himself is a rather stolid young man, though perhaps not so stolid as he seems to think. His goal is to be an architect. He often feels pushed into Bascal's shadow: the other man is much more overtly brilliant, a poet, and a more energetic leader. But this relationship evolves a great deal throughout this book.

The journey to Barnard's Star takes a number of mostly uneventful decades. Conrad and most of the others spend the bulk of their time stored in fax memory, but Bascal stays "awake" the whole way. This more or less drives him mad. Once at the new planet, the group is faced with the job of terraforming a rather un-Earthlike place. They do this in part by altering themselves, in part by changing the planet and its fauna. They also colonize (to a small extent) the star system.

Here lies the heart of the novel, for it turns out that despite the incredibly high technology at hand, the colonists are resource-limited. Over time, it becomes harder and harder to guarantee regular fax updates, or even resurrection from accidents. Class divisions arise. Some people choose to alter themselves -- to flying forms, or to centaurs, or trolls: not always with happy results. Children are "born" from fax machines into an adolescent body, also with less than always happy results. Bascal's grip on his Kingdom depends more and more on the use of force.

I thought the novel was a very effective look at real limits to a seemingly miraculous technology. I found its treatment of economic problems well thought out, and its treatment of the personal problems of people living hundreds of years is also worthwhile. (Conrad's off again, on again, relationship with Xmary, and his increasingly difficult relationship with Bascal, being especially well done.) McCarthy's writing is strong as well -- he maintains a sardonic, sometimes funny, sometimes mordant tone throughout. He has fun with altering his third person voice on occasion -- quite effectively, I thought. As I said, one of my favorite books of the year.

This novel and its predecessor are each framed with chapters set in the future of both, after Conrad, much changed and much older, has returned to the Solar System. The home planet, it is clear, has gone through some terrible times of its own, reflecting yet further complications of the Queendom's very high tech level. In the next novel, we are told, Conrad will "save the world... in a manner of speaking". I look forward eagerly to that story.

Come on people, 5 stars?.......2005-10-08

Collapsium was great. End there. Do not proceed. Warning, do not proceed, you will be bored. The first book is great. the second is ok and this one is mund numbingly boring. Yes, of course, the author is brilliant, has an astounding knowledge of physics, writes in a good hard science fashion , lays out a world/universe that makes sense....all that is nothing if the story and the characters are just not exciting. Summary of last book (wellstone)=Lord of the Flies without any killing, on a spaceship, rebelling against parents and society. They create and fly a spaceship that they spun out of a man-made planet. Big whoop. Actually it was ok. This book, those same kids grow up, try to start a society of their own, it slowly fails, and the main character runs home to mama. It was a brilliant description of a plausible future with air tight physics, but little in the way of action. In fact , none.
Collapsium was great. These last two books could've been combined into 300 pages and made a good read.
I bought the entire series after reading collapsium, I regret it.

Queendom of Sol Part Three.......2005-09-18

Here we have the penulimate chapter in McCarthy's "Queendom of Sol" series and in it McCarthy rises to become one of the best science fiction writers around.

Following on the heels of "The Wellstone", "Lost in Transmission" continues the story of Conrad Mursk and the colony of exiled 'children'.

By carefully jumping forward in time from one point to another we are treated to the entire voyage to Barnard's Star and then the entire lifespan of the colony.

If you are fond of writers like Varley, Sheffield or Anvil, this book is definitly for you.

More Technology, More Interesting People.......2005-07-16

There's more of McCarthy's physics in this novel. He's found a way to show how even the best laid plans ...

But it's an exciting, tense ride, with lots of suprising turns and science.

Read it!

"-"

Kind of misses the point.......2005-02-20

McCarthy in his earlier novel, "The Wellstone," postulates his children's rebellion as a response to a world where people can live practically forever (possessing the "engineered negligible senescence" much discussed of late) that apparently generates few opportunities for younger individuals. But his proposed solution in the sequel, "Lost in Transmission," doesn't really address the problem. Adolescents do grow up into adults, after all, and the youthful characters carried over from the first novel rapidly assume adult behaviors and a social dynamic that doesn't distinguish them from their parents. They could just as easily have turned out that way by staying in their home solar system.

Moreover, while the Queendom's physical and biological technologies are quite impressive, its understanding of psychology seems unaccountably deficient. You'd think with all the knowledge and resources at its disposal, the Queendom could have found ways to bring up children in emotionally satisfying ways instead of kicking them out on doomed interstellar colonizing expeditions. And if the youngsters still insisted on going any way, why couldn't some relatively unobtrusive but capable elders (for example, someone like Robert Heinlein's Lazarus Long) have tagged along in advisory positions?

McCarthy technological vision is often quite intriguing, but this novel shows that he needs to do some more work before I will find his portrayal of a negligibly senescent society plausible.

Average customer rating:

Flowering Inferno
Good idea for not an easy read
Blooming Good Fun
Scared the heck out of me.
Stunning

Bloom
Wil Mccarthy
Manufacturer: Del Rey
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

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ASIN: 0345424654
Release Date: 1999-08-03

Amazon.com

In the distant future, nanotechnology has gotten out of control. The inner solar system has been overrun by Mycora, atom-size machines that devour everything they touch. Humanity has long since fled Earth for the cold reaches of the outer system, where the lack of heat and sunlight make it difficult--but not impossible--for the Mycora to bloom. Life in the Immunity is hard, and the survivors of humanity face the constant onslaught of the ever-evolving Mycora. But if they are to survive, the remaining humans must try to learn what happened to Earth, and whether the Mycora are finding ways to overcome their susceptibility to cold. When the Immunity mounts an expedition to plant probes on Earth's polar caps, shoemaker and aspiring journalist John Stasheim is asked to come along to chronicle the journey. He soon learns that the trip will be fraught with as many political dangers as nanotech ones, and that the Mycora are both more and less than they seem. An excellent SF novel along the lines of Greg Bear's Blood Music, but with more action and plot. Wil McCarthy is a writer to watch. --Craig E. Engler

Book Description

Mycora: technogenic life. Fast-reproducing, fast-mutating, and endlessly voracious. In the year 2106, these microscopic machine/creatures have escaped their creators to populate the inner solar system with a wild, deadly ecology all their own, pushing the tattered remnants of humanity out into the cold and dark of the outer planets. Even huddled beneath the ice of Jupiter's moons, protected by a defensive system known as the Immunity, survivors face the constant risk of mycospores finding their way to the warmth and brightness inside the habitats, resulting in a calamitous "bloom."

But the human race still has a trick or two up its sleeves; in a ship specially designed to penetrate the deadly Mycosystem, seven astronauts are about to embark on mankind's boldest venture yet--the perilous journey home to infected Earth!

Yet it is in these remote conditions, against a virtually omnipotent foe, that we discover how human nature plays the greatest role in humanity's future.

Customer Reviews:

Flowering Inferno.......2007-06-06

What happened to my man McCarthy? He had the fabulous Continuum series and then tried to get all metaphysical on us. In the process, he seems to have taken a stupid pill for we are back to the old Star Trek days of smart, living non-coporal bodies. You remember, the big cloud that was alive or the germs that were smart? In this case it's origin, though never actually confirmed, seems to be a product of Earth. Yep, it's evil nanotech gone wild. A self-replicating nanobot escapes and turns the Earth into goo. A few lucky ones escape to Mars or the asterois or Jupiter.

OUr hero, a reporter in the future, is from one of Jumpiter's moons. He is selected for a mission to study the Bloom phenomena on Earth and send his trademark stories back to a world waiting with bated breath. At the same time there has risen a group that attaches spiritual qualities to the bloom (the process of converting mass) and have conducted terrorist attacks using blooms as weapons. I won't bore you but eventually you learn that the evil politicians actually want to hurt the poor thing that destroyed the Earth, Moon and Mars. Thankfully, at the last minute, our hero's gal in the hay fesses up - Yep, she's a believer and in fact is infected with the bloom and ....EEEEEEEE. She goes ballistic before their stunned faces but she is thankfully pushed into the air lock. This got our reporter thinking that maybe, just maybe, they were right and the Bloom was alive.

Suddenly, like Jehova speaking to Moses (or more apt, "God" speaking to Star Trek crew in that hokey movie) a face of the bloom emerges and "speaks" to them. Think seances, nebulous 20 questions and "spiritual" qualities and you're on the right path. Mankind discovers the errors of their ways and in the end, slowly we become on with the Bloomers. The characters were interesting but their actions made about as much sense as the overall philosophy of the book. It was a good description of Nano but we've got those by the thousands. Next time Wil should use a focus group before going through with something as corny as this.

Good idea for not an easy read.......2007-01-07

Lots of technical, detailed descriptions about the science behind the idea of nanotechnology gone amuck. If you like your hard sci-fi very hard this book is for you.

Blooming Good Fun.......2005-10-10

Really excellent hard SF. McCarthy makes the story both relevant and accessible, despite staying within the world of his story even in his use of language. I'll definitely be reading more McCarthy.

Charles Gramlich
Author of "Cold in the Light."

Scared the heck out of me........2004-07-05

The main idea brought forth in this book scared the heck out of me. The idea is that wandering nanotech could drift for ages, then suddenly "bloom", eating all matter in the vicinty, thus creating terrible destruction. The book would translate to film very well.

Sure, some of the characterization is weak, but that's not why we read hard-SF like this. The science and the ideas are key here, and Wil McCarthy delivers on both.

Stunning.......2004-01-19

This one was stunning, I stayed up late to finish it last night. In the not so distant future tiny nano machines have reduced the inner solar system planets to gooey soup. Humanity sits cowering in the asteroid belt and the moons of Jupiter. Saved by their own nano-immune response machines. The powers that be want a mission to Earth, but why, and who stands to benefit (or lose) the most? Great sci-fi, a speedy action-packed plot, and fantastic characterisations made this a gripping read.

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Think and Act and Live Like the Enemy
Becoming the Enemy
Excellent first contact story
An impressive debut

Aggressor Six
Wil McCarthy
Manufacturer: Roc
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0451454057

Customer Reviews:

Think and Act and Live Like the Enemy.......2004-05-18

Several months ago I read a first novel by Will McCarthy and was impressed. The novel is AGGRESSOR SIX. This is a novel of alien contact and war. What makes it different from others of a similar theme is that physics actually plays a part. The aliens have a huge empire (still just a spot on the map) that has existed for eons. Long enough for the forces of the spiral arm to have stretched and split the collection of worlds. Lo and behold, almost next door they run into humanity which is also attempting to expand into the stars. The aliens attack and humanity loses. Word gets out to Earth that the aliens are on their way.

It will be many years before they arrive. Many plans are hatched to try and deal with the aliens who have reached humanity's furthest settlement and wiped it out. One of these plans is to train soldiers to live and think like the aliens and thus hopefully come up with a way to turn the invaders aside. This is called an aggressor six; a six-member group that is at once a colony and a family. They train and train. Later they find out that they are only one of three sixes. The other two are a six of dolphins and a six of machine AIs. The dolphins kill some researchers and it is decided that the plan does not work. But the humans are close. The machines are VERY dangerous if you say the wrong thing to them, but the machines understand the aliens. The aliens are getting closer (still a year or so away from Earth).

This is a novel that does an excellent job of creating alien aliens. Not just strange, but plausible in their own right. A wonderful book for fans of hard SF.

Becoming the Enemy.......2003-12-25

Aggressor Six is the first SF novel by the author. Several centuries in the future, Earth has settled the Solar system and established colonies in five other stellar systems using fusion-powered slow ships. All of the colonies, except Sirius, have FTL communications with Earth through massive ansible relays. Unfortunately, an alien invasion from the waist of Orion hit the Sirius colony first and, before the news could reach the other human planets by lightspeed radio signals, a second force hit the Wolf colony. The Waister ships, traveling at ninety percent of lightspeed, then moved against the Lalande colony and a scout group attacked the Solar System.

The human government tried desperately to understand the alien technology and to find some way to counter or nullify the alien weapons. Using memory retrieval technology, they discovered much about the alien language and social structure. However, most of the alien technology was incomprehensible to human researchers.

In this novel, one small group, Aggressor Six, is dedicated to understanding the aliens by learning to "live and think and spit like the enemy". Captain Marshe Talbott is the queen, Navy Lieutenant Josev Ranes is Drone One, Marine Corporal Ken Jonson is Drone Two, Lieutenant Sopho Yeng is Worker One, Sergeant Roland Hanlin is Worker Two, and Shenna is the Dog. All have had a Broca web implanted with the Waister language loaded and available to their own brains. Sheena, a Martian Retriever, has a vocoder on her collar to help her speak.

Ken Jonson is the only one in the group that has ever had contact with the Waisters, although it has all been during firefights. One of the reasons that he has been selected is his prior interest in acting. At first, he keeps having post-traumatic shocks from his experiences while boarding a Waister ship and subduing the crew. Once he gets beyond the flashbacks, however, he starts trying to think, act and talk like a Waister. Soon the whole group is doing the same.

Captain Talbott's superior, Colonel Jhee, is a by-the-book administrator and doesn't really understand the objective of the group. He threatens to cut their funds on several occasions and soon begins to wonder at their sanity. He also keeps information from them.

Aggressor Six soon starts to produce assessments of enemy objectives, tactics and motives, but Colonel Jhee only wants to know where they will strike and when. He also wants that information yesterday. Whenever Talbott and the group try to explain the necessity of working through the available data, he threatens to bring them up on charges if they don't produce according to his deadlines.

Then Aggressor Six learns that they are not alone, but that two other Aggressor Six groups have been established. Their Waister knowledge insists that they must face the other groups. Colonel Jhee blows his top and locks them into their quarters.

This story is an interesting extrapolation of current techniques of assessing enemy policies and strategies. The human forces also have some advanced technology compared to the present and use it to gain a great deal of data on the enemy mindset. The problem is integrating all this data into usable information, so the Aggressor Six groups were formed.

This novel has a few weaknesses, including the introduction of slowlight, the ghosts, and several scenes involving outside groups. These sections rather distracted from the main story. However, the scenes where Jonson is boarding the scout ship and fighting his way out again definitely contributed to the storyline. Overall, the plot was interesting and ran smoothly, with those few exceptions.

Recommended for McCarthy fans and for anyone else who enjoys military SF involving analysis of enemy intentions and capabilities.

Excellent first contact story.......2001-10-09

AGGRESSOR SIX is not only one of the best first contact stories I've ever read, it's also one of the very best first sf novels. The 'Aggressor Six' of the title is a group of five people and a Martian retriever trying to simulate, and thereby understand, the behaviour of an insectoid alien hive culture before it wipes out yet more human colonies. Intelligent and fast-paced, the novel had me completely hooked by page 2 and wouldn't let me go: the characters are interesting, the writing taut and economical, and the inherent tension would do credit to a Hitchcock movie. It amazes and saddens me that so wonderful a book is out of print, unfilmed, and so little known.

An impressive debut.......2000-07-29

"One part STARSHIP TROOPERS, one part OUTER LIMITS-style psychological suspense... McCarthy cranks up the tension effectively. Recommended." -- Charles DeLint, Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction. .

"A short, fast-moving tale of human and alien psychology. The exploration... is well done and fascinating. I like McCarthy's details. Not many authors can create truly alien aliens, but McCarthy appears to be one of them." -- Janice M. Eisen, Aboriginal SF. .

GET THIS BOOK BACK IN PRINT!

Happy reading--
Pete Tillman

The monarchs of Sol: The collapsium ; the wellstone

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The monarchs of Sol: The collapsium ; the wellstone
Wil McCarthy
Manufacturer: Science Fiction Book Club
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

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