Schismatrix Plus by Bruce Sterling
This is a collection of the novel Schismatrix and the Shaper-Mechanist stories from Crystal Express.
Anyway, the book. This was pure comfort nostalgia for me. Really. I've read and reread the novel and stories for years. I remember reading Spider Rose at my grandmother's house when I was in highschool, and the novel repeatedly in college. Yes, I am old. Deal with it.
The book. The novel, Schismatrix is interesting and fun and concerns the adventures of one Abelard Lindsay, trained by the Shaper faction as a diplomat and consumate politician. He's had some sort of neural alteration and uses drugs to enter useful mental states routinely. The book opens with the events that lead to his exile from his home, and ultimately, the larger Solar System. Along the way, Lindsay is there for most of the major events - the revival of human acted drama, the war between the Shapers and Mechanists, first contact, detente between the factions and on and on.
I liked it, because in my own weird way I liked Abelard Lindsay. He starts out full of fire and ideology and keeps tap dancing his way from one land mine of a situation to another. Along the way, he becomes more human (in a trans and post-human setting) which redeems him for me. The setting is also a selling point - a STL, ultratech post human setting where the polities can get more than passing weird.
To me the novel seems like a mix of Tartuffe and Candide. Candide for the wanderings and changes in Lindsay (plus philosphy), Tartuffe for his cynicism and manipulation.
Now the short stories...
They're better than the novel. Tighter and more evocative because Sterling doesn't have to get into a backstory, or explanation. He just surges ahead.
This is a collection of the novel Schismatrix and the Shaper-Mechanist stories from Crystal Express.
Anyway, the book. This was pure comfort nostalgia for me. Really. I've read and reread the novel and stories for years. I remember reading Spider Rose at my grandmother's house when I was in highschool, and the novel repeatedly in college. Yes, I am old. Deal with it.
The book. The novel, Schismatrix is interesting and fun and concerns the adventures of one Abelard Lindsay, trained by the Shaper faction as a diplomat and consumate politician. He's had some sort of neural alteration and uses drugs to enter useful mental states routinely. The book opens with the events that lead to his exile from his home, and ultimately, the larger Solar System. Along the way, Lindsay is there for most of the major events - the revival of human acted drama, the war between the Shapers and Mechanists, first contact, detente between the factions and on and on.
I liked it, because in my own weird way I liked Abelard Lindsay. He starts out full of fire and ideology and keeps tap dancing his way from one land mine of a situation to another. Along the way, he becomes more human (in a trans and post-human setting) which redeems him for me. The setting is also a selling point - a STL, ultratech post human setting where the polities can get more than passing weird.
To me the novel seems like a mix of Tartuffe and Candide. Candide for the wanderings and changes in Lindsay (plus philosphy), Tartuffe for his cynicism and manipulation.
Now the short stories...
They're better than the novel. Tighter and more evocative because Sterling doesn't have to get into a backstory, or explanation. He just surges ahead.
