Rather than being a conventional biography of the Some Bizzare record label, or Stevo its founder, this is a chronological series of soundbites from each of the important players. This features contributions by artists (including Marc Almond who stayed with Stevo for the longest period), Dave Ball also of Soft Cell, one member of Einstuerzende Neubauten (fell out with Stevo, ended up working for competing record companies), The The, Psychic TV, Coil, Cabaret Voltaire, and others, plus some journalists, and Stevo himself obviously.
A follow-up to the Hugo Award-nominated Blindsight, Echopraxia is set in a 22nd-century world transformed by scientific evangelicals, supernatural beings …
In the previous book, the Oankali rescued some humans, made them long-lived, but rendered them infertile with each other. The Oankali are obsessed with genetics, trading good genes. Most of their equipment is actually living, even their spaceship. Humans can no longer breed in a binary fashion - they must engage a third neuter Oankali partner who mixes the genetic material for a baby. The rescued humans were kept on a spaceship until they were ready to work with the Oankali and until the Earth had been restored.
The Earth has been restored by the alien Oankali after a nuclear holocaust. The villages set up by the Oankali to house the Oankali and humans are actually baby spaceships, which will take a large part of the Earth's surface with them when they mature, leaving the Earth mostly lifeless, but this is …
I first read this when I was a teenager.
In the previous book, the Oankali rescued some humans, made them long-lived, but rendered them infertile with each other. The Oankali are obsessed with genetics, trading good genes. Most of their equipment is actually living, even their spaceship. Humans can no longer breed in a binary fashion - they must engage a third neuter Oankali partner who mixes the genetic material for a baby. The rescued humans were kept on a spaceship until they were ready to work with the Oankali and until the Earth had been restored.
The Earth has been restored by the alien Oankali after a nuclear holocaust. The villages set up by the Oankali to house the Oankali and humans are actually baby spaceships, which will take a large part of the Earth's surface with them when they mature, leaving the Earth mostly lifeless, but this is in the future.
In this book, Lilith is the first human who gives birth to a male human-Oankali cross with 5 parents (two males, two females, one neuter, two human, three Oankali) - Akin. Many humans do not accept the need to work with the Oankali, so leave to form resister villages. Some of them do not believe they will remain infertile if they keep away from the Oankali for long enough. Others believe that the most human-looking of the human-Oankali children will be fertile together when they grow up without needing an Oankali to assist.
Akin is one of many human-looking children who are kidnapped and sold to resister villages. As a result, he does not get to grow up with people like him, but only with old humans who have no idea about his adolescence. Eventually, just before he is due to become an adult, his family find him, and send him up to the Oankali spaceship. Whilst there, Akin campaigns to restore binary fertility to resister humans, and to move them to Mars to avoid the destruction of the Earth's surface when the baby ships mature.
Something I did not notice when I was a teenager - there are no gay people in this book. People who stay with the Oankali feel disgusted when they try to touch eachother sexually - even with an ooan (neuter) Oankali, they can only touch the ooan not themselves.
A disappointing end. There are two strands - one in the near-future decades after the Spin had stopping blocking the view of stars, and another where two of the characters from the previous book passed through a time gate 10000 years into the future. One character is a main character in the future strand and a minor part of the near-future strand. One of the near-future characters is neurodiverse and writes detailed notes about the future, and a policeman asks a social worker to look after him and read his notes. The notes read by the social worker also cover how the character meets the main future character, but towards the end of the book the notes diverge from the book's "reality".
This could be seen as a book about how organised religions and politics based on demagogues lead people to work against their own interests.
Interesting book - aliens (who never reveal themselves) cover the Earth in something that stops the view of space from the ground and makes time pass much more slowly on Earth than the rest of the Universe. The book follows two siblings from a rich and influential family and their childhood friend.
Axis is a science fiction novel by American-Canadian writer Robert Charles Wilson, published in 2007. …
Review of 'Spin, Tome 2 : Axis' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
Interesting book - aliens (who never reveal themselves) cover the Earth in something that stops the view of space from the ground and makes time pass much more slowly on Earth than the rest of the Universe. The book follows two siblings from a rich and influential family and their childhood friend.
Review of "Year's Top Hard Science Fiction Stories 6" on 'Goodreads'
2 stars
Also disappointing. Long stories were often padded shorts. Short stories often tried novel-style character development, leaving no room for actual story. I skipped A LOT of stories. Clearly not enough high quality hard SF is being written these days.
