I'm trying to track down a book I read ages ago (probably 15 years ago if not more), but I cannot remember its author nor its title. I had loaned it from a public library so I don't have it anymore. In the book, there are characters from four branches of humanity that have evolved in different ways.
I can only remember three of them: one branch (I think it was the Mechanicists or something like that) relies on technology and they have mechs and power suits, another branch has formed a networked intelligence and individuals cannot survive for long if they stay away from the network (they have software that streams random gigabytes of data into their brain to simulate the network chatter and delay the inevitable), and another branch lives in a symbiotic relationship with giant organic space-faring beings that are also their "cities".
Has anybody else read it? What's the book? Who's the author?
It had some great ideas in it... I want to read it again!
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Tracking down a book
Wed, 2013-11-06 10:58
#1
hhexo
Tracking down a book
Wed, 2013-11-06 12:22
#2
Arenamontanus
No idea. It sounds a little
No idea. It sounds a little bit like Bruce Sterling's "Schismatrix". There the Shapers and Mechanists are in conflict, while there are some group intelligence offshoots and stranger posthumans.
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Thu, 2013-11-07 10:36
#3
hhexo
Not that one...
No, it's not Schismatrix, though there are similarities.
I vaguely remember parts of the plot too... I think there's some sort of MacGuffin that the four branches of humanity are after. Towards the beginning of the book you see things from the point of view of one of the mecha / powersuit people, but things go wrong and I think he is rescued by one of the connected people. Then I can't remember what happens, but I do remember that there's a few scenes in one of the organic space-faring "cities" detailing the complex relationships between a woman and the "city being" itself. At one point it gets sexual too, which is really weird. I think there might also be some political intrigue in the city, or at least there are two political factions. Maybe.
Grr, why don't I have eidetic memory? :-) I need to go transhuman somehow...
Fri, 2013-11-08 05:02
#4
Starkiller
Dying Stars
The book you are searching is "Dying Stars" written by french authors Ayerdhal and J.C. Dunyach, according to me it's good but not excellent, yet if you want to read a real masterpiece try "The Eleventh Commandment" by Lester del Rey.
Fri, 2013-11-08 07:03
#5
hhexo
Thanks!
YES! It is that one! Thanks Starkiller!
Unfortunately there doesn't seem to be an English edition, at least not on Amazon... Apparently the original is "Étoiles Mourantes", and it had an Italian translation, "Stelle Morenti", which is the one I read ages ago... but which is now out of print.
Hm... technically I know some French too, but probably not enough to easily read the book. I'll keep looking, maybe I can find some second-hand copies of the Italian edition. Or maybe there is an English edition somewhere.
Thanks anyway!
[edit: Aha! Found a second-hand Italian copy! :) ]