In her debut novel, the terrific thriller Spin State, Chris Moriarty melds cutting-edge science with post-cyberpunk fiction and neo-noir suspense to create a complex, believable future inhabited by one of the most intriguing characters in modern science fiction.
Major Catherine Li is a veteran United Nations Peacekeeper in a future of world-nations. Humanity has spread across interstellar space by "jumping": teleportation enabled by quantum physics and a bizarre crystal found only on Compson's World. The jumps destroy memory, so jumpers back up their memories on computer. Despite this precaution, frequent jumpers still lose some memories, a fact that poses a far greater problem for Catherine Li than it does for other Peacekeepers. For Li has a dangerous, potentially deadly secret: she's an illegal clone.
When a UN mission goes awry, Li finds herself shipped on solo duty to Compson's World--her home world, to which she'd vowed never to return. Her mission initially seems simple: to determine if the death of brilliant physicist Hannah Sharifi was a crystal-mining accident or cold-blooded murder. Like Li, Sharifi is a clone--in fact, she's Li's genetic twin. Li swiftly finds herself enmeshed in the intertangled politics of the UN, the multiplanetary corporations, the miners, and the human-created Artificial Intelligences, who have enigmatic agendas of their own. --Cynthia Ward
From Publishers Weekly
Despite incorporating nearly every well-worn SF theme, Moriarty still manages fresh insights into humanity-and posthumanity-in this highly atmospheric debut, a hefty far-future exploration of AI, human cloning, class conflict and plain old-fashioned murder. Major Catherine Li and her fellow UN Peacekeepers battle hive-minded Syndicate genetic constructs for domination of planets settled through FTL (faster than light) migrations enabled by mysterious crystals, quantum-level anomalies of unimagined substance mined only on Compson's World. Resembling the Victorian British empire, the UN's vast interstellar commercial empire runs on the blood and sweat of a few thousand pitifully exploited miners like Li's father, who died so she could remake herself and escape the miners' fate. Now wired into "streamspace" with an AI lover who interacts with her through both male and female hosts, Li is tapped to investigate the murder of physicist Hannah Sharifi, her cloned twin who hoped to share the crystals' power. Based on the short, dangerous life of miners as well as the heady scientific stuff of quantum physics, the book can be heavy slogging for the uninitiated. Moriarty effectively postulates the Faustian price of enhancing humanity with silicon, of playing God through genetic manipulation. Beneath this complex tale ominously simmers Orwell's question: If all animals are to be equal, what can prevent some from making themselves more equal than the others?Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Review
"Vivid, sexy, and sharply written...a nonstop, white-knuckle tour of quantum physics, artificial intelligence, and the human heart."
—Nicola Griffith
"A spiky, detailed, convincing, compelling page-turner, and the science is good too. Chris Moriarty is a dangerous talent."
—Stephen Baxter
"Action, mystery and drama, set against some of the most plausible speculative physics I’ve seen."
—David Brin
"Highly atmospheric ... a hefty far-future exploration of AI, human cloning, class conflict and plain old-fashioned murder."
--Publishers Weekly
From the Trade Paperback edition.
Review
"Vivid, sexy, and sharply written...a nonstop, white-knuckle tour of quantum physics, artificial intelligence, and the human heart."
?Nicola Griffith
"A spiky, detailed, convincing, compelling page-turner, and the science is good too. Chris Moriarty is a dangerous talent."
?Stephen Baxter
"Action, mystery and drama, set against some of the most plausible speculative physics I?ve seen."
?David Brin
"Highly atmospheric ... a hefty far-future exploration of AI, human cloning, class conflict and plain old-fashioned murder."
--Publishers Weekly
From the Trade Paperback edition.
Spin State FROM THE PUBLISHER
From a stunning new voice in hard science fiction comes the thrilling story of one woman's quest to wrest truth from chaos, love from violence, and reality from illusion in a post-human universe of emergent AIs, genetic constructs, and illegal wetware...
SPIN STATE
UN Peacekeeper Major Catherine Li has made thirty-seven faster-than-light jumps in her lifetime—and has probably forgotten more than most people remember. But that's what backup hard drives are for. And Li should know; she's been hacking her memory for fifteen years in order to pass as human. But no memory upgrade can prepare Li for what she finds on Compson's World: a mining colony she once called home and to which she is sent after a botched raid puts her on the bad side of the powers that be. A dead physicist who just happens to be her cloned twin. A missing dataset that could change the interstellar balance of power and turn a cold war hot. And a mining "accident" that is starting to look more and more like murder...
Suddenly Li is chasing a killer in an alien world miles underground where everyone has a secret. And one wrong turn in streamspace, one misstep in the dark alleys of blackmarket tech and interstellar espionage, one risky hookup with an AI could literally blow her mind.
FROM THE CRITICS
Publishers Weekly
Despite incorporating nearly every well-worn SF theme, Moriarty still manages fresh insights into humanity-and posthumanity-in this highly atmospheric debut, a hefty far-future exploration of AI, human cloning, class conflict and plain old-fashioned murder. Major Catherine Li and her fellow UN Peacekeepers battle hive-minded Syndicate genetic constructs for domination of planets settled through FTL (faster than light) migrations enabled by mysterious crystals, quantum-level anomalies of unimagined substance mined only on Compson's World. Resembling the Victorian British empire, the UN's vast interstellar commercial empire runs on the blood and sweat of a few thousand pitifully exploited miners like Li's father, who died so she could remake herself and escape the miners' fate. Now wired into "streamspace" with an AI lover who interacts with her through both male and female hosts, Li is tapped to investigate the murder of physicist Hannah Sharifi, her cloned twin who hoped to share the crystals' power. Based on the short, dangerous life of miners as well as the heady scientific stuff of quantum physics, the book can be heavy slogging for the uninitiated. Moriarty effectively postulates the Faustian price of enhancing humanity with silicon, of playing God through genetic manipulation. Beneath this complex tale ominously simmers Orwell's question: If all animals are to be equal, what can prevent some from making themselves more equal than the others? (Oct. 7) Forecast: With a blurb from Stephen Baxter, electronic promotion that includes a special e-newsletter campaign and an author whose background includes stints as a horse trainer, ranch hand and environmental lawyer, this should attract more than usual attention for a first novel. Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.
Library Journal
When a prominent theoretical physicist perishes in a mine fire on Compson's World, the UN Peacekeepers dispatch Maj. Catherine Li to retrieve a set of missing data critical to the next step in interstellar travel. In a universe populated by artificial intelligences, genetic constructs, clones, and other forms of enhanced intelligent life, Li has spent most of her time passing for the human she once was-after numerous upgrades to her mind erased much of her early life. Now she must confront her past in a world of black-market technology and interstellar intrigue. Moriarty's debut novel combines a vivid future world of high technology and low politics with sharply drawn characters and a taut storyline. A solid addition to most collections, especially where hard sf is popular. Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.
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