In 40th-century Australia, Zarvora Cybeline discovers the world is threatened by destruction from the sky--yet the planet doesn't have enough technology even to build a steam engine. To save civilization, Zarvora must recover lost 21st-century technology. But technology is proscribed, and the dangers from the sky are joined by enemies in the sea, and even among her own ranks. Zarvora embarks on a bold and ruthless plan to save a world no one else believes is in danger.

Souls in the Great Machine is a big book at 450 pages. Stuffed fuller than a Thanksgiving turkey with great storylines, characters, and concepts, it's got thrilling action, hair's-breadth escapes, tyranny, treachery, villainy, heroism, duels, riots, war, love, hate, obsession, powerful women, mad monks, a returning ice age, a lost race, rediscovered civilizations, invasions, executions, high-tech, steampunk tech, a computer with human components, and numerous subplots. In short, Souls in the Great Machine is huge; it is epic--but it is not sprawling. In the hands of most authors, this complex and ambitious SF novel would be a trilogy. And while Souls may occasionally move a little too fast, the plot never drags and the reader's interest never flags. If you're looking for a sense of wonder, for adventure that respects your intelligence, for an enormously fun read--look no further than Souls in the Great Machine. --Cynthia Ward


From Publishers Weekly
Fast-paced and amusing, McMullen's latest novel (after The Centurion's Empire) is an action-packed adventure in the tradition of world-building SF. Set 20 centuries in the future, in a postnuclear winter society, the tale centers on the Calculor, a fantastic calculating machine powered by nameless human components who remain imprisoned within its workings. As the Highliber of LibrisAaka head librarianAZavora is the de facto ruler of the Calculor, and thus of all Confederation society, packing more political clout than the mayor himself. Through the Calculor's number crunching, Zavora has discovered that the world will be plunged into another "Greatwinter," or ice age, unless she can gain control of a satellite in Earth's orbit, which seems nearly impossible given her society's limited technology. Aiding Zavora in her mission are the Abbess Theresla, who has an innate ability to resist "the Call," a psychic phenomena that forces all humans to follow its deadly beckoning; Lemorel, a spirited young street fighter and librarian within the Libris; and Johnny Glasken, a rogue and former prisoner of the Calculor. McMullen's dramatic pacing and believable characters ensure that readers will enjoy Zavora's quest through a well-wrought, richly imagined multidimensional world. Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Booklist
In the fortieth century, librarians rule the world. Through a byzantine system of political favor, mathematical expertise, civil service testing, and dueling, the librarians strive for power in the "mayoralty" of Rochester, the most powerful of several Australian fiefdoms that emerged long ago from a nuclear winter. The Highliber is the scheming yet honorable Zarvora. She has ruthlessly assembled scores of mathematicians, who make the Calculor, a bizarre flesh-and-machine supercomputer that Zarvora needs to unify this quasi-medieval world and save it from the impending doom implicit in the Call. For when the Call sounds, all but a few will be entranced and, if they are not tethered, begin walking toward the sea, where they will plunge into the jaws of fish as large as mythic sea monsters. The origin of the Call and how to defeat it are delicious mystery ingredients in McMullen's witches' brew, which also includes a mad abbess who hunts sparrows and eats them; a brilliant, somber man covered in vines; a young scholar, a rival of the Highliber, whose weakness is love; and many others. Decidedly original, sometimes whimsical, and captivating, this is a genuine tour de force. John Mort


From Kirkus Reviews
Far-future tale from the Australia author of The Centurion's Empire (1998). By 3931 a.d., a low-tech Australian civilization is dominated by the great library at Rochester, the only city thats free of the Call, a mysterious psychic compulsion that intermittently sweeps across the countryside, gathering all people and animals not securely tethered; those who are affected trek mindlessly to the south and are never seen again. One of the dwellers here, the dynamic and innovative chief librarian, Zarvora Cybeline, has fought many duels to defend her progressive ideasbut her greatest secret is the Calculor, a huge computer composed of an abacus array mechanically linked to human operators and controls. With the Calculor, she painlessly raises revenues by exposing embezzlers and tax cheats (they're inducted into the Calculor), decodes the secret messages the nobles use to conceal their plotting, and improves the efficiency of the beamflash signal-tower network by which information is exchanged. Zarvora effectively rules the confederacy, though nobody has yet grasped that fact. There is, however, an urgent problem: machines working on the Moon are building a huge mirror-band that, once placed to girdle the Earth, will reflect heat away from the planet. Programmed centuries ago, the system was designed to ameliorate global warming. But the planet is no longer too warm, and the reflector, now nearing completion, would precipitate another Greatwinter like the one that destroyed the previous civilization. Among Zarvora's other concerns: contact with people who can resist the Call; treachery; war; and further revelations about her people and her world. A stunning ideathe Calculor's as real as if McMullen had built it in his backyardwith an utterly convincing setting, breathtaking developments, and a captivating narrative. -- Copyright ©1999, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.


Review
"A stunning idea--the Calculator's as real as if McMullen had built it in his backyard--with an utterly convincing setting, breathtaking developments, and a captivating narrative." --Kirkus Reviews (pointer review)

"Decidedly original, sometimes whimsical, and captivating, this is a genuine tour de force." --Booklist (starred review)

"Fast-paced and amusing, McMullen's latest novel is an action-packed adventure in the tradition of world-building SF." --Publishers Weekly

"I don't know how many years of practice Sean McMullen has had, but he writes like his own expert....A great machine in concept, and a great book in the reading. Highly recommended." --San Diego Union-Tribune

"This book gives us one of the most distinctive and unforgettable Down Under futures ever created." --The Bulletin



Book Description
The great Calculor of Libris was forced to watch as Overmayor Zarvora had four of its components lined up against a wall and shot for negligence. Thereafter, its calculations were free from errors, and that was just as well-for only this strangest of calculating machines and its two thousand enslaved components could save the world from a new ice age.

And all the while a faint mirrorsun hangs in the night sky, warning of the cold to come.

In Sean McMullen's glittering, dynamic, and exotic world two millennia from now, there is no more electricity, wind engines are leading-edge technology, librarians fight duels to settle disputes, steam power is banned by every major religion, and a mysterious siren "Call" lures people to their death. Nevertheless, the brilliant and ruthless Zarvora intends to start a war in space against inconceivably ancient nuclear battle stations.

Unbeknownst to Zarvora, however, the greatest threat to humanity is neither a machine nor a force but her demented and implacable enemy Lemorel, who has resurrected an obscene and evil concept from the distant past: Total War.

Souls in the Great Machine is the first volume of Sean McMullen's brilliant future history of the world of Greatwinter



About the Author
Sean McMullen is one of the leading Australian SF authors to emerge during the 1990s, having won more than a dozen national awards in his homeland. In addition, he has sold several dozen short stories to magazines such as Analog, Interzone, and Fantasy & Science Fiction, and was co-author of Strange Constellations, a History of Australian SF. He established himself in the American market with the publication of the Greatwinter trilogy (comprised of Souls in the Great Machine, The Miocene Arrow, and Eyes of the Calculor). His fiction has been translated into Polish, French, and Japanese. The settings for Sean's work range from the Roman Empire, through Medieval Europe, to cities of the distant future.

He has bachelor's and master's degrees from Melbourne University, and post-graduate diplomas in computer science, information science and business management. He is currently doing a PhD in Medieval Fantasy Literature at Melbourne University, where he is also the deputy instructor at the campus karate club, and a member of the fencing club. Before he began writing, Sean spent several years in student reviews and theatre, and was lead singer in three rock and folk bands. After singing in several early music groups and choirs, he spent two years in the Victorian State Opera before he began writing.

He lives in Melbourne with his wife Trish and daughter Catherine.

FROM OUR EDITORS

The Barnes & Noble Review
Australian author Sean McMullen's first novel to reach the U.S., The Centurion's Empire, was a lively debut featuring one of the most adventurous and luxuriant time-traveling historical novel romps in recent memory. In his follow-up book, Souls in the Great Machine, McMullen returns to tell the innovative, complex, and fascinating tale of a land ruled by its own library.

Two thousand years into the future, the world is technologically backward, and people travel mostly on trains that rely on the "pedal-power" of passengers. This future Australia is comprised of many mayoral lands, the largest of which is Rochester, also home to the "Libris," a great library that dominates all aspects of the culture. People study cataloguing and mathematics in the hopes of becoming a "dragon" in the Libris. Most of the lands other than Rochester suffer from the "Call," a sporadic, sweeping telepathic command that draws all untethered humans and mammals to the southeast. Houses are built without southeast doors and with high walls in that direction, and people must wear call-timers that will fire anchors to hold them from wandering off zombie-like, never to be seen again.

Zarvora Cybeline, the Highliber of Libris, is a charismatic and deadly woman who has won many duels in three years of rule, all so that her innovative project can come to fruition. The Calculor is this new world's first computer, built out of abacus-using prisoners who operate independently in the deep hidden cubicles, and who are sometimes gagged and beaten if they perform improper calculations. Taxfrauds,embezzlers, and other enemies of the state are drafted into the great machine, where they are given new names such as MULTIPLIER 8, ADDER 17, and FUNCTION 9. The Calculor is also capable of decoding secret messages sent between noblemen's spies and winning at the game "Champions," but Zarvora's real purpose for the Calculor is initially kept a secret. Only she realizes that machines programmed centuries earlier are still working efficiently on the moon, and will soon finish a gigantic mirror originally intended to curtail global warming. She believes that the Greatwinter that nearly destroyed the world is about to be unleashed again when the mirror is completed, reflecting sunlight away from the Earth as a new ice age descends.

McMullen's strengths as a storyteller lie in his ability to take the reader smoothly from fantastical elements and offbeat social ideology to prophetic science fiction in an inviting manner. The landscape here is sometimes primal and always strange, but we get hints of familiarity in tiny details left scattered among the oddities. The Calculor is a brilliant and convincing contrivance that underscores this new culture perfectly, even while the unknown siren's "call" keeps an added mysterious ingredient in the narrative. McMullen's characters are engaging and credible, with a lyrical depth that makes even the nameless "function" characters a significant part of the greater whole of this weird and enticing world: We never doubt that the great machine has a soul of its own. Souls in the Great Machine is a fine addition to a body of work that is already filled with entertaining, daring, and wholly intriguing novels.

—Tom Piccirilli

FROM THE PUBLISHER

The great Calculor of Libris was forced to watch as Overmayor Zarvora had four of its components lined up against a wall and shot for negligence. Thereafter, its calculations were free from errors, and that was just as well - for only this strangest of calculating machines and its two thousand enslaved components could save the world from a new ice age. In Sean McMullen's glittering, dynamic, and exotic world two millennia from now, there is no more electricity, wind engines are leading-edge technology, librarians fight duels to settle disputes, steam power is banned by every major religion, and a mysterious siren "Call" lures people to their death. Nevertheless, the brilliant and ruthless Zarvora intends to start a war in space against inconceivably ancient nuclear battle stations. Unbeknownst to Zarvora, however, the greatest threat to humanity is neither a machine nor a force but her demented and implacable enemy Lemorel, who has resurrected an obscene and evil concept from the distant past: Total War.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

Fast-paced and amusing, McMullen's latest novel (after The Centurion's Empire) is an action-packed adventure in the tradition of world-building SF. Set 20 centuries in the future, in a postnuclear winter society, the tale centers on the Calculor, a fantastic calculating machine powered by nameless human components who remain imprisoned within its workings. As the Highliber of Libris--aka head librarian--Zavora is the de facto ruler of the Calculor, and thus of all Confederation society, packing more political clout than the mayor himself. Through the Calculor's number crunching, Zavora has discovered that the world will be plunged into another "Greatwinter," or ice age, unless she can gain control of a satellite in Earth's orbit, which seems nearly impossible given her society's limited technology. Aiding Zavora in her mission are the Abbess Theresla, who has an innate ability to resist "the Call," a psychic phenomena that forces all humans to follow its deadly beckoning; Lemorel, a spirited young street fighter and librarian within the Libris; and Johnny Glasken, a rogue and former prisoner of the Calculor. McMullen's dramatic pacing and believable characters ensure that readers will enjoy Zavora's quest through a well-wrought, richly imagined multidimensional world. (June) Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.

Jonathan Strahan - Locus

...[A] complex, well-crafted novel filled with action and adventure. It entertains, but it is also a sugarcoated pill that contains a rather dark and bitter center not easily digested.

Kirkus Reviews

Far-future tale from the Australia author of The Centurion's Empire (1998). By 3931 a.d., a low-tech Australian civilization is dominated by the great library at Rochester, the only city that's free of the Call, a mysterious psychic compulsion that intermittently sweeps across the countryside, gathering all people and animals not securely tethered; those who are affected trek mindlessly to the south and are never seen again. One of the dwellers here, the dynamic and innovative chief librarian, Zarvora Cybeline, has fought many duels to defend her progressive ideas—but her greatest secret is the Calculor, a huge computer composed of an abacus array mechanically linked to human operators and controls. With the Calculor, she painlessly raises revenues by exposing embezzlers and tax cheats (they're inducted into the Calculor), decodes the secret messages the nobles use to conceal their plotting, and improves the efficiency of the beamflash signal-tower network by which information is exchanged. Zarvora effectively rules the confederacy, though nobody has yet grasped that fact. There is, however, an urgent problem: machines working on the Moon are building a huge mirror-band that, once placed to girdle the Earth, will reflect heat away from the planet. Programmed centuries ago, the system was designed to ameliorate global warming. But the planet is no longer too warm, and the reflector, now nearing completion, would precipitate another Greatwinter like the one that destroyed the previous civilization. Among Zarvora's other concerns: contact with people who can resist the Call; treachery; war; and further revelations about her people and her world. A stunning idea—theCalculor's as real as if McMullen had built it in his backyard—with an utterly convincing setting, breathtaking developments, and a captivating narrative.