#kenmacleod — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #kenmacleod, aggregated by home.social.
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@Pixels_Perspective
"The darker the night, the brighter the star".
Russian proverb I'm told.
#SciFi : appears in #KenMacleod 's novel #CosmonautsKeep (first of a #trilogy Recommended, for people who like SF -
@Pixels_Perspective
"The darker the night, the brighter the star".
Russian proverb I'm told.
#SciFi : appears in #KenMacleod 's novel #CosmonautsKeep (first of a #trilogy Recommended, for people who like SF -
@Pixels_Perspective
"The darker the night, the brighter the star".
Russian proverb I'm told.
#SciFi : appears in #KenMacleod 's novel #CosmonautsKeep (first of a #trilogy Recommended, for people who like SF -
@Pixels_Perspective
"The darker the night, the brighter the star".
Russian proverb I'm told.
#SciFi : appears in #KenMacleod 's novel #CosmonautsKeep (first of a #trilogy Recommended, for people who like SF -
@Pixels_Perspective
"The darker the night, the brighter the star".
Russian proverb I'm told.
#SciFi : appears in #KenMacleod 's novel #CosmonautsKeep (first of a #trilogy Recommended, for people who like SF -
@Ambulocetus
#SciFi #KenMacleod in a recent trilogy #Lightspeed introduced a national #AI the nature of which was empathic anticipation.He doesn't write that as you pulled up to the drive-through the order you were about to ask for would be ready - or at 5 seconds readiness ahead of you.
Possibly with some fragment of green fibrous veg. added free at the point of use in accordance with national health service guidance.
Have a nice day.
Yes you could say no, order and wait, waste green.
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@Ambulocetus
#SciFi #KenMacleod in a recent trilogy #Lightspeed introduced a national #AI the nature of which was empathic anticipation.He doesn't write that as you pulled up to the drive-through the order you were about to ask for would be ready - or at 5 seconds readiness ahead of you.
Possibly with some fragment of green fibrous veg. added free at the point of use in accordance with national health service guidance.
Have a nice day.
Yes you could say no, order and wait, waste green.
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@Ambulocetus
#SciFi #KenMacleod in a recent trilogy #Lightspeed introduced a national #AI the nature of which was empathic anticipation.He doesn't write that as you pulled up to the drive-through the order you were about to ask for would be ready - or at 5 seconds readiness ahead of you.
Possibly with some fragment of green fibrous veg. added free at the point of use in accordance with national health service guidance.
Have a nice day.
Yes you could say no, order and wait, waste green.
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@Ambulocetus
#SciFi #KenMacleod in a recent trilogy #Lightspeed introduced a national #AI the nature of which was empathic anticipation.He doesn't write that as you pulled up to the drive-through the order you were about to ask for would be ready - or at 5 seconds readiness ahead of you.
Possibly with some fragment of green fibrous veg. added free at the point of use in accordance with national health service guidance.
Have a nice day.
Yes you could say no, order and wait, waste green.
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@Ambulocetus
#SciFi #KenMacleod in a recent trilogy #Lightspeed introduced a national #AI the nature of which was empathic anticipation.He doesn't write that as you pulled up to the drive-through the order you were about to ask for would be ready - or at 5 seconds readiness ahead of you.
Possibly with some fragment of green fibrous veg. added free at the point of use in accordance with national health service guidance.
Have a nice day.
Yes you could say no, order and wait, waste green.
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@glynmoody
#SciFi Clarke suggested we need 3 communication satellites. #GEO
#MurrayLeinster wrote "Space station" suggesting one would be launched in #LEO
#StanleyKubrick showed us one big wheel in #2001#Computronium is a #trope A solar system becoming concentric shells and rejecting waste heat as infrared.
#KenMacleod posited a green tinge spreading from a point as stars were surrounded by orbiting habitats, bubbles with airtrees.
I think Bezos may be premature and excessive.
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@glynmoody
#SciFi Clarke suggested we need 3 communication satellites. #GEO
#MurrayLeinster wrote "Space station" suggesting one would be launched in #LEO
#StanleyKubrick showed us one big wheel in #2001#Computronium is a #trope A solar system becoming concentric shells and rejecting waste heat as infrared.
#KenMacleod posited a green tinge spreading from a point as stars were surrounded by orbiting habitats, bubbles with airtrees.
I think Bezos may be premature and excessive.
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@SecondUniverse
Not my area, but logically, dont you need to disclaim _all_ biological components, to deprived the phrase you don't like of any meaning?
Which implies you've removed biological from "human thing" as well.#SciFi writers have been exploring the edge cases of humanness and biological elements for several generations, and Hollywood and Tech bros have caught a distorted idea of that recently.
eg #KenMacleod in The Stone Canal inter alia remarking that Gynoids will precede Androids. -
@SecondUniverse
Not my area, but logically, dont you need to disclaim _all_ biological components, to deprived the phrase you don't like of any meaning?
Which implies you've removed biological from "human thing" as well.#SciFi writers have been exploring the edge cases of humanness and biological elements for several generations, and Hollywood and Tech bros have caught a distorted idea of that recently.
eg #KenMacleod in The Stone Canal inter alia remarking that Gynoids will precede Androids. -
@jwildeboer
And a touch of Ken Macleod's Fall Revolution. The Cassini Division, is not the earliest, but might be a good place to start for the shock of the strange. -
@jwildeboer
And a touch of Ken Macleod's Fall Revolution. The Cassini Division, is not the earliest, but might be a good place to start for the shock of the strange. -
Engine City
https://library.hrmtc.com/2025/10/31/engine-city/
#AlienInvasionScienceFiction #book #EnginesOfLight #fiction #FirstContactScienceFiction #HumanAlienEncounters #HumanAlienEncountersFiction #KenMacLeod #LifeOnOtherPlanets #LifeOnOtherPlanetsFiction #LiteratureFiction #RencontresAvecLesExtraterrestresRomansNouvellesEtc #review #ScienceFiction #TPolyphilus #VieExtraterrestreRomansNouvellesEtc
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Dark Light
https://library.hrmtc.com/2025/10/24/dark-light/
#book #ColoniesSpatialesRomansNouvellesEtc #colonizationScienceFiction #EnginesOfLight #fiction #FirstContactScienceFiction #KenMacLeod #review #ScienceFiction #SpaceColonies #SpaceColoniesFiction #SpaceFlight #SpaceFlightFiction #TPolyphilus #VolSpatialRomansNouvellesEtc
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Cosmonaut Keep
https://library.hrmtc.com/2025/10/17/cosmonaut-keep/
#AlienInvasionScienceFiction #book #ComputerProgrammers #ComputerProgrammersFiction #EnginesOfLight #fiction #FirstContactScienceFiction #HumanAlienEncounters #HumanAlienEncountersFiction #KenMacLeod #LifeOnOtherPlanets #LifeOnOtherPlanetsFiction #literaryFiction #LiteratureFiction #ProgrammeursRomansNouvellesEtc #RencontresAvecLesExtraterrestresRomansNouvellesEtc #review #ScienceFiction #TPolyphilus #VieExtraterrestreRomansNouvellesEtc
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Beyond the Reach of Earth
https://library.hrmtc.com/2025/09/29/beyond-the-reach-of-earth/
#AlienInvasionScienceFiction #book #colonizationScienceFiction #ExtraterrestresRomansNouvellesEtc #ExtraterrestrialBeingsFiction #fiction #HardScienceFiction #HumanAlienEncountersFiction #KenMacLeod #LightSpeedFiction #Lightspeed #LumieReVitesseRomansNouvellesEtc #Novels #RencontresAvecLesExtraterrestresRomansNouvellesEtc #review #romans #ScienceFiction #ScienceFictionHardScienceFiction #ScienceFictionSpaceOpera #SpaceOperas #SpaceShipsFiction #TPolyphilus #VaisseauxSpatiauxRomansNouvellesEtc
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Beyond the Hallowed Sky
https://library.hrmtc.com/2025/09/15/beyond-the-hallowed-sky/
#book #DeCouvertesScientifiquesRomansNouvellesEtc #DiscoveriesInScience #DiscoveriesInScienceFiction #ExplorationScienceFiction #fiction #HardScienceFiction #KenMacLeod #LightSpeed #LightSpeedFiction #LightspeedTrilogy #LumieReVitesseRomansNouvellesEtc #review #ScienceFiction #ScienceFictionSpaceOpera #secrecy #SecrecyFiction #SecretRomanNouvellesEtc #spaceOpera #SpaceOperas #SpaceShips #SpaceShipsFiction #TPolyphilus #VaisseauxSpatiauxRomansNouvellesEtc #VenusPlanet_ #VenusPlanetFiction #VeNusPlaneTeRomansNouvellesEtc #WomenScientists #WomenScientistsFiction
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Fantastic Fiction: Fascism: We live in worrying times. Fascism is on the rise across Europe and America, according to the consensus of many commentators. In this post, I will highlight SF that has speculated on the rise and acti… (#Babylon5 #ClaireNorth #KenMacLeod #LorraineWilson #LucyFerris #MarghanitaLaski #MarisaCrane #MurrayConstantine #NanaKwameAdjeiBrendan #OctaviaButler #PhilipKDick #SJGroenwegen #UptonSinclair #WardMoon)
Full post: https://seattlein2025.org/2025/04/18/fantastic-fiction-fascism/
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Fantastic Fiction: Fascism: We live in worrying times. Fascism is on the rise across Europe and America, according to the consensus of many commentators. In this post, I will highlight SF that has speculated on the rise and acti… (#Babylon5 #ClaireNorth #KenMacLeod #LorraineWilson #LucyFerris #MarghanitaLaski #MarisaCrane #MurrayConstantine #NanaKwameAdjeiBrendan #OctaviaButler #PhilipKDick #SJGroenwegen #UptonSinclair #WardMoon)
Full post: https://seattlein2025.org/2025/04/18/fantastic-fiction-fascism/
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We live in worrying times. Fascism is on the rise across Europe and America, according to the consensus of many commentators. In this post, I will highlight SF that has speculated on the rise and activities of fascism. In a later blog post, I’ll discuss science fiction that has thought about ways to resist.
Science fiction in the 1930s had its fair share of authoritarian dictators. Upton Sinclair’s It Can’t Happen Here is a famous warning novel that feels all too relevant. In Sinclair’s vision, a populist demagogue takes power on the promise to halt immigration and make America great once more. But there is a lesser-known standout work that tried to warn the world of what was to come. Published under the alias Murray Constantine, Swastika Night (1937) projects a future in which the Nazis and Japanese won and have divided the world. Jews have been eradicated, Christians live in reservations, women are reduced to a voiceless and a near-invisible drudge caste, and the world is ruled by Teutonic knights. One aspect of the book that jumps out is the degree to which women have collaborated in their own oppression—a scenario that looked ridiculous to me on first read, but isn’t as funny in a world of “trad wives.”
Immediately after the Second World War, in the UK, people were trying to envisage a better future. Others were pushing back. In Marghanita Laski’s Tory Heaven; or, Thunder on the Right (1948), the ultra-right wing launch a coup and re-create their “natural order.” On a desert island, five people have constructed a meritocracy. When they are rescued, protagonist James Leigh-Smith (think Jacob Rees-Mogg) prays, “God, let it be as it might have been. Alter the clock, fix the election, do it any way you please, but let me see the England of all decent Conservatives’ dreams.” He finds himself in a country in which everyone is assigned to their correct social class, with the aristocracy and gentry given fixed incomes and told what to think, what to enjoy, who to marry, etc. It doesn’t end well. James discovers that while he has been given a place, it is conditional on his absolute support. He isn’t, as he thought, one of the rulers.
After the war, there were a slew of alternative history novels warning that “it could have happened here,” of which my favorites are Ward Moore’s Bring the Jubilee (1953) about a Confederate America, or Philip K. Dick’s Man in the High Castle (1962), one of the works from the 1961-1962 era being celebrated in Seattle. However, these books are consolatory in that it didn’t happen here. I’m more interested in texts that say, “If this goes on, this is where we are heading.”
Recent examples of warning novels include Octavia Butler’s Parable (or Earthseed) series, where the second book tracks the rise of right-wing fundamentalist Christians. In the television series Babylon 5, the space station becomes one of the holdouts against a fascist earth, but the series neatly ignores that the station is not a democracy. It is at best a benevolent military meritocracy. Lucy Ferris’s The Misconceiver (1997) is told through the voice of an underground abortionist in a world in which the right has rolled back all freedoms for women, gay people, and non-whites. Most recent warning books are focused on race and sexual freedoms, but some take up fundamental and systemic issues that warn of rising facism. Ken MacLeod’s Corporation Wars series (2016-17) envisages bitter war around the fundamental ideological differences between fascism and humanism, a future divided between those who see only themselves as truly human and those who still feel humanity is (or should be) structured around collectivity and the acknowledgement of others’ realities.
Since the 2016 U.S. election, and the extreme behaviour of the (many) British prime ministers in the past decade, fascism has felt ever more threatening in the Anglosphere. Lorraine Wilson’s This Is Our Undoing (2021) is set in a fractured and fascist Europe and explores the interrelationship between the personal and the political. In Marisa Crane’s I Keep My Exoskeleton To Myself (2023) and Chain-Gang All-Stars (2023) by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah, the carceral state has found new ways to abuse and exploit the underclass. In The Disinformation War (2023), SJ Groenwegen takes on the disinformation that has infected the landscape of social media. Claire North’s Notes from the Burning Age (2021) explores the rise of authoritarian nationalism in a post-collapse future after a time of rebuilding and prosperity.
We have been warned. This time round we know what’s coming.
With thanks to Facebook friends for suggestions.
Farah MendlesohnFarah Mendlesohn is a con-runner, a retired history professor, a charity manager, co-editor of the Hugo Award-Winning Cambridge Companion to Science Fiction, author of the Hugo-nominated The Pleasant Profession of Robert A. Heinlein, and is currently working on a short book about Joanna Russ’s The Female Man (preorder Considering The Female Man by Joanna Russ, or, As the Bear Swore). Farah has chaired three Eastercons, has served in various capacities in Worldcons and Eastercons, and is part of the World Fantasy 2025 team. (Farah/they/she)
https://seattlein2025.org/2025/04/18/fantastic-fiction-fascism/ #Babylon5 #ClaireNorth #KenMacLeod #LorraineWilson #LucyFerris #MarghanitaLaski #MarisaCrane #MurrayConstantine #NanaKwameAdjeiBrendan #OctaviaButler #PhilipKDick #SJGroenwegen #UptonSinclair #WardMoon -
We live in worrying times. Fascism is on the rise across Europe and America, according to the consensus of many commentators. In this post, I will highlight SF that has speculated on the rise and activities of fascism. In a later blog post, I’ll discuss science fiction that has thought about ways to resist.
Science fiction in the 1930s had its fair share of authoritarian dictators. Upton Sinclair’s It Can’t Happen Here is a famous warning novel that feels all too relevant. In Sinclair’s vision, a populist demagogue takes power on the promise to halt immigration and make America great once more. But there is a lesser-known standout work that tried to warn the world of what was to come. Published under the alias Murray Constantine, Swastika Night (1937) projects a future in which the Nazis and Japanese won and have divided the world. Jews have been eradicated, Christians live in reservations, women are reduced to a voiceless and a near-invisible drudge caste, and the world is ruled by Teutonic knights. One aspect of the book that jumps out is the degree to which women have collaborated in their own oppression—a scenario that looked ridiculous to me on first read, but isn’t as funny in a world of “trad wives.”
Immediately after the Second World War, in the UK, people were trying to envisage a better future. Others were pushing back. In Marghanita Laski’s Tory Heaven; or, Thunder on the Right (1948), the ultra-right wing launch a coup and re-create their “natural order.” On a desert island, five people have constructed a meritocracy. When they are rescued, protagonist James Leigh-Smith (think Jacob Rees-Mogg) prays, “God, let it be as it might have been. Alter the clock, fix the election, do it any way you please, but let me see the England of all decent Conservatives’ dreams.” He finds himself in a country in which everyone is assigned to their correct social class, with the aristocracy and gentry given fixed incomes and told what to think, what to enjoy, who to marry, etc. It doesn’t end well. James discovers that while he has been given a place, it is conditional on his absolute support. He isn’t, as he thought, one of the rulers.
After the war, there were a slew of alternative history novels warning that “it could have happened here,” of which my favorites are Ward Moore’s Bring the Jubilee (1953) about a Confederate America, or Philip K. Dick’s Man in the High Castle (1962), one of the works from the 1961-1962 era being celebrated in Seattle. However, these books are consolatory in that it didn’t happen here. I’m more interested in texts that say, “If this goes on, this is where we are heading.”
Recent examples of warning novels include Octavia Butler’s Parable (or Earthseed) series, where the second book tracks the rise of right-wing fundamentalist Christians. In the television series Babylon 5, the space station becomes one of the holdouts against a fascist earth, but the series neatly ignores that the station is not a democracy. It is at best a benevolent military meritocracy. Lucy Ferris’s The Misconceiver (1997) is told through the voice of an underground abortionist in a world in which the right has rolled back all freedoms for women, gay people, and non-whites. Most recent warning books are focused on race and sexual freedoms, but some take up fundamental and systemic issues that warn of rising facism. Ken MacLeod’s Corporation Wars series (2016-17) envisages bitter war around the fundamental ideological differences between fascism and humanism, a future divided between those who see only themselves as truly human and those who still feel humanity is (or should be) structured around collectivity and the acknowledgement of others’ realities.
Since the 2016 U.S. election, and the extreme behaviour of the (many) British prime ministers in the past decade, fascism has felt ever more threatening in the Anglosphere. Lorraine Wilson’s This Is Our Undoing (2021) is set in a fractured and fascist Europe and explores the interrelationship between the personal and the political. In Marisa Crane’s I Keep My Exoskeleton To Myself (2023) and Chain-Gang All-Stars (2023) by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah, the carceral state has found new ways to abuse and exploit the underclass. In The Disinformation War (2023), SJ Groenwegen takes on the disinformation that has infected the landscape of social media. Claire North’s Notes from the Burning Age (2021) explores the rise of authoritarian nationalism in a post-collapse future after a time of rebuilding and prosperity.
We have been warned. This time round we know what’s coming.
With thanks to Facebook friends for suggestions.
Farah MendlesohnFarah Mendlesohn is a con-runner, a retired history professor, a charity manager, co-editor of the Hugo Award-Winning Cambridge Companion to Science Fiction, author of the Hugo-nominated The Pleasant Profession of Robert A. Heinlein, and is currently working on a short book about Joanna Russ’s The Female Man. Farah has chaired three Eastercons, has served in various capacities in Worldcons and Eastercons, and is part of the World Fantasy 2025 team. (Farah/they/she)
https://seattlein2025.org/2025/04/18/fantastic-fiction-fascism/
#Babylon5 #ClaireNorth #KenMacLeod #LorraineWilson #LucyFerris #MarghanitaLaski #MarisaCrane #MurrayConstantine #NanaKwameAdjeiBrendan #OctaviaButler #PhilipKDick #SJGroenwegen #UptonSinclair #WardMoon
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Beyond the Light Horizon
https://library.hrmtc.com/2025/02/24/beyond-the-light-horizon/
#book #colonizationScienceFiction #fiction #HardScienceFiction #InterpersonalRelationsFiction #InterplanetaryVoyagesFiction #KenMacLeod #Novels #review #romans #ScienceFiction #SpaceOperas #SpaceOperasFiction_ #TPolyphilus #VoyagesInterplaneTairesRomansNouvellesEtc
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Latest in the blog series: Ken MacLeod, The Restoration Game (2010)
#sf #sff #scottishsff #kenmacleod #therestorationgame #Glasgow2024 #glasgowworldcon -
Latest in the blog series: Ken MacLeod, The Restoration Game (2010)
#sf #sff #scottishsff #kenmacleod #therestorationgame #Glasgow2024 #glasgowworldcon -
Latest in my series of blogposts on Ken MacLeod's fiction. Here, I look in detail at the Engines of Light trilogy, a key work. Also some notes on the Dialectic, Historical Materialism, and the Scottish Programme.
#sf #sff #scottishsff #kenmacleod #RoadtoGlasgow2024 #Glasgow2024 #worldcon #enginesoflight -
Latest in my series of blogposts on Ken MacLeod's fiction. Here, I look in detail at the Engines of Light trilogy, a key work. Also some notes on the Dialectic, Historical Materialism, and the Scottish Programme.
#sf #sff #scottishsff #kenmacleod #RoadtoGlasgow2024 #Glasgow2024 #worldcon #enginesoflight -
Latest in my series of blogposts on Ken MacLeod's fiction. Here, I look in detail at the Engines of Light trilogy, a key work. Also some notes on the Dialectic, Historical Materialism, and the Scottish Programme.
#sf #sff #scottishsff #kenmacleod #RoadtoGlasgow2024 #Glasgow2024 #worldcon #enginesoflight -
Latest in my series of blogposts on Ken MacLeod's fiction. Here, I look in detail at the Engines of Light trilogy, a key work. Also some notes on the Dialectic, Historical Materialism, and the Scottish Programme.
#sf #sff #scottishsff #kenmacleod #RoadtoGlasgow2024 #Glasgow2024 #worldcon #enginesoflight -
Latest in my series of blogposts on Ken MacLeod's fiction. Here, I look in detail at the Engines of Light trilogy, a key work. Also some notes on the Dialectic, Historical Materialism, and the Scottish Programme.
#sf #sff #scottishsff #kenmacleod #RoadtoGlasgow2024 #Glasgow2024 #worldcon #enginesoflight -
I've started reading the Ken MacLeod anthology A Jura For Julia. Already liking Nineteen Eighty Nine, in which Winston Smith finds himself caught up in the overthrow of Big Brother. A good story to read in the 75th anniversary year of 1984's publication.
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I've started reading the Ken MacLeod anthology A Jura For Julia. Already liking Nineteen Eighty Nine, in which Winston Smith finds himself caught up in the overthrow of Big Brother. A good story to read in the 75th anniversary year of 1984's publication.
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I've started reading the Ken MacLeod anthology A Jura For Julia. Already liking Nineteen Eighty Nine, in which Winston Smith finds himself caught up in the overthrow of Big Brother. A good story to read in the 75th anniversary year of 1984's publication.
-
I've started reading the Ken MacLeod anthology A Jura For Julia. Already liking Nineteen Eighty Nine, in which Winston Smith finds himself caught up in the overthrow of Big Brother. A good story to read in the 75th anniversary year of 1984's publication.
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I've started reading the Ken MacLeod anthology A Jura For Julia. Already liking Nineteen Eighty Nine, in which Winston Smith finds himself caught up in the overthrow of Big Brother. A good story to read in the 75th anniversary year of 1984's publication.
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Science Fiction und Fantasy im August 2024
Ich fange mal, weil es einfacher ist, mit den beide Serien an, die ich im August angeguckt habe: Witcher Blood Origin (2022, Netflix) – eine solide gemachte Miniserie als Prequel zum Witcher, die viel Hintergrund einführt und erklärt.
Und die vierte und letzte Staffel der Umbrella Academy (2024, Netflix). Hier sind die Superheld:innen erst einmal ganz normale Menschen mit einem ganz normalen Leben, und erst nach und nach taucht „Marigold“ als Stoff, der ihnen spezielle Fähigkeiten verleiht, wieder auf. Diese schließende Staffel erklärt einiges, und endet dann (ohne jetzt zu viel zu verraten) außergewöhnlich und anders, als das bei Superheldencomicverfilmungen sonst der Fall ist. Wie schon in den Staffel davor: gut umgesetzt, leider teilweise ziemlich blutrünstig, großartiger Soundtrack und Szenen und Bilder, die in Erinnerung bleiben – etwa das U‑Bahn-Netz und auch das dortige Bistro, in dem Fünf Fünf und Fünf trifft. Die Teenager waren mit dem Ende unzufrieden – das sei auch noch dazu gesagt.
Dann zu den sieben Büchern, die ich im August gelesen habe.
Ombria in Shadow von Patricia A. McKillip ist bereits 2002 erschienen; bisher sagte mir weder die Autorin noch das Buch etwas. Irgendjemand (sorry, ich erinnere mich nicht mehr, wer es war) erwähnte das Buch auf Mastodon, das klang interessant – und ja, sehr schöne Fantasy. Eine Stadt, wohl ein Stadtstaat, mit Hafen und Tavernen und einem Schloss. Der Herrscher stirbt/wird umgebracht, seine Geliebte Lydea flieht. Domina Pearl, eine vampirartig gezeichnete uralte Verwandte, greift nach der Macht und übernimmt die Vormundschaft über den jungen Prinzen. Eine Schreckensherrschaft droht. Ombria ist eine Stadt, die eine Schattenwelt hat, in der eine gesichtslose Zauberin herrscht. Deren Gehilfin Mag fängt an, eigene Gedanken zu entwickeln und sich aus der Schattenwelt heraus einzumischen. Im Schloss steht Ducon Greve, unehelicher Neffe des toten Herrschers, vor der Frage, ob er Partei ergreifen soll – oder derjenige bleiben möchte, der durch dunkle Ecken streift und diese zu Papier bringt. Aus diesem Setting heraus entwickelt McKillip eine sprachlich sehr schön und mit Grautönen erzählte Geschichte über Rebellionen und die schwierige Arbeit, Normalität immer wieder herzustellen.
Die übrigen Bücher in diesem Monat waren dann alle Science Fiction. Loka (2024), die Fortsetzung von S.B. Divyas Meru ist ganz frisch erschienen und scheint mir gut in den Hopepunk-Trend zu passen, den ich gerade beobachte. Während Meru vor allem im Sonnensystem, auf dem namensgebenden Planeten und „an Bord“ eines lebenden Raumschiff-„Alloys“ (Alloys sind posthumane Cyborgs, die größtenteils im Weltraum leben) gespielt hat, ist der Ort von Loka zum großen Teil die Erde. Wir begleiten Akshaya – Hybrid einer menschlichen Mutter und eines Alloy-Vaters, für das Leben auf Meru angepasst – und ihre Freundin Somya – beim Versuch, die Anthropological Challenge zu meistern. Damit ist eine Reise rund um die Erde gemeint, und zwar ohne jede Unterstützung durch Alloys, nur mit dem, was Menschen vor dieser posthumanen Ära konnten. Sie machen sich mit Solarfahrrädern auf den Weg – und stellen bald fest, dass innerhalb des „Loka“, der von Alloys gemanagten Zone der Erde, eine solche Aktivität sehr skeptisch gesehen wird. Jenseits des Loka-Gürtels sind die Gebiete „out of bound“, in denen Menschen leben, die den Alloys – und posthumanen Menschen wie Akshaya – nicht unbedingt freundlich gesinnt sind. Neben einem Blick auf das, was einen lebenden Planeten ausmacht (und die im Weltraum aufgewachsene Akshaya überrascht), ist diese Reise auch eine Auseinandersetzung zwischen Akshaya und ihrer Mutter, und mit der Frage, wie weit Erwartungen und Wünsche der Eltern vorgeben, was deren Kinder einmal machen. Mir hat Loka letztlich sehr gut gefallen, obwohl ich anfangs angesichts des Formats einer Abenteuer-Reise rund um die Erde skeptisch war.
Um bei Dingen, die vielleicht Hopepunk sind, zu bleiben: auch Ken MacLeods Beyond the Light Horizon (2024) – der dritte Band seiner Lightspeed-Trilogie – hat insbesondere in der Beschreibung des Alltags fremder Welten (und in dem Alltag ganz normaler Menschen zwischen politischen Intrigen) Aspekte, die dazu passen. Prämisse dieser Trilogie ist zum einen, dass es seit langem eine Möglichkeit gibt, sich mit Überlichtgeschwindigkeit zu bewegen (aber obacht: ab und zu geraten dabei die Weltlinien durcheinander), dass diese aber von den großen Weltmächten geheim gehalten wird, und dass diese – ein Block rund um die USA und ein autokratischer Block – ebenso im Geheimen begonnen haben, fremde Planeten zu besiedeln. Die nach einer Revolution sozialistische Europäische Union (zu der auch Schottland gehört) ist erst spät in diesem Spiel dabei. Das alles ist mehr oder weniger die Geschichte der ersten beiden Bände; es kommen zudem künstliche Intelligenzen und seltsame Kristallwesen – den Fermi – vor, die gegen Ende des zweiten Bandes verschwinden. Im dritten Band taucht nun ein Sonnensystem auf, in dem intelligente Dinosaurier seit Millionen von Jahren ein Venus-Äquivalent besiedeln … und sie sind nicht die einzige intelligente Lebensform (man merkt, dass MacLeod mal als Biologe gearbeitet hat). MacLeod schließt in diesem dritten Band die eine oder andere offene Zeitschleife, bindet auch sonst zusammen, was zusammenzubinden ist, und schafft es trotzdem, am Schluss nochmal eine wirklich überraschende Wendung hinzukriegen. Insgesamt sind die drei Bände der Lightspeed-Trilogie damit eine runde und lesenswerte Sache.
Wer Space Opera mag, wird an Jonathan Strahans Anthologie New Adventures in Space Opera (2024) gefallen finden. Das Buch enthält in sich geschlossene Kurzgeschichten von Ann Leckie / Becky Chambers, Alastair Reynolds, T. Kingfisher, Charlie Jane Anders, Anya Johanna DeNiro, Yoon Ha Lee, Lavie Tidhar, Tobias S. Buckell, Arkady Martine, Aliette de Bodard, Seth Dickinson und Karin Tidbeck – und allein diese Liste an Namen zeigt sowohl die Bandbreite als auch die Qualität der hier versammelten Geschichten.
Eine ganz konkrete Konsequenz der Lektüre dieser Anthologie war bei mir, dass ich Ninefox Gambit von Yoon Ha Lee aus dem Jahr 2016 endlich mal gelesen habe – das lag schon lange in meinem (digitalen) Bücherstapel. Es geht hier um Space Opera, um posthumane Welten – und um ein Universum, in dem eine hochentwickelte Zahlenmystik es erlaubt, die Realität zu beeinflussen. Woraus sich beispielsweise grausame Waffen bauen lassen. Die Hauptperson Kel Cheris ist eine Soldatin der Hexarchie; die Kel sind eine der sechs Fraktionen, die dieses galaktische Imperium gemeinsam regieren – sie sind für das Militär zuständig, während Shuos eher geheimdienstlich unterwegs sind, Nirai die Geheimnisse des Universums erforschen usw. Gemeinsam mit einem lange toten Rebellen soll sie in einer geheimen Mission herausfinden, wie es in einer Weltraumfestung zu einem Aufstand kam – und den dort verwendeten Kalender wieder zu normalisieren. Die Prämissen und die darauf aufbauende Welt samt der Sprache des Buchs (es gibt beispielsweise keine Raumschiffen, sondern Motten …) ist erst einmal etwas schwer zugänglich; wenn sie akzeptiert wird, ist Ninefox Gambit aber packend – auch auf der Ebene der persönlichen Entwicklung von Kel Cheris. Neben Ninefox Gambit gibt es noch zwei Folgebände sowie eine Reihe von Kurzgeschichten aus dem selben Universum.
Apropos seltsame Prämissen: Greg Egan schreibt ja eh Romane, die davon leben, dass sie seltsame Prämissen ausbuchstabieren und in voller Konsequenz umsetzen. Morphotrophic (2024) macht das mit Wucht: jenseits des durchaus interessanten Plots ist es vor allem die Idee, die den Reiz dieses Buchs ausmacht: Zellen in Lebewesen sind unabhängiger und wandelbarer, als wir es kennen. Wenn sie nicht gut versorgt werden, mit genau dem richtigen Mix an Nährstoffen, gehen sie ein – oder verlassen den Körper. So beginnt das Buch damit, dass der Hauptperson ihr Arm fehlt, weil über Nacht eine ganze Reihe von Zellkolonien entschieden haben, ihr Glück woanders zu suchen. Und wer gute Zellen hat – oder neue dazugewinnt, lebt sehr lange. Das große Geheimnis in dieser Welt ist die Frage, wie Zellen dazu gebracht werden, bestimmte Körperteile zu bilden – und was eigentlich Bewusstsein und „ich“ ausmacht, wenn Teile des eigenen Körpers sich anderen anschließen können. Anregend (und gar nicht so weit weg, wie es scheint: ein paar Tage nach Lektüre des Buchs bin ich im Spektrum der Wissenschaft auf einen Aufsatz gestoßen, in dem über die Rolle elektrischer Signale für die Organentwicklung gesprochen wurde …).
Last but not least: The Fortunate Fall von Cameron Reed, 1996 unter dem heutigen Deadname der Autorin zuerst erschienen, jetzt als Klassiker des Cyberpunk wieder veröffentlich (und mit einem schönen Vorwort von Jo Walton versehen). Wir folgen in einer aus heutiger Sicht sehr posthumanen Welt einer „Kamera“, einer Frau, die mit zusätzlichen Implantaten aufgerüstet als Ein-Personen-Reporterin für eine der großen Sendeketten durch die Welt zieht und in Telepräsenz immersiv berichtet. Damit nicht jede Regung beim Publikum ankommt, arbeitet sie mit einer Cutterin zusammen – eine sehr intime Erfahrung. Die Kamera Maya Andreyeva ist keine Heldin, sondern wird nach und nach in einen größeren Konflikt hineingezogen. Gleichzeitig erfahren wir mehr darüber, was es mit dem Blocker in ihrem Kopf auf sich hat, der die in dieser Welt verbotene gleichgeschlechtliche Liebe (und mehr) unterdrückt. Das Buch – Walton spricht von warmherzigem Cyberpunk – steckt voller Ideen, die eine Welt zu Ende denken, in der Gehirne digital gekoppelt werden können. Am Schluss wurde es mir etwas zu theologisch, insgesamt aber ein Buch, das zu Recht als Cyberpunk-Klassiker gewertet werden soll, und das sich erstaunlich gegenwärtig liest.
#cameronReed #fantasy #gregEgan #jonathanStrahan #kenMacleod #patriciaAMckillip #rezension #sBDivya #scienceFiction #sf #umbrellaAcademy #witcherBloodOrigin #yoonHaLee
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Ken MacLeod is one of the Guests of Honour for the Glasgow Worldcon so I'm rereading and blogging on his novels. Here are my thoughts on Intrusion (2012) which I think is his best novel and one of the best British novels of the 21C.
#sf #sff #sciencefiction #RoadtoGlasgow2024 #Glasgow2024 #worldcon #scottishsff #kenmacleod #intrusion #bookstodon -
Ken MacLeod is one of the Guests of Honour for the Glasgow Worldcon so I'm rereading and blogging on his novels. Here are my thoughts on Intrusion (2012) which I think is his best novel and one of the best British novels of the 21C.
#sf #sff #sciencefiction #RoadtoGlasgow2024 #Glasgow2024 #worldcon #scottishsff #kenmacleod #intrusion #bookstodon -
Next in my #RoadtoGlasgow2024 blog series: Ken MacLeod's The Night Sessions (2008).
#sf #sff #sciencefiction #kenmacleod #worldcon #Glasgow2024 #bookstodon -
Next in my #RoadtoGlasgow2024 blog series: Ken MacLeod's The Night Sessions (2008).
#sf #sff #sciencefiction #kenmacleod #worldcon #Glasgow2024 #bookstodon -
Continuing my series of blogposts on Scottish SFF and the novels of Ken MacLeod in particular, here are my thoughts on The Corporation Wars.
#sf #sff #scottishsff #worldcon #Glasgow2024 #RoadtoGlasgow2024 #kenmacleod #thecorporationwars #bookstodon #bookreviews -
Continuing my series of blogposts on Scottish SFF and the novels of Ken MacLeod in particular, here are my thoughts on The Corporation Wars.
#sf #sff #scottishsff #worldcon #Glasgow2024 #RoadtoGlasgow2024 #kenmacleod #thecorporationwars #bookstodon #bookreviews -
Continuing my series of blogposts on Scottish SFF and the novels of Ken MacLeod in particular, here are my thoughts on The Corporation Wars.
#sf #sff #scottishsff #worldcon #Glasgow2024 #RoadtoGlasgow2024 #kenmacleod #thecorporationwars #bookstodon #bookreviews -
Continuing my series of blogposts on Scottish SFF and the novels of Ken MacLeod in particular, here are my thoughts on The Corporation Wars.
#sf #sff #scottishsff #worldcon #Glasgow2024 #RoadtoGlasgow2024 #kenmacleod #thecorporationwars #bookstodon #bookreviews -
From the 2024 Cymera Festival - @amendlocke on stage in the Pleasance Theatre https://www.flickr.com/photos/woolamaloo_gazette/53771053282/in/photostream/
#Edinburgh #Edimbourg #Cymera2024 #photography #photographie #books #livres #KenMacLeod #author #auteur #portrait #Pleasance
