The moon colony, Luna, is a virtual paradise where every need is provided for: food, prolonged lifespans, digital memories, and instant sex-changes. But the pointlessness of this easy life is making the inhabitants suicidal--including the central computer that monitors their existence. As humanity teeters on the edge of self-destruction, newspaper reporter Hildy Johnson sets out to find a new frontier.
A science fiction epic from "the best writer in America" (Tom Clancy)—Hugo and Nebula award-winning author John Varley.
Fleeing Earth after an alien invasion, the human race stands on the threshold of evolution. Their new home is Luna, a moon colony blessed with creature comforts, prolonged lifespans, digital memories, and instant sex changes.
But the people of Luna are bored, restless, suicidal—and so is the computer that monitors their existence...
**
From Publishers Weekly
After nearly a decade's silence, Nebula and Hugo Award winner Varley ( The Ophiuchi Hotline ; Titan ; Millennium ; etc.) makes a triumphant return with this absorbing novel, set in a future where humanity, expelled from the Earth by the alien Invaders, now lives in artificial habitats on the moon, Mars and other planets. Advanced technologies ensure a fairly effortless and secure life--almost any injury or disease is curable; people can change their features or even their gender with an afternoon of painless surgery. But all is not well on Luna. Hildy Johnson, top reporter for a tabloid, has been unaccountably depressed, even suicidal, and he soon learns that he's not alone. Even the Central Computer that maintains Luna's environment has been feeling down. As Hildy and the CC search for a reason to live, Hildy changes gender, quits his/her job and examines religions; the CC takes steps for itself that may lead to moonwide catastrophe. Varley's tight, clean writing, full of wit and good humor, evokes despair, joy, anger and delight. His Luna is packed with wild inventions, intriguing characters and stunning scenery. This long-awaited return is one of the best science fiction novels of the year.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
Virtual immortality, freedom from disease, a perfectly controlled climate, and the benevolent, nonintrusive supervision of the Central Computer make the human colony on Luna almost ideal--except for the alarming increase in depression and suicide among its citizens. Varley's latest novel offers a strong argument for individual self-determination as an antidote to runaway technology. Reminiscent of Robert Heinlein's The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress in its lunar setting and its use of a sentient computer as a fully realized character, this sf novel of ideas belongs in most libraries.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.
SUMMARY:
Fleeing Earth after an alien invasion, the human race stands on the threshold of evolution, like a fish cast on artificial shores. Their new home is Luna, a moon colony blessed with creature comforts, prolonged lifespans, digital memories, and instant sex changes. But the people of Luna are bored, restless, suicidal-and so is the computer that monitors their existence...
Description:
The moon colony, Luna, is a virtual paradise where every need is provided for: food, prolonged lifespans, digital memories, and instant sex-changes. But the pointlessness of this easy life is making the inhabitants suicidal--including the central computer that monitors their existence. As humanity teeters on the edge of self-destruction, newspaper reporter Hildy Johnson sets out to find a new frontier.
A science fiction epic from "the best writer in America" (Tom Clancy)—Hugo and Nebula award-winning author John Varley.
Fleeing Earth after an alien invasion, the human race stands on the threshold of evolution. Their new home is Luna, a moon colony blessed with creature comforts, prolonged lifespans, digital memories, and instant sex changes.
But the people of Luna are bored, restless, suicidal—and so is the computer that monitors their existence...
**
From Publishers Weekly
After nearly a decade's silence, Nebula and Hugo Award winner Varley ( The Ophiuchi Hotline ; Titan ; Millennium ; etc.) makes a triumphant return with this absorbing novel, set in a future where humanity, expelled from the Earth by the alien Invaders, now lives in artificial habitats on the moon, Mars and other planets. Advanced technologies ensure a fairly effortless and secure life--almost any injury or disease is curable; people can change their features or even their gender with an afternoon of painless surgery. But all is not well on Luna. Hildy Johnson, top reporter for a tabloid, has been unaccountably depressed, even suicidal, and he soon learns that he's not alone. Even the Central Computer that maintains Luna's environment has been feeling down. As Hildy and the CC search for a reason to live, Hildy changes gender, quits his/her job and examines religions; the CC takes steps for itself that may lead to moonwide catastrophe. Varley's tight, clean writing, full of wit and good humor, evokes despair, joy, anger and delight. His Luna is packed with wild inventions, intriguing characters and stunning scenery. This long-awaited return is one of the best science fiction novels of the year.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
Virtual immortality, freedom from disease, a perfectly controlled climate, and the benevolent, nonintrusive supervision of the Central Computer make the human colony on Luna almost ideal--except for the alarming increase in depression and suicide among its citizens. Varley's latest novel offers a strong argument for individual self-determination as an antidote to runaway technology. Reminiscent of Robert Heinlein's The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress in its lunar setting and its use of a sentient computer as a fully realized character, this sf novel of ideas belongs in most libraries.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.