Accelerando (Singularity) - Softcover

Stross, Charles

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0441014151 ISBN 13: 9780441014156

Publisher: Ace, 2006

Synopsis

The Singularity. It is the era of the posthuman. Artificial intelligences have surpassed the limits of human intellect. Biotechnological beings have rendered people all but extinct. Molecular nanotechnology runs rampant, replicating and reprogramming at will. Contact with extraterrestrial life grows more imminent with each new day.

Struggling to survive and thrive in this accelerated world are three generations of the Macx clan: Manfred, an entrepreneur dealing in intelligence amplification technology whose mind is divided between his physical environment and the Internet; his daughter, Amber, on the run from her domineering mother, seeking her fortune in the outer system as an indentured astronaut; and Sirhan, Amber’s son, who finds his destiny linked to the fate of all of humanity.

For something is systematically dismantling the nine planets of the solar system. Something beyond human comprehension. Something that has no use for biological life in any form...

About this title

From the Inside Flap:

"A new kind of future requires a new breed of guide-someone like Stross."-Popular Science

"Where Charles Stross goes today, the rest of science fiction will follow tomorrow." -Gardner Dozois, Editor, Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine

Charles Stross "can be compared to Greg Egan, Stephen Baxter, and Vernor Vinge for the depth of his speculations" (Paul Di Filippo, Science Fiction Weekly) as proven in such innovative hard SF novels as Singularity Sky ("wonderfully inventive"*) and Iron Sunrise ("[a] hard SF masterpiece"**).

Now, expanding upon his award-winning short story cycle from the pages of Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine, Charles Stross presents a startling vision of humanity's inability to cope with rapid technological advancement.

The Singularity. It is the era of the posthuman. Artificial intelligences have surpassed the limits of human intellect. Biotechnological beings have rendered people all but extinct. Molecular nanotechnology runs rampant, replicating and reprogramming at will. Contact with extraterrestrial life grows more imminent with each new day.

Struggling to survive and thrive in this accelerated world are three generations of the Macx clan: Manfred, an entrepreneur dealing in intelligence amplification technology whose mind is divided between his physical environment and the Internet; his daughter Amber, on the run from her domineering mother, seeking her fortune in the outer system as an indentured astronaut; and Sirhan, Amber's son, who finds his destiny linked to the fate of all of humanity.

For something is systematically dismantling the nine planets of the solar system. Something beyond human comprehension. Something that has no use for biological life in any form...

An ideological tour-de-force, Accelerando is destined to stand beside Neuromancer and Snow Crash as one of the most seminal works in science fiction.

*The Denver Post
**Library Journal

From the Back Cover:

"This new brand of science fiction, like all the best SF before it, is not just about predicting the future or pushing an agenda or even plain old entertaining techno-fun. It is all that, but it's also about expanding the boundaries of the possible, building far-out worlds and then populating them with characters who bring the big ideas down to Earth."-Popular Science

Praise for Iron Sunrise

"A Hollywood thriller with a cyberpunk heart."-Entertainment Weekly

"Excellent use of language kept this novel in my saddlebags for immediate access...Worthy and sympathetic characters...taut plotting."-San Diego Tribune

"[Stross] has the ability to superimpose an intriguing take on contemporary events over an imaginative story peopled by bizarre characters."-Kansas City Star

"Compelling space opera and cutting-edge tech with a tasty dash of satire...Stross skillfully balances suspense and humor throughout, offering readers-especially fans of Iain M. Banks and Ken MacLeod-a fascinating future that seems more than possible."-Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"Tense, unpredictable, a mixture of action, slapstick, and histrionics of the kind Stross always choreographs so masterfully...Iron Sunrise is vintage Stross, boisterous and provocative, opinionated and hilarious, and is likely to enhance his standing still further."-Nick Gevers, Locus

"Fans of hard SF spiced with political intrigue will relish this dish."-Booklist

About this edition

• Publisher: Ace
• Publication date: 2006
• ISBN 10: 0441014151
• ISBN 13: 9780441014156
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• Number of pages: 415