Bloom - Softcover

McCarthy, Wil

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1505813743 ISBN 13: 9781505813746

Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2015

Synopsis

A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK Mycora: technogenic life. Fast-reproducing, fast-mutating, and endlessly voracious. In the year 2106, these microscopic machine/creatures have escaped their creators to populate the inner solar system with a wild, deadly ecology all their own, pushing the tattered remnants of humanity out into the cold and dark of the outer planets. Even huddled beneath the ice of Jupiter's moons, protected by a defensive system known as the Immunity, survivors face the constant risk of mycospores finding their way to the warmth and brightness inside the habitats, resulting in a calamitous "bloom." But the human race still has a trick or two up its sleeves; in a ship specially designed to penetrate the deadly Mycosystem, seven astronauts are about to embark on mankind's boldest venture yet—the perilous journey home to infected Earth! Yet it is in these remote conditions, against a virtually omnipotent foe, that we discover how human nature plays the greatest role in humanity's future. Reviews "Tense, dynamic, intelligent... terrifyingly vivid" —David Brin "An ingenious yarn with challenging ideas, well-handled technical details, and plenty of twists and turns." —Kirkus Reviews "BLOOM is tense, dynamic, intelligent, offering a terrifyingly vivid view of how technology can rocket out of our control" —David Brin, Hugo and Nebula Award-winning author of The Uplift War "A view of mankind's future and the universe reminiscent of Arthur C. Clarke." —The Denver Post "In nearly every passage, we get another slice of the science of McCarthy's construction, and a deeper sense of danger and foreboding... McCarthy develops considerable tension." —San Diego Union-Tribune "The Mycora are an astonishingly original concept, one of the most chilling versions of nanotechnology yet envisioned. McCarthy has a real talent for hard-SF concepts and thriller plotting." —Science Fiction Age "Although set in the twenty-second century, this transcendent tale of close encounters with awesome life forms echoes current anxieties over the godlike manipulations of bioengineering.... A wallop of a finale." —Publishers Weekly "McCarthy combines straightforward SF adventure with a generous dose of speculative science in this simply told story, which pits a few courageous individuals against an unknown (though once familiar) universe." —Library Journal About the Author Engineer/Novelist/Journalist/Entrepreneur Wil McCarthy is a former contributing editor for WIRED magazine and science columnist for the SyFy channel (previously SciFi channel), where his popular "Lab Notes" column ran from 1999 through 2009. A lifetime member of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, he has been nominated for the Nebula, Locus, Seiun, AnLab, Colorado Book, Theodore Sturgeon and Philip K. Dick awards, and contributed to projects that won a Webbie, an Eppie, a Game Developers' Choice Award, and a General Excellence National Magazine Award. In addition, his imaginary world of "P2", from the novel LOST IN TRANSMISSION, was rated one of the 10 best science fiction planets of all time by Discover magazine. His short fiction has graced the pages of magazines like Analog, Asimov's, WIRED, and SF Age, and his novels include the New York Times Notable BLOOM, Amazon.com "Best of Y2K" THE COLLAPSIUM (a national bestseller) and, most recently, TO CRUSH THE MOON. He has also written for TV, appeared on The History Channel and The Science Channel, and published nonfiction in half a dozen magazines, including WIRED, Discover, GQ, Popular Mechanics, IEEE Spectrum, and the Journal of Applied Polymer Science. Previously a flight controller for Lockheed Martin Space Launch Systems and later an engineering manager for Omnitech Robotics, McCarthy is now the president and Chief Technology Officer of RavenBrick LLC in Denver, CO, a developer of smart window technologies. He lives in Colorado with his family.

About this title

Review

In the distant future, nanotechnology has gotten out of control. The inner solar system has been overrun by Mycora, atom-size machines that devour everything they touch. Humanity has long since fled Earth for the cold reaches of the outer system, where the lack of heat and sunlight make it difficult--but not impossible--for the Mycora to bloom. Life in the Immunity is hard, and the survivors of humanity face the constant onslaught of the ever-evolving Mycora. But if they are to survive, the remaining humans must try to learn what happened to Earth, and whether the Mycora are finding ways to overcome their susceptibility to cold. When the Immunity mounts an expedition to plant probes on Earth's polar caps, shoemaker and aspiring journalist John Stasheim is asked to come along to chronicle the journey. He soon learns that the trip will be fraught with as many political dangers as nanotech ones, and that the Mycora are both more and less than they seem. An excellent SF novel along the lines of Greg Bear's Blood Music, but with more action and plot. Wil McCarthy is a writer to watch. --Craig E. Engler

From the Publisher

As Arthur C. Clarke's editor, I'm not easy to wow. I expect vast ideas and real-life characters grappling with the ramifications of those ideas. All too often, though, I find myself disappointed in so-called "hard science fiction," as it tends either to be science-heavy (I'll read Scientific American for that!) or plodding in its actual story elements, as if someone who understands science can't truly visualize fiction. Wil McCarthy's Bloom did not disappoint me--not through all my readings of it in its various incarnations, and not in the end. The concept of the spore bloom that eats our solar system scared the pants off me, and when our shipload of characters had to actually travel right into the heart of it, I feared for them. And that's what I expect from a good science fiction novel: I need to believe that our sciences can actually lead to incredible situations, and then I need to be either wowed or terrified. Wil McCarthy delivers on all fronts, and I can't wait till his next book--which I can't talk about, because the science in it is just too cutting edge!
                        --Shelly Shapiro, Executive Editor

*Science Fiction Book Club Alternate Selection

Great Quotes for BLOOM!!!
"Bloom is tense, dynamic, intelligent, offering a terrifyingly vivid view
of how technology can rocket out of our control."-- David Brin

"What clever and compelling science fiction! The 'Bloom' future is all too
believable." -- James Gleick

"Wil McCarthy makes ideas jump. BLOOM grabs you from very first scene and doesn't let go till the last page. It's irresistible." -- Walter Jon Williams

About this edition

• Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
• Publication date: 2015
• ISBN 10: 1505813743
• ISBN 13: 9781505813746
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 304