Ascendancies: The Best of Bruce Sterling - Hardcover

Sterling, Bruce

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1596061138 ISBN 13: 9781596061132

Publisher: Subterranean Pr, 2007

Synopsis

Presents a collection of science fiction stories, including the selections from the "Shaper/Mechanist stories," the "Leggy Starlitz stories," and the "Chattanooga stories."

About this title

From the Inside Flap

Polemicist, provocateur, futurist, visionary in residence , Bruce Sterling has been out there, personally sharpening the cutting edge of science fiction for more than thirty years.From his first story Man-Made Self in 1976 to his latest Kiosk in 2007, Sterling has written science fiction that is fast-moving, sharply extrapolated, technologically literate, and as brilliant and coherent as a laser, as he himself once said of William Gibson. His Shaper/Mechanist stories were an essential part of the cyberpunk movement of the 80s, just as his Leggy Starlitz and Chattanooga stories wrangled the near future of the 90s better than anyone else. Whether writing about the deep future in Schismatrix or the deep present in Holy Fire, he has developed into the best science fiction writer working in the world today.

Reviews

Starred Review. Sterling (Visionary in Residence: Stories), the godfather of cyberpunk, demonstrates his full range, from far future to forgotten past, in this well-stocked career-spanning collection of his finest SF pieces. His blend of uncompromising realism and irrepressible optimism shows up wherever his protagonists do, whether working for a stranded alien in Crusader-era Palestine (The Blemmye's Stratagem), investigating a mock space journey inside the cavern left from a Chinese H-bomb test (Taklamakan) or just hanging around (literally) in 2037 Chattanooga, fixing bikes and foiling a black ops agent out to protect her senile senator boss (Bicycle Repairman). Sterling is both Cassandra and Scheherazade, always forced to spill the ugly truths about what's to come in spite of our unconcern, but always willing to see if the doom can be held off for another night by one more good story. Readers who like a hard-eyed view of the future combined with a wry wink at the past, with a few inventive postmodern narrative kicks mixed in, will be greatly rewarded. (Aug.)
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Sterling's speculative fiction dazzles from the get-go, bombarding the reader with one extraordinary concept after another. The Sharper/Mechanist stories depict posthumans living in a society divided between those who have been modified by genetic engineering and others who have been altered by technology. But Sterling's early sf and fantasy are as likely to be set in the past as in the present or near future. Dinner in Audoghast is a startling cautionary tale of a society convinced it has reached the pinnacle of sophistication; in it, the guests at a feast in the Ghanaian empire that prospered a millenium ago arrogantly dismiss a fortune-teller's (highly accurate) apocalyptic prophecies. In Flowers of Edo, denizens of Edo (later called Tokyo) quixotically battle new technologies imposed by Western powers. The Leggy Starlitz stories feature that hero, a crafty opportunist with a can-do attitude. In Hollywood Kremlin, Starlitz smuggles contraband as the Soviet Empire crumbles and Armenian-Muslim antogonism brews. This significant retrospective of Sterling's career reveals a prescience that is bold and astounding. Segedin, Ben

Edition details

• Publisher: Subterranean Pr
• Publication date: 2007
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1596061138
• ISBN 13: 9781596061132
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 547
• Editor: Strahan Jonathan