Ascendancies: The Best of Bruce Sterling - Hardcover

Bruce Sterling

4.05

227 ratings by Goodreads

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1596061138 ISBN 13: 9781596061132

Publisher: Subterranean Pr, 2007

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"I'm an entertainer in the military-entertainment complex." -- Bruce Sterling 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. Born in Texas in 1954, Sterling has traveled the globe writing and working for The New York Times, Nature, Wired, Newsday, and a number of industrial design magazines. His short fiction has appeared in almost every major publication in the science fiction field. His novels include far future adventures Involution Ocean and The Artificial Kid, Schismatrix, John W. Campbell Memorial Award winner Islands in the Net, The Difference Engine, Heavy Weather, Holy Fire, Distraction, and The Zenith Angle.

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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.

From Publishers Weekly:

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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