The result is is a total immersion into the Mechanist/Shaper universe from the Hugo, Campbell, and Arthur C.
But while saving his own skin is Lindsay's main motivation, a greater destiny awaits him, one that could offer a bold new hope for a tragically sundered humankind.Ī breathtaking flight of unparalleled imagination, Bruce Sterling's Schismatrix Plus also includes every subsequent excursion into the Mechanist and Shaper universe, complementing his acclaimed novel with the complete collection of mind-boggling Schismatrix short fiction. Scrupulously trained in the fine art of treachery and deceit, he travels freely between the warring camps during his never-ending exile, embracing piracy and revolution all along the way. The child of Mechanists, Abelard Lindsay is a former Shaper diplomat who was betrayed and cast out of the fold.
The rebel Shapers view these "improvements" as abominations, and their faith in genetic enhancements over mechanical ones has led to violent, even murderous, clashes between the two sects. The aristocratic Mechanists believe that humans can only achieve their greatest potential through technology and enhancing their bodies with powerful prosthetics. Many thousands of years in the future, the human race has split into two incompatible factions. "Has he spoken?" she said.The Nebula-nominated novel of "a brave new world of nearly constant future shock"-plus all the short fiction of the Shaper/Mechanist universe ( The Washington Post).Īcclaimed science fiction luminary and a godfather of the genre's remarkable offspring-cyberpunk-Bruce Sterling carries readers to a far-future universe where stunning achievements in human development have been tainted by a virulent outbreak of prejudice and hatred. She carried a wooden instrument case and wore a loose medical tunic, short skirt, and muddied plastic boots. The scanner whirred down its upright track-stand to settle around the top of his head. I mean right down to the core." Lindsay sniffed obediently at the inhaler. Bruce Sterling carries readers to a far-future universe where.Schismatrix Plus eBook by Bruce Sterling Rakuten Kobo. For the scanner." The Superbright whacked the curved white dome of the machine affectionately. The second orderly handed him an inhaler. They seated him under an overhead cerebral scanner.
The doctor's on her way." Smiling, he draped Lindsay in a broad-sleeved hospital gown, tying it behind him in an easy flurry of knots. He had the smooth grace of a Shaper and the riveting eyes of a Superbright. Lindsay stared helplessly into the face of the man on his left. The left wing of the mansion, with its suite of bedrooms, had been stripped down to the polished wood and filled with medicinal equipment. They took him down an entry hall crowded with blueprints and glass-topped exhibits. The words waited agonizingly on the tip of his tongue, just past his reach. He wanted to speak to the orderlies, ask them how he had returned, but his brain couldn't shuffle his vocabulary into order. His thoughts were clear, but the words wouldn't come. Taking his arms, they helped him stagger across the lawn through the arched stone doorway of the clinic. When he called for help, two young Shapers wearing hospital whites answered his broken cries. Helpless joy pervaded him as he joined its serene integration. As his mind coalesced he burned with insight, a smoldering oneness with this living being. He pressed his face against the tree, sobbing in frenzy, torn with deep visionary rapture. He threw his arms around the tree and pressed his bearded cheek against the bark.Įcstasy seized him. He heaved himself over and slithered toward the tree's rough trunk, hauling his naked flesh through the sleek grass. He saw a living spray of branching leaves and twigs: a form of such fantastic beauty that he was overwhelmed with awe. Above him the world swam into focus: green light, white light, a brown framework of branches.
He sprawled on his back in the grass, gasping. He struggled to unify himself, to assume the burden of being Lindsay again, and the pain of it made him claw the grass, spattering his naked skin with dirt.Ĭhaos roared around him: reality in its rawest form, a buzzing, blinding confusion. The dreams were pleasant, dreams of warmth and light, an animal's life, an eternal present.Ĭonsciousness returned in tingling pain, like blood seeping into a leg long numbed. Tags: Fiction - Science Fiction, Anthologies (non-poetry), Science Fiction & Fantasy, Space Opera, Science Fiction - General, General, Science fiction, American, Fantasy, Fiction anthologies & collections, Adventure, Fiction, Short Stories