Review of science fiction books published in 2000-2001 * The new science fiction books deal more with humans
than technology. Welcome to the futuristic gay hero
The first, the scientist who swallowed intelligent blood cells, and most importantly -
Do not approach the ice 9
Noa Manheim, Tel Aviv newspaper
At this point it is already quite clear that at the age of 21 we will not reach the moon,
and that our bank accounts barely allow us to travel
Once abroad a year, not to mention a visit to the space station
the international. But at the price of a few tens of shekels,
We can live in parallel universes, time travel,
to visit friends in neighboring galaxies and connect to the network with
Biological sockets (much faster than broadband!).
The first MDB writer was Mary Shelley, his 19-year-old wife
of the poet Percy Bish Shelley. After an intervention between the couple
To their friend Lord Byron, on the question of which of them would write the best horror story, the girl sat,
Immersed in the Gothic romance of her time and wrote her only work: "Frankenstein". Legend
About the scientist and his monster, was actually the first literary confrontation with the horror of intervention
the technological in the act of creation. Apart from her, we will forever cherish Jules Verne, who predicted the atomic propulsion;
The golden age of hard science fiction, starring Larry Niven and Isaac Asimov - with wigs
The terrible cheeks - that bombarded with robots and space colonies; the drugged 60s and 70s,
who brought into the world philosophical-psychological currents of modernism, whose most respected representative is "Holit";
and the cyberpunk that broke out after them. The last decade of science fiction books abandoned dystopias
The gloom about the end of the world and the obsessive pursuit of pure science. The tone setters in the genre today are
Socio-political texts, which debate questions of morality and human essence.
And if all this made you want some science fiction, the following five books are the genre recommendations that have been released
recently.
"Cat's Cradle", Kurt Vonnegut. Zamora Beitan Publishing House, from English: Yaakov Rotblit, 236 p.
"Ice Nine" was a wonderful invention of Kurt Vonnegut, one of the crazy and talented prophets of
Our period, before it became the name of an anorexic Tel Aviv band. These days a new translation is coming out
of one of Vonnegut's first novels ("Slaughterhouse Five", "Welcome to the Monkey House"),
And he is the one who will save Vonnegut's fans in the Holy Land, who have been unable to find him for years
The old translation. A crazy book about a crazy island full of followers of Buchanan, the crazy prophet, at the end
(the completely insane) of the book bring upon the world the final and perfect ice age with his kind help
of "Ice Nine". Not only for science fiction fans and not only for Vonnegut fans. The end of the world never happened
Funnier and more arbitrary.
"Holit, House of Harkonnen", Brian Herbert and Kevin Anderson. Published by Am Oved, from English: Dorit Lands,
710 p.
Nothing to do, apples are not genetic clones of the trees they came from. After Frank's death
Herbert, who created one of the masterpieces of science fiction of all time - "Holit", decided
His son to follow in his father's ways and write trailers (SLEUQERP) that take place before the arrival of Paul
Atreides for the spine. "House of Harkonnen" is the second book in the trailer trilogy, and it continues
shed light on the conflicted and complex universe created by Herbert Sr., and falls far short of the original book
And even from the sequels published by the father himself. But, still, this is a must-read book for those who have read
"Dune". Those who have not yet read and establish their familiarity with this ecological-philosophical-political epic
About David Lynch's film or, Mercifully, about the appalling adaptation of the TV series that aired
Two weeks ago, it would be better to start from the source and one hour before.
"Mount Sin Zhang", Maureen P. McCue. Opus Publishing, from English: Rehavia Berman, 259 p.
And following the Pride Parade, get the first openly gay hero in science fiction
(in Hebrew translation, at least). Anyone who feels suffocated in a closet or crowded in a parade, should try it
To imagine life in a world where the punishment for your sexual tendencies is at best exile
to a camp for political re-education and in the worst case the death penalty. Zhong Shan Zhang, known as “Mt
China" (it's a play on words in Mandarin, and don't ask me to explain. Read), he is a civil engineer
Of mixed origin (Hispanic mother and Chinese father), in a future where most of the world we know has passed
A communist revolution according to the best Chinese tradition. Zhang, and the other characters that appear
In the book in the first person, the political-social existence is reflected through the experiences of struggle
A daily life of survival, work and love.
The sexual orientation of the protagonist of the book in this case serves McCue, which is her first book,
in shaping the character of the individual in a conformist society, and does it well. The book won
in a variety of awards, including those given to science fiction books dealing with gender. without
Spaceships, without aliens and without robots, with simple people trying to solve simple problems
in a complex world. Just like us.
"Blood music", Greg Bar. Keter Publishing, from English: Alex Ben Ari, 286 p.
The first book in Keter's renewed MDB series is as good science fiction as science gets
Good fiction should be. Virgil Yolem, the archetypal science geek, is fired from his job
In a company engaged in biological research, and like any good high-tech layoff, he tries to take with him
Everything possible. In this case it is illegal research that he is conducting on intelligent blood cells.
And what is the best hiding place for this kind of research? Of course, in the bloodstream of
Yulem himself. The punishment for the classic Frankensteinian hubris of the life-creating man, is
The destruction of the creator, and in the case of "blood music" also of the civilization as we are
You know her. A book that raises and deals with the most ancient and basic questions:
What is a person, when does he stop meeting this definition, and what will be the next step in evolution
the human Barr already succeeded 15 years ago in concocting a current scientific suspense story, which is touching
Among the major questions troubling the United Nations Genetic Research Ethics Committee today -
While presenting almost casually what might be happening right now in the building fenced with
The guard dogs closest to your place of residence. Creepy, fascinating and above all, a demonstration of the genre
At its best: thought-provoking and hypothesizes about a possible future.
"The People's Trap", Robert Shackley. Odyssey Publishing, translation: Tal Weiss, 240 p.
A collection of the short stories of Shekli, one of the Purim and most inventive of Tor writers
The gold of the MDB. A wild race around New York, the winner of which gets one of the pieces
The last earth in the world to suffer from a population explosion, through a space explorer on a business trip,
May he be lucky enough to meet a race whose language is constantly changing, and to a society where death is painful
And the cruel is the expected and desired end of life. Shekel's book is full of exercises
Marvelous in futuristic anthropology, and exhausts to the maximum the flight of the wild imagination
that science fiction allows. Funny and wonderful.
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