Monday, August 09, 2004
I don't read a lot of hard science fiction. Well, that's sort of a lie. What I should say, rather, is that I don't read a lot of hard science fiction that isn't written by Neal Stephenson, William Gibson, or Melissa Scott (although they're typically classified as "cyberpunk," a term I dislike). However, when I read in an interview that Sean Stewart recommended Collapsium by Wil McCarthy, I thought I'd check him out. The first book I grabbed of his was Bloom. It took me a bit to get into because of the initial science overload that seems to characterize a lot of hard sf. But once I got into the story - Earth and the rest of the inner solar system overrun by omnivorous nanotechnology run amok, refugees fled to the moons of Jupiter, proposed mission to deposit sensors to monitor newly discovered adaptation of said nanotechnology nearly sabotaged and beset by problems - I was hooked. There's even a twist at the end which is a bit deus ex machina, but it hangs together with the rest of the story because of the science buildup so it's not completely out of left field. Plus he resisted the big cowboy finish (complete with a spectacular explosion) so I have to give him bonus points for that. I'm looking forward to reading more of his books, including the one that Stewart praised.
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