The Geek Caucus
TrekMovie.com reported today that they have confirmed the identity of the villain character in the sequel to J.J. Abrams’ 2009 Trek reboot. Benedict Cumberbatch has been known to be portraying the next villain for some time, but it wasn’t until recently that his character was revealed.
Click here to find out who it is. You may or may not be surprised.
Walter Jon Williams is nothing if not a visionary worldbuilder, and the world of Aristoi is him at his best. I really dig on unique science fiction novels, the kind where the author clearly let his imagination run wild with how the future might turn out, then figured out how to make it logical. It’s something few writers have the courage to do these days.
The title of this novel is an ancient Greek word meaning “the best,” and refers to a title the Greeks used for their noblemen. In the words of Wikipedia, “The term was used to describe the noblemen in ancient Greece, those of a status above the common people. Aristoi were members of the aristocracy and regarded as possessing the trait of Arete; a ‘right nature’.” Wikipedia goes on to describe the Socratic idea of the “philosopher-king”: “the wise person who accepts the power thrust upon him by the people who are wise enough to choose a good master. This is the main thesis of Socrates in the Republic, that the most wisdom the masses can muster is the wise choice of a ruler.”
It is from this concept that Williams takes his premise for Aristoi. In the far future (circa 4200 AD), Earth is no more, having been destroyed in a horrific flood of advanced technology gone awry, and the human race has been forced to drastically rethink the structure of its civilization in order to survive. Deciding that the use of advanced technology (particularly nanotechnology) should be limited to an elite few, the survivors of Earth create a new society that places intelligence and moral character above all else. The citizens of this new society therefore willing grant absolute authority to the Aristoi, the best of them, and allow them to rule over humanity as their ultimate sovereigns. Becoming an Aristos is a simple matter of passing a series of tests — tests that would easily defeat even the most outstanding examples of human intelligence and character alive today. Anyone can apply, but only the ultra-elite extreme few pass.
Williams’ idea is that at this point in its history, humans have discovered how to augment their intelligence with a combination of technology and psychological conditioning. With computer assistance, humans are able to compartmentalize their personalities, effectively breaking their minds into multiple personalities that can handle multiple tasks — and even be in multiple places, thanks to virtual reality — simultaneously. As such the Aristoi are, in a very real way, true posthumans: they no longer have the weaknesses or flaws of ordinary people, and are capable of planning, governing, and protecting entire solar systems. Faster-than-light communications allow for a pan-galactic virtual reality network to exist, which they call the oneirochronon, through which the Aristoi can meet and discuss the governance and future of humanity. The Hyperlogos, a connected galactic network, contains the sum total of human knowledge up that point. Everything done or said by an Aristos is recorded for posterity. What could disrupt such a visionary future? As the book jacket blurb says, a mad Aristoi, of course. What happens when someone with absolute power does something absolutely sane?
That forms the core of Williams’ plot in this novel, which is a rich, detailed, original story filled with technology, art, and adventure. The tone of Aristoi is ultimately hopeful, particularly given that it was written at a time when dystopian SF was the going trend. It tells of a future for humanity that includes advancement and maturation and growing wisdom, though still tinged by the inevitable human flaws of arrogance, greed, and lust for power.
His characters discover, in a way, that being posthuman still means being human. Although human life has been extended, particular for the Aristoi, to a median lifespan of hundreds of years, humans must still face their mortality. Breakdown, or Dorian Gray’s disease, refers to the eventual and inevitable entropic degradation of the artificial systems which extend their lives: eventually, everyone dies. Gabriel finds that his hitherto luxurious lifestyle of sophistry and pleasure merely conceals the often perilous burden of being a leader of a species. He is eventually forced into a situation where his very advanced faculties are compromised, and he is left to discover whether his potential is dependent on his demi-god powers, or whether he can achieve his goals as a mere man. His companion is forced to decide whether she wants to become an Aristos herself, making the ultimate decision between humanity and posthumanity.
The plot is riveting and moves at a quick pace. Those with a taste for imaginative, original SF will love Aristos. I recommend it with no reservations.
I discovered Metropolitan completely unexpectedly while browsing the (somewhat sparse) science fiction and fantasy section at my local public library. I had heard of Walter Jon Williams, but had never read any of his work. After reading the jacket copy and deciding that this book seemed written just for me, I borrowed it. What followed was one of the most entertaining reading experiences I’ve had in years. It’s possible that some of my enthusiasm is due to the surprise factor — I never expected to come across a great book so accidentally. Williams’s creativity and originality make it easy to praise him, however.
The setting of Metropolitan is a world city (a planet entirely covered in cityscape) that may or may not be a future/alternate Earth, that functions almost entirely on the production and retrieval of plasm, a magical “geomantic” energy source drawn from the planet through the geometric placement of manmade structures. In other words, the structure of the world city itself, the way its buildings are designed and laid out, converts latent energy into power. The world economy (both white markets and black) is based on its purchase and sale, and plasm is expensive. Though everyone has access to it, only the very rich can afford the fees. Plasm can be channeled by mages to telepathically project their minds to other places, create, alter, or destroy physical matter, and even to teleport. It is tapped like electricity and governed by the Plasm Authority, essentially a utility company that also enforces penalties for plasm theft. The book is written from one main character’s point of view, that of Aiah, a Barkazil woman who works a dead-end job at the Plasm Authority and often wonders what her life would be like if she had the resources to get a degree in plasm use. Aiah is a clever, adventurous character, one who is pleasantly honest and comfortable with moral ambiguity, particularly if the ends justify the means. The book begins when she finds a hidden plasm source that opens a door into a larger world than she ever dreamed of.
Incredible. More excited than ever about this film. Does anyone else sense a Steve Jobs allusion here?
I’m not sure I completely understand the ongoing confusion (up until this video came out) about whether or not Prometheus is directly connected to the Alien universe/films. It obviously is. The Space Jockey, seen in the first trailer, is straight out of Alien. The derelict ship is straight out Alien. How is this movie not connected to Alien?
James S.A. Corey’s Leviathan Wakes is a debut novel in name only (James S.A. Corey is the pen name of Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck; Abraham has authored two epic fantasy series and an urban fantasy series under yet another pen name, and Franck is the author of published short stories and assistant to George R.R. Martin), but it’s as impressive as any I’ve encountered. Book one of a planned trilogy entitled The Expanse (with possible future books to follow if the series proves successful), Leviathan Wakes is a perfect harmony of genre: a strong main space opera theme supported by elements of noir fiction and horror.
Set a few hundred years in the future when humanity has colonized the solar system (but not the stars), the story follows two viewpoint characters (not counting those in the prologue and epilogue), Miller, a down at the heels detective from Ceres station (an asteroid space station in the asteroid belt), and Holden, the executive officer of a space freighter. Corey wisely steals from George Martin (who stole in turn from William Faulkner) the narrative technique of structuring the novel in alternating viewpoint chapters titled with the corresponding viewpoint character’s name.
Variety and io9 reported yesterday that Mythology Entertainment, a new production company formed by Brad Fischer (producer of Black Swan, Shutter Island, and Zodiac), Laeta Kalogridis (producer, Shutter Island; executive producer of Avatar), and James Vanderbilt (screenwriter of Shutter Island, Zodiac; producer, Zodiac), have purchased film rights to Richard Morgan’s classic cyberpunk noir novel Altered Carbon.
The production team obviously has some chops, but I agree with io9: this makes me nervous. This is an important book. Too important to screw up (much like the long-rumored, long-dreaded adaptation of William Gibson’s Neuromancer). If the producers are willing to make a movie with a hard ‘R’ rating, then they will be on the right track, but turn this into a PG-13 effects fest and the spirit of the novel will be lost.
In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, George Lucas recently commented on the “Who shot first?” issue in Star Wars: Episode IV: A New Hope:
The controversy over who shot first, Greedo or Han Solo, in Episode IV, what I did was try to clean up the confusion, but obviously it upset people because they wanted Solo [who seemed to be the one who shot first in the original] to be a cold-blooded killer, but he actually isn’t. It had been done in all close-ups and it was confusing about who did what to whom. I put a little wider shot in there that made it clear that Greedo is the one who shot first, but everyone wanted to think that Han shot first, because they wanted to think that he actually just gunned him down.
Via io9 and slashfilm.
Right, George. Riiiight. Even if this is true, it just proves that Lucas’s conception of the Han Solo character isn’t as interesting as what actually appeared on screen in the original cut of the film. It’s not that Solo’s a “cold-blooded killer,” it’s that he’s a criminal who has only survived this long by not taking any chances with other criminals. It was clear from the original cut that Solo knew Greedo had every intention of shooting him, and when Greedo confirmed it (“Over my dead body.” “That’s the idea.”), Solo shot first. A pre-emptive attack. Bush style. It cemented his status as a rogue, a daring spacer who was not to be trifled with. Changing the scene and making it out like Solo always had a perfect heart of gold and only acted purely defensively just dumbs down the character arc. Not to mention the fact that if Han wasn’t the type to shoot first, he almost certainly would have been dead before the story opened. You can’t always count on your opponent missing.
Twitch’s recent report that Harrison Ford was allegedly in talks to return as Rick Deckard in a Blade Runner sequel have been met with an emphatic denial by producer Andrew Kosove, but Twitch isn’t buying it.
Seriously, where can I get a set of these rocks glasses?
Twitch reports today on the sequel to Blade Runner:
In March of 2011 word broke that Alcon Entertainment and Warner Brothers had teamed up to return to the world of Ridley Scott’s classic scifi Blade Runner. In following weeks Scott himself would sign on to direct the project – it is widely expected to be Scott’s next project after Prometheus, though he’s got a number in the works so scheduling could always change – but the official line has always been that Scott would be the only returning alumni, that the plan was a completely fresh reboot.
I hadn’t heard Scott was making a sequel, but it’s great to see that he’s moving from the Alien universe directly into another science fiction film. Whether the new Blade Runner will be worth our while is another question entirely, however. The bigger news today is that Harrison Ford is rumored to be talking about returning as Rick Deckard:
Twitch has learned that Harrison Ford has entered into early talks to join the new Blade Runner. While this is still very early stages and it is quite possible that things won’t work out the obvious implication is that what we are looking at is nota reboot but a direct sequel to the original.
The term “space opera” doesn’t really encompass what John C. Wright’s novel Count to a Trillion is. I read more fantasy than science fiction, generally speaking, and so when the craving for some space opera struck me recently, this book had two things going for it: (1) it was new, and (2) it appeared to be a stand-alone novel. I wanted to get a sense of where the genre was at, but I didn’t want to get involved in an unfinished series by an author I was unfamiliar with, given that I was sneaking this onto the top of a long reading list. More on my hesitation about getting into new series later.
Count to a Trillion contains more fascinating ideas than any five books of its kind, and as such it is brilliantly flawed, because the narrative is so over-flowing with pure scientific spitballing that the actual story often gets lost completely.
