- Mass Market Paperback: 279 pages
- Publisher: Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group (1 Jan 2000)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0553576429
- ISBN-13: 978-0553576429
- Product Dimensions: 10.2 x 1.3 x 17.8 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,161,972 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
| ||||||||||||
Did you know you can trade in your old books for an Amazon.co.uk Gift Card to spend on the things you want? Plus, get an extra £5 Gift Certificate when you trade in books worth £10 or more before June 30, 2012. Visit the Books Trade-In Store for more details. |
Product details |
More About the Author
Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
This is a paperback collection of seven short stories by former cyberpunk guru turned socio/cultural prognosticator Bruce Sterling. Most of the works here come with impressive pedigrees, ranging from a Hugo Award for "Bicycle Repairman" to Hugo nominations for "Maneki Neko" and "Taklamakan". Another piece, "Big Jelly", was co-written by Sterling's fellow cyberpunk, Rudy Rucker.
These stories have a lot in common. They all take place in the near future, and most are action oriented, involving colourful characters such as secret agents, Silicon Valley entrepreneurs, mafiosi and revolutionaries. But they are also personal tales that tend to focus on individuals rather than ideas, which makes them hit home more often than standard SF fare. The best of the bunch is probably "Taklamakan", a high- concept piece about two freelance spies sent to a central Asian desert called Taklamakan, where the Asian Sphere is doing some sort of secret research into space flight. "Bicycle Repairman" is set in the same world but instead of an Asian desert it takes place in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and the spies in this story aren't the good guys. It's a less successful piece than "Taklamakan" but also a good read.
Not all of the stories in this collection have the edgy, this-is-what-tomorrow-will-be- like quality that typifies Sterling's best work. But even when Sterling isn't at his best he's entertaining, and A Good Old-Fashioned Future is certainly that. --Craig E. Engler
Product Description
From the subversive to the antic, the uproarious to the disturbing, the stories of Bruce Sterling are restless, energy-filled journeys through a world running on empty--the visionary work of one of our most imaginative and insightful modern writers.
They live as strangers in strange lands. In worlds that have fallen--or should have. They wage battles in wars already lost and become heroes--and sometimes martyrs--in their last-ditch efforts to preserve the dignity and individuality of humanity.
A hack Indian filmmaker takes the pulse of a wounded and declining civilization--21st-century Britain. A pair of swashbuckling Silicon Valley entrepreneurs join forces to make a commercial killing--in organic underground slime and computer-generated jellyfish. A man in a Japanese city takes orders from a talking cat while pursuing a drama of danger and adventure that has become the very essence of his life.
From "The Littlest Jackal", a darkly hilarious thriller of mercs and gunrunners set in Finland, to a stark vision of a post-atomic netherworld in his haunting tale "Taklamakan", Bruce Sterling once again breaks boundaries, breaks icons, and breaks rules to unleash the most dangerously provocative and intelligent science fiction being written today.
They live as strangers in strange lands. In worlds that have fallen--or should have. They wage battles in wars already lost and become heroes--and sometimes martyrs--in their last-ditch efforts to preserve the dignity and individuality of humanity.
A hack Indian filmmaker takes the pulse of a wounded and declining civilization--21st-century Britain. A pair of swashbuckling Silicon Valley entrepreneurs join forces to make a commercial killing--in organic underground slime and computer-generated jellyfish. A man in a Japanese city takes orders from a talking cat while pursuing a drama of danger and adventure that has become the very essence of his life.
From "The Littlest Jackal", a darkly hilarious thriller of mercs and gunrunners set in Finland, to a stark vision of a post-atomic netherworld in his haunting tale "Taklamakan", Bruce Sterling once again breaks boundaries, breaks icons, and breaks rules to unleash the most dangerously provocative and intelligent science fiction being written today.
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
Browse and search another edition of this book.
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
Browse and search another edition of this book.
Explore More
Concordance
Browse Sample PagesConcordance
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
Tag this product(What's this?)Think of a tag as a keyword or label you consider is strongly related to this product.
Tags will help all customers organise and find favourite items. |
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Mass Market Paperback
This collection contains seven stories, all previously published in magazines between 1993 and 1998. One story, "Big Jelly" was co-authored with Rudy Rucker.
I liked this anthology a lot despite the fact that a couple of the stories were rather weak. Some of the stories seem to have been written by extrapolating current events into the future and these, like "The Littlest Jackal" are the weakest in the collection. Also, in that story, the author mis-places Helsinki north of the Arctic circle and so he has the sun not setting in the summer, that was just sloppy writing. The stories such as "Maneki Neko" (my favourite) and the "Deep Eddy" series, that extrapolate technology are the ones that make the book worth while. In these, Sterling's wry view of the way that technology might change our world is both thought provoking and funny.
The last three stories are all set in the same world and they follow the largely unrelated exploits of a group of people living on the edge of a highly technological society. I felt as though the author was taking some of the people that he met while writing "The Hacker Crackdown" and then dropping them into the middle of the 21st century. These are three great stories.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Mass Market Paperback
Seven nice, fairly low-key stories set in near future worlds on the verge of becoming terribly strange . . . though not necessarily terrible. If there's a common theme here, it's that life will go on -- and may be a bit more fun -- if the corporate, social, and governmental status quo had some holes blown in it.
The best is "Maneki Neko," a genial story set in a Japan where the traditional gift economy has become fantastically enhanced. This one's up for a Hugo.
The weakest story is "The Littlest Jackal," another entry in the Siggy Starlitz sequence. Here the underground opportunist finds himself in the company of mercenaries trying to overthrow the local government and establish an off-shore banking haven. Not bad, but not up to the rest of the collection.
Strangest is a collaboration with Rudy Rucker about a Silicon Valley startup, synthetic jellyfish, and trouble in oil country.
Format:Mass Market Paperback
This book contains seven science fiction stories by Bruce Sterling. Each is written in the high-tech, intense-action, near-future style one expects of a Bruce Sterling story. These stories are well-served appetizers for readers not quite ready to commit to the full meal of Schismatrix or Black Swan.
All of these stories are good. Three are particularly so--
"Maneki Neko" takes us into a future high-tech, high-touch Japan. We all use personal networks to get things done. As they become smarter about how they do this, who is using who? Does it matter?
"Bicycle Repairman" has become a cyberpunk classic. More than anything it is a portrait of a low-key, high-tech social outcast. Well, there is more than one, actually.
In "Taklamakan" we accompany two deniable government operatives on a high-tech, behind-the-lines, undercover insertion into... something that has gone awry.
Did I mention that everything is high-tech? These are good stories and representative of Sterling's larger body of fiction. Take a deep breath and give them a try.
All of these stories are good. Three are particularly so--
"Maneki Neko" takes us into a future high-tech, high-touch Japan. We all use personal networks to get things done. As they become smarter about how they do this, who is using who? Does it matter?
"Bicycle Repairman" has become a cyberpunk classic. More than anything it is a portrait of a low-key, high-tech social outcast. Well, there is more than one, actually.
In "Taklamakan" we accompany two deniable government operatives on a high-tech, behind-the-lines, undercover insertion into... something that has gone awry.
Did I mention that everything is high-tech? These are good stories and representative of Sterling's larger body of fiction. Take a deep breath and give them a try.
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Most Recent Customer Reviews
Good stuff from Sterling.
This collection contains seven stories, all previously published in magazines between 1993 and 1998. One story, "Big Jelly" was co-authored with Rudy Rucker. Read more
Published on 7 April 2000 by John Peter O'connor
Good stuff from Sterling.
This collection contains seven stories, all previously published in magazines between 1993 and 1998. One story, "Big Jelly" was co-authored with Rudy Rucker. Read more
Published on 7 April 2000 by John Peter O'connor
a decent read
Not Sterling's /best/, but still entertaining.
Published on 27 Aug 1999
A Good Old Fashioned Future is really bad...
(I actually rate this collection a minus 5; but the Amazonians won't allow that with their current rating system.) Anyway... Read more
Published on 9 July 1999
Sterling's third collection is a winner!
Sterling is probably the best writer working in the SF field today, and easily the best to emerge during the '90s. Read more
Published on 21 Jun 1999
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
|
