To Hold Infinity [Paperback]

John Meaney's short stories in Interzone magazine gave him a reputation in SF circles for being highly promising. The promise is fulfilled in his debut novel To Hold Infinity, which has all the authentic flash and dazzle of cutting-edge SF. It's set on a colony world whose aristocracy of "Luculenti" are genuinely superior to the common herd, thanks to built-in brain enhancements which provide all-senses net communication and multi- tasking processing power. The implications are nicely explored, with characters manipulating the market and buying/selling companies during fleeting pauses in conversation. An utterly hissable serial-killer villain exploits fellow-Luculenti's permanent Net links to assimilate their minds using vampire software and steal their add-ons for himself--his mind is multiplied by hundreds of these "extra brains", while the legal limit is three. Others sense that something's wrong, and tough heroine Sunadomari Yoshiko from primitive old Earth becomes entangled in the invisible, multi-levelled struggle for people's souls. When the now megalomaniac killer goes too far in public, the hunt is on and Yoshiko will be the bait ... The book glows with biological and nanotechnological wonders, strange weapons and surprising perspectives. It is deservedly shortlisted for the 1999 British SF Association Award. --David Langford

Earth-based biologist Yoshiko travels to the paradise world of Fulgor to see her estranged son, hoping to bridge the gap between them. However Tetsuo is in trouble. He is unwittingly caught in a conspiracy of tech-trafficking and corruption, and in the sinister machinations of the ruling elite.

Devastated by her husband's death, Earth-based biologist Yoshiko Sunadomari journeys to the paradise world of Fulgar to see her estranged son in the hope of bridging the gulf between them.

But Tetsuo is in trouble. His expertise in mu-space tech and family links with the mysterious Pilots have ensured his survival. So far. Now he's in way over his head - unwittingly caught up in a conspiracy of illegal tech-trafficking and corruption, and in the sinister machinations of one of Fulgar's ruling elite: the charismatic Luculentus, Rafael Garcia de la Vega. When his home is attacked, Tetsuo flees to the planet's unterraformed wastes, home to society's outcasts and eco-terrorists.

So Yoshiko arrives on Fulgar to discover Tetsuo gone...and wanted for murder. Ill at ease in this strange, stratified new world seething with social and political unrest but desperate to find her son and clear his name, she embarks on a course of action that will bring her face to face with the awesome, malevolent mind of Rafael...