Book description
In the most exciting SF collaboration ever, Arthur C. Clarke and his
acknowledged heir Stephen Baxter pool talent and unprecedented cosmic
insights as well as page-turning plotting skills and breathlessly good
writing to produce the most awesome novel of the future since 2001: A
Space Odyssey.
'Space is what keeps everything from being in the same place. Right?'
With these words Hiram Patterson, head of the giant media corporation
OurWorld, launches the greatest communications revolution in history.
With OurWorld's development of wormhole technology, any point in space
can be connected to any other, faster than the speed of light. Realtime
television coverage is here: earthquakes and wars, murders and disasters
can be watched, exactly as they occur, anywhere on the planet.
Then WormCams are made to work across time as well as space. Humanity
encounters itself in the light of other days. We witness the life of
Jesus, go to the premiere of Hamlet, solve the enigmas that have baffled
generations. Blood spilled centuries ago flows vividly once more - and
no personal treachery or shame can be concealed.
But when the world and everything in it becomes as transparent as glass
and there are no more secrets, people find new ways to gain vengeance
and commit crime. And Hiram Patterson meanwhile will try to keep his
deadly schemes secret - but even he, its creator, cannot anticipate the
power of the all-seeing WormCam. 'Two titans of hard SF team up for a
story of grand scientific and philosophical scope… The large-scale
implications addressed are impressive in this potent story'
Publishers Weekly
'A sweeping, mind-boggling read'
Booklist Born in Somerset in 1917, Arthur C. Clarke has written over
fifty books, among which are the science fiction classics 2001, A Space
Odyssey. He has won all the most prestigious science fiction trophies,
and shared an Oscar nomination with Stanley Kubrick for the screenplay
of the film of 2001. He lives in Sri Lanka.
Stephen Baxter is the author of the highly acclaimed Xeelee Sequence of
fiction and many other award-winning science fiction novels. He lives in
Buckinghamshire.
