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Author
Index
H |
M
John Harrison |
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Title
Index
L |
Light |
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| Year |
2002 |
| Publisher |
Gollancz |
| ISBN |
0575070250 |
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Synopsis
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Beneath
the unbearable
light of the
Kefahuchi Tract -
a huge,
unpredictable
ocean of radiant
energy deep in the
galaxy - three
objects lie on the
barren surface of
an asteroid: an
abandoned
spacecraft, a pair
of what look like
bone dice, and a
human
skeleton.
What they are, and
what they mean,
are the mysteries
explored and
unwrapped in Light,
M John Harrison's
astonishing return
to the imaginative
terrain of science
fiction.
Three
intertwining
strands of
narrative - one
contemporary, the
others set in
different parts of
the galaxy in the
year 2400 - make
up the
novel. In
the here and now
is Michael
Kearney, destined
to take part in a
discovery which
will make possible
interstellar
travel, but at
present a tortured
individual
confronted by a
strange and
possibly alien
entity known as
the Shrander.
In the future
there are Seria
Mau Genlicher,
spaceship pilot,
surgically and
biologically
modified to
interact directly
with her ship, the
White Cat;
and Ed Chianese,
drifter and
sensation seeker,
currently down and
out in New
Venusport, with
everybody in the
universe
apparently keen to
take from him what
he owes. |
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Review
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'At
last M John
Harrison takes on
quantum
mechanics.
The first classic
of the quantum
century, Light is
a folded-down
future history
bound together by
quantum exotica
and human
endurance.
Taut as Hemingway,
viscerally
intelligent,
startlingly
uplifting,
Harrison's ideas
have a beauty that
unpacks to
infinity.'
Stephen Baxter
'Light
is a literary
singularity: at
one and the same
time a grim, gaudy
space opera that
respects the
physics, and a
contemporary novel
that unflinchingly
revisits the
choices that warp
a life. It's
almost unbearably
good.'
Ken MacLeod |
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Credit:
NASA
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Spitzer
Uncovers
Star
Hatchery
A new
striking
image from
the
infrared
telescope
shows a
vibrant
cloud
called the
Trifid
Nebula
dotted
with
glowing
stellar
"incubators."
Tucked
deep
inside
these
incubators
are
rapidly
growing
embryonic
stars,
whose
warmth
Spitzer
was able
to see for
the first
time with
its
powerful
heat-seeking
eyes.
The new
view
offers a
rare
glimpse at
the
earliest
stages of
massive
star
formation
-- a time
when
developing
stars are
about to
burst into
existence.
"With
Spitzer,
it's like
having an
ultrasound
for
stars,"
said
Spitzer
scientist
Dr.
Jeonghee
Rho.
"We
can see
into dust
cocoons
and
visualize
how many
embryos
are in
each of
them." |
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NASA
Image of
the day
archive |
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