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WIL McCARTHY's
BLOOM
(Del Rey/Random House, Sep '98, ISBN 345-40857-8; ReAnimus Press, 2012)
(Cover art copyright 1998 by Rick Berry)
(Courtesy of ReAnimus Press)
Or: Amazon Kindle
Mycora: Technogenic life. Fast-reproducing, fast-mutating,
and endlessly voracious. In the year 2106, these microscopic machine/creatures
have escaped their creators to populate the inner solar system with a wild,
deadly ecology all their own, pushing the tattered remnants of humanity
out into the cold and dark of the outer planets. Even huddled beneath
the ice of Jupiter's moons, protected by a defensive system known as the
Immunity, survivors face the constant risk of mycospores finding their
way into the warmth and brightness inside the habitats, resulting in a
calamitous "bloom."
But the human race still has a trick or two up its sleeves;
in a ship specially designed to penetrate the deadly Mycosystem, seven
astronauts are about to embark on mankind's boldest venture yet -- the
perilous journey home to infected Earth!
Awards, Citations, Etc.
-
Locus Recommended Reading List
-
Amazon.com Editors' Choice
-
Borders "Best 10 Books of 1998"
-
SF Site "Reader's Choice" List
-
New York Times Notable Book
With authorization from Del Rey Books, Arthur C. Clarke very generously
ran a two-chapter excerpt of BLOOM in the U.S. paperback edition
of his NYT bestselling novel 3001: THE FINAL ODYSSEY. If you
own a copy, look in the back!
REPRINTS
| COUNTRY |
PUBLISHER |
DATE |
| UK |
Millennium |
May 99 |
| Deutschland |
Goldmann |
TBD 00 |
| Italy |
Fanucci |
TBD 00 |
| Worldwide |
ReAnimus Press |
2012 |
Blurbs & Reviews
"Bloom is tense, dynamic, intelligent, offering a terrifyingly
vivid view of how technology can rocket out of our control." -- David Brin
"What clever and compelling science fiction! The Bloom
future is all too believable." --James Gleick, author of Chaos: Making
a
New Science
"Wil McCarthy makes ideas jump. Bloom grabs you from
very first scene and doesn't let go till the last page. It's irresistible."
-- Walter Jon Williams
"An ingenious yarn with challenging ideas, well-handled technical
details and plenty of twists and turns." -- Kirkus Reviews
"Succeeds on many different levels, combining a unique literary
style with complex scientific speculation and political intrigue. Wil McCarthy's
most entertaining and thought-provoking novel yet." -- Preston Grassman,
Locus
"McCarthy is an entertaining, intelligent, amusing writer,
with Clarke's thoughtfulness [and] Heinlein's knack for breakneck plotting."
-- John Mort, Booklist
"An intense narrative of survival. Bloom works on several
levels even while beckoning the reader into deeper mysteries. McCarthy
proves once again that he has the wit and narrative power to take us to
the outer reaches of space and down into the vast unknown of human, and
inhuman, consciousness." -- Barnes and Noble
"Complex and inventive. Hundreds of pages of smart, suspenseful
science fiction. 'Our Pick.'" -- Curt Wohleber, Science Fiction Weekly
"The writing is vivid. Readers who can plug into the prose
and navigate its dense circuity will find themselves rewarded with a wallop
of a finale that satisfies high expectations for high-concept SF." -- Publishers
Weekly
"The science is consistent and integral to the story, and the
characters are much more plausibly drawn than are so many folks in [other
speculative] fiction. In nearly every passage, we get another slice of
the science of McCarthy's construction, and a deeper sense of danger and
foreboding." -- Jim Hopper, San Diego Union-Tribune
"An astonishingly original concept, one of the most chilling
versions of nanotechnology yet envisioned. McCarthy is able to make the
idea... seem quite believable. The pacing of the book is also excellent.
McCarthy has a real talent for hard-SF concepts and thriller plotting."
-- D. Douglas Fratz, SF Age
"A feast of exposition [that is] tasty as well as nutritious.
His sworn agenda to balance hard science, adventure and characterization
is vindicated by the completed product. Bloom is a fine synthesis
between Hard and Literary SF, a trick many have tried, but few have managed."
-- Ernest Lilley, SF Revu
"Technology gone wrong provides hard-SF terror in this fast-paced
thriller of nanotech-as-mold. Recommended." -- Russell Letson, Locus
"Ultimately [humanity] must learn to ask new questions. The
book's message is [that] in a universe stranger than we know, ignorance
may be inevitable, but it's definitely not bliss." -- Gerald Jonas, The
New York Times
"Swiftly paced, consistently inventive and tightly written.
This is a novel that knows its business." -- Gregory Feeley, The Washington
Post
"McCarthy has worked out a bleakly dramatic future. This is
the kind of broad view of mankind's future and the universe reminiscent
of Arthur C. Clarke." -- Fred Cleaver, The Denver Post
"The science is plausible, the narrative sinewy and taut.
[McCarthy's] assurance and skill are evident throughout. Starlog Verdict:
***** [5 out of 5 stars]" -- Starlog UK
"A strikingly fresh and extraordinary creation. You will
want this one on your must read list." -- BookBrowser.com
"Bloom might be the wide-screen novel nanotech SF needs
to kick-start itself. As soon as I read the cover blurb I couldn't
wait to start reading, and then once I'd started reading I couldn't stop.
Wil McCarthy's take on nanotech SF may be just about as far as we can go
with the idea in fiction." -- Stuart Carter, Infinity Plus (UK)
"Destined to become the classic nanotechnology novel." -- Bookman
News
"Impressive. Believable. The story-telling and
plot devices are tight, tight, tight. I regretted ever having to
put the book down. I found it to be often insightful, in psychology,
relationships, even philosophy. But the bottom line is that Bloom is fun.
Complaints? Nope, can't think of one." -- Fantastica Daily
Click here to read the first chapter.
You may also return to Wil McCarthy's home
page.