January 13, 2004

Schismatrix Plus by Bruce Sterling

Life moves in clades. A clade is a daughter species, a related descendant. It's happened to other successful animals, and now it's humanity's turn. The factions still struggle, but the categories are breaking up. No faction can claim the one true destiny for mankind. Mankind no longer exists.

A collection of short stories and a novella called "Schismatrix" written by Bruce Sterling in the early 80s. All the stories are set in a common future universe where the human species has cleaved into the Shapers and the Mechanists. The Shapers have "reshaped" themselves through genetic engineering, adopting such enhancements as superior intelligence, longevity and odor-free perspiration. In the other corner lurk the Mechanists, who prefer to gradually replace their mortal flesh with prosthetic limbs and artificial organs. Both factions have colonized the solar system and most of the actions takes place off-earth on the various orbital conglomerates.

It was not entirely clear why the schism had developed, but as established it provides a Cold War setting (this was written in the 80s) but also a setting for the kind of political science-fiction that Sterling has in mind where there is no pause from technological and social change. Everybody has to change constantly, or become obsolete.

I am thankful for the inclusion of the short stories which are set in the same logical universe. Sterling is stronger when writing short fiction and there are some gems in this collection.

An especially good short story in this collection is "Swarm" where the hoary cliche of a hive-like alien species is handled with renewed vigor and with a bold moral about intelligent life.

I also liked "Spider Rose" and "Cicada Queen" for their wonderful post-human characters.

Here are the list of short stories in this collection (along with original publication dates):

  • Swarm First published in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, 1982.
  • Spider Rose First published in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, 1982.
  • Cicada Queen First published in Universe 13, 1983.
  • Sunken Gardens First published in Omni, 1984.
  • Twenty Evocations First published in Interzone, 1984.

Thematically similar cousins of these short stories are the `Near-Space' stories by Allen Steele (e.g. "Sex and Violence in Zero-G") and "Vacuum Flowers" by Michael Swanwick.


%T Schismatrix Plus
%T :Includes Schismatrix and Selected Stories from Crystal Express
%A Bruce Sterling
%I Ace Books
%D 1996
%G ISBN: 0441003702
%P 304
%K science-fiction

Review written: 2000/05/02

Posted by anoop at January 13, 2004 01:52 PM