Distraction
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Distraction description
It's the year 2044, and America has gone to hell. A disenfranchised U.S. Air Force base has turned to highway robbery in order to pay the bills. Vast chunks of the population live nomadic lives fueled by cheap transportation and even cheaper computer power. Warfare has shifted from the battlefield to the global networks, and China holds the information edge over all comers. Global warming is raising sea level, which in turn is drowning coastal cities. And the U.S. government has become nearly meaningless. This is the world that Oscar Valparaiso would have been born into, if he'd actually been born instead of being grown in vitro by black market baby dealers. Oscar's bizarre genetic history (even he's not sure how much of him is actually human) hasn't prevented him from running one of the most successful senatorial races in history, getting his man elected by a whopping majority. But Oscar has put himself out of a job, since he'd only be a liability to his boss in Washington due to his problematic background. Instead, Oscar finds himself shuffled off to the Collaboratory, a Big Science pork barrel project that's run half by corruption and half by scientific breakthroughs. At first it seems to be a lose-lose proposition for Oscar, but soon he has his "krewe" whipped into shape and ready to take control of events. Now if only he can straighten out his love life and solve a worldwide crisis that no one else knows exists. --Craig E. Engler |
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Distraction Customer Reviews
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♥♥♥♥♥ |
Masterful writing undermined by gross implausibilities.
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Rating: "B": masterful writing and funny/clever satire, undermined
by gross implausibilities and clunky auctorial manipulations.
Distraction has a more mature, less headlong feel than Holy Fire,
Sterling's previous novel. And the premise is grimmer -- the mid-
21st century USA, bankrupted by a Chinese netwar, is coming
seriously unglued. could almost see the footnotes in the catalog of "what went wrong":
Military bases selling equipment to survive: Russia, now
16 US political parties, endless infighting: recent Italy.
Charismatic, corrupt, narcissistic Southern governors: a composite from RL -- pick your favorite. Fer sure a contribution from Narcissus ultimus, the Man from Hope.
Sterling's eye for the absurd and powers of invention are
unmatched, and you'll have a lot of fun reading Distraction. But --
the book never quite jells, and left me feeling vaguely dissatisfied. I
started a review, but couldn't quite put my finger on what went
wrong -- until I found Gerald Jonas had done the review I wanted to
write [G00GLE NY Times]:
In DISTRACTION (Dec 98, Bantam, $23.95) the estimable Bruce
Sterling demonstrates why science fiction is such a difficult genre
to get right... So unlikely is [Sterling's] next-century scenario
that I found myself unable to take the actions of his characters
seriously, even as satire. Ideas as counterintuitive as the
bankrupting of the United States by the overnight obliteration of
copyright and trademark laws cannot function as mere background for
other events; they call for front-and-center treatment on their
own... The players in the drama [are reduced] to bloodless puppets of
the authorial imagination...
Yup, that's pretty much What Went Wrong with the book. Perhaps he got too
close to some True Beliefs... Pity. Still worth reading, but you might wait for the paperback, or get it from the library. And mind you, I'm a big Sterling fan.
Minor cavil for a bit of background, which shows up 2 or 3 times:
Wyoming burning? What's to burn? You can walk through a short-
grass prairie fire and barely singe your leg-hair. Grmph.
And I profoundly, deeply, sincerely wish Mr Sterling would find
some fresh superlative modifiers....
I know, cheap shot. But DISTRACTION marks the start of Sterling's decline as a novelist, which, I'm sorry to report, has now extended to his nonfiction. And he's published no new short fiction since 2003. Sigh.
Review copyright 1999 by Peter D. Tillman
Minor revisions, 2006. |
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