ALT.SF4M

  Distraction

   • s******j@d********.**o.com
     01/01/1999 00:00:000 UTC

     Distraction by Bruce Sterling

     My full review should be up on Amazon shortly.

     Quickie:

     It's 2044. China has whupped our ass in an economic and information war;

     the Greenhouse effect has raised sea levels, screwed up the weather, and

     trashed entire ecologies. Scandal and corruption have the paralyzed the

     government. Enter Oscar Valpariso, not-quite-human (he was born in a
     cheap

     embryo mill) political operative. After winning a campaign for a modest

     Boston Senator, he tries to free a genetic engineering lab from the

     control of a loopy Lousiana governor.

     This 'un has all the stuff that I like about Sterling's fiction, but in

     an unusual wrapper. This is a political novel, very talky and complex

     and unforgiving of geekish pretense. The hero is a pol . . . a suit;

     science and technology, which are generally called upon in traditional

     SF novels to save the day, just makes a hideously complex situation more

     confounding.

     Mildly recommended. Sterling has done better.

     --

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       • p*******x@****.com
         01/01/1999 00:00:000 UTC

         While muttering something about 'Distraction'

         s******j@d********.**o.com (Stefan E. Jones) was heard to remark:

         >Mildly recommended. Sterling has done better.

         Just got this out of the library yesterday, so we shall see! (On the

         other hand, after "Heavy Weather," it can only get better...

         --

         73 de Dave Weingart KA2ESK There is no "never." Just long

         mailto:p*******x@****.com periods of "not yet.""

         http://www.liii.com/~phydeaux -- The Journey of Allen Strange