Sheffield's novel (was Re: H. G. Wells)

From: Damien Broderick (d.broderick@english.unimelb.edu.au)
Date: Mon Mar 06 2000 - 18:31:56 MST


At 07:12 PM 6/03/00 +0100, Anders wrote:

>> > Charles Sheffield's novel _Tomorrow and Tomorrow_

>I don't know about the author, but the book portrays cryonics and the
>OP favorably (although much of the story hinges on a cryonics mishap

Well, it has to, since it's a retelling of the myth of Orpheus and Euridice
(remember? the Greek god who took a final peek at his dead wife as he was
leading her out of Hell, so she was snatched back).

This is symptomatic of a lot of sf treatments of cool [ahem] ideas: because
we sf guyz work in an entertainment medium, the readers want lots of
thrills and chills [ahem, ahem] and expectably-unexpected disaster,
narrowly averted by sheer pluck and grit. Saying `then the Spike happened
and, um, everyone went to heaven and lived incomprehensibly ever after'
wouldn't sell many novels...

Damien



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