Digital Science Fiction

June 29, 2012 – Hillsboro, NH — Amazing Stories, the world’s first science fiction magazine, will begin its return to regular publication this July 1st with Volume 0, Number 1, the Relaunch Prelaunch issue.

All kinds of wonderful things have been happening at Amazing Stories over the past several months and some of them have prompted a change to the overall plan for Amazing Stories return.

As some of you may recall, I was planning on beginning the funding effort following the presidential elections in November.  I’d originally wanted to go for the whole enchilada all at once and scale back from there as necessary.

Recent developments have caused me to accelerate certain aspects of the plan and to modify my approach to launching.

Now the plan is to break the project up into smaller pieces and fund those individually. Instead of scaling back, we’ll be building up.

This change has been engendered by a very exciting recent development that will both strengthen Amazing’s brand and create a revenue stream.  The details of this development will be announced the weekend of July 14-15.  The announcement will take place at the San Diego Comic Con (CA) and Readercon (MA) conventions.

I felt that it would be foolish to waste such an opportunity and decided to create the Relaunch Prelaunch issue of Amazing Stories so that there would be somewhere to go and something to look at when the announcement was made,

Since I had already gathered a fair amount of material for the blog, I decided to put it all together and create an issue of the magazine with it.  The content ranges from reminisces on Amazing from Robert Silverberg, Barry Malzberg and Patrick L Price, to fiction by Jack Clemons (all of which is being reprinted from earlier renditions of the magazine) to an extensive series of round-robin interviews with 13 of the Book View Cafe authors – Maya Bohnhoff, Brenda Clough, Chris Dolley, katharine E. Kimbriel, Sue Lange, Vonda McIntyre, Linda Nagata, Pati Nagle, Phyllis Radford, Deborah J. Ross, Sarah Smith, Jennifer Stevenson, Judith Tarr and Dave Trowbridge and some (short) editorializing from me.

I think there’s plenty of good stuff there that will be released throughout the course of the month.  Anyone who hears about Amazing Stories from the announcements (I’ll be sending it out to you all as well) will find several pieces to read when they visit and the promise of more to keep them coming back.  And this will not be the last Relaunch Prelaunch issue;  I’ve already started getting stuff in for the next one (an essay on Tarzan & Burroughs from John M Whalen) and more on the way (though I am not anywhere close to the three-months-out I ought to be).  Hold on to your fiction, but if you’ve got an interesting article, interview, review, feel free to send it inI.  I’m not paying and I can’t promise I’ll use it, but….

It now seems that the time to pull out all of the stops has arrived a few months earlier than I had originally anticipated.  I am now putting together the outline of a Kickstarter (or similar) crowd-funding plan and presentation that will be released in the next couple of months.

In order to make it all work I will need everyone’s help.

So what can you do?

Nothing if you’d prefer.  Or you could:

Visit the site. Share it with your friends.  Comment on something you find here.  Link to it. Sign up on the Facebook page.

Say nice things and think good thoughts.

The more Amazing Stories resembles a going concern, the easier it will be to obtain the funding and the closer we will all be to seeing what we want to see, the return of Amazing Stories!

The website and blog can be found here: Amazing Stories

The Facebook Page is here: Amazing Stories

I have plenty of space on the site to help promote and publicize fellow travelers.  If getting a spot up on Amazing’s site will help you promote the magazine, please send your artwork and link or get in touch so we can put a plan together.  I’m happy to do what I can in return for your support.

And finally,

Thank You All for your support, your kind words and your good wishes.

Steve Davidson

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The hallmark of good science fiction is that it draws the reader into an alien world where people very much like the reader face fantastic dilemmas in an alien setting that the reader can still empathize with. Readers of The Colors of Space by Marion Zimmer Bradley will find this to be true in spades and even more so. From the outset, the novel feels a great deal like a coming of age story for the main character, young Bart Steele, recent graduate from the Space Academy. He has his entire life ahead of him…

Of course, few coming of age stories go in the direction the protagonist thinks their life is going to go.

When Bart expects to meet his father at the spaceport, he is instead thrust into a complex conspiracy involving humanity’s place in the stars. Instead of his father, he meets one of his father’s friends (pretending to be his father) who changes its appearance, throws him onto a spaceship, and catapults young Bart into the adventure of his life.

In this future setting humanity has reached the stars with the help of the Lhari—a humanoid alien race who discovered the secret to faster-than-light travel. They also hold a monopoly on it. Instead of giving the secret of FTL to humanity, they keep it to themselves, telling humans that only Lhari can survive the jump to FTL, called “warp”, and they maintain the secret by putting humans on the ships into cold sleep before the event to keep them from dying.

Bart’s father is part of a collective human conspiracy to get the technology from the Lhari, prove that humans can survive warp, and that they deserve the technology that the Lhari have been monopolizing all the years they’ve known humanity.

As the cover might suggest color plays a very big part in the story. The Lhari, unlike humans, cannot see in color, only luminosity—in a way they only see black and white. As a result, much of the prose of the story is written with colors front-and-center with vivid descriptions of settings, sunsets, and especially stars. More than one case as a reader I was graced with a beautiful description of stars as jewels or colors such as “topaz” for the sun, the sapphire blue of Rigel.

Bradley’s prose is fluid and beautiful and fitting to the situations it’s described in—color takes a row front-and-center of much of the story, and it fits nicely into the plot.

In fact, the secret of FTL is apparently a yet-unseen color called the eighth color. Bart’s father’s shipping company is named “Eight Colors.”

Bart Steele comes across as a young kid thrust into an unexpected conspiracy when he’s swept up into the plot. He’s given very little information about his father (and why the Lhari are seeking him) but just that it may have something to do with FTL. During the story he’s thrust into a fish-out-of-water situation where he undergoes cosmetic surgery to look like one of the Lhari so that he can work aboard one of their ships as a spy. Through this we learn a great deal of Lhari culture and not just humans see them (as aliens) but how they see humans—and that human compassion does cross cultural and racial boundaries.

As a person, Bart must reconsider how he was raised and how he looked at the Lhari all his life—especially the xenophobic attitudes of his own culture and people about them. He makes friends on board the ship and becomes extremely introspective about the relationship between humanity and the Lhari. They’ve been shuttling humanity between the stars for years and keeping the FTL technology from them, this alone has raised a great deal of animosity between the races, and a certain amount of strange resentment. They even brainwash-via-hypnosis those humans who do work directly for them.

This book is accessible to both adults and juveniles, Bart himself feels like an older teenager just out of high-school (Space Academy) and the prose plays on personal biases, cultural awareness, friendship, honor, and introspection. The science fiction elements are strong in that space-travel and how humanity might interact with another race slot nicely into the contemplative roles of speculative fiction.

The colorful prose (and I mean that literally) brings Bart Steele and his world into a vivid focus with him as a believable central character growing up suddenly into a world he thought he knew. It’s a short read, potentially the type of book you’d carry onto an airplane or fall asleep with at night; but it has a lasting elemental plot-line that left a smile on my face as I watched Bart successfully navigate the perils that his life thrust at him and his place in changing the fate of humanity.

Get First Contact (Kindle) FREE for two (2) days only.

Happy Birthday First Contact – Digital Science Fiction Anthology 1.

To celebrate the one year anniversary of the launch of First Contact, our very first Digital Science Fiction anthology, we have arranged a free Kindle version promotion at Amazon.com.

For two days, from June 4th to the end of June 5th you can download First Contact (Kindle) for free at Amazon.com. (The free promotion starts at 12:01 a.m. PST.)

If you’ve been holding off on checking out one of our anthologies, now’s your chance.

Enjoy!

Get First Contact (Kindle) FREE for two days only: First Contact Digital Science Fiction Anthology 1

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If you’ve ever encountered the concept of grey goo and “The Game of Life,” a computer model that uses something called cellular-automata along with simple rules and a grid system to generate interesting patterns you’ll understand the basis for Bloom. To explain, grey goo is a hypothetical end-of-the-world scenario where some sort of self-replicating technology goes out of control, eats everything and makes more of itself, and obliterates the entire Earth—or in the case of Wil McCarthy’s Bloom, much of the central solar system.

I read Bloom during a hospital stay and it made an excellent escape-novel with a strong computer science basis combined with all the necessary elements of genre science fiction. Although I must admit the characters are a little bit forgettable, some of the technology and perils represented within (and the after-Earth scenario presented) made me feel good about the book. However, if you’re looking for a page turner or something to keep you interested because the characters are excellent amazing personalities, you won’t enjoy this book very much.

In the timeline of the book, the year 2106 represents the outbreak of the terrible Bloom—a nanite technology with a nearly infinite von Neumann capability to devour nearby matter and replicate itself. The introduction of this virulent species of technology is so catastrophic that it devours not only Earth, but expands itself across the orbit of Mars and Venus—although it’s too hot very close to the sun so Mercury is mostly okay and the asteroid belt is largely untouched. The Mycosystem, a vast fuzzy area of bloom space filled with these machines, sustains itself off the heat of sunlight and continues to replicate and tinker with itself as humanity is forced into self-imposed exile and diaspora into the colder reaches of the solar system.

The threat of the bloom still looms on space colonies even in the asteroids and further out because humans take heat and energy with them. As a result, humans prepare what they call the Immunity, a careful training regiment and technologies designed to combat the Bloom by either stealing energy from a growing infection or burning it out—this brings in some of the more hilariously named “Witch’s Tits” a weapon that is basically a canister of extremely low temperature liquid gasses designed to freeze out a Bloom infection.

The plot of the story follows the protagonists as they climb on board a spacecraft designed specifically to penetrate the Mycosystem amid the inner planets and visit old Earth—which is largely dismantled by the bloom by now—to examine strange and unexpected visuals that they’ve been getting from optic and radio telescopes. The mission would be extremely perilous and terrifying. The name of the ship, The Louis Pasteur is named after the French chemist who brought us the germ-theory of disease, the first vaccines, and, of course, the pasteurization of milk to make it safe to consume.

The book continues to suggest that there’s an entire cult of humans who worship the bloom.

This becomes a problem because one of these cultists happens to be on board the spacecraft sent into the Mycosphere a fact that leads to a certain amount of intrigue and fear. In the Mycosphere, the Louis Pasteur is attacked by cultist ships also armed with a similar camouflage to protect them from being devoured.

What they find in the Bloom, however, appears to be a bit bizarre. Amid the devoured planets and the multitude of nanomachines that have obliterated the inner solar system, the machine seem to have taken on a life of their own and have become an entity unto themselves.

The book comes to its climax in the way that one might expect a fantasy-styled science fiction genre novel by presenting an (unexpected) twist that some of humanity swallowed by the bloom itself haven’t been destroyed, but still exist in the structure of the ever-expanding cloud as disintegrated entities. Although the novel doesn’t go any further to explain how or why or even deliver much of a reason to care that this happened.

I am unaware of a sequel to this book; but it would really deserve one where the nature of bloom-bound humanity vs. the diaspora into the outer solar system could be explored. It would be a spoiler to talk about this if it were the central meaning of the entire book, but really Bloom is a giant what-if scenario about the Game of Life and the grey goo scenario.

I would suggest reading it on a plane or if you’re in the hospital like I was, but it’s not going to be the next-profound science fiction novel to round out your library.

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Everyone has gone to see a movie adaption of a book and heard someone say, “The book was much better than the movie!”  Most readers have probably said that exact thing on a number of occasions.  And, generally, the original format of the story stays the most popular.  No Star Wars novel, for example, will ever be as popular as The Return of the Jedi, nor will the Harry Potter movies be as fondly remembered as the book series.  However, there are certainly some cases in which this simply is not true.  Cowboys and Aliens was successful in the box office, even though it was based on a graphic novel of the same name that not many people outside of the comics field had heard of.

Another excellent example of this is Buck Rogers.

From the incredibly popular comic strip, Buck Rogers in the 25^th Century A.D., to the Buck Rogers radio serial, to multiple films and television shows, comics, roleplaying games, and even novels set to continuing the Buck Rogers saga (which Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle wrote the outlines for, tying the later novels into their collaborative effort, Lucifer’s Hammer), Buck Rogers has a lengthy history as a successful and popular character in multiple media. However, most people aren’t aware that the character that would become Buck Rogers originated, not in comics or film or television, but in two novellas published in Amazing Stories.

Philip Francis Nowlan was a newspaper columnist in Pennsylvania who hadn’t written any professionally published fiction when he sent “Armageddon—2419 A.D.” to Amazing Stories editor Hugo Gernsback.  Exploding out of the “Yellow Peril” subgenre running rampant in pulp adventure magazines, Nowlan’s novel explored a future controlled by “Mongolian descendants” known as Hans, who, with the help of the Soviet Union, conquered the planet, before turning on their Russian compatriots.  With the United States held under the tight fist of the Hans, Americans have been forced to live in the wildernesses surrounding the populated areas, where they can hide from Han attack forces.

All this means nothing to Anthony “Tony” Rogers.  Living in Pennsylvania in 1927, Rogers was working in abandoned coal mines when he was trapped in a cave in.  Due to some strange behavior of the radioactive properties of the mine, Rogers is knocked unconscious and sleeps for almost five centuries.  Awakening after what feels like only hours, Rogers escapes from the mine to discover a whole new world on the surface.  However, Rogers is quickly swept up in a violent, explosive gun fight, saving the life of a future American woman, Wilma Deering. From there, the adventure continues as Rogers meets Deering’s gang, which is promptly assaulted by the Hans, leading to a string of futuristic adventures.  A year later Nowlan continued the saga of Tony Rogers, Wilma Deering, and the evil Han overlords in a sequel novella, “The Airlords of Han.”

Tony Rogers (He didn’t get the nickname “Buck” until the comic strip) manages to tie in his participation in World War I, his pulp hero steadfastness, and a surprising bit of equality towards women (not common in the pulp magazines) to create a story that is certainly a fun adventure piece.  While at times heavy on the exposition, with large info dumps on the future world that Rogers is living in, the story is generally fast paced, building suspense, and is a fun read that is easily finished in one day.

Fans of science fiction adventure, and pulp adventure tales, will want to check this one out.

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The author Anne McAffrey is best known for her fantasy series The Dragonriders of Pern but she’s also a Hugo Award winning author of science fiction novels. Any enterprising science fiction enthusiast would find herself well-tread to pick up one of Ms. McAffrey’s novels and sit down on the couch with it. A good introduction to her work in this genre is The Ship Who Sang, originally published in 1969 and spawned an entire series called the “Brain & Brawn Ship series” in the 1990s.

The book is named after the first of a series of five short stories written by Anne McAffrey—they are all memorable but the primary short story sets the stage for the universe and the subject matter.

At the core, The Ship Who Sang is a story about the ultimate level of cyborg-transhumanism that’s reflected today in by many modern-day cyberpunk novelists. The main character, Helva, was born with a terrible birth defect that meant she couldn’t survive more than a few days after birth and thus she was sold by her parents to a corporation to be a “shell baby.” In this way, her growth was stunted and her body encased in a life-support capsule with a titanium shell allowing her to grow to adulthood—but not as a natural human.

As a result of this “shell people” are indentured to the corporation who paid for their medical bills, equipment, training, and such. As a result of their indentured nature, they’re compelled to work for the Central Worlds (the governing branch of the galactic human colonies in the books) in a majority of interesting and curious capacities. One of this is that of a “brainship” or a spacecraft whose central computer core is augmented with a “shell person” pilot who is integrated physically into the ship.

Brainships are partnered with a strong and intelligent mobile captain called the “brawn” who act as the extra-ship mobile person in their partnership.

The book explores not just the morality of indenturing people into specific service but the trials and travails of being a ship (or city, or hospital, etc.) with a human brain. Although the “brain” portion of brainships do have human bodies, the body is essentially vestigial by that point and the ship becomes their body. Only through intense training, medication, and surgery do they work and function as a fully cyborg entity.

This book, and the series it spawned, belongs in the category of transhumanism in exploring the question of what it is to be human. Although it could be argued that Helva is definitely human and maintains a great deal of her humanity, she lacks many of the fundamental properties that natural humans have—the fundamental of which being a human body. It also brought to mind moral questions about the treatment of the terrifically disabled.

Even with the Central Worlds and the science fiction elements intact, The Ship Who Sang is also a book about what happens in the universe. There are characters aplenty but the protagonist Helva has always shown brightest in my mind.

One emotional mention form the book has stayed with me for years. Helva’s first brawn died in a horrible radiation accident from which she herself was spared (due to being at the heart of a heavily shielded and buffered environment). She had to watch him die horribly in her airlock as she did everything in her power to protect him. The event is significant because brainships, for all their capability to fly through space, visit other worlds, and essentially do things that normal humans cannot; they’re still unable to do fine manipulation or rescue.

The title, The Ship Who Sang, is a reference to this event and that Helva (the ship) sang Taps at her brawn’s funeral.

To this day, I have not forgotten Helva, Brainship XH-834.

We’re trying something new (to Digital) called Crowdfunding! We are optimistic (hopeful/wishful/delusional) that through the awesome power of crowdfunding we can launch Digital Science Fiction Anthology 5 sooner rather than later. You can check out our new RocketHub crowdfunding project right here: RocketHub Digital Science Fiction Anthology 5

Crowdfunding is based on the belief that the power of many small contributions in aggregate can become significant. There are a few different variances of crowdfunding – some are purely donation based, others are rewards based. We believe that for the Digital the rewards-based model is the way to go. All of the rewards are listed on the RocketHub project page.

We prefer this to outright donations because it’s more personal, and we’re able to offer a little something in return. Of course, buying the books is also a great way to fund new books! No matter what though, here at Digital we will continue to strive to produce and publsih original and remarkable science fiction.

This is such a crazy idea, it may just work…

Please, spread the word and share the link to the Digital Science Fiction Anthology 5 funding page at RocketHub: http://rkthb.co/7945

Cheers — Michael

p.s. How cool is it that the crowdfunding source is RocketHub. It’s like a match made in space. And remember: in [cyber]space, no one can hear you [beg].

Revisiting the art of Herobits, I am pleased to present for the first time the 3D Art of Emmanuel Ernel Sapinoso. Emmanuel created beautiful 3D renderings of the enemy, the LRX Reaper, for the Herobits card game and story. Emmanuel’s work on the Reaper is based on my original design concept for the machines and Xerx’s art work featured on the James Willstorm cards. The Reaper cards were never produced, and this is the firs time any of these images have been made public. I hope you like them:

LRX Reaper with Chainsaw

LRX Reaper with Drill

LRX Reaper

You’ll no doubt notice that the art in the above cards is a completely different approach than that used by Emmanuel Xerx Javier. In fact, all of the decks featured different artists working in their preferred medium and style.

All images are copyright Gseb Marketing Inc., but you’re free to download them and use them for any non profit or non commercial use, like desktop wallpaper or a picture on your blog/website. You may not use them for any commercial or for profit venture without the express written permission of Gseb Marketing Inc. * The game, Herobits, is no longer in production so actually buying a deck may be rather difficult… but not impossible.

Cheers.

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It’s been far too long since we last delved into some of the great short science fiction available for ebook readers everywhere, so let’s head back into it with three great selections!

“From Above” by Jeremy Robinson

Jeremy Robinson is best known for his Jack Sigler series of adventure novels that began with Pulse in 2009 and currently running through a series of novellas termed Chesspocalypse, leading into this year’s release of Ragnarok, as well as his novel Antarktos Rising and its related young adult series, The Last Hunter.  “From Above,” a novella also included in Robinson’s short story collection Insomnia, is one of the author’s earlier works, and admittedly it shows at times, mainly in the setting, which felt distinctly underdeveloped.  That said, this science fiction noir adventure was a blast to read, in large part because of the excellent characters that Robinson peopled his story with.  A far future cop, Priest exudes noir, as a sarcastic, short tempered, and quick witted detective who captures all of the sexism and toughness that all detectives from the noir era embody.  Partnered with the strong-willed Rehna, who constantly challenges Priests sexist attitudes with her personification of strong female solidity, and Gawyn, a little girl who is as gruff as Priest and technological savant, Priest sets out to find who is behind two deadly blasts that both nearly killed him, and murdered untold civilians.  The story explodes from the page, and is as gripping as it is entertaining.  Especially for fans of science fiction mystery, this SF noir workhorse will be sure to please.  Get it while it is free!

“Jigsaw” by Douglas Smith

Douglas Smith’s short fiction output is exceptional, to say the least.  Sadly under read, Douglas Smith is deserving of an entire “Science Fiction You Haven’t Read…But Should” article all to his own, and you’ll likely see it one day.  My introduction to Smith’s work was the short story “Jigsaw,” a space opera beauty.  In a future where humanity uses the artifacts of a lost alien civilization to travel among the stars, Cassie Morant, a geologist exploring new worlds, is part of a crew that has a disastrous mishap, with their ship in a degrading orbit and hostile natives taking the landing crew hostage, with the threat of death.  It is up to Cassie to explore the religious artifacts of the society holding her captive if she hopes to save the ship and its crew, both in space and captives of the local beings.  The story is a lot of fun, with rollicking adventure and a nice, neat conclusion that had me aching to read more from Douglas Smith.  “Jigsaw” is available for cheap on its own, as well as part of Smith’s brand new collection, Chimerascope.  Fans of Smith are also encouraged to check out the film version of “By Her Hand, She Draws You Down.”  The story is found in Chimerascope, as well as part of By Her Hand, She Draws You Down: The Movie Companion Book.  Those hesitant about the price tag on Chimerascope are directed to the three story collection Impossibilia, which is both brilliant and cheap.  However, after you read it, it will be even harder to stay away from Chimerascope.

Some of the Best from Tor.com: 2011 Edition edited by Patrick Nielsen Hayden and Liz Gorinsky

Tor.com has quickly become a powerhouse when it comes to strong science fiction and fantasy short stories.  Available free on their website, and for less than a dollar on the kindle, the broad range and big name authors have really ratcheted up the quality of the storytelling, and creating a wonderful online presence.  Celebrating the culmination of a year’s worth of storytelling, Tor released Some of the Best from Tor.com: 2011 Edition, which is available for free on ebook readers.  Containing stories from Charlie Jane Anders, Michael Swanwick, James Alan Gardner, Matthew Sanborn Smith, Yoon Ha Lee, Paul Park, Nnedi Okorafor, and Harry Turtledove, this collection is filled with excellent stories.  The story quality seems to come in three tiers.  Tier One contains Smith’s “Beauty Belongs to the Flowers,” Lee’s “A Vector Alphabet of Interstellar Travel,” and Okorafor’s “Hello, Moto.”  These stories were engaging and enjoyable, but didn’t leave much of a long lasting impact.  That said, each of these authors is more than worth reading, and that this collection gets readers out and exploring their works is a strong positive.  Tier Two contains Swanwick’s “The Dala Horse” and Gardner’s “A Clean Sweep with All the Trimmings.”  Swanwick’s story is an exquisitely crafted tale of post-apocalyptic, mythic science fiction, while Gardner’s story is, as Robinson’s “From Above,” a wonderfully fun noir SF adventure, this one poking fun at the noir genre more than Robinson’s piece did, but embracing it just as often as it satirizes it.  Both are excellent stories that shouldn’t be missed.  In the Third Tier are Anders’ “Six Months, Three Days,” Park’s “Ragnarok,” and Turtledove’s “Shtetl Days.”  Anders was a brand new author to me, but she blew me away with her powerful story of love predestined to failure between two people who can see the future.  When I first heard the story description, I couldn’t believe it would work, but Anders really tore out an emotionally wrenching and powerful drama that still managed to end with hope.  Park’s epic-styled poem was a brilliant tale of violence, vengeance, and revenge, set in a future after an apocalyptic event, but that seems more like the ages of Beowulf.  The poetry was brilliant, and sucked the reader in.  When it ended, this reader was crushed that there was not more, and instantly checked to see if Park had a sequel poem available elsewhere, or even any other fiction at all.  Turtledove’s longer novella was a nicely woven tale of Nazis pretending to be Jews, only to discover that, in a world run by Nazis, being Jewish might just be the best thing you can be.  A tale filled with drama and emotion, Turtledove shows once again that he is the master of the alternate history story, and that he is a brilliant storyteller none should miss.  These three pieces surpass the rest of the collection, and shouldn’t be missed by any science fiction fans.  Truly, these are three of the best stories of the year from any venue.  Don’t miss out on this free collection!

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The book Vast by Linda Nagata is the culmination of a trilogy that follows a small group of characters through the trials of outliving their own cultural heritage and how their technology has transcended their own humanity. As a science fiction novel it’s a bit of an outlier when it comes to commentary on the human condition because it maps less the cultural significance of technological influence and focuses on the individual struggles of the characters.

When approaching this book expect something a great deal more character driven than plot driven. Although the environment itself is the enemy of the characters in this book, they’re faced with numerous obstacles to overcome both personally and collectively.

Vast follows the remaining crew of the Null Boundary an ancient semi-living ship that has been sailing the reaches of interstellar space harboring four survivors of a terrible war that wasted their entire people. The first character is Lot, the sullen upstart and child of a profit who carries a nanovirus infection that spreads devotion to a religious cult. Urban, Lot’s boyhood friend whose sense of adventure drove him to head to the stars with Lot. Clemantine who experienced firsthand the destruction of her race and yearns for revenge. Finally there’s Nikko, who spends most of his time as the disembodied mind of the ship but actually has a body (should he choose to use it.)

They are seeking the Chenzeme, an alien race who are little known in of themselves except for their terrible warships that prowl the stars and ravage the civilized worlds. That’s basis of the plot; but really this is a book about the characters.

The Null Boundary itself is an interesting vessel and a technology that runs on something called “philosopher cells,” essentially a skin of thoughtful computers that discuss all decisions and determine based on consensus between the different cells. They’re living creatures and need nutriment and socialization—but they’re also vulnerable to the ravages of space. Without them the Null Boundary would be without senses. The character, Nikko spends most of his time talking to the philosopher cells attempting to learn from them and flying the ship.

The book presents the strange interpersonal relationships between people who are now more than people. With their bio- and nanotechnology they can upload their consciousness and sentience and keep it backed up. As a result, they’re capable of becoming part of the ship, cloning themselves off new bodies (with the same but separate minds) and even go out and explore without actually leaving the ship.

One of the more profound moments happens when Clemantine clones herself to go back home to see if their war-ravaged space has been recolonized by anyone. Her clone—a mind and shape that is actually her—leaves with great sorrow and the author points out that they cried for her as, “She would always be with them; they would never see her again.” While the original Clemantine stays on the ship, the clone Clemantine would be departing her friends from that point and never see them again.

As the end of a trilogy, it certainly helps to read the other books first—to come to grips not with the characters so much as the technologies and the word—but it stands alone well enough within the boundaries of its world building. Each of the characters is already well formed, with strong motivations and a great deal of emotional interplay as they reflect back on their past and what got them where they are now.

The title ends a little bit strangely, however, and leaves a lot of stones unturned. A great deal of the science fiction is written into the very relationships between the characters and into flashbacks into their past. In a powerful sort of way Vast is almost a retrospective on how science fiction looks at how technology affects individuals, empowers them in their journeys, but also sometimes changes them fundamentally at the human level.