Bøger af Michael Blumlein

Michael Blumlein was one of the most singular writers to be associated with the science fiction genre. Active from the 1980s until his death in 2019, he produced a body of work notable for its literary ambition, its urbanity, its depth and breadth of subject matter, and its sly deadpan humor. A medical doctor and San Francisco native, Blumlein's profession and locale deeply informed his fiction. The physician and the author were fascinated by the human body, mind, and spirit, and their always complex connections. These two perspectives on the same subject, clinical and compassionate, created a unique parallax. He wrote several novels, but the short story and the novella were central to his art. Long includes all of the longer stories and novellas Blumlein published in his lifetime. They come from the last decade of his long career, displaying his mature mastery of craft, generosity of spirit, and unbounded imagination. "California Burning" concerns a son's attempt to come to terms with his father's difficult, perhaps alien, legacy. "Longer" is a brilliant, penetrating short novel about an alien artifact that interrogates the nature of life, and how much is enough. Also included are a previously unpublished one-act play, "No Fast Dancing," and a brilliant, moving essay, "Thoreau's Microscope," in which the author confronts his own mortality.

Michael Blumlein was one of the most singular writers to be associated with the science fiction genre. Active from the 1980s until his death in 2019, he produced a body of work notable for its literary ambition, its urbanity, its depth and breadth of subject matter, and its sly deadpan humor. A medical doctor and San Francisco native, Blumlein's profession and locale deeply informed his fiction. The physician and the author were fascinated by the human body, mind, and spirit, and their always complex connections. These two perspectives on the same subject, clinical and compassionate, created a unique parallax. He wrote several novels, but the short story and the novella were central to his art. Short includes all of the shorter fiction Blumlein published in his lifetime, spanning four decades. It includes one previously unpublished story, "Passenger," and one never before reprinted, "Softcore". Arranged chronologically, the stories afford a clear view of Blumlein's evolution as a writer. The earlier stories from the '80s are tinged with horror, viewed with a clinical eye; "The Brains of Rats," "Tissue Ablation," and "Shed His Grace" are legendary for their power to disturb. The later stories, like "The Big One," "Isostasy," "Know How Can Do," and "Twenty Two and You" reveal a mastery of craft and a generosity of heart toward every variation of the human (and nonhuman) condition.

The politics and terrors of biotech, human engineering, and brain science are given startling fictional form in a selection of short stories with Michael Blumlein's signature mix of fantasy, science fiction, horror, and wicked humour. The title piece, 'Thoreau's Microscope,' is a stunning mix of hypothesis and history, in which the author inhabits Thoreau's last days to explore the politics of impersonal science and personal liberation - a journey as illuminating as it is disturbing. On a lighter note, 'Fidelity' coolly deconstructs adultery with the help of an exuberant tumour, a guinea pig, and a swimsuit. 'Y(ou)r Q(ua)ntifi(e)d S(el)f' will reset your Fitbit and your personal goals as well. 'Paul and Me' is a legendary love story writ extra-large; and in 'Know How, Can Do' a female Frankenstein brings romance to life in the cold light of the lab.

"This is why I read science fiction."-Daryl GregoryIn Longer, Michael Blumlein explores dauntingly epic topics-love, the expanse of the human lifespan, mortality-with a beautifully sharp story that glows with grace and good humor even as it forces us to confront deep, universal fears.Gunjita and Cav are in orbit.R&D scientists for pharmaceutical giant Gleem Galactic, they are wealthy enough to participate in rejuvenation: rebooting themselves from old age to jump their bodies back to their twenties. You get two chances. There can never be a third. After Gunjita has juved for the second and final time and Cav has not, questions of life, death, morality, and test their relationship. Up among the stars, the research possibilities are infinite and first contact is possible, but their marriage may not survive the challenge.Praise for Longer"Michael Blumlein has written a novella that is full of hard science and strange, beautiful images, and also asks the biggest of questions-about mortality, aging, the persistence and changeability of love, and the search for meaning in our lives. I read it in two sittings, and it brought me to tears. . . . Don't miss this."-Daryl Gregory"No one can evoke both life's beauties and its sorrows with the brilliance of Michael Blumlein. In meticulous and resonant prose, Blumlein examines a marriage with a long, loving history and a questionable future. Wise and beautiful, provocative and deeply, deeply satisfying."-Karen Joy Fowler