Schismatrix
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 Cover of first edition (hardcover) |
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| Author | Bruce Sterling |
|---|---|
| Cover artist | Ron Walotsky |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Science fiction novel |
| Publisher | Arbor House Publishing Company |
| Released | June 1985 |
| Media type | Print (Hardback & Paperback) |
| Pages | 288 pp (Hardcover) |
| ISBN | ISBN 0-87795-645-6 |
Schismatrix is a science fiction novel by Bruce Sterling, originally published in 1985. The story was Sterling's only novel-length treatment of the Shaper/Mechanist universe. Five short stories preceded the novel. Schismatrix was nominated for the Nebula Award for Best Novel in 1985.
[edit] Plot summary
The main character, Abelard Lindsay, is born into a family of aristocratic Mechanists, but after being sent to the Shaper’s Ring Council for diplomatic training becomes loyal to the Shapers. During this training, he becomes good friends with a man named Philip Constantine and a woman named Vera Kelland. The three of them influence the younger generation towards the Shapers' cause, but eventually fall apart when both fall for Vera.
Lindsay is put into exile after the Mechanists take over his native Mare Serenitatis Cirumlunar Corporate Republic, eventually renamed the Neotenic Cultural Republic. In exile on the Mare Tranquilitatis People's Circumlunar Zaibatsu he meets a woman named Kitsune, the head of the Geisha Bank, a powerful money center. When Constantine, who has become his enemy, tracks him down and threatens him, Lindsay manages to escape from the assassin sent to kill him and joins a ship called the Red Consensus, the nation-state of the Fortuna Miners' Democracy. The FMD eventually annexes the asteroid Esairs XII, home to a small Shaper clan, the Mavrides family, where he meets Nora Mavrides. After several months of conflict, espionage, and murder, the Investors arrive, rescuing the only two survivors, Abelard and Nora. They fall in love and eventually marry.
Peace finally comes to the Schismatrix when aliens arrive. These aliens call themselves Investors and bring in money to invest in new technology. Trade flourishes and the Shapers and Mechanists put their differences aside while the economy is doing so well. The Investor Peace does not last forever, though and tensions between Shapers and Mechanists start to arise again. Nora wants to stay on the Goldreich-Tremaine Council State where they live, and fight the Mechanists, but Lindsay wants to run and leaves without her.
Eventually, after both Lindsay and Constantine have both become very powerful, they arrange a duel using the Arena, an ancient alien artifact of one of the extinct races, now owned by the Investors. Lindsay wins. After the duel, Lindsay wakes up on his old home, now the Neotecnic Cultural Republic. He no longer has his Shaper abilities and finds that there is a new cause that people are fighting for; the rebuilding of natural ecosystems. He travels to the bottom of the ocean on earth and is mesmerized by the life that he sees. He decides this is the type of environment people should live in and helps create technology that transforms humans into creatures that can live underwater, in the oceans under the icy crust of Europa. Lindsay decides that he is too old to join this new world and when approached by an invisible alien Presence (who has followed his friend Vera Constantine, the daughter of Philip Constantine cloned with genetic material from Vera Kelland, since her mission in the Fomalhaut embassy, and has explored the Solar System), accepts its offer to become one himself. He is transformed into a bodyless form and wanders away with the Presence.
[edit] Characters in "Schismatrix"
- Alexandrina: Lindsay’s first wife. An aristocratic Mechanist much older than him.
- Abelard Malcolm Tyler Lindsay: Born a Mechanist, he trains with the Shapers and defects to their side. He is a smooth talking Sundog who cannot stay in one place for long.
- Vera Kelland: Aristocrat who also trained with Lindsay and Constantine. She commits suicide in an attempt to defy the aristocratic Republic that she and Lindsay come from.
- Philip Khouri Constantine: Former friend of Lindsay. Becomes obsessed with obtaining power and tries to bring power to the Shapers through radical means.
- Kitsune: Head of the Geisha Bank. Becomes an entire ecosystem that consists entirely of her skin and body parts.
- Nora Mavrides: Lindsay’s second wife. She believes deeply in the Shaper cause and chooses to fight the Mechanists when they begin to attack her state even when the situation is hopeless.
- Vera Constantine: Shaper daughter of Philip Constantine, cloned from genetic material of Vera Kelland.
- Investors: Massive reptilian-esque aliens, interstellar traders who closely guard the secret of their starflight. Charge excessive fares for 'humanity' to travel to other star systems to visit and study the nineteen known alien species.
[edit] Vocabulary
- Shapers: Group that alters the body through genetic modification and specialized mental training.
- Mechanists: Group that modifies bodies through computer software and external alterations. The Mechanists have been at war with the Shapers for decades, fighting over whose technology is more powerful and efficient.
- Schismatrix: the system that includes the entire Shaper/Mechanist universe.
- Sundog: Someone who cannot stay in one place for long and is constantly wandering and searching for opportune moments to benefit off others. Lindsay is considered to be one.
