madbaker: (life is good)
[personal profile] madbaker
I've enjoyed the Company novels of Kage Baker for a few years. She puts a neat spin on immortality and time travel. Immortality is achieved by turning people into cyborgs, but it only works on young children with a certain skull shape - so it's worthless for wealthy adults. Time travel is expensive, and you can't change recorded history.

How do you get around this? Go back in time, create immortals, and let them do your work for you. See, you can change non-recorded history; you can't change who won the lottery on a given day, but you can, say, put him under a contract that gives his winnings over to you.

It's more complicated than that, but you'll have to go read the novels for more.
Anyway, Ms. Baker recently posted a short story in that universe. I rather like it; but I've always liked Vermeer.

What I'm reading: Gordon R. Dickson, The Right to Arm Bears

Date: 2004-07-27 08:31 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] talonvaki.livejournal.com
Ooooh! Time Travel!

Must...shop...

Date: 2004-07-27 09:17 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] madbaker.livejournal.com
Her stories are fairly thoughtful, with much character development. If you're interested, start with the first in the series - The Garden of Iden (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0380731797/qid=1090944989/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/103-0081427-8476676?v=glance&s=books).

Date: 2004-07-27 09:40 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] goldenstag.livejournal.com
You'll enjoy the Dickson book, I think. Silly, and somewhat predictable after you've read the first story, but still fun ...

Date: 2004-07-27 10:37 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] madbaker.livejournal.com
Oh, I've read it before. After reading Neal Stephenson's latest 800-page baroque novel, I was in the mood for something undemanding.

Date: 2004-07-27 10:41 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] goldenstag.livejournal.com
Ah. Even more predictable, then. <g>

Date: 2004-07-27 10:24 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] klwilliams.livejournal.com
Did you know she goes to the southern Renn Faire and comes up for Dickens Faire?

Date: 2004-07-28 07:34 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] madbaker.livejournal.com
I know that she comes up here reasonably often - she has a good relationship with one of the decent independent bookstores in S.F. Didn't know she was a Dickens Faire person, but I really shouldn't be surprised.

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