.KEYWORD ppbookmonth0900
.FLYINGHEAD PALMPOWER BOOK CLUB
.TITLE Immortality: the ultimate in health and fitness
.DEPT
.SUMMARY What is the goal of a healthy lifestyle? All the bicycling, the exercise machines, the fruit-and-vegetable filled diets? A longer life, of course! And what is the logical limit of this? Ben Brickman reviews a selection of science fiction short stories exploring humankind’s age-old dream: immortality.
.AUTHOR Ben Brickman
When my editors told me this month’s fiction column should have a health and fitness tie-in, I momentarily drew a blank. Then I got to thinking. What is the goal of all these healthy lifestyles? All the bicycling, the exercise machines, the fruit-and-vegetable filled diets? A longer life, of course! And what is the logical limit of this? Humankind’s age-old dream: immortality.
So, this month, I present reviews of two short stories that explore different aspects of ultra-long life spans. The stories are by immortal authors (sorry about that) Robert Silverberg and Damon Knight. Both of these stories are available at http://www.fictionwise.com in Palm Doc, Microsoft Reader, and other formats.
.H1 The double-platinum wedding anniversary
The first story is Robert Silverberg’s "Death Do Us Part," which explores the impact of practical biological immortality on the institution of marriage. In this story, we find that several hundred years from now a set of treatments called "The Process" allows people to rejuvenate their bodies every few decades, keeping them in a state of perpetual youthfulness. They appear about 30 to 35 years old. The story opens with a marriage of an unusual variety: "It was her first, his seventh. She was 32, he was 363: the good old April/September number."
"Her friends couldn’t get over it. ‘He’s ten times your age!’ they would exclaim." This kind of witty prose continues throughout the story. We find that the young bride comes into conflict with several of the man’s previous wives (some of whom are over 200 years old) and sets of children (some of whom are five times her age), who seem to be trying to break up the marriage. Now, let me point out that in this culture, people don’t even pretend that marriages will last forever. Most marriages, we are told, last a few decades,. None last more than seventy or eighty years. It seems the prospect of actually spending all of eternity with a single person is too terrifying for anyone to ponder.
The story is entertaining throughout, showing us other aspects of an ultra-long-life, especially as it pertains to personal relationships. At one point, I almost thought the plot was drifting towards a simplistic ending, but Silverberg dispels that by adding a terrifying twist in the final few pages, which I won’t give away here!
.H1 Long life, but a what cost?
Damon Knight’s story "Masks" was nominated for a Nebula award when it was published in 1968. It explores immortality from an entirely different point of view than the Silverberg story. First, it’s not at all humorous. (Not that Damon Knight can’t write humor expertly. See "The Big Pat Boom" for proof of that.)
Here, the government has undertaken an experimental procedure to recreate a man after he suffers a severe accident. Yes, he’s a lot like "The Six Million Dollar Man," though this story predates that TV show by decades. In fact, nothing much is left of the original man but a brain and some nerves; he’s almost entirely robotic. This costs hundreds of millions of dollars, with the goal being to keep him alive forever and perfect the process.
The project team becomes concerned when he insists on wearing a metal mask to hide his plastic, human-like face. He also insists that all the people around him wear masks. These masks come to symbolize his loss of humanity, and this story is deeply psychological and somewhat shocking in the turn it takes. It has a powerful impact, as many of Knight’s best stories manage to provide.
.H1 Quickies
There are several other stories that have an immortality theme. Here’s a quickie review of the ones I like best, in no particular order:
.H2 Glass Cloud
"Glass Cloud" by James Patrick Kelly is a far-ranging story that holds many intertwined concepts, from architecture to aliens to immortality to personal relationships. It gets a little muddy in the middle with all those concepts flying around, but I liked it overall.
.H2 Capricorn Games
"Capricorn Games" by Robert Silverberg is another, very different, Silverberg story on immortality. Here, a woman attends a very strange party in which she wishes to meet a man who is purportedly 1000 years old in order to learn his secret of immortality.
.H2 Hothouse Flowers
"Hothouse Flowers" by Mike Resnick is a current Hugo nominee (the Hugos will be presented on September 2). The story explores a near-future where geriatric patients live long, pointless lives. It’s short but has a good twist at the end.
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.H2 Ancient Engines
"Ancient Engines" by Michael Swanwick is another current Hugo nominee and was also a Nebula nominee earlier this year (but didn’t win). A robot gets into a bar fight, resulting in a lively discussion about how true immortality is even difficult for non-humans to attain. It’s filled with interesting philosophical ideas and is entertaining, even if the territory is well trodden.
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.H1 Product availability and resources
“Death Do Us Part” by Robert Silverberg is available at http://www.fictionwise.com/servlet/mwserve?action=view&template=book.htm&bookid=8. It has 7763 words and is priced at 85 cents.
“Masks” by Damon Knight is available at http://www.fictionwise.com/servlet/mw?t=book.htm&bi=133&pm=2. It has 3637 words and is priced at 60 cents.
“Glass Cloud” by James Patrick Kelly is available at http://www.fictionwise.com/servlet/mw?t=book.htm&bi=59&pm=2. It has 17,500 words and is priced at $1.60.
“Capricorn Games” by Robert Silverberg is available at http://www.fictionwise.com/servlet/mw?t=book.htm&bi=115&pm=2. It has 6938 words and is priced at 75 cents.
“Hothouse Flowers” by Mike Resnick is available at http://www.fictionwise.com/servlet/mw?t=book.htm&bi=15&pm=2. It has 4969 words and has no price listed.
“Ancient Engines” by Michael Swanwick is available at http://www.fictionwise.com/servlet/mw?t=book.htm&bi=102&pm=2. It has 2841 words and has no price listed.
.H1 Bulk reprints
Bulk reprints of this article (in quantities of 100 or more) are available for a fee from Reprint Services, a ZATZ business partner. Contact them at reprints@zatz.com or by calling 1-800-217-7874.
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.BIO Ben Brickman is an enthusiastic early adopter of ebooks and reads them on Palm devices, Rocket eBook Readers, and his desktop PC. He can be reached at benbrickman@yahoo.com.
.DISCUSS http://powerboards.zatz.com/cgi-bin/webx?13@@.ee6e787
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