In which I praise Memory by Linda Nagata, now available on the Kindle

Many moons ago, during my first ever trip to New York to visit the Tor offices, my editor, Paul Stevens, directed me to one of the walls of shelves groaning under the weight of books that had come out from Tor. “Grab some books,” I was told.

I staggered away with an armful. But the one book I remember to this day out of the pile I took back with me to Ohio was Memory, by Linda Nagata.

I really believe that Memory was one of the most under-rated books of the early 2000s and I just really don’t think it deserves that. Maybe it was because it was hard SF written by a woman. Maybe the title didn’t catch. Maybe the fact that it started out feeling like Fantasy before the really wild ideas started trickling in (I always felt more people should read Karl Schroeder’s amazing Ventus as well). Maybe the stars didn’t quite align right. Maybe… maybe… maybe… but I found it spectacularly sad that so many people I shoved my copy at really enjoyed Memory, but so few people had ever heard of it.

It feels like a Fantasy novel, at first, with our 17 year old heroine Jubilee facing the horrors of the silver. A fog, or substance that creeps over the land at night and leaves it completely rearranged in the morning, that takes people if they’re caught in it. It’s an aspect of Jubilee’s massive and strange world, a massive ring world (think Halo, Larry Niven). And the silver, it becomes clear, is nanotechnology gone wrong.

And when figures begin to appear out of the Silver who appear to be able to manipulate it, things get interesting.

Linda has recently put Memory up on the Kindle for $4.99. I’m not crazy about the new cover, but seriously, what matters is the kick ass big idea, hard SF novel behind it. And I really think it’s a real treat and should be on your Kindle for $4.99.

Yes, I’m raving. But I seriously love this book. You should check it out. At least download the sample.

I saw someone recently online asking about whether women could write hard sf or hard space opera or whether women had to do something different. In her far-future books like Memory and Vast, I place Linda Nagata on my reading list right next to Alastair Reynolds and Ian Banks. This is just plain awesome, meaty, far future awesomeness. And I’m always excited to see more of it! Linda’s far future SF really is a ripping read.

Filed under the topic Uncategorized on March 21st 2011 at 10:53 am. You can subscribe to the RSS feed for this entry to keep track of comments. You can also use to trackback.