Rudy Rucker has seen the future...and it is extreme. The Godfather of
cyberpunk--a mad scientist bravely meddling in the outrageous and
heretical--Rucker created Bopper Robots, who rebelled against human
society in his award-winning classic Software. Now, in 2953, "moldies"
are the latest robotic advancement--evolved artificial lifeforms made of
soft plastic and gene-tweaked molds and algae, so anatomically inventive
and universally despised that their very presence on the planet has
thrown the entire low-rent future into a serious tailspin. So the moon
is the place to be, if you're a persecuted "moldie" or an enlightened
"flesher" intent on creating a new, more utopian hybrid civilization. Of
course up there, there are other intergalactic intelligences to contend
with--and some not so intelligent--who have their own agendas and
appetites. This is scientific fabulation at its most brazenly
inventive--funny, cutting-edge, and deeply informed. No writer alive
puts it all together like Rudy Rucker.
Artificial life forms made of soft plastic and gene-tweaked mold and
algae, moldies are evolved robots in the year 2053--anatomically
inventive and universally despised. In a sleazy, low-rent future, sexual
fraternization with moldies is strictly taboo--a societal sin that is of
no concern whatsoever to Randy Karl Tucker. A Kentucky boy who has
seriously strayed from the Heritagist religion1s stern teachings about
the evils of artificial life, Randy feels a definite something for
Monique, moldie bookkeeper and maid at the Clearlight Terrace Court
Motel But Monique1s sudden and inexplicable abduction from the
planet--coupled with unsettling revelations about Randy's own dubious
origins--is dragging the degenerate flesher and all those around him
into an ugly, conspiratorial mess...even as it pulls an unsuspecting
humanity ever-closer to a stunning encounter with intergalactic
intelligence.
