Memory, morality, and immortality merge in this "haunting and lyrical
triumph" from the bestselling author of Schismatrix Plus (Time).
In the late twenty-first century, technology has lengthened lifespans
far beyond what was once medically possible. Existence itself has become
relatively easy--if boring. In this futuristic paradise,
ninety-four-year-old Mia Ziemann longs for something different and
undergoes a radical new treatment that restores both her body and mind
to that of a twenty-year-old. After her dramatic transformation, Mia
finds herself lost in an avant-garde world of passion, designer drugs,
and creative expression . . .
"Ideas--big ideas--lurk beneath Mia's romp through Sterling's
delightfully imagined newly post-human Earth. Art, artifice, the pursuit
of immortality, and youth and aging bounce around the story, the
characters, and their conversations in imaginative, engaging fashion. .
. . In the end, Holy Fire is one of the most interesting, imaginative,
and subtly humorous--and relevant for it--novels the
cyberpunk/post-human era has produced. . . . Holy Fire may very well
be [Sterling's] best work." --Speculiction
"An intellectual feat, it is also a treat for the spirit and the
senses." --Wired
"A patented Sterling extra-special." --Newsday
"The future Sterling traces is plausible and provocative, particularly
his consideration of several contrasting cultures, and of the
disenfranchised who are unable to become 'post-human.' Those interested
in serious speculative conversation set within a very strange
near-future will find this much to their taste." --Publishers Weekly
