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Bloom
A mission to the deadliest planet in the solar system: Earth
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Bloom
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By Wil McCarthy
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Del Rey
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$23.95/$33.50 Canada
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Hardcover, Sept. 1998
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ISBN 345-40857-8
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Review by Curt Wohleber
 orget the Year 2000 bug. Bloom features the ultimate technological snafu: submicroscopic, self-replicating artificial organisms called "mycora" that literally eat the world, indiscriminately devouring rocks, people and everything in between.
Survivors have fled Earth to the asteroid belt and the moons of Jupiter, where the cold and dark make it difficult for the mycora to survive. An occasional spore will infiltrate a human settlement, spawning a lethal but eerily beautiful "bloom." For 20 years humanity has fended off the blooms, but many believe it's only a matter of time before the Mycosystem engulfs the entire solar system. "The Immunity"--the name of the quasi-government that rules the colonies on Jupiter's satellites--is building a starship to carry colonists beyond the reach of the mycora.
Some dream of safety among the stars, but factory worker and part-time journalist John Strasheim volunteers to journey back to the Mycosystem. Scientists suspect the mycora may soon adapt to both the Immunity's biological defenses and the deep cold of the outer solar system. So the Immunity dispatches the mycora-proof spaceship Louis Pasteur to deploy an early-warning system on the polar caps of Earth and Mars.
The Immunity hires Strasheim to generate good PR for the mission, but Pasteur's crewmembers see him as either dead weight or a government propagandist. His only friend on board is the captain, who laughs even during emergencies thanks to a surgically implanted sense of humor.
Before the Pasteur can even get underway, a cult that worships the Mycosystem tries to sabotage the mission. By the time Pasteur reaches Mars, the crew is under attack by both the Mycosystem and a squadron of kamikaze space pilots. Fuel runs low, the mycora-resistant hull deteriorates, and the once-mirthful captain is reduced to mere chuckling.
Bloom thrives but doesn't blossom
In Bloom author Wil McCarthy blends a suspenseful plot with discussions of everything from economics to cellular automata (mathematical models of primitive life). With his Mycosystem he also creates one of the creepiest science fiction antagonists since the Blight from Vernor Vinge's A Fire Upon the Deep. The Mycosystem also serves as a metaphor for AIDS and how the epidemic has shaped attitudes about sex. In the 22nd century, however, the moral debate is about technology. The uptight leaders of the Immunity abstain from nanotechnology and artificial intelligence. The laid-back colonists in the asteroid belt use human-AI interfaces and autonomous artificial microbes, though they exercise reasonable precautions--practicing what might be called "safe tech."
Alas, like one of Strasheim's experiments with virtual ecosystems, this complex and inventive novel suddenly sputters to a halt. The Pasteur swoops by Earth only long enough to launch surveillance probes, then speeds sunward to elude human attackers and scorch the mycora off the hull. When all seems lost, the crew learns that the Mycosystem is much more than an aggressive strain of interplanetary mildew.
The details of this revelation owe much to Greg Bear's Blood Music. That would be okay if McCarthy did something new with the concept. Instead, Bloom stops dead at what should be the start of the book's final act. McCarthy cauterizes dangling plot strands with rapid-fire exposition, then it's game over. Because Science Fiction Weekly's grading scale doesn't include an "I" for Incomplete, Bloom earns a B for several hundred pages of smart, suspenseful science fiction, even though it wilts at the end.
What really scared me about McCarthy's vision of the future was that there
were no full-time jobs in journalism.
-- Curt
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Inherit the Earth
The legacy of a dead scientist threatens his unwilling son...
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Inherit the Earth
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By Brian Stableford
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Tor Books
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$23.95/$33.95 Canada
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Hardcover, Sept. 1998
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ISBN 0-312-86493-0
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Review by Clinton Lawrence
 hough he has tried to escape his legacy, Damon Hart can't get away from the fact that he is the son of Conrad Helier, the scientist credited with saving the world. In the aftermath of the Plague Wars, which unleashed a sterility virus affecting all humanity, Helier and his research team developed an artificial womb, ensuring the survival of the species. Now advancements in nanotechnology are extending lifespans to the point where immortality seems like a real possibility to those still alive. Helier himself died decades ago, leaving Damon to be raised by members of the research team. But Damon has left the team to live his own life, first as a professional street fighter and later as a developer of virtual entertainment.
Now, however, someone posing as Operator 101 of the shadowy group called the "Eliminators" is claiming that Conrad Helier is still alive, and that he is an enemy of humankind. Whoever is behind this assertion has kidnapped Silas Arnett, the one surviving foster parent Damon still remembers with some fondness. After Interpol questions Damon in his apartment about the case, someone slips a mysterious note under Damon's door, spurring him to begin his own investigation.
As the note directs, Damon visits the Ahasuerus Foundation, itself a mysterious longevity research institute, and tries to contact his other foster parents, Karol Kachellek and Eveline Hywood. Neither will answer his phone calls, so he decides to travel to Hawaii and visit Kachellek in person. During the visit, Operator 101 releases an obviously fake tape showing Arnett's testimony and confession about Helier's research. It seems to spark a reconciliation between Damon and Kachellek, but Kachellek later arranges to have Damon taken against his will to a secret island. Just as they arrive, Operator 101 publishes a new message, identifying Damon as Conrad Helier, and ordering his destruction.
Suspenseful and thoughtful, but do the motives hold up?
Inherit the Earth is a thoughtful, well-written mystery thriller that raises a multitude of philosophical issues regarding immortality and social structure. Though it's questionable whether such things as the Web will play the same role 200 years from now that they do today, as Stableford posits, on the whole Stableford creates a convincing world where nanotechnology is taken for granted. He is very effective at showing how internal nanotechnology used to heal injuries and minimize pain alters the human psyche with respect to the kinds of risks humans will take and the kinds of self-expression they indulge in. These details support the novel's tension and suspense extremely well. Stableford also thoroughly and wonderfully explores the question of reality and evidence in a world where technology can easily create fakes.
The mystery itself is an intriguing one, particularly since Damon, who is not a detective, is not only unwilling to cooperate with the police, but actively tries to hide what he finds from them. Since surveillance cameras record everyone's public moves, it seems that the police aren't accustomed to having to solve any difficult crimes, and their incompetence is a nice touch. Unfortunately, when the solution to the overarching mystery is finally revealed, Stableford's premise becomes considerably weakened. The goals of the various forces, and the actions they take to achieve those goals, just don't seem to be congruent.
Nevertheless, Inherit the Earth is a very enjoyable novel, and the apparent incongruity is not obvious at first. Most readers will probably ignore or forgive it. The sense, both to the internal characters and to readers, that the whole affair is an intricate game between competing forces is evoked very effectively.
I rarely have this reaction to novels, but I think this book is screaming out to be filmed. And in the right hands, it could be a very good film, maybe as good as Blade Runner or The Usual Suspects.
-- Clint
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