🚀 go-pugleaf

Fabrizio J Bonsignore wrote:
> I counted more than 32 Belindas, women who can be confused among them
> and the people I mean. I was threatened not to post or they would
> suffer consequences. I have had no further news. There were several
> stories of what could happen to them. I need to see them in person to
> see they are well. ***I have much more information than they may
> have.*** Videoconference is an option. The previous email account's
> server was closed, so now I am using this account. This is a serious
> plight. I found the other mathematician friend tortured and now he
> dissapeared.

You know, I once heard a rumour cleverly disguised as science-fiction, 
that mathematicians had used virtual reality to discover a quick and 
easy way to manufacture reliable antigravity. This was cleverly 
published by a writer mostly noted for his short-story horror.

In this novel, the governments of the USSR and the USA had become almost 
indistinguishable from each other, except for their unrelenting enmity. 
On a very overpopulated Earth, everyone longed for escape from the 
repression. A huge government research project discovered an interesting 
mathematical anomaly while exploring the upper atmosphere of the planet 
Jupiter. Gravity has hidden eddies which propagate into other domains of 
the quantum scale, as shown in the Leigh-Brackett Derivation. 
Additionally, a private-corporation medical research effort discovers 
the ultimate antibiotic. And one fine day, a group of physicists 
publishes their paper into every e-mail box on Earth, and apply their 
new knowledge to evacuate a dying planet which was killed by the 
power-seeking of bureacracies. By modulating electron spin-differential, 
they can create bubbles which are effectively isolated from spaces 
exterior to the generated field, and all of the forces therein, 
including light-speed limitations and the entirely entertwined 
phenomenon of "gravity". And suddenly, all over Earth, there are _Cities 
in Flight_.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1585676020/qid=1136856930/sr=8-1/ref=pd_bbs_1/103-1422271-8615804?n=507846&s=books&v=glance

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/customer-reviews/1585676020/ref=cm_cr_dp_pt/103-1422271-8615804?%5Fencoding=UTF8&n=507846&s=books

<quote in-part>

Probably the only way Mr Blish could have made the title anymore 
self-explanatory would be to call it "Cities in Space" but that's not 
really as poetic. Mostly due to that teeming mass we fondly call pop 
culture, if you've heard of James Blish at all it's probably by way of 
his novelisations of Star Trek episodes, which is where I first heard of 
him (and they really aren't half bad, honestly) but as it turns out he 
was one of the smarter SF writers of the fifties. His SF reputation 
basically rests on two novels, A Case of Conscience (which is a decent 
examination of original sin from a SF perspective) and the collective 
groups of novels known as Cities in Flight, which we'll be talking about 
here. Over the course of time Blish wrote four average sized novels 
depicting over time man discovering the ability to launch entire cities 
into space and the culture that developed around them as the centuries 
wore on. The first novel "They Shall Have Stars" mostly serves as a 
really long prologue to the proceedings, showing how the technology was 
developed, as well as the secret to halting the aging process, 
indispensible to staying in space for a really long time. The story also 
functions as a political thriller on some level, showing the earth of 
the future as more narrowminded and religious (always an easy target, 
alas) and focused more upon itself, crumbling even as he moves forward. 
Still, it's really just prelude for what's to come. "A Life for the 
Stars" is next, and is basically a better introduction to the culture of 
the flying cities, as they weave their way through space, taking odd 
jobs. Blish does a decent job making a somehow plausible stab at what a 
wandering space culture would be like, although I do have to agree that 
he rarely gives you a sense of the massiveness of a city and all the 
people inside it, instead focusing only on a small handful (I mean 
they're on NYC, for pete's sake) which takes some of the epicness away 
from it, although the fact that it's a giant city rocketing through 
space helps. "Earthman Come Home" is probably my favorite of the group 
(and it's the longest) focusing on the mayor of NYC, John Amalfi (who 
was glimpsed in the last novel but takes center stage for this and the 
next one) as he deals with some crises over the course of a novel, 
showing the downsides of a wandering culture (what if there's no jobs?) 
and what drastic actions those people might take, it's the widest 
ranging examination and description of Blish's future history. The last 
novel "Truimph of Time" mostly ties things up, bringing the crew back 
one last time after centuries have past to deal with the one thing 
they'll never be able to deal with and wrapping up things nicely, on a 
real poetic note. Blish's novels are hugely readable and move at a good 
clip, the characterization isn't what it could be (a common complaint 
for fifties' SF, since putting the idea forward was more important) and 
since the novels were written so long ago some of the science is suspect 
(a lot is outdated and the rest is just babbling) . . . also, the novels 
sometimes act more like collections of short stories, as the city moves 
from one unrelated crisis to another. But in terms of ideas and scope, 
Blish was standing nearly alone and I have to admit I have a fondness 
for the type of SF that liked the idea of strapping giant engines onto 
things and sending them into space. Sure it's not as graceful but it's 
much for a better mental image. If you're looking for cutting edge, 
sophisticated SF for the new century, this probably isn't what you're 
looking for, but for those who like to see one man lay out wild ideas in 
a calm, level fashion, this is probably some of the best stories you can 
get from this era and well worth the look.

</quote>

_Cities in Flight_ by James Blish, published in separate volumes 
throughout the 1960s, collected as one volume as _Cities in Flight_. 
Available in used bookstores everywhere for under a dollar, and it will 
probably be the best dollar you've ever spent.





-- 
	nam primi in omnibus proeliis oculi vincuntur.