Spin Control

I finished Spin Control a week or so ago. On the Amazon site, I found J. Avellanet's description matches my own feelings.

Spin Control won the 2006 Philip K. Dick award.

The plot deals with two groups.

• Syndicates
• Earth humans

The Syndicates consist of clones. Clones operate under strict communal principles. They don't breed. They consider themselves far superior to humans. They call themselves post-humans. Clones fall in love and have sex - with clones of the same model. They espouse homosexuality.

Earth humans live among the sorry ruins of a post-apocalyptic world. They dwell in the shadow of the Ring, the series of orbiting vessels where many (most?) humans live. Humans still fight over control of the Holy Land (Outremer, the Middle East, Israel/Palestine).

Between the two groups, the clones command much more interest. We empathize most with Arkady, the main character, a clone. His stories of the expedition to Novalis, strung between interaction with earthers, keep us reading. His love for the near-deviant Arkasha (a clone of the same model) explains all his motives. We like this guy.

The earthers could vanish, and we'd lose nothing. Cohen, an artificial intelligence, is the main Earth character. Li, a clone from a wiped-out race of clones, settled on Earth and married Cohen. She's number two. Characters like Cohen and Li don't interest me. I've met them before, and they bore me.

Moriarty's greatest skill shines through in characterization. Osnat, an Israeli commando and assassin, come across as lifelike. The novelist clearly loves Arkady. Reading these characters give me much happiness.

The plot gets complicated and far-fetched. The narrative runs quickly, though, and carries you through to the end. The end promises more: an alien invasion, or at least a reaction to that possibility. Stay tuned for the next spin.

I wish Moriarty had tightened this novel. As she develops, she'll learn. She references great sci-fi novels like Ender's Game, Dune, and many others. I suspect Moriarty will eventually write a novel that stands in their ranks. Spin Control doesn't reach that level, but you can see the talent.

Novels with Bibliographies

I've been reading Chris Moriarty's novel, Spin Control. (You can also visit Moriarty's personal website). I'll write more about the novel when I'm done - I still have 20 pages to read. Right now, I want to talk about the bibliography at the back of the book.

I object to bibliographies in fiction. Why? Isn't it better to give the reader maximal information, sourcing your ideas, offering avenues for exploration, and so on?

No, I don't think so. I look on fiction as more art than science. I want it to look as effortless as the over-the-shoulder catch an outfielder makes of a long fly ball. See, it only looks effortless. Only the most naive spectator thinks it's easy.

If the novel extrapolates at all, if it contains any conjecture, I expect the narrative to sweep me along. I don't trust the science because I can't tell where it's flimsy. Well, except in those areas where I really am an expert, like simple computer stuff.

Moriarty isn't flimsy. But the bibliography proves that more thoroughly than the story does. That makes the novel look much more complex than it really is. Not a good artistic effect.

Packing and Unpacking

We would take years, moving at near light speed, to reach the nearest planet.

To reach light speed (c), you need

• 354 days at 1G
• 1 day at 354G

You need the same time to slow down once you near your destination.

Those numbers assume constant acceleration, which assumes infinite energy. They also don't consider time dilation effects as you get close to light speed.

In reality, it will take centuries to reach even a nearby planet. People can't live in a spaceship for centuries. How to solve the problem?

• Sex: Treat a spaceship like the family home. It may take centuries to get there, but your great-to-the-tenth-power grandkids will have a nice, clean planet to terraform.
• Cold sleep: Deep freeze the human cargo. Thaw it out when you get there. Sure, some will die, but many will live. Exploring space carries dangers, don't you know?
• Packing and unpacking: You still freeze the human cargo, but then your nanorobots pack the human molecules into compressed modules. When you reach the destination, the nanorobots unpack them.

I like the idea of packing and unpacking. Just as we compress data now, we can compress organisms in the future. A compressed organism could survive as long as the nanorobot swarm holding its unpacking instructions exists. Interesting idea.