The Amphora Project [Hardcover]

William Kotzwinkle (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 21, 2005

Deep in the bowels of Junk Moon, the finest scientists of Planet Immortal are nearing completion of a project that will unlock the secret of immortality. Project Amphora is run by the Consortium, twelve of the planet’s most influential movers and shakers. They aren’t the only ones after immortality: Commander Jockey Oldcastle, a wise-cracking space pirate, has heard about the Amphora Project from a banished scientist who is convinced it will lead to the end of the world. Oldcastle sets off to find the project with Adrian Link, a timid botanist who wants only to tend to his plants on the Agricultural Plain, yet Oldcastle finds himself trying to unravel a strange mystery: It seems the Amphora Project is turning the citizens of Planet Immortal into crystal. As time runs out, it is up to Oldcastle and Link -- and Link’s exotic, unlikely love interest -- to stop their mysterious extradimensional enemy before their world is lost forever. Hilarious, wildly inventive, and featuring a fantastical cast of mutants, quasihuman robots, intergalactic mercenaries, and two-thousand-year-old immortals, The Amphora Project is a novel that combines elements of science fiction and fantasy and transcends the boundaries of both.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Kotzwinkle's first adult novel since The Bear Went Over the Mountain (1996) is a rollicking old-school space opera complete with sensitive robots, wily space aliens and secretive societies in turmoil. In a lab hidden inside the notorious Junk Moon, scientists on the Amphora Project strive to find the key to immortality from encoded data left behind long ago by the mysterious "Ancient Aliens." Stuart Landsmann, the project's chief scientist, tells Amphora's backers they must stop the research or risk bringing about the end of the world, but his warnings are ignored. Jockey Oldcastle, space pirate and rogue, teams up with mild-mannered biologist Adrian Link to uncover the truth about Amphora, as people around the project start dying, their bodies transformed to crystal. The story twists along at breakneck pace through a future of absurd decadence and immense possibility. Along the way, Kotzwinkle fans will find sharply resonant moments as well as pointed humor and insight into human nature at its worst and best.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

The Amphora project is the attempt by a consortium of the Planet Immortal's rich and powerful to create immortality and enlightenment, and in light of the previous success of an alien species' work with the technology of ancient aliens, success now seems tenable. Hidden on the Junk Moon, the project has attracted the attention of space pirate Jockey Oldcastle, who heard about it from a scientist kicked off the project because of his doomsaying. Investigating the rumors, Oldcastle, his navigator Lizardo, botanist Adrian Link, and the robot Upquark discover that Project Amphora isn't doing what it's supposed to. Instead, it's turning subjects into fragile crystal, thereby rapidly depopulating Planet Immortal. Oldcastle, Lizardo, and Link must decipher the motives of the extradimensional beings truly responsible for the immortality technology and rush to keep predators at bay. An entertaining trip through an exotic future full of weird tech and plenty of heroics and adventure in the company of bizarre creatures. Regina Schroeder
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Product Details

• Hardcover: 335 pages
• Publisher: Grove Press (September 21, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0802118038
• ISBN-13: 978-0802118035
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.2 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,412,846 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not Kotzwinkle's Best, January 10, 2006

By 

C. Saylor (San Pedro, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Amphora Project (Hardcover)

I was excited about picking up a new book from the author who wrote great books like The Fan Man, The Exile, Dr. Rat, etc. but---

This one had promise for a while but then gets muddled in the middle and didn't really keep me interested. Characters like Oldcastle and Lizardo seem to be the heroes, but they take a backseat to others like The Observer, who, I think is the only interesting character in the story. There are others who are introduced, like Man O' War, but their impact on the story is unclear.
There's some interesting robotic encounters and other-worldly concepts that keep the reader involved, but, overall, the story is pretty anti-climatic. The theme of humans (or aliens) playing with mortality works well, but the story becomes made-for-tv and fizzles.
If you're looking for good Kotzwinkle, I'd recommend the books mentioned above as well as some earlier titles like The Midnight Examiner and The Bear Went Over The Mountain.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I am off to read more of this guy's work he rocks!, January 15, 2006

By 

James Neville (Katy (Houston), TX) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Amphora Project (Hardcover)

Oh gosh I LIKED this book.. and I was going to write a review without reading the others but sneaked a peek anyway.. so now for SURE I am gonna' write this review!

First, I haven't read any other Kotzwinkle (that sounded.. strange.. but YOU know what I mean), but after THIS book I AM because I liked this book!

I agree that there are COOL characters in this book including the Observer: a cool objective analytical even ruthless strong female lead who sneaks up on you in the book. Her Mysterious Origin adds to her allure!

But the OTHer characters are cool too, especially Lizardo and Oldcastle.. hm.. this will either put you off or intrigue you more.. but those two remind me of an intelligent "A Team" set in a future earth galaxy empire combat instead of a wwII african desert combat.. but the same "competent though irreverent" feel is there.

ANYway the backround about ancient aliens and their immortality scam was just that to me.. a fun backdrop for the main and secondary characters to play against.. especially cool to me were the individual motivations of The Combine who invested in the Amphora (Immortality) Project totally taken in by the scam but unable to see it because of their hopes and fears.. ow! that hit close to home to me (wince) but felt all too authentic!

But Hey the story ends happily, humanity remains saved and SOME of the characters hook up and learn lessons, and OTHers don't (of course!) and I am off to read more of this guy's work, he rocks!

5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Space-Opera attempt doesn't quite work, November 19, 2005

By 

booksforabuck "BooksForABuck" (Long Beach, CA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: The Amphora Project (Hardcover)

It was the culmination of countless dreams. The Amphora Project promised to bring immortality to humans, allow them to reclaim any physical moment for their bodies, continue on as long as the stars shined. Achieving success with the project, bringing immortality has become an obsession to the planet's leaders--and nothing would be allowed to stand in its way. Even when it became obvious that something was horribly wrong--even as people began transforming into crystal rocks--the project had to be continued. And when a few people rebelled, tried to stop the project before it stopped everything, it was too late.

Aliens from another dimension threaten humanity, and all life in our own universe. Against them, the military is completely helpless, and the government isn't even interested in fighting. Instead, a motley crew of old pirates, bug-scientists, robots, and Lizardo, the navigator, offer humanity's only hope.

Author William Kotzwinkle reaches into Science Fiction's tradition of space opera to deliver a battle against energy-sucking extra-dimensional aliens, romantic robots, and has-been pirates upon whom the fate of the universe rests. It's a good effort, but Kotzwinkle doesn't quite pull it off. For me, at least, the characters never quite came to life, their romances didn't seem integral to the individuals, and it was hard to get excited about whether any of them managed to stay alive or joined the mob being transformed to crystal.