Dreaming Metal [Paperback]

Melissa Scott (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 15, 1998

Five years after the Manfred riots, the question of machine intelligence is still a dangerous one on Persephone, and the coolie rights organization Realpeace is not prepared to let it go. For conjurer Celinde Fortune and her musician cousin Fanning Jones, the conflict is a distant one -- until the murder of a popular musician raises the stakes even for the most determinedly uninvolved. And when Fortune acquires a new Spelvin construct to manage her magic act --one originally owned by an FTL pilot named Reverdy Jian -- she is thrust suddenly into the middle of the problem. Because this construct is something different, and that difference can get them all killed.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

In this sequel to Dreamships, Melissa Scott tackles the concept of artificial intelligence and how it will impact society. Not the theoretical society of chess playing and super computing, but the gritty society where coolie laborers struggle for existence, and where political groups fight their battles on the streets through protests, riots, and bombings. Scott uses three characters--a high-tech stage magician, her deaf cousin who plays in a struggling band, and a starship pilot with a deep distrust for the artificial constructs she must work with--to explore her intense, if slow moving, future. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Scott returns to the world of Dreamships (Tor, 1992) to further explore artificial intelligence. Celinde Fortune performs illusions in a theater on Persephone five years after riots pitted coolie labor against machine-rights activists. When she combines two computer chips for her act, the resulting karakuri, named after her dead twin Celeste, seems to be an independent artificial intelligence. From an entertainer's perspective, Scott deftly explores this complex, class-stratified world where the lowliest workers fear that artificial intelligence may obtain human rights they don't have. Highly recommended for sf collections.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 3218 pages
• Publisher: Tor Books; 1st edition (August 15, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312866585
• ISBN-13: 978-0312866587
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #494,082 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The birth of AI, August 3, 2001

By 

Josh Daniel S. Davis "xaminmo" (Highland Village, TX) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Dreaming Metal (Paperback)

This book is excellent. It fits into the cyberpunk genre and runs alongside authors such as Neil Stephenson and William Gibson. The story is set on Persephone, where everyone lives under the planet's surface, except for outcasts and interplanetary cargo ships. Various castes, characters and lifestyles are clearly portrayed. Vivid imagery is presented surrounding the birth of true digital sentience.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not Free SF Reader, September 2, 2007

By 

Blue Tyson "- Research Finished" (Legion clubhouse) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Dreaming Metal (Hardcover)

Another example of Melissa Scott's ability to produce an interesting setting almost immediately, surrounding people's daily lives.

A few years after Dreamships, a young woman is basically a magician/illusionist, working with high tech robot type bodies. Her use of them, with some grey technology seems to cross the artificial intelligence line. This sort of thing has caused violence to erupt before, and the protagonists find themselves in danger again.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very good read., June 4, 2004

By 

David W. Bickel (bothell, Washington USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Dreaming Metal (Paperback)

This was the first Melissa Scott book that I have read, and it definitely won't be the last. She is able to draw the reader into her worlds very easily. The atmosphere of this book is very very good. This is seriously one of my favorite books.