Hermetech [Hardcover]

Storm Constantine (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 3, 1991

hermetech or hermetechs n.: The science of orgasmic energy potential, esp. within fixed unit (within time, space), adj. of or relating to properties of orgasmic energy [C20, Gk L of Hermes traditionally inventor of magic seal] Tech-Green, an environmental movement with quasi-political powers, is doing its best to repair the damaged circuitry of the global village. The earth is dying and there is little that anyone can do to stop it - some sections of Tech-Green assert that Gaiah would be best left to repair herself without the interference of humanity, that man should move off-world to Sky City One. At Taler's Bump, a small Naturotech religious site, Ari Famber communes with Isis, a satellite acolyte of the goddess Astrada. But there is little Isis can do about Ari's problems. The daughter of one time Tech-Green wunderkind, Ewan Famber, Ari is the product of a ground-breaking experiment that has left her genetically and sexually confused. Ewan has no answers; he is dead. But in Arcady Tkmmuz Malamute lives on - with memories of creations he'd rather forget... Seven years ago, Leila Saatchi, leader of Star Eye, promised Ewan that she would find his daughter when the time was right; protect Ari from those who might misunderstand and misuse her. But the natro group are about to take on something neither they nor the Tech-Greens would have ever imagined possible... HERMETECH is a stunning vision of Earth's near-future, a dramatic prediction of the mingling of science and mysticism, from the creator of the Wraeththu.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Storm Constantine is the author of over twenty books, both fantasy and non-fiction. She lives in the Midlands of England, with her husband and nine cats. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 384 pages
• Publisher: Headline Book Publishing (January 3, 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0747202826
• ISBN-13: 978-0747202820
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.1 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,410,438 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 Alchemy of love, September 5, 2004

By 

Ventura Angelo (Brescia, Lombardia Italy) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Hermetech (Paperback)

For the scenario we are reminded of Walter Jon William's Hardwired: a poisoned Erth ravaged by pollution and ozone layer's depletion, people living in domed cities with extremely corrupt lower sectors, huge orbital cities in the sky, nomads roaming the land. A group of these nomads, called "Star's Eye" stops near Ari Famber's house. Ari is the daughter of dead scientist Ewan Famber, who performed genetics experiments on her. The leader of the Star's Eye, Leila Saatchi, erstwhile colleague of Ewan Famber, convinces Ari, troubled by sexual problems, to join the group, headed toward the metropolis called Arkady. Here lives another colleague of Ewan Famber, the robopsychologist Quinx Roirbak, who, Leila hopes, will be able to deal with Ari's problems. With Quinx lives the obscure scientist Tammuz Malamute, a neuropsychologist in search of a job. Tammuz finds himself psychologically counseling the once street boy Zambia Crevecoeur, who unwittingly sold himself to the female pimp Jahsaxa Penumbra, who had him surgically modified as an intersex.
A great part of the novel is dedicated to Ari's voyage to Arkady with the group,a group of bizarre gypsy-like, vaguely hippie men and women, who'll help Ari to star coping with her identity.
The sexual energy she has been made capable of manifesting would change the life of all characters, celebrating the healing power of love and empathy.
This is a very interesting futuristic novel, blending elements of science-fiction and the fantastic in a style reminding us of Master of Space and Time of Rudy Rucker, and raising, in an intriguing way, the ever problematic issues of genetic manipulation and envirinment preservation. The world, as in Nemesis by Isaac Asimov,that also features a problematic adolescent, shall be saved by a child.
A celebration of love, sexuality and human potential that's pure Storm Constantine

0 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Complexity and Gender Stereotypes, December 15, 2008

By 

TammyJo Eckhart "TammyJo Eckhart" (Bloomington, Indiana United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Hermetech (Paperback)

I ordered this book because a friend recommended it to me as having a positive view of sexuality. After reading it I cannot say that I agree. The story is complex, there are at least two distinctive storylines happening throughout the book and sometimes a few more until characters meet up. While 'sex is dangerous' is a common message I would like to think that in a post-environmental disaster setting that relies on high tech to survive and promotes the strongly possibilities of physical manipulations that the idea that sex and gender are one could be overcome is embraced. Apparently not as in several instances biological sex is seen as the same thing as gender as in the case of Zambia, a poor soul whose been forced to undergo some odd surgeries that leave him more "feminine" even though I swear the implants he chose were anal in nature and not vaginal.

Ari Famber's journal of self discovery is interesting and complex but again the message of 'sex is dangerous' pervades her story. The danger here is of the heterosexual type -- she fears and is told to stay away from men, the very idea that she might want a female partner is never addressed. Again that seems very odd in a future world where the majority deity has become female and we are originally led to believe they've overcome so many other biases.

Leila Saatchi is the most interesting and believable character I think. A woman driven by an old promise, fighting her former desires to manipulate the body with her new authority and responsibility to a nomadic tribe that prowls the wastelands on pseudo-religious journeys.

Over all there is just too much here to focus on. Too many changes of view, too many hints of social, political and religious commentaries and "history" and frankly too much sex that doesn't seem to always progress the plot as much as I'd like. I would have preferred it if the book just looked at Ari and Leila's journey with Star Eye, introducing us to other relatively characters as they reach them and not before.