Resurrection, Inc. (Signet) [Mass Market Paperback]

Kevin J. Anderson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 5, 1988 | Series: Signet

It is the future and the dead walk the streets ... Resurrection, Inc. found a profitable way to do it. All it took was a microprocessor brain, a synthetic heart and blood, and, presto, anyone with the price could buy a Servant with no mind of its own and trained to obey any command. But for every Servant created, a living worker was out of a job, and suddenly Resurrection, Inc.'s profits became everyone else's loss. Some took to rioting in the streets, their rampages ruthlessly ended by armored and heavily armed Enforcers, eager for the kill. Some joined the ever growing cult of Neo-Satanism, seeking heaven in the depths of hell. Only one tried to change the world. His name was Danal, he was dead--but he remembered. And he was the last hope for the living... [From the author: This is my first published novel, though I wrote many (sadly embarrassing) attempts, beginning when I was only eight years old. I had previously written the first book in a fantasy trilogy based on role-playing games, Gamearth, and while my agent marketed it, I asked him if I should dutifully write the second book in the trilogy. He gave me very good advice: "No, do something completely different." That was Resurrection, Inc.-- an unusual combination of Gothic horror, hard SF, and murder mystery. The original paperback cover art had a rather unfortunate image of a giant stone skull with a spaceship flying overhead, icons jointly designed to turn off both SF and horror readers. Nevertheless, Resurrection, Inc. got great reviews and was nominated for the Bram Stoker Award. This is my preferred text of the novel, revised for the specialty press Tenth Anniversary edition. (Cover by Bob Eggleton.)] Bram Stoker Award Preliminary Ballot Nominee, Locus Poll Award Nominee

--This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

Editorial Reviews

Review

[A] bold first step into the genre...(he's) taken a horrifying society and given it an additional, disturbing twist. --Lisa DuMond, SF Site, MEviews, Jan. 2000 --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From the Publisher

Kevin Anderson's first novel Resurrection Inc. was released in paperback only and in a short print run ten years ago. It has not been available again until now. Brought to you with special introductions by guest authors David B. Silva, Bentley Little, and Janet Berliner. Also original cover art by World Fantasy Award Winning artist Bob Eggleton. This is also the novels first appearance in hardcover. · Nominated for Best Novel by the Horror Writer's Association. First Hardcover Edition!! --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Signet (July 5, 1988)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0451154096
• ISBN-13: 978-0451154095
• Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 4.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #694,078 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Kevin J. Anderson has written 46 national bestsellers and has over 20 million books in print worldwide in thirty languages. He has been nominated for the Nebula Award, the Bram Stoker Award, and the SFX Readers' Choice Award. Find out more about Kevin Anderson at www.wordfire.com.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent premise with imperfect execution, April 22, 2006

By 

Ty Arthur "xFiruath" - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Resurrection, Inc. (Signet) (Mass Market Paperback)

Resurrection Inc. is a disturbingly different kind of novel than most are used to. This could have been a painfully bad read, if the idea for the story had been put into the hands of a less qualified author. Kevin Anderson has done a suprisingly good job of taking a very "out there" premise and crafting it into a compelling novel that is hard to put down once it's started. There's a few problems with the story that occur here and there, but they are offset to the point that one could almost ignore them completely by the dead-on stinging social commentary and overal excellent story crafting present.

The story behind the novel is that sometime in the future the medical process for reanimating an otherwise inanimate corpse has been discovered and put to a very profitable use. Why pay a worker every two weeks for the rest of his natural life - complete with benefits and medical insurance, when for the price of just one normal worker's yearly salary you could have a unquestioning servant to do any simple or physical work, no matter how distatestful or strenous, and never pay another penny. While this sounds great to all the employers out there, this of course causes a huge problem for all the blue collar workers who have no higher education or technical skills to set them apart from the undead servants.

With this backstory it would appear that the author is trying to create a dystopia, and while there are elements here that could create dystopia (such as all the out of work, lower caste individuals playing the part of the "proles" from the novel 1984, or the futuristic technology gone horribly wrong ala Brave New World), it never fully manifests, which unfortunately lessens the impact of the book slightly.

There are three main organizations who hold power in the universe of this novel - the first is the actual company called "Resurrection Inc." which creates the servants, the second is the "Enforcers" who are privately owned military/police who have destroyed the need for government run police. The final orginazation is the prominent religion of the time frame - Neo Satanism. Were not talking real modern day LaVeyan style satanism either, but the "ye olde" satanism where a literal devil figure is worshipped. At first glance, this seems completely out of place in a novel about the medical advances of the future, but as the novel progresses it becomes easy to understand why this element is in the book. Anderson is contrasting mankinds technological advances with their personal and intellectual advances. While the ability to create unlimited slave labor via the dead, and a vastly complicated network of computers and every day appliances have been strung together succesfully, man still remains the gullible and superstitious sheep they have been since the dark ages. As the reader will discover part-way through the book, this religion was created specifically for the purpose of separating the sheep from those who can think for themselves, and several real world examples are made (painfully so to the members of the religions mentioned). For example, when two of the people responsible for the advent of Neo Satanism are discussing how to go about creating the religion, one of them mentions how they should fake some physical evidence to back up the outrageous claims of the religion, the other person replies caustically, "Proof? We can just say the angel Moroni popped down and did away with all the evidence, it's been done before." in a reference to the very same thing occuring in the Mormon religious doctrine.

The actual main story, that of the hero of the novel, an undead servant named Danal, is an interesting read on it's own, regardless of all the social issues surrounding the story. It seems Danal, despite all odds, can somehow remember things of when he was alive - which of course raises all kinds of fun questions about life after death, the morality of slavery, the "cosmic consciousness", and all that other stuff that man will be bickering about until the end of time. *Partial spoiler ahead here* The main thing about the story that bothered me was it's ending - it was happy. Everything worked out for the heroes and all the "bad guys" got what they deserved. This completely destroys the point that the author was trying to make. The unhappy endings worked in "1984" and "Brave New World" because it showcased the themes of the novel. The happy ending in this novel cheapens the impact, as it seems to concede some ground, as though the author is saying, "Yeah, I've got this amazingly great point to make, but I'd better cave in and give the very kind of people I'm writing about a happy ending so they don't actually think about anything and start asking any questions".

Looking past the few problems the novel has, "Resurrection Inc." is an excellent read, and highly recommened, just be prepared to take some abuse if you are one of the sheep the author is writing about.

3 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Resurrection of a Masterpiece, October 9, 2000

By 

Michael J. Heller (Riverview, FL USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Resurrection Inc: 10th Anniversary (Hardcover)

Resurrection Inc. is one of the best books I've ever read. If you are fan of Mr. Anderson's work, this is a great place to continue. If you haven't read anything by him, this is a great place to start.

I purchased this book when it originally came out and it has been a fav of mine for years. When I met Mr. Anderson and his wife a few years back, I presented me copy for him to sign, and he was in shock. He hadn't seen a copy in many years and was pleased to see his older works still in circulation.

I can't say enough good things about Resurrection Inc. You won't go wrong with this book! A great addition to any collector's library!

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Fun Read That Keeps on Giving, June 6, 2011

By 

troyst - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Resurrection, Inc. (Kindle Edition)

4 Stars - It was too short.

Fantastic pacing with such a fun story. Read this.