This Shared Dream [Hardcover]

Kathleen Ann Goonan (Author)

Book Description

Release date: July 19, 2011

Kathleen Ann Goonan introduced Sam Dance and his wife, Bette, and their quest to alter our present reality for the better in her novel In War Times (winner of the John W. Campbell Memorial Award for Best Novel and ALA’s Best Science Fiction Novel of 2008). Now, in This Shared Dream, she tells the story of the next generation.

The three Dance kids, seemingly abandoned by both parents when they were younger, are now adults and are all disturbed by memories of a reality that existed in place of their world. The older girl, Jill, even remembers the disappearance of their mother while preventing the assassination of John F. Kennedy.

Goonan has created a new kind of utopian SF novel, in which the changes in history have created a present world that is in many ways superior to our own, while in other worlds people strive to prevent their own erasure by restoring the ills to ours. This Shared Dream is certainly the most provocative SF speculation of the year, and perhaps the decade.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Living up to its title, THIS SHARED DREAM is ultimately a novel about connectedness,and the possibility of greater harmony in what used to be called
the family of man. Little wonder that Goonan's overarching metaphor for earthly felicity is improvisational jazz, the true music of the spheres." --Michael Dirda, Washington Post

"Packed with provocative ideas . . . a rare novel that combines a darkly realistic vision of history with a dose of classic SF optimism about the fixability of the future" -- Gary K. Wolfe, LOCUS

"The book is generous and hopeful in the face of all the evidence of humankind's capacity for folly, tribalism, violence, (and) destruction . . . and I would like to
live there, too." --Russell Letson, LOCUS

"A tough-minded, kind-hearted, fiercely intelligent novel."
--Ursula K. Le Guin

"Kathleen Ann Goonan's THIS SHARED DREAM is a richly imagined tale of gypsies and jazz, Nazis and nanotechnology, war and assassination and the Summer of Love. As elegant and complicated as the ever-changing time streams that wind through it, THIS SHARED DREAM is a must-read in this or any world." --Connie Willis

Praise for In War Times:

One of Publishers Weekly’s Best Books of 2007
The American Library Association’s Best Genre Novel of the Year

“While This Shared Dream is plenty exciting and expertly paced, there’s a quietness, a gentleness, throughout. Its characters talk far more than they act. They aren’t just action figures; they’re real people, damaged yet striving, and we come to care deeply about them. Such is the power of art — the real, not imaginary, empathy-creating device. Living up to its title, “This Shared Dream” is ultimately a novel about connectedness, in every sense, and the possibility of greater harmony in what used to be called the family of man. Little wonder that Goonan’s overarching metaphor for earthly felicity is improvisational jazz, the true music of the spheres.”

— The Washington Post

“A complex…thoughtful and often dazzling journey through worlds that might, and perhaps should, have been.”
—Kirkus Reviews, starred review

“[Goonan] can take all the credit for a narrative that has hardly a single flaw of pacing, setting, or characterization, and will be intelligible, not to say fascinating, to readers far beyond the ranks of World War II buffs. An authentic classic.”
—Booklist, starred review

From the Inside Flap

"A complex . . . thoughtful and often dazzling journey through worlds that might, and perhaps should, have been."  -- Kirkus Review (starred review) on In War Times

"Kathleen An Goonan goes against the grain of a lot of twenty-first-century SF by using sci-fi tools to create serious novels of ideas, and she's done it again:  this is a truly humanist, and feminist, take on what's important for our future."  --Gwynneth Jones


"In War Times is an intense labor of love.  The historical elements are beautifully researhed, the characters unfold with well-timed eagerness, and everything dovetails with comments on the developing art of jazz.  Although adventurous, this isn't a cold shower of testosterone.  In War Times is a warm glass of fine, intoxicating whiskey that should be savored as thoroughly as possible."  -- Starlog

"A wild ride through alternate histories.  Brilliant."  --Jack McDevitt

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 368 pages
• Publisher: Tor Books; First Edition edition (July 19, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0765313545
• ISBN-13: 978-0765313546
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 6.4 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,278,927 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Kathleen Ann Goonan is a writer, critic, and, presently, a Visiting Professor at Georgia Institute of Technology, where she teaches Creative Writing and Literature.

Her 2007 novel IN WAR TIMES won the prestigious Campbell Award for Best Novel of 2007. Her first novel, QUEEN CITY JAZZ, was a New York Times Notable Book and a British Science Fiction Award finalist, and her second, THE BONES OF TIME, was an Arthur C. Clarke Award finalist. CRESCENT CITY RHAPSODY and LIGHT MUSIC were Nebula Award finalists.

Well-known for her Nanotech Quartet, Goonan's speaking engagements include appearances at Utopiales in Nantes, Kosmopolis in Barcelona, and at many universities. She has published over forty short stories, some of which are collected in ANGELS AND YOU DOGS, which will be released from PS Publishing in the fall of 2011.

She has this to say about THIS SHARED DREAM:

THIS SHARED DREAM evolved, as do most of my novels, from a variety of currents and influences. Chief among these were Eric Kandel's IN SEARCH OF MEMORY. Kandel, a Nobel laureate, has done extensive research on the biological roots and pathways of memory--how it is created, how it is stored, and how it re-emerges in certain conditions. In his book, his memories of his family's flight from Vienna following Krystallnacht in 1938 are interspersed with his growing appreciation of the mysteries of memory.

But THIS SHARED DREAM is in the main a family saga about lost and unevenly distributed information, and about how differing memories among siblings create their present. It is also about retrieving lost memories, lost parts of the self, and re-integrating them into one's present being.

It is about the nature of time and consciousness, and identity. It is about music, communication, and the potential of children when they have a science-based educational environment that meshes with and enhances their natural developmental.

Mostly, though, it is about the tenacity of love, and the power of love to heal.

Kathleen Ann Goonan can be reached for interviews via [e-mail], www.goonan.com, and www.goonan.com/blog.

This Shared Dream website is www.thisshareddream.com

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant August 5, 2011

By elle moss

Format:Hardcover

Though This Shared Dream can be read on its own, I read it precourser, In War Times, and loved it. loved them both for their conceptual brilliance most of all. The Dance family, parents and now grown children, have suffered because of the self-replicating, timestreaming Device. Traveling through different time zones and historic dimensions from the 1930's through the 40's, 50's, 60's and beyond, they plunge into adventures that may change human history for the better or worse...it's a wild ride. It's scientifically plausible and emotionally exciting. I highly recommend it as a foray into alternate histories of mindbending fun.
ICEDEVICE

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Twice in Time April 30, 2013

By Arthur W. Jordin

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

This Shared Dream (2011) is the second SF novel in this series, following In War Times. In the previous volume, Sam had tried to volunteer in 1940, but was rejected because of his poor eyesight. A year later, he found an aspiring recruiter and was accepted into the US Army.

He was pulled out of Camp Sutton and sent to Washington, DC, for special training. The course met in a hastily erected structure on the roof of a War Department building and covered a range of esoteric subjects. The fourth instructor was Dr. Hadntz, an exile from Budapest.

On December 6, 1941, Hadntz seduced Sam so that she could give him the plans for an exotic device. According to her, the apparatus would promote world peace. It communicated with human brains to change attitudes, but it obviously was not yet perfected. Hadntz also told him that it was a time machine of sorts.

In this novel, Jill Dance is the oldest daughter of Sam and Bette. She is married to Elmore and has a son, Steven.

Brian Dance is the younger brother of Jill. He is an engineer and owns a construction company. He is married to Cindy and they have two daughters, Zoe and Bitsy.

Megan is the youngest child of Sam and Bette. She has a doctorate in molecular biology and does memory research for the National Institute of Health. She is married to Jim and they have a five year old daughter, Abbie.

Sam Dance was an Army engineer during World War II, working on development of the M-9 fire director. He also worked with Wink on the Device.

Elani Hadntz is part Magyar Gypsy. She had trained as a physician, but later became a physicist. She has been studying the quantum nature of the brain.

Bette Elegante Dance was a member of the OSS organization. She also knows Hadntz. Then she married Sam.

Al Winklemeyer is from upstate New York. Wink also plays jazz music on the cornet. He worked with Sam on the M-9 fire director and the Device.

In this story, Jill remembers two realities. In one, John Kennedy had been assassinated in Dallas, but JFK lived in the other. The timestream changed after JFK was saved and the Cold War became a horrible memory.

Unfortunately, Jill is very stressed and occasionally forgets which timestream she is now living. She is completing on her doctorate in Political Science and taking the last required History course. Little slips of the tongue are quite embarrassing.

She is also having moments of reverie that leaves her body working in automatic mode. After the last class, she turns left instead of right and ends up in her old neighborhood. Becoming aware of the error, she just continues to the old house.

She can't find the house key, so she breaks a plate glass window and falls inside. She cuts herself badly and the neighbors call an ambulance. After admission to the hospital, Elmore has her committed for insanity.

Jill is drugged and woozy in the hospital. Jill's siblings rally around and fight the commitment. The doctors ease up on the medication, but she still has to go through counseling. They are not sure what the problem was, but do release her after a few weeks.

The counselor suggests that Jill talk with her siblings about her issues. Jill hasn't been able to talk freely with them for years, especially after her time travel to Dallas to save Kennedy. Brian seems to be in denial and is unwilling to discuss anything strange.

Jill decides to divorce Elmore. She and Stevie move into the old Victorian mansion where she and her siblings had been raised. It has been left empty for decades, so needs a lot of work.

Megan and Brian start a discussion about dreams of events that hadn't happened. When she mentions something, his dreams have the same episodes. They decide to discuss this with Jill.

Jill goes back to work at the World Bank. She is head of a project to set up prefabricated school houses in poverty areas around the world. This project is going well, but the next step is even more extensive: nano seeds that will grow into various school house forms depending upon the needs of the students. These schools are for children -- and maybe adults -- and will be distributed without official requests.

Meanwhile, Bette has come back to this timestream. She avoids her children, but uses hidden rooms in the old mansion where Jill now lives. She believes that Jill is at risk from her enemies.

Bette takes Jill's notes on the nanoseed schools and enters them into her Q, a quantum computer/phone. Then she sends the papers to Hadntz. To her surprise, she receives an immediate reply; the project will be implemented immediately and shipping should start in a few weeks.

This tale is about another timeline than ours. It branches from our timeline in 1945 and again in 1963, when Kennedy lives to make a speech. Jill feels guilty for changing the lives of her siblings.

A small group is working with Hadntz to eliminate warfare from human society. Sam, Wink and Bette are aware of the Device, but their children don't know about it at first. Others know that the Device probably exists, but don't know how it works.

Hadntz and her associates have introduced Qs, spacies and other artifacts produced by the Device into human lives. These objects have definitely affected everyday lives in the timestream. That world is a better place, but is still not perfect.

The Device is working by changing children. This story is mostly about the next generaton and their children. Jill, Brian and Megan have been changed by an earlier version of the Device and now their children are being exposed to these influences.

Read the first volume before this one. It can be understood without the first book, but is more confusing that way. This may be the last volume in the sequence, but a collection of short stories by this author -- Angel and You Dogs -- has recently been released.

Highly recommended for Goonan fans and for anyone else who enjoys tales of alternate timelines, cognitive processes, and confused children. Read and enjoy!

-Arthur W. Jordin

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Best Yet! October 30, 2011

By William A Click

Format:Hardcover

Kathleen Goonan hit her stride several novels back, but This Shared Dream really showcases her imagination and writing ability. Building on her last book "In War Times", this story follows the fascinating lives of the family directly affected by the mysterious device, as they struggle to understand what is happening to them and their surroundings.

Goonan's fascination with nanotechnology is evident but in this book she spends more time with character development than technical details, making the characters more accesible. The main overarching theme is the proposition that education in general and Montessori in particular, can end war, hunger & strife. And in this world the end does justify the means, through some very familiar methods.

I have read all her novels and recommend them all, but This Shared Dream is quite superb.
* (psst - read In War Times first)