Winner of the Homer Award for Best Science Fiction Novel.
Ballerina Lucia del Mar has two great passions: dance, which consumes most of her waking hours, and the World Wide Web, which brings the outside world into her tightly regimented life. Lucia's two passions collide when a White House performance and reception leads to an encounter with handsome Moroccan businessman Rashid al-Jazari, creator of a brilliant technology that has set the Internet rumor mill afire.
A second, seemingly chance meeting with Rashid will plunge Lucia into a deadly world of desire and intrigue. For although his work has implications she cannot foresee, there are those who do understand and would turn its great power to their own destructive purposes. As she is drawn deeper and deeper into Rashid's life and work, cut off from the outside world, she finds herself becoming more attracted to him. But is her seclusion within Rashid's well-guarded Moroccan home intended to ensure her safety...or her silence? And is it already too late to stop the terrible consequences his new technology could unleash?
Catherine Asaro, author of the popular Skolian Empire series that combines hard science with romance in the far future, explores new territory with The Veiled Web. Set in 2010, this story combines romance, suspense, and cutting-edge computer technology in a Moroccan setting.
Lucia del Mar, the heroine, is an internationally renowned dancer who is also familiar with the latest in Internet technology. At a White House dinner she meets Rashid al-Jazari, a Moroccan businessman who has created a hot new virtual-reality suit and software that could revolutionize Web browsing. A second encounter ends up in an attempt to kidnap Rashid and Lucia, forcing them into hiding at his family's Moroccan home. Here Lucia becomes steadily more attracted to him, even as she chafes at the limitations placed on her as a woman in a traditional Muslim household. She also begins to realize the implications of his work, and how dangerous it could be in the wrong hands.
In this near-future thriller, Asaro considers what makes humans human and the similarities between art and science, balancing ethical and religious beliefs with scientific discoveries that open new possibilities. If you're intrigued by artificial intelligence, nanotechnology, and VR, you'll enjoy this one. --Nona Vero
From Publishers Weekly
The latest from veteran science fiction writer Asaro (Primary Inversion) is an uneasy blend of cyber-intrigue, exotic lore and romantic clich?. In the summer of 2010, Web-surfing ballerina Lucia del Mar meets Rashid al-Jazari, the sexy inventor of a cutting-edge artificial intelligence system. Lucia and Rashid are kidnapped by international terrorists who covet his invention. While they manage to foil the abductors, in order to keep Lucia safe when they land in Morocco, Rashid arranges a hasty marriage. Cloistered in Rashid's traditional Islamic home, Lucia overcomes her loneliness by befriending Zaki, the uncannily human computer program Rashid has designed. When the terrorists strike again, Rashid's AI system is destroyed, but the unlikely marriage survives. Asaro discourses intelligently on millennial issues but leaves the conspirators and their goalAmind control over the known worldAfar too vague to generate suspense. Nor does the plot convention of a forced marriage that ends in true love provide much sizzle. The book's strengths, instead, are the sensuous and respectful evocation of Islamic culture and the creation of Zaki, the artificial intelligence who comes to life as the tale's most quirky and moving character. (Dec.) Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Propped against the bookcase in Catherine Asaro's home office is the framed diploma of her Harvard Ph.D. in chemical physics. Nearby, dangling from the doorknob, is a bag stuffed with the tights and leotards she wears when she pulls herself away from her writing for ballet classes. A former professional dancer, this California native has little time for the ballet barre these days. Instead, she's fielding speaking offers and meeting deadlines for her novels.
Winner of the Nebula (R) Award for her novel, THE QUANTUM ROSE, and her novella, "The SpacetimePool," Catherine blends exciting adventure, science, world building, romance, and strong characterization into her fiction. Her latest science fiction novel is DIAMOND STAR (Baen), and her most recent fantasy is THE NIGHT BIRD (Luna). She also writes thrillers, including ALPHA and SUNRISE ALLEY.
DIAMOND STAR (is about a rock star in the future. The book's release is the culmination of what Catherine describes as "one of the most exciting collaborations I've ever done." Working with the Baltimore rock band Point Valid, she recorded a music CD that offers readers a soundtrack to the book. Starflight Music released the CD, also titled Diamond Star, performed by Point Valid--Hayim Ani, Adam Leve, and Max Vidaver--with Catherine as a guest artist. Catherine wrote the lyrics for most of the songs, and Hayim wrote the music with Point Valid. Catherine also composed several cuts on the album, and Hayim offered her several of his original compositions.
After Point Valid dispersed to college, jazz pianist Donald Wolcott joined the project as the accompanist for Catherine's vocals. Asaro and WOlcott perform and book conventions and other venues, doing selections from the soundtracks to Catherine's books as well as jazz and pop songs.
Catherine's short fiction has appeared in Analog magazine and various anthologies, including "Walk in Silence," "A Roll of the Dice," and "Aurora in Four Voices," which all won the Analog Readers Poll for best novella, and were nominated for both Nebula(R) and Hugo Awards. Her novella, "The Spacetime Pool" (Analog, March 2008), is currently up for the Nebula(R). Catherine has also published reviews and essays and authored scientific papers in refereed academic journals. Her paper,"Complex Speeds and Special Relativity" in the The American Journal of Physics (April 1996) forms the basis for some of the science in her fiction. Among the places she has done research are the University of Toronto, the Max Planck Institut für Astrophysik, and the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. She was a physics professor until 1990, when she became a consultant and writer.
In Catherine's youth, the arts were her focus. She studied ballet from age of five, trained in classical piano, and spent hours curled up with books. She successfully pursued London's Royal Academy of Dance syllabus through the first professional level and enrolled at UCLA as a dance major. Then she discovered she loved math and science. "I hadn't studied it much in high school, but at UCLA I ended up taking a lot of science and math," she remembers. "I struggled at first and sometimes I felt like I had no clue. Then one day I read the chapter in my chemistry book on quantum theory--and I was hooked. It felt more right than any other subject I had studied." She went on to earn a BS with Highest Honors from UCLA, a masters in physics from Harvard, and a doctorate in chemical physics, also from Harvard.
Catherine attributes her ability to entertain a broad reading audience in part to her upbringing. "My father is one of the four scientists who postulated that a comet hitting the earth caused mass extinctions, including the demise of dinosaurs. My mother was a student of English literature who loved to write, so from the beginning I was influenced by both the sciences and arts." While pursing her degrees, Catherine continued to dance, founding the Mainly Jazz Dancers and Harvard University Ballet. Perennially on deadline, she now focuses more on her writing than research, but she often speaks on the intersection of science and art at venues such as the Library of Congress and Georgetown University.
Catherine is also proud to coach the Howard Area Homeschoolers, whose students have distinguished themselves in numerous national math programs, including the USA Mathematical Olympiad, MathCounts, and the American Regional Mathematics League. She has served two terms as president of Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, Inc. (SFWA).
Born in Oakland, California, Asaro grew up in El Cerrito, north of Berkeley. A challenger of rules since her childhood, she explores the boundaries of genre fiction in her novels. "It's like stretching different muscles for dance class," she says, adding that dancing and math aren't as dissimilar as people may think. "There is a beauty in seeing a math problem come together just as there is in performing a ballet. And the discipline it takes to do ballet well is similar to that needed to do math." But no matter what the style of her novels, she writes from the heart. "The flashy adventure is fun," she says, "but the characters mean the most to me, both as a reader and as a writer."
This review is from: The Veiled Web (Mass Market Paperback)
Although Asaro has a following in both Science Fiction and Romance, "The Veiled Web", is first a romance; the Science Fiction content is secondary. Asaro's reoccurring theme of emerging machine intelligence serves as a driver for much of the action in the novel, but story focuses on odd and unlikely meeting and marriage of Lucia del Mar, a ballerina bearing a striking resemblance to (dare I say it?), the good doctor, and a Moroccan software designer. Oh, and we must include his son, Zaki, an electronic "tourist guide", who resents being shutdown. With this nicely paced, well written romance, Asaro forges a link between the romance novel and the international espionage genera. Well met!
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
5.0 out of 5 starsReader from Texas, December 3, 1999
By A Customer
This review is from: The Veiled Web (Mass Market Paperback)
A terrific read, in a very different way than her "Skolian Saga" books. The characters were well-defined and real. The author did her homework on Islam and AI. In particular, she accurately conveyed a sense of how some Muslims practice Islam without resorting to the usual stereotypes, an approach I found most refreshing.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
This review is from: The Veiled Web (Mass Market Paperback)
An American ballerina and a Moroccan computer scientist enter into a marriage of convenience to escape from kidnappers. She learns about him, his family and his culture while he learns about her and tries to learn who is after them. Meanwhile, the AI entity he's created learns about everything, as they try to prevent anyone from learning about it. The AI proves his true nature in a tear-jerking climax, while the strength of the hero and heroine's love for each other must prove sufficient to overcome their own natures and social conditioning.
In a fresh and exciting turn from her more familiar science fiction epics, Asaro sets The Veiled Web in the near future (2010) on a very recognizable Earth. The book draws on Asaro's experience as a ballet dancer to present a realistic portrait of a dancer's life, without ever becoming weighed down by the details of individual dance steps or procedures. Similarly, just the right level of detail is given about Moroccan culture and architecture, rather than turning into a lecture on Islam or Moroccan history. The level of detail provided for the computer segments suffers slightly from the fast pace of change in that field, but once the basics are covered, Asaro dips into the more advanced AI concepts with the same light finesse she gave ballet and Moroccan culture.
Personally, I found the AI concepts riveting and thoroughly engrossing. The science is explained clearly, but the details can be passed over as more colorful phrases in a foreign language, without impacting the romantic suspense that is the heart of the story.
Most authors would be satisfied with a single rich backdrop, or one weighty set of issues. Not Asaro. It's a tribute to her storytelling skills that she manages to seamlessly weave together three elaborately detailed settings (the world of ballet, Morocco, and cyberspace) and two sets of neatly meshing yet distinct issues (the clash of cultures and religions, and the nature of thought and spirit). Each reader will probably find a different mix of setting and issues of primary interest. But no matter what your background, this book will give you something to think about, and people for which to care.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Inside This Book
(learn more)
Browse and search another edition of this book.
First Sentence:
Word came backstage that the king and queen of Spain had taken their places with the President and First Lady in the audience on the south lawn of the White House. Read the first pageKey Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
ballet bag, face gentled, pointe shoes, horseshoe arches
Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Lalla Tamou, Mark Spearman, United States, Carl Martelli, Jazari International, Lucia del Mar, Tank Top, Colonel Spearman, Good Lord, World Wide Web, Air Force, Martelli Dance Theatre, New Mexico, Swan Lake, Blue Games, Jason Tyler, Miss del Mar, Opera House, After Lucia, Grand Foyer, Imperial College, Hall of Nations, Lady Dance, Pachelbel's Canon, Rashid al Jazari
New! Concordance
|
Text StatsBrowse Sample Pages: Front Cover | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
