Kiln People FROM OUR EDITORS
The Barnes & Noble Review
Where does the soul reside? Can it be copied, divided, subdivided, and compartmentalized? Where does the human spirit call its home? Can the soul be quantified through quantum physics? These are some of the questions and driving motivations in David Brin's Kiln People.
It's a different kind of world than one you normally expect. Ask yourself this: What would you do if you could make a copy of yourself? You could sleep late while your copy goes to work. Or you could learn French while the other you does your taxes. The possibilities are endless, and in this future, it's just part of everyone's average day.
The copies -- golems -- are clay bodies imprinted with the Standing Wave of the original's consciousness. Given a portion of the original's soul-stuff, the golems live out an aspect of their originals' lives. Some dittos are built for sensuality, others for combat. Some are better at concentration and mental labor, while some are just used for basic labor until their mayfly life spans end and they transfer the memories of their day back to their originals. This is the new human society, populated by people and their disposable selves. Whether you see golems as utilities freeing mankind or as a new race of slaves to be exploited depends on which side of the wave you stand.
Albert Morris is a detective in a world where most people have hobbies. He spends his day in his bathrobe, searching computer files while his dittos do his legwork. Albert specializes in copyright crime and ditto piracy -- people stealing golems and making black-market copies. Even in this new society, people can make a living on human nature's baser instincts.
Albert's success rate soon draws the attention of Aeneas Polom, one of the founders of Universal Kiln, creators of the golem technology. It seems Polom's partner has been kidnapped, and he wants Morris to investigate. But kidnapping eventually turns to murder, and Morris finds himself in a conflict between two mad scientists, in a fight for control that will change duplication technology even further. Along the way, another Albert finds himself involved in a not-so-legal industrial espionage mission that turns to sabotage aimed against Universal Kiln and has him on the run and hunted.
This is a fun novel, rich with ideas, that examines on a very human level the ramifications and side effects of our ambitions and the things we take for granted. It's also a hard-boiled murder mystery with levels of physics and metaphysics that work your brain. But for me, as always, it's David Brin's characters that really pull me into the story and keep me up until three in the morning.
Brin, himself a scientist, spends a lot of time thinking, writing, and lecturing about the future. He ponders topics like space travel, information technology, and ecology, as well as the human spirit -- the way we live and how that might change tomorrow. Something done for the greater good could also have tragic consequences if we are not careful.
His writing is filled with an enthusiasm for what's to come. Brin entertains as well as informs and enlightens the reader. He does so with imagination and excitement and an honest and passionate clarity to his voice. As I've read his books, I've shared his excitement and wondered over the possibilities of the future.
(J.K.)
FROM THE PUBLISHER
In a perilous future, disposable duplicate bodies fulfill every citizen's legal and illicit whim. Life as a 24-hour "ditto" is cheap, as Albert Morris knows. A brash investigator with a knack for trouble, he's sent plenty of clay duplicates into deadly peril, then "inloaded" memories from copies that were shot, crushed, drowned . . . all part of a day's work.
But when Morris tackles a ring of crooks making bootleg copies of a famous actress, he trips into a secret so explosive it incites open warfare on the streets of Dittotown.
FROM THE CRITICS
Publishers Weekly
Bestselling novelist Brin (Startide Rising; The Postman; etc.) restricts the action to planet Earth, but still allows his imagination to roam the cosmos in this ambitious SF/mystery hybrid whose grasp occasionally exceeds its reach. Thanks to the new technology of imprinting, people in a near-future America can copy their personalities into animated clay bodies (called "dittos" or "golems"), which last a single day. Albert Morris, private investigator, is his own sidekick as he attempts to uncover the murderer of a prominent imprinting research scientist, capture a criminal mastermind specializing in ditto copyright infringement and foil a conspiracy aimed at destroying the major ditto manufacturer and pinning the blame on several Alberts. Brin deftly explores the issues of identity, privacy and work in a world where everyone is supported with a living wage and has ready access to duplication technology. The book features the author's usual style, with a lighter touch and punnish humor abounding amid the hard SF speculation. The duplication of the "ditective" makes for a challenging twist on the standard private eye narrative, allowing Morris to simultaneously lead the reader through three separate (and interacting) plot lines. The hardboiled framework and the humor mix a bit uneasily, as does the social background of a libertarian/socialist U.S.A. The book's major fault lies in the diffusion of most of the tension as expendable dittos replace vulnerable humans for much of the action. Still, the work is brightened by Brin's trademark hardheaded optimism. (Jan. 15) Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.
Library Journal
In a future world where disposable clones handle humanity's day-to-day chores, Albert Morris uses his "dittos" to assist him in his job as a private investigator. When he stumbles upon the knowledge of a new technology that could alter the concept of human nature forever, he becomes part of a bloody and violent street war that threatens the fabric of society and the human race. Brin (The Postman) presents a rich, kaleidoscopic story that challenges the concepts of identity and individuality. For most sf collections. Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.
Kirkus Reviews
Brin (Foundation's Triumph, 1999, etc.) gives the medieval fable of the golem a thoroughgoing, agreeably tongue-in-cheek revamp. Aeneas Polom invented the process whereby nanoclay is kiln-baked into pseudolife, then imprinted with a human's unique Soul Standing Wave. The resulting golem, or "ditto," has 24 hours to accomplish whatever tasks the original wishes; its memories can then be recovered. Now, Yosil Maharal, a big-shot researcher at Polom's Universal Kilns, has mysteriously disappeared. Gumshoe Albert Morris animates three dittos: two general-purpose grays, one green for dull errand-boy duties. The green, a poor copy, goes "frankie" or independent, preferring to visit the beach rather than do Albert's shopping. Arriving at UK HQ, one gray encounters a Yosil Maharal ditto that claims it's all a mistake-but refuses to be interrogated. Albert's gray follows the Yosil ditto when it sneaks off, only to get zapped. Gray # 2, meanwhile, comes to a sticky end; real Yosil turns up dead, having apparently driven off a cliff. Original Albert investigates, only to be shot at by a Polom ditto. Albert's zapped gray wakes, a captive of the Yosil ditto, and finally gains some inkling of what's going on: Yosil has discovered how to extend a ditto's lifespan, and how to transfer the animating principle from one ditto to another-and even permanently from original to ditto. The Yosil ditto is actually the original in a ditto body!
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