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Memory Seed: 25th Anniversary Edition
There is one city left, and soon that will be gone, for the streets of Kray are crumbling beneath a wave of exotic and lethal vegetation as it creeps south, threatening to wipe out the last traces of humanity. In the desperate struggle for survival most Krayans live from day to day, awaiting salvation from their goddesses or the government. Only a few believe that the future might lie in their own hands.
Zinina, having fled from the Citadel, determined to discover what secrets are buried beneath it...
Arrahaquen, daughter of a member of the all-powerful Red Brigade, whose privileged position makes her insurgency all the more dangerous...
Graaf-lin, channelling the prophecies of the Eastcity serpents and racing against time to infiltrate the city's computer networks before they collapse...
And a man, deKray, whose sudden appearance accompanies a startling sequence of events...
Set on a world both deadly and fascinating, Memory Seed is a compelling first novel which heralds a powerful new voice in science fiction.
This ebook edition includes two short stories set in the same world as the novel.
"Memory Seed flowers into a very convincing and entertaining first novel. The sense of location is particularly well realised, with the wretched overrun streets, the lost quarters of the city and the impinging ruin depicted particularly vividly... This attractive voice, coupled with a complex and fascinating plot and a simple but stylish book design, makes Memory Seed a notable debut novel." SFX
"The exotic horticulture is as inventive as anything in Aldiss' classic Hothouse, and parallels with present environmental concerns aren't bludgeoned home... Palmer is a find." Time Out
"Memory Seed is a speculative novel of the distant future that extrapolates many of today's environmental and New Age concerns into an enjoyable thriller about human survival against the odds. Stephen Palmer has concocted a beguiling adventure that draws on some of the best sf of recent years for its basic themes, yet also adds just as much to the genre's melting-pot of ideas." Starburst
"Palmer's imagination is fecund, and his city, inhabited by clashing tribes of women (men are confined to breeding houses), with exotic biotechnologies which enable computers and other machines to be grown from genetically engineered seeds, is vividly drawn... Despite the multiplication of plot threads, Palmer is meticulous in tying up the loose ends... a hectic but ultimately convincing debut." Interzone
"Stephen Palmer has a powerful imagination and the scenes of urban collapse and encroaching jungle are vivid and compelling. In this respect he has created an intriguing dystopian ecological-catastrophe novel, diverging from the recent trend of socially-driven catastrophes in British sf." Foundation
"Just reading it is enough to give you hayfever... Memory Seed is a promising debut. Palmer takes biotech to its farthest extreme, and beyond into entropy, yet he offers a flicker of hope." Locus
Zinina, having fled from the Citadel, determined to discover what secrets are buried beneath it...
Arrahaquen, daughter of a member of the all-powerful Red Brigade, whose privileged position makes her insurgency all the more dangerous...
Graaf-lin, channelling the prophecies of the Eastcity serpents and racing against time to infiltrate the city's computer networks before they collapse...
And a man, deKray, whose sudden appearance accompanies a startling sequence of events...
Set on a world both deadly and fascinating, Memory Seed is a compelling first novel which heralds a powerful new voice in science fiction.
This ebook edition includes two short stories set in the same world as the novel.
"Memory Seed flowers into a very convincing and entertaining first novel. The sense of location is particularly well realised, with the wretched overrun streets, the lost quarters of the city and the impinging ruin depicted particularly vividly... This attractive voice, coupled with a complex and fascinating plot and a simple but stylish book design, makes Memory Seed a notable debut novel." SFX
"The exotic horticulture is as inventive as anything in Aldiss' classic Hothouse, and parallels with present environmental concerns aren't bludgeoned home... Palmer is a find." Time Out
"Memory Seed is a speculative novel of the distant future that extrapolates many of today's environmental and New Age concerns into an enjoyable thriller about human survival against the odds. Stephen Palmer has concocted a beguiling adventure that draws on some of the best sf of recent years for its basic themes, yet also adds just as much to the genre's melting-pot of ideas." Starburst
"Palmer's imagination is fecund, and his city, inhabited by clashing tribes of women (men are confined to breeding houses), with exotic biotechnologies which enable computers and other machines to be grown from genetically engineered seeds, is vividly drawn... Despite the multiplication of plot threads, Palmer is meticulous in tying up the loose ends... a hectic but ultimately convincing debut." Interzone
"Stephen Palmer has a powerful imagination and the scenes of urban collapse and encroaching jungle are vivid and compelling. In this respect he has created an intriguing dystopian ecological-catastrophe novel, diverging from the recent trend of socially-driven catastrophes in British sf." Foundation
"Just reading it is enough to give you hayfever... Memory Seed is a promising debut. Palmer takes biotech to its farthest extreme, and beyond into entropy, yet he offers a flicker of hope." Locus
- GenresScience Fiction
392 pages, Kindle Edition
First published April 4, 1996
20 people want to read
About the author
Stephen Palmer
38 books41 followersStephen Palmer is the author of numerous narrative nonfiction and genre fiction books, published by various publishers since 1996. His most recent directions are into music books, and anthropology/psychology with his critically lauded work 'I Am Taurus.' His fiction has been in the fields of steampunk, SF, and near-future AI novels.
His main area of interest is the evolution of consciousness, about which he writes on his Substack. A materialist, he emphasises the evolutionary description of our minds and of the human condition itself.
Stephen was raised in Shropshire, U.K., where he now lives with his partner, a large number of world music instruments, and more than one teapot. His CD collection contains albums by The Stranglers, Tangerine Dream and Mike Oldfield.
You can catch up with him via his Substack, his blog at stephenpalmer.co.uk, or via his Facebook page.
His main area of interest is the evolution of consciousness, about which he writes on his Substack. A materialist, he emphasises the evolutionary description of our minds and of the human condition itself.
Stephen was raised in Shropshire, U.K., where he now lives with his partner, a large number of world music instruments, and more than one teapot. His CD collection contains albums by The Stranglers, Tangerine Dream and Mike Oldfield.
You can catch up with him via his Substack, his blog at stephenpalmer.co.uk, or via his Facebook page.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
May 30, 2010
The end was Kind of hurried I thought and could have been gone through with as much detail and starkness as the rest of the novel. But it is still one of my all time favorites.
December 11, 2023
Made no sense yet I really enjoyed it and yet it did make sense. Not for everyone but I liked it
April 1, 2015
Well… it is not a reflection on this book that it has taken me such a long time to read. It is down to me that it has taken so long…
However this is a dark book and in some ways it is really hard to read. Centred on the city of Kray on an Earth where it might just be the last city; a crumbling conurbation that is seeing humanity pay the price for its sins. Here vegetation and the environment close in on the last scraps of human life and try and wring it mercilessly from the face of the planet they have all but destroyed.
Palmer manages to convey this with superb detail, the very atmosphere of the book is oppressive, you can almost feel the green closing in on the walls and buildings, tearing them down with slow, methodical purpose. This is not the last best hope of humanity, it is the final crushing of a parasite under nature’s heel.
It seems rather ominous yet honest that in all of this man still cannot come to terms with what is happening. There are still factions, still religions that bicker and fight over their beliefs and way of life even as those very existences are extinguished.
In some ways this book reminds me of Gormenghast, perhaps even a reflection of Peake’s novel, there it is the castle that is decaying with the wider world thriving; here the cleansed world is closing in.
Palmer manages to embellish things. His always inventive creations, in particular the organic technology, that grows almost plant-like seems plausible and alien at the same time. His society works well, almost exclusively female, they are the dominant sex, men reduced to propagators and toys, except in one case.
But for me the central element of this was the final days of a dominant species that has screwed up, and continues screwing up despite the planet taking back what belongs to it. There really is the feel of inexorable inevitability as the city reaches its final days, a level close to despair as those last few lives struggle to do just that, to live. The last few chapters blur by in a frenetic race for survival, something that seems so desperate so futile that as each life is ticked off it seems obvious that nothing can save the species.
It really becomes evident of what kind of talent Palmer possesses though, when he lets go of the darkness and embraces the light of a new day, capturing the feel of heady summer days and a world born fresh and new. With it he delivers something else that is perhaps, one of the most important attributes in a book like this: hope.
The book came with a few DVD like extras in the form of two short stories set in the same world. Both are well written, giving a deeper look at the world and the way things work there and are highly entertaining as well.
Palmer’s work is not going to be for everybody, but if you persevere, appreciate his imagination and descriptive prowess it is most certainly rewarding.
However this is a dark book and in some ways it is really hard to read. Centred on the city of Kray on an Earth where it might just be the last city; a crumbling conurbation that is seeing humanity pay the price for its sins. Here vegetation and the environment close in on the last scraps of human life and try and wring it mercilessly from the face of the planet they have all but destroyed.
Palmer manages to convey this with superb detail, the very atmosphere of the book is oppressive, you can almost feel the green closing in on the walls and buildings, tearing them down with slow, methodical purpose. This is not the last best hope of humanity, it is the final crushing of a parasite under nature’s heel.
It seems rather ominous yet honest that in all of this man still cannot come to terms with what is happening. There are still factions, still religions that bicker and fight over their beliefs and way of life even as those very existences are extinguished.
In some ways this book reminds me of Gormenghast, perhaps even a reflection of Peake’s novel, there it is the castle that is decaying with the wider world thriving; here the cleansed world is closing in.
Palmer manages to embellish things. His always inventive creations, in particular the organic technology, that grows almost plant-like seems plausible and alien at the same time. His society works well, almost exclusively female, they are the dominant sex, men reduced to propagators and toys, except in one case.
But for me the central element of this was the final days of a dominant species that has screwed up, and continues screwing up despite the planet taking back what belongs to it. There really is the feel of inexorable inevitability as the city reaches its final days, a level close to despair as those last few lives struggle to do just that, to live. The last few chapters blur by in a frenetic race for survival, something that seems so desperate so futile that as each life is ticked off it seems obvious that nothing can save the species.
It really becomes evident of what kind of talent Palmer possesses though, when he lets go of the darkness and embraces the light of a new day, capturing the feel of heady summer days and a world born fresh and new. With it he delivers something else that is perhaps, one of the most important attributes in a book like this: hope.
The book came with a few DVD like extras in the form of two short stories set in the same world. Both are well written, giving a deeper look at the world and the way things work there and are highly entertaining as well.
Palmer’s work is not going to be for everybody, but if you persevere, appreciate his imagination and descriptive prowess it is most certainly rewarding.
January 31, 2017
Despite this book's (fairly minor) flaws, I had to give it five stars because of the amazing phantasmagorical breadth and depth of imagination on display. I've read almost nothing like it (perhaps Elizabeth Hand's Winterlong has something of the same feel). It's set on a far-future Earth where the last remaining city, ruled and mostly populated by women, is being besieged by poisonous vegetation, and in which the futuristic technology, too, is largely vegetation-based. Almost every page contains some interesting and fresh new idea, but these ideas are often sketched rather than explored in detail, allowing the plot to be very fast-paced, if sometimes a little confusing. The sense of chaos and disintegration as things collapse, but with hope never entirely failing, is well realised, and the characters are easily distinguished (though some of the names are very similar).
My main criticism is that the plot sometimes seems not to be the best constructed -- characters rush from place to place to place, and I sometimes lost track of what they were trying to achieve. Also, many of the ideas feel like they wouldn't stand up to scrutiny. But the sheer joy and colour of imagination on display here easily overrides those. I think everyone should give this a read, but if you liked Miyazaki's Nausicaa (especially the manga) I don't think you can go wrong.
My main criticism is that the plot sometimes seems not to be the best constructed -- characters rush from place to place to place, and I sometimes lost track of what they were trying to achieve. Also, many of the ideas feel like they wouldn't stand up to scrutiny. But the sheer joy and colour of imagination on display here easily overrides those. I think everyone should give this a read, but if you liked Miyazaki's Nausicaa (especially the manga) I don't think you can go wrong.
July 14, 2020
Could not make up my mind if I like this or not. Some great ideas.
January 7, 2025
Loved the premise and unfolding of the story. Let down by the simplistic ending.
June 29, 2014
The nicest thing I can say about this book is thank god it's over. Boring wouldn't be a descriptive enough word. Lord Jim is the only other book I was just as bored reading as this book, and that's being kind. It has a 4.12 rating, so apparently, others found it to be entertaining, I found it convoluted, rambling, and disjointed. The whole story went on and on and on about finding this seed, then at the end of it, the only thing that changed, was the building they took refuge in to weather the storm vanished from reality, and poof, everything was perfect again. I'm sure the imagry worked for some, and I'm certain others found the story as useless as I did, though honestly, I didn't see a single redeeming quality in the story. And, there's 6 more books from this guy? God, I hope the rest aren't the same style as this one, if they are, I think I'd have to throw up my hands, and do something I've never done in my entire life, and that is to not even bother reading the rest of his books, because it'd be too boring/painful to contemplate putting myself through that torture.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews