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Web of Everywhere
He was 'The Visitor' . . . in a society revolutionised and troubled by a transportation device that let you walk through a door and be anywhere in the world - instantly. He was 'The Visitor' . . . at a time when unauthorised travel had caused the violent deaths of countless millions and the survivors were quaking in fear. He was 'The Visitor' . . . in a world where the invasion of privacy was the ultimate crime and where his obsession with visiting places where he had no right to be led him on a perilous adventure towards his own destruction.
143 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1974
2 people are currently reading
176 people want to read
About the author
John Brunner
572 books480 followersJohn Brunner was born in Preston Crowmarsh, near Wallingford in Oxfordshire, and went to school at St Andrew's Prep School, Pangbourne, then to Cheltenham College. He wrote his first novel, Galactic Storm, at 17, and published it under the pen-name Gill Hunt, but he did not start writing full-time until 1958. He served as an officer in the Royal Air Force from 1953 to 1955, and married Marjorie Rosamond Sauer on 12 July 1958
At the beginning of his writing career Brunner wrote conventional space opera pulp science fiction. Brunner later began to experiment with the novel form. His 1968 novel "Stand on Zanzibar" exploits the fragmented organizational style John Dos Passos invented for his USA trilogy, but updates it in terms of the theory of media popularised by Marshall McLuhan.
"The Jagged Orbit" (1969) is set in a United States dominated by weapons proliferation and interracial violence, and has 100 numbered chapters varying in length from a single syllable to several pages in length. "The Sheep Look Up" (1972) depicts ecological catastrophe in America. Brunner is credited with coining the term "worm" and predicting the emergence of computer viruses in his 1975 novel "The Shockwave Rider", in which he used the term to describe software which reproduces itself across a computer network. Together with "Stand on Zanzibar", these novels have been called the "Club of Rome Quartet", named after the Club of Rome whose 1972 report The Limits to Growth warned of the dire effects of overpopulation.
Brunner's pen names include K. H. Brunner, Gill Hunt, John Loxmith, Trevor Staines, Ellis Quick, Henry Crosstrees Jr., and Keith Woodcott.
In addition to his fiction, Brunner wrote poetry and many unpaid articles in a variety of publications, particularly fanzines, but also 13 letters to the New Scientist and an article about the educational relevance of science fiction in Physics Education. Brunner was an active member of the organisation Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament and wrote the words to "The H-Bomb's Thunder", which was sung on the Aldermaston Marches.
Brunner had an uneasy relationship with British new wave writers, who often considered him too American in his settings and themes. He attempted to shift to a more mainstream readership in the early 1980s, without success. Before his death, most of his books had fallen out of print. Brunner accused publishers of a conspiracy against him, although he was difficult to deal with (his wife had handled his publishing relations before she died).[2]
Brunner's health began to decline in the 1980s and worsened with the death of his wife in 1986. He remarried, to Li Yi Tan, on 27 September 1991. He died of a heart attack in Glasgow on 25 August 1995, while attending the World Science Fiction Convention there
aka
K H Brunner, Henry Crosstrees Jr, Gill Hunt (with Dennis Hughes and E C Tubb), John Loxmith, Trevor Staines, Keith Woodcott
Winner of the ESFS Awards in 1980 as "Best Author" and 1n 1984 as "Novelist"..
At the beginning of his writing career Brunner wrote conventional space opera pulp science fiction. Brunner later began to experiment with the novel form. His 1968 novel "Stand on Zanzibar" exploits the fragmented organizational style John Dos Passos invented for his USA trilogy, but updates it in terms of the theory of media popularised by Marshall McLuhan.
"The Jagged Orbit" (1969) is set in a United States dominated by weapons proliferation and interracial violence, and has 100 numbered chapters varying in length from a single syllable to several pages in length. "The Sheep Look Up" (1972) depicts ecological catastrophe in America. Brunner is credited with coining the term "worm" and predicting the emergence of computer viruses in his 1975 novel "The Shockwave Rider", in which he used the term to describe software which reproduces itself across a computer network. Together with "Stand on Zanzibar", these novels have been called the "Club of Rome Quartet", named after the Club of Rome whose 1972 report The Limits to Growth warned of the dire effects of overpopulation.
Brunner's pen names include K. H. Brunner, Gill Hunt, John Loxmith, Trevor Staines, Ellis Quick, Henry Crosstrees Jr., and Keith Woodcott.
In addition to his fiction, Brunner wrote poetry and many unpaid articles in a variety of publications, particularly fanzines, but also 13 letters to the New Scientist and an article about the educational relevance of science fiction in Physics Education. Brunner was an active member of the organisation Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament and wrote the words to "The H-Bomb's Thunder", which was sung on the Aldermaston Marches.
Brunner had an uneasy relationship with British new wave writers, who often considered him too American in his settings and themes. He attempted to shift to a more mainstream readership in the early 1980s, without success. Before his death, most of his books had fallen out of print. Brunner accused publishers of a conspiracy against him, although he was difficult to deal with (his wife had handled his publishing relations before she died).[2]
Brunner's health began to decline in the 1980s and worsened with the death of his wife in 1986. He remarried, to Li Yi Tan, on 27 September 1991. He died of a heart attack in Glasgow on 25 August 1995, while attending the World Science Fiction Convention there
aka
K H Brunner, Henry Crosstrees Jr, Gill Hunt (with Dennis Hughes and E C Tubb), John Loxmith, Trevor Staines, Keith Woodcott
Winner of the ESFS Awards in 1980 as "Best Author" and 1n 1984 as "Novelist"..
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 33 reviews
December 3, 2021
"O, iubito, iti ofer inima mea/S-o mananci ca si cum ai musca dintr-o rodie-/Dar, fii atenta!/O inima omeneasca are seminte ca o rodie/Unele sunt dulci, dar multe sunt otravitoare-/Noi am vazut multa moarte, tu si eu."
John Brunner este un autor de romane SF prolific cu nenumarate aparitii precum "The Jagged Orbit", "Stand on Zanzibar", "The crucible of time", "The squares of the city" sau "Catch a falling star". Scriitorul a vizitat si Romania in 1994, cu ocazia Euroconului de la Timisoara.
"Retelele infinitului" este un roman SF post-apocaliptic destul de scurt, caci initial autorul l-a conceput ca o nuvela, insa este captivant si dezvaluie o lume destul de interesanta.
Fiecare capitol are ca motto o poezie apartinand lui Mustafa Sharif, unul dintre personajele romanului. Aceste scurte versuri mi s-au parut superbe si pline de invataminte.
In ceea ce priveste actiunea, ne aflam pe Pamant dupa ultimul razboi nuclear care a dus umanitatea in pragul extinctiei. Putinii oameni care au ramas incearca din rasputeri sa supravietuiasca.
Hans Dykstra lucreaza ca un fel de recuperator special de obiecte, calatorind in diferite locuri ale lumii cu ajutorul skelter-ului - o inovatie in cadrul teleportarii. Aceste calatorii le face alaturi de Mustafa Sharif, care ii furnizeaza coduri ilegale de teleportare pentru a patrunde in locuri interzise unde Hans face poze la obiectele pe care le gaseste. El doreste sa publice aceste fotografii postum, ca un fel de dovezi ale vietii si lumii din trecut.
Mustafa este orb si locuieste in Luxor, fiind un colectionar de carti instarit ce scrie poezii. El este un personaj intrigant, inteligent si interesant, adesea pe placul cititorului, chiar daca eroul cartii este Hans.
De mentionat faptul ca in calatorii este necesar sa se foloseasca un costum izotermic pentru a-i proteja de boli si de radiatii.
In lumea in care traiesc numarul barbatilor supravietuitori este mai mare ca cel al femeilor, astfel ca a avea o sotie este un simbol al statutului social inalt, iar femeile pot sa decida oricand sa paraseasca un barbat pentru altul deoarece sunt foarte cautate si ele stiu asta.
Romanul mi-a placut, este un SF bun pe care vi-l recomand si atasez in incheiere cateva versuri apartinand lui Mustafa Sharif:
"O, iubita mea, eu nu ma port rece cu tine./Mai degraba sunt obsedat de ideea/Ca un pas poate sa fi pus lumea intre noi."
"Tata!/Nu trebuie sa-ti inchipui ca sunt nerespectuos,/Dar cea mai buna cale pe care mi-o imaginez/ca sa te onorez,/Tata,/E sa gandesc altfel si sa fac alte greseli."
"Pe lume sunt atat de putine fete frumoase/si destepte/Incat m-as simti egoist sa tin vreuna numai/pentru mine./Alege deci drept amanti oameni pe care/sa-i pot respecta./Altfel imi voi pierde tot respectul pentru tine."
"A fost gasit mort de foame/Intr-o vale fara apa/Cu oasele goale ale degetelor strangand aurul./Nu-l consider nebun/Fiindca n-a putut manca aurul,/Ci fiindca frumusetea e hrana sufletului."
"Pe vremea aceea erau uriasi pe pamant./Faptul este atestat de documente./Astazi tu sau eu putem sa facem inconjurul/ lumii din trei pasi./Asta nu inseamna ca tu si eu am devenit/uriasi. "
"Am intalnit odata un om/care in fiecare zi/mergea in jurul planetei in sens invers acelor/de ceasornic./Zicea ca astfel castiga o zi/si deci va trai la nesfarsit./Din nefericire pentru el/Moartea masoara timpul/altfel decat cu orologii si ceasuri."
John Brunner este un autor de romane SF prolific cu nenumarate aparitii precum "The Jagged Orbit", "Stand on Zanzibar", "The crucible of time", "The squares of the city" sau "Catch a falling star". Scriitorul a vizitat si Romania in 1994, cu ocazia Euroconului de la Timisoara.
"Retelele infinitului" este un roman SF post-apocaliptic destul de scurt, caci initial autorul l-a conceput ca o nuvela, insa este captivant si dezvaluie o lume destul de interesanta.
Fiecare capitol are ca motto o poezie apartinand lui Mustafa Sharif, unul dintre personajele romanului. Aceste scurte versuri mi s-au parut superbe si pline de invataminte.
In ceea ce priveste actiunea, ne aflam pe Pamant dupa ultimul razboi nuclear care a dus umanitatea in pragul extinctiei. Putinii oameni care au ramas incearca din rasputeri sa supravietuiasca.
Hans Dykstra lucreaza ca un fel de recuperator special de obiecte, calatorind in diferite locuri ale lumii cu ajutorul skelter-ului - o inovatie in cadrul teleportarii. Aceste calatorii le face alaturi de Mustafa Sharif, care ii furnizeaza coduri ilegale de teleportare pentru a patrunde in locuri interzise unde Hans face poze la obiectele pe care le gaseste. El doreste sa publice aceste fotografii postum, ca un fel de dovezi ale vietii si lumii din trecut.
Mustafa este orb si locuieste in Luxor, fiind un colectionar de carti instarit ce scrie poezii. El este un personaj intrigant, inteligent si interesant, adesea pe placul cititorului, chiar daca eroul cartii este Hans.
De mentionat faptul ca in calatorii este necesar sa se foloseasca un costum izotermic pentru a-i proteja de boli si de radiatii.
In lumea in care traiesc numarul barbatilor supravietuitori este mai mare ca cel al femeilor, astfel ca a avea o sotie este un simbol al statutului social inalt, iar femeile pot sa decida oricand sa paraseasca un barbat pentru altul deoarece sunt foarte cautate si ele stiu asta.
Romanul mi-a placut, este un SF bun pe care vi-l recomand si atasez in incheiere cateva versuri apartinand lui Mustafa Sharif:
"O, iubita mea, eu nu ma port rece cu tine./Mai degraba sunt obsedat de ideea/Ca un pas poate sa fi pus lumea intre noi."
"Tata!/Nu trebuie sa-ti inchipui ca sunt nerespectuos,/Dar cea mai buna cale pe care mi-o imaginez/ca sa te onorez,/Tata,/E sa gandesc altfel si sa fac alte greseli."
"Pe lume sunt atat de putine fete frumoase/si destepte/Incat m-as simti egoist sa tin vreuna numai/pentru mine./Alege deci drept amanti oameni pe care/sa-i pot respecta./Altfel imi voi pierde tot respectul pentru tine."
"A fost gasit mort de foame/Intr-o vale fara apa/Cu oasele goale ale degetelor strangand aurul./Nu-l consider nebun/Fiindca n-a putut manca aurul,/Ci fiindca frumusetea e hrana sufletului."
"Pe vremea aceea erau uriasi pe pamant./Faptul este atestat de documente./Astazi tu sau eu putem sa facem inconjurul/ lumii din trei pasi./Asta nu inseamna ca tu si eu am devenit/uriasi. "
"Am intalnit odata un om/care in fiecare zi/mergea in jurul planetei in sens invers acelor/de ceasornic./Zicea ca astfel castiga o zi/si deci va trai la nesfarsit./Din nefericire pentru el/Moartea masoara timpul/altfel decat cu orologii si ceasuri."
January 13, 2024
Among Brunner’s less famed novels, Web of Everywhere — also published in at least one edition as The Webs of Everywhere — is one of his more interesting. Like a lot of SF of its day, it’s definitely got what can charitably be called issues. There’s some clunky prose, mostly in the early chapters. And Brunner’s treatment of women could be cartoonishly sexist at the best of times, though he was just as often contemptuous of the sexism in his men. Fans experienced in reading vintage SF who understand that problematic stuff like this wasn’t uncommon back in the day, and willing to take these books on their own warts-and-all merits, will still find Web worth at least a look. Its premise is similar to the later The Infinitive of Go, in that it deals with a future whose social and physical landscape has been utterly reshaped by the invention of a teleportation device, here called a Skelter. But Brunner takes this tale in an altogether different, and I think better, direction.
Here, Brunner deals with the broader philosophical and sociological implications of the existence of this kind of technology, whereas in Infinitive, he tackles it as a physics problem. Web of Everywhere never fully makes its future believable, and roots its story in a conceit that’s a little hard to swallow: that the Skelter was introduced and adopted worldwide while lacking any security features, and became singly responsible for the destruction of civilization as we know it. But the book is thematically robust in the way Brunner explores how corruptible people will happily corrupt themselves further when technology makes it ever easier to bypass whatever moral filters they still have. (Continued...)
Here, Brunner deals with the broader philosophical and sociological implications of the existence of this kind of technology, whereas in Infinitive, he tackles it as a physics problem. Web of Everywhere never fully makes its future believable, and roots its story in a conceit that’s a little hard to swallow: that the Skelter was introduced and adopted worldwide while lacking any security features, and became singly responsible for the destruction of civilization as we know it. But the book is thematically robust in the way Brunner explores how corruptible people will happily corrupt themselves further when technology makes it ever easier to bypass whatever moral filters they still have. (Continued...)
June 7, 2015
In a post-apocalyptic Earth, following three nuclear wars, teleportation is the main travelling system. There are the public gates, with codes known by everybody and there are the lost ones, private, whose codes are sold well on the black market and travelling through them is a major crime. Hans Dykstra is one of those who takes the risks and he'll eventually get "lost" because of his schemes.
A disturbing dystopian novel which leaves one wondering...
A disturbing dystopian novel which leaves one wondering...
February 10, 2019
Hans Dykstra e un tip special de recuperator. Se întâmplă în post apocaliptic, după trei războaie mai mult sau mai puțin nucleare, mai mult sau mai puțin mondiale, când lovituri nucleare au fost lansate asupra orașelor/zonelor importante, ceea ce facă ca o mare parte din Pământ sa devina radioactiva sau infestata.
Boli, epidemii, probleme demografice, numărul bărbaților e mult mai mare decât al femeilor, deci căsătoria legala era semn de statut social înalt.
Hans recuperează obiecte din locuri ramase neatinse, era un recuperator public adică intra în locuri și clădiri publice și recupera pentru Autoritatea Skelter (autoritate care reglementa aceste călătorii și accesul la astfel de site-uri din zone părăsite). Recuperarea din locuințe particulare era interzisa, el făcea asta ilegal, deci la limita legii, exista o piața și o afacere subterana.
Avea hobbyul fotografiatului, încearcă sa refacă locurile respective sa arate asa cum arătau ele în vremurile bune și le fotografia pentru eternitate, rar aceste fotografii vor fi publice după moarte.
Mustafa Sharif este un fel de anticar, vânzător de antichități, are acoperirea ca scrie versuri și vinde cărți litografiate sau manuscrise realizate manual de către o echipa de copii adolescenți de care are grija la reședința lui pe undeva aproape de Luxor unde se poarta ca un calif deși nu este un tip religios. Mustafa este orb, orbise pentru ca a privit direct o explozie nucleara.
Hans călătorește prin teleportare pentru a cauta locuri, locuințe, zone vechi și neatinse folosind un dispozitiv numit skelter iar Mustafa ii facilitează accesul la astfel de locuri făcând rost de pe piața neagra de codurile de skeltere. Cei doi cauta locuri neatinse de transformările din ultimul timp și care sunt dotate cu aceste dispozitive de teleportare. Ca sa găsești asemenea locuri vechi, izolate și neatinse ai nevoie de codul mașinăriilor care realizează teleportarea (ca un fel de modem pentru care iți trebuie numărul de telefon și dacă îl ai, poți sa ajungi în locul ala dotat cu asemenea teleportator și poți sa faci o incursiune "în trecut" deoarece locul e neatins de la dispariția locatarilor ca urmare a conflictelor nucleare care au avut loc în trecutul recent al omenirii)
Hans și Mustafa ajung într-o zona izolata din Suedia, departe de radiații, cu ajutorul unui skelter Volvo (pai nu?), un model foarte vechi, pentru care Mustafa făcuse rost de cod, găsesc scheletul unui copil iar familia care trăise acolo se pare ca fusese omorâtă.
Skelterul, ieftin, nu foarte dificil de construit și foarte trainic, schimbase din temelii civilizația, nu mai exista hoteluri, industria transporturilor nu mai exista, poți locui într-un capăt al lumii și lucra în celalalt. Pe lângă chestii alea de ordine și siguranță publica, intimitate etc, skelterul a desființat granițe și a pus pe butuci industrii, prin intermediul lui s-au răspândit epidemii.
Chaim Aleuker, probabil cel mai bogat om în viață, inventase privaterul (skelterul privat) dispozitivul care nu permite accesul decât al celui care deține un cod de acces, eliminând astfel desființarea terifiantă a intimității.
Skelterele publice ( cu acces liber - ca de, am vrut democrație ) acceleraseră prăbușirea civilizației iar privaterul readuseseră situația cat de cat la normal, reconstrucția civilizației începuse, dar sunt multe zone din Africa sau America de sud unde skelterul era “ceva rau” și unde viata era cam nashpa, războaie locale măceluri sunt în haos, altele zone sunt contaminate.
Elita era formata din putinii care realizaseră sau mai degrabă conduseseră reconstrucția după ce Pământul colapsase.
Aleuker dădea petreceri în care erau întreceri de dezlegare de enigme - găsirea succesiva a unor chei prin anumite indicii, chei răspândite pe tot Pământul și la care se poate ajunge cu skelterul iar câștigătorii vor fi viitorii conducători ai Pământului, vor face parte din elita
Traseul căutării "comorii" prin găsirea de chei de skelter din mesajele încifrate pe care întrecerea le pune la dispoziția celor interesați , trebuia sa se termine la petrecerea pe care acesta o dădea.
Elita asta își da seama ca sunt putini și solicitați și organizează aceasta căutare de comori prin chei lăsate în diferite puncte din lume la skeltere care conduc pe cei care le descifrează pe un drum către locuința bogătașului care inventase privaterul unde se ținea petrecerea la care mai fuseseră invitați crema elitei, ca sa vadă cine sunt câștigătorii, câștigători care ar putea fi luați în considerare pentru integrarea în elita.
Hans participa la căutarea "comorii", găsește cheile și dezleagă enigmele propuse de bogătaș, ajunge la petrecerea data de acesta în cinstea câștigătorilor, viitorii "elitiști", și o întâlnește pe Anneliese Schenker. O tipa cam sălbatică și sperioasa ca o căprioară, ce provenea din Brazilia dintr-un orășel întemeiat de fundamentaliști protestanți germani care plecaseră și întemeiaseră o comunitate departe de lume , fără tehnologie și știința moderna. Fata fusese salvata din Brazilia de bogătaș și adusa în reședința lui după ce orașul protestanților germani anti tehnologie fusese ras de un dictator local.
Casa bogătașului unde are loc petrecerea și care se afla pe undeva prin Pacific e atacata de maori care vor sa se răzbune pe occidentul care era văzut ca răul care dusese lumea la colaps și care acum o reconstruiau dar păstrându-și ce era mai bun.
Hans scapă din atac împreuna cu tânăra fiind aproape de skelter, ajunge acasă unde nevasta-sa se sinucisese și apoi se teleporteaza în Suedia.
Începe sa țeasă o plasa de minciuni și sa o minta pe tânără, pe de o parte ca sa o protejeze pe ea, pe de alta sa se autoprotejeze pe el, și în sfârșit ca sa pregătească terenul pentru când o va cuceri sau se va însura cu ea. Nu își iubise niciodată soția, era mai bătrână decât el, mai puțin inteligenta, se însurase pentru statutul social (sa fii însurat și sa ai o nevasta mai bătrâna ca tine era un indiciu al unui statut social înalt)
Mustafa își da seama ca Hans e posibil sa facă greșeli, fie sa aducă din călătorii obiecte valoroase care sa bata la ochi, fie sa încerce sa devina faimos cu fotografiile sale iar asta sa ducă autoritățile către Mustafa și de aceea se gândește sa scape de Hans asa cum s-a întâmplat și cu predecesorii.
Începe un fel de urmărire a lui Hans și a fetei de către Mustafa ( care vrea sa scape de el pentru ca e compromițător ) și de către autorități ca supraviețuitor al atacului de la casa bogătașului și posibil viitor elitist.
Fata pleacă cu altul , iar el revine la Mustafa pentru explicații, nu înainte de a da foc la casa din Suedia ca sa șteargă urmele. Mustafa face o analiza a lumii vechi și noi, având drept exemple pe Hans, pe soția acestuia și pe fata. Si cum le prezintă el, lumea nu s-a schimbat în bine, asa ca îl îndeamnă pe Hans sa se ducă la autorități și sa încerce sa schimbe ceva.
Hans realizează ca o luase razna, ca vroia ca fata sa devina a lui asa cum vroia ca locurile alea găsite sa fie ale lui chiar și numai prin fotografii , își da seama ca a ajuns într-o situație fără ieșire.
E o poveste despre trecut și cum ne influențează acesta , despre cum ne putem schimba dacă putem, este vorba și despre libertate, libertatea de a călători liber. Globalizarea (la asta duce cu gândul skelterul - suntem un sat global, poți ajunge oriunde, oricând ...dar nu prin internet, social media, economii interconectate ci chiar pe persoana fizica) poate duce într-o fundătură a umanității. Trecutul făcut praf, prezentul încă instabil și incert, cum va fi viitorul?
Un concept similar cu skelterul l-am întâlnit și în Destinația mea: stelele (acolo se numea jauntare și se realiza prin metode psi)
... si vreme(a) e ca sa citim
Boli, epidemii, probleme demografice, numărul bărbaților e mult mai mare decât al femeilor, deci căsătoria legala era semn de statut social înalt.
Hans recuperează obiecte din locuri ramase neatinse, era un recuperator public adică intra în locuri și clădiri publice și recupera pentru Autoritatea Skelter (autoritate care reglementa aceste călătorii și accesul la astfel de site-uri din zone părăsite). Recuperarea din locuințe particulare era interzisa, el făcea asta ilegal, deci la limita legii, exista o piața și o afacere subterana.
Avea hobbyul fotografiatului, încearcă sa refacă locurile respective sa arate asa cum arătau ele în vremurile bune și le fotografia pentru eternitate, rar aceste fotografii vor fi publice după moarte.
Mustafa Sharif este un fel de anticar, vânzător de antichități, are acoperirea ca scrie versuri și vinde cărți litografiate sau manuscrise realizate manual de către o echipa de copii adolescenți de care are grija la reședința lui pe undeva aproape de Luxor unde se poarta ca un calif deși nu este un tip religios. Mustafa este orb, orbise pentru ca a privit direct o explozie nucleara.
Hans călătorește prin teleportare pentru a cauta locuri, locuințe, zone vechi și neatinse folosind un dispozitiv numit skelter iar Mustafa ii facilitează accesul la astfel de locuri făcând rost de pe piața neagra de codurile de skeltere. Cei doi cauta locuri neatinse de transformările din ultimul timp și care sunt dotate cu aceste dispozitive de teleportare. Ca sa găsești asemenea locuri vechi, izolate și neatinse ai nevoie de codul mașinăriilor care realizează teleportarea (ca un fel de modem pentru care iți trebuie numărul de telefon și dacă îl ai, poți sa ajungi în locul ala dotat cu asemenea teleportator și poți sa faci o incursiune "în trecut" deoarece locul e neatins de la dispariția locatarilor ca urmare a conflictelor nucleare care au avut loc în trecutul recent al omenirii)
Hans și Mustafa ajung într-o zona izolata din Suedia, departe de radiații, cu ajutorul unui skelter Volvo (pai nu?), un model foarte vechi, pentru care Mustafa făcuse rost de cod, găsesc scheletul unui copil iar familia care trăise acolo se pare ca fusese omorâtă.
Skelterul, ieftin, nu foarte dificil de construit și foarte trainic, schimbase din temelii civilizația, nu mai exista hoteluri, industria transporturilor nu mai exista, poți locui într-un capăt al lumii și lucra în celalalt. Pe lângă chestii alea de ordine și siguranță publica, intimitate etc, skelterul a desființat granițe și a pus pe butuci industrii, prin intermediul lui s-au răspândit epidemii.
Chaim Aleuker, probabil cel mai bogat om în viață, inventase privaterul (skelterul privat) dispozitivul care nu permite accesul decât al celui care deține un cod de acces, eliminând astfel desființarea terifiantă a intimității.
Skelterele publice ( cu acces liber - ca de, am vrut democrație ) acceleraseră prăbușirea civilizației iar privaterul readuseseră situația cat de cat la normal, reconstrucția civilizației începuse, dar sunt multe zone din Africa sau America de sud unde skelterul era “ceva rau” și unde viata era cam nashpa, războaie locale măceluri sunt în haos, altele zone sunt contaminate.
Elita era formata din putinii care realizaseră sau mai degrabă conduseseră reconstrucția după ce Pământul colapsase.
Aleuker dădea petreceri în care erau întreceri de dezlegare de enigme - găsirea succesiva a unor chei prin anumite indicii, chei răspândite pe tot Pământul și la care se poate ajunge cu skelterul iar câștigătorii vor fi viitorii conducători ai Pământului, vor face parte din elita
Traseul căutării "comorii" prin găsirea de chei de skelter din mesajele încifrate pe care întrecerea le pune la dispoziția celor interesați , trebuia sa se termine la petrecerea pe care acesta o dădea.
Elita asta își da seama ca sunt putini și solicitați și organizează aceasta căutare de comori prin chei lăsate în diferite puncte din lume la skeltere care conduc pe cei care le descifrează pe un drum către locuința bogătașului care inventase privaterul unde se ținea petrecerea la care mai fuseseră invitați crema elitei, ca sa vadă cine sunt câștigătorii, câștigători care ar putea fi luați în considerare pentru integrarea în elita.
Hans participa la căutarea "comorii", găsește cheile și dezleagă enigmele propuse de bogătaș, ajunge la petrecerea data de acesta în cinstea câștigătorilor, viitorii "elitiști", și o întâlnește pe Anneliese Schenker. O tipa cam sălbatică și sperioasa ca o căprioară, ce provenea din Brazilia dintr-un orășel întemeiat de fundamentaliști protestanți germani care plecaseră și întemeiaseră o comunitate departe de lume , fără tehnologie și știința moderna. Fata fusese salvata din Brazilia de bogătaș și adusa în reședința lui după ce orașul protestanților germani anti tehnologie fusese ras de un dictator local.
Casa bogătașului unde are loc petrecerea și care se afla pe undeva prin Pacific e atacata de maori care vor sa se răzbune pe occidentul care era văzut ca răul care dusese lumea la colaps și care acum o reconstruiau dar păstrându-și ce era mai bun.
Hans scapă din atac împreuna cu tânăra fiind aproape de skelter, ajunge acasă unde nevasta-sa se sinucisese și apoi se teleporteaza în Suedia.
Începe sa țeasă o plasa de minciuni și sa o minta pe tânără, pe de o parte ca sa o protejeze pe ea, pe de alta sa se autoprotejeze pe el, și în sfârșit ca sa pregătească terenul pentru când o va cuceri sau se va însura cu ea. Nu își iubise niciodată soția, era mai bătrână decât el, mai puțin inteligenta, se însurase pentru statutul social (sa fii însurat și sa ai o nevasta mai bătrâna ca tine era un indiciu al unui statut social înalt)
Mustafa își da seama ca Hans e posibil sa facă greșeli, fie sa aducă din călătorii obiecte valoroase care sa bata la ochi, fie sa încerce sa devina faimos cu fotografiile sale iar asta sa ducă autoritățile către Mustafa și de aceea se gândește sa scape de Hans asa cum s-a întâmplat și cu predecesorii.
Începe un fel de urmărire a lui Hans și a fetei de către Mustafa ( care vrea sa scape de el pentru ca e compromițător ) și de către autorități ca supraviețuitor al atacului de la casa bogătașului și posibil viitor elitist.
Fata pleacă cu altul , iar el revine la Mustafa pentru explicații, nu înainte de a da foc la casa din Suedia ca sa șteargă urmele. Mustafa face o analiza a lumii vechi și noi, având drept exemple pe Hans, pe soția acestuia și pe fata. Si cum le prezintă el, lumea nu s-a schimbat în bine, asa ca îl îndeamnă pe Hans sa se ducă la autorități și sa încerce sa schimbe ceva.
Hans realizează ca o luase razna, ca vroia ca fata sa devina a lui asa cum vroia ca locurile alea găsite sa fie ale lui chiar și numai prin fotografii , își da seama ca a ajuns într-o situație fără ieșire.
E o poveste despre trecut și cum ne influențează acesta , despre cum ne putem schimba dacă putem, este vorba și despre libertate, libertatea de a călători liber. Globalizarea (la asta duce cu gândul skelterul - suntem un sat global, poți ajunge oriunde, oricând ...dar nu prin internet, social media, economii interconectate ci chiar pe persoana fizica) poate duce într-o fundătură a umanității. Trecutul făcut praf, prezentul încă instabil și incert, cum va fi viitorul?
Un concept similar cu skelterul l-am întâlnit și în Destinația mea: stelele (acolo se numea jauntare și se realiza prin metode psi)
... si vreme(a) e ca sa citim
March 1, 2018
aggiornamento vecchio libro letto chissà quando
December 31, 2012
Good enough for a short SF book. Shows that it was meant to be an even shorter story, as it says at the beginning, because it basically only follows a character, with a second added in a couple of places, and gives little detail about the world, but it does its job and sends some messages to those willing to listen. Also, all the little poems supposedly written by Mustapha placed at the beginning of each chapter can fall under "words of wisdom" anytime.
January 12, 2021
The invention of the skelter gave the world to free and easy travel, but led to pandemics, terrorism and the Blowup. Many things were lost (besides two-thirds of the population) Hans' job as a recuperator is to share out reclaimed resources to the most needy. But he wants to document history. Mustapha found him and together they illegally explore old sites with stolen skelter codes.
Chaim Aleuker invented the privateer which increased security of skelters, e.g. preventing a person (or an army) from massing at one point and immediately ending up at someone's private home to steal, kill or otherwise wreak havoc. He and one or two dozen individuals are now the self-appointed administrators of the world. He's having a treasure-hunt party, a clue is given leading to the next clue ending with a code to the party, where the attendees will hopefully be those smart enough to help with governing.
Read the back cover, that clears up some things that are only vaguely explained in the first few chapters. I didn't really get into the book because Hans was a misogynistic asshole and the secondary character of Mustapha wasn't really likable either. Hans meets the wild girl at Aleuker's party and has a chance to change for the better. He's not an evil money grubbing rapist either. I didn't really care if he was successful or sent to jail. I can forgive that Brunner didn't anticipate digital photography, but give us something to invest in, 2.5 stars.
Chaim Aleuker invented the privateer which increased security of skelters, e.g. preventing a person (or an army) from massing at one point and immediately ending up at someone's private home to steal, kill or otherwise wreak havoc. He and one or two dozen individuals are now the self-appointed administrators of the world. He's having a treasure-hunt party, a clue is given leading to the next clue ending with a code to the party, where the attendees will hopefully be those smart enough to help with governing.
Read the back cover, that clears up some things that are only vaguely explained in the first few chapters. I didn't really get into the book because Hans was a misogynistic asshole and the secondary character of Mustapha wasn't really likable either. Hans meets the wild girl at Aleuker's party and has a chance to change for the better. He's not an evil money grubbing rapist either. I didn't really care if he was successful or sent to jail. I can forgive that Brunner didn't anticipate digital photography, but give us something to invest in, 2.5 stars.
March 22, 2020
An interesting read. Concepts and What-Ifs rather than characterisation. But sometimes that's good and in the past, that was what we mostly had.
I realised on page one that I had read this before (possibly thirty or forty years ago). Was worth the re-read.
I realised on page one that I had read this before (possibly thirty or forty years ago). Was worth the re-read.
July 20, 2020
Next he came to a small study, with an open bureau bearing a Halda typewriter, documents in pigeon-holes, a pile of dusty correspondence papers which he blew at gently until the name and address were legible. From it he learned that the house's owners had been called Eriksson, that they were indeed in Sweden, near a place called Umeå, which he would have to look up on a map when he got home, and something else which struck him as simply incredible!
Their skelter code was printed on the letterhead!
The skelter is a transportation device that lets you walk through its door and out of any other skelter on the planet, as long as you know its code. There are even skelters that open straight into to the heart of an incinerator, although their codes are strictly controlled to stop people making use of them to dispose of dead bodies and other evidence of criminal activity, rather than just rubbish.
I can't see that anyone would actually want to have such an insecure device providing access to their homes. In reality, the rich might have private skelters (although I am sure that they would be placed just outside their well-guarded perimeter defences), but I am sure that everyone else would just use public skelters.
Their skelter code was printed on the letterhead!
The skelter is a transportation device that lets you walk through its door and out of any other skelter on the planet, as long as you know its code. There are even skelters that open straight into to the heart of an incinerator, although their codes are strictly controlled to stop people making use of them to dispose of dead bodies and other evidence of criminal activity, rather than just rubbish.
I can't see that anyone would actually want to have such an insecure device providing access to their homes. In reality, the rich might have private skelters (although I am sure that they would be placed just outside their well-guarded perimeter defences), but I am sure that everyone else would just use public skelters.
January 25, 2025
“Nici unul nu schiță vreun gest ca să-și dea mâna. Obiceiul se pierduse; fuseseră prea multe boli contagioase.”
Deși par a fi constatările certe de final de an 2020, aceste lucruri au fost puse pe hârtie de John Brunner în 1974. La fel și
“Până când nu avea să existe suficient vaccin pentru oameni, până la ultimul…”
…ca să vezi…
Ar fi nedrept să îl numesc pe acest excepțional scriitor “profetul nenorocirilor”, deși porecla unuia dintre personajele sale pare a i se potrivi perfect. Ar fi nedrept spun, pentru că John Brunner a fost mai întâi de toate un artist al cuvintelor, profețiile fiind doar o completare a lucrărilor sale. Doar că este un pic... straniu… să citești în 2020 astfel de lucruri, pe care le vedem zilnic la știri și deja au intrat în firescul vieții noastre, știind că Brunner le-a anticipat în urmă cu aproape cincizeci de ani.
Isprăvind de citit cartea și înțelegând că și acest Brunner, la fel ca mulți alții, a răcnit în pustietate (pustietate ultrapopulată, se înțelege..), consider că ne putem reîntoarce liniștiți la traiul nostru cumpătat, continuând să alunecăm ușurel și constant la vale, dar nu oricum, ci învăluiți în fericirea faptului că înaintăm.
A, stai că mai era ceva, mai era o anumită precizare în carte… A, da.
“…nu trebuie să ne ridicăm împotriva inteligenței…”
Îmi pare rău, John Brunner, iată că ai vorbit în gol și de această dată, pentru că lumea nu a stat degeaba în tot acest timp, ci s-a ridicat, John, s-a ridicat la luptă împotriva acestei inteligențe. Și a câștigat, John, a câștigat!
Nota acordată romanului - 8,2
Deși par a fi constatările certe de final de an 2020, aceste lucruri au fost puse pe hârtie de John Brunner în 1974. La fel și
“Până când nu avea să existe suficient vaccin pentru oameni, până la ultimul…”
…ca să vezi…
Ar fi nedrept să îl numesc pe acest excepțional scriitor “profetul nenorocirilor”, deși porecla unuia dintre personajele sale pare a i se potrivi perfect. Ar fi nedrept spun, pentru că John Brunner a fost mai întâi de toate un artist al cuvintelor, profețiile fiind doar o completare a lucrărilor sale. Doar că este un pic... straniu… să citești în 2020 astfel de lucruri, pe care le vedem zilnic la știri și deja au intrat în firescul vieții noastre, știind că Brunner le-a anticipat în urmă cu aproape cincizeci de ani.
Isprăvind de citit cartea și înțelegând că și acest Brunner, la fel ca mulți alții, a răcnit în pustietate (pustietate ultrapopulată, se înțelege..), consider că ne putem reîntoarce liniștiți la traiul nostru cumpătat, continuând să alunecăm ușurel și constant la vale, dar nu oricum, ci învăluiți în fericirea faptului că înaintăm.
A, stai că mai era ceva, mai era o anumită precizare în carte… A, da.
“…nu trebuie să ne ridicăm împotriva inteligenței…”
Îmi pare rău, John Brunner, iată că ai vorbit în gol și de această dată, pentru că lumea nu a stat degeaba în tot acest timp, ci s-a ridicat, John, s-a ridicat la luptă împotriva acestei inteligențe. Și a câștigat, John, a câștigat!
Nota acordată romanului - 8,2
February 11, 2012
When I picked up this book, I had no idea it will be another kind of "what if"... A very powerfully written "what if".
What if we do invent instant travel? You know, a cheap device, something the average person can afford to buy, and to place in their house, public parks, anything, anywhere; get in, get out on the other side of the world.
Come on, we all heard, or imagined, or read, (or have hopes! :)), about instant travel, so hey, what if?
I have read this novel a day after finishing Poul Anderson's Brain Wave, which is another "what if" on a different "wish" of humanity. But while Poul Anderson takes the reader step by step to follow the way humanity adapts to it, John Brunner throws them right in the middle of the life of people using it already as a matter of daily fact. What's more, he uses the main character (you know, the character we readers typically expect to identify with) to directly push us in the mind of one who copes with it... in some way.
I don't want to spoil the reading. I'll just say that for me, he did so with complete success. The novel just convinces, without giving many explanations, and it's one of those that stays in one's mind.
Strangely, I understand from random internet searches that it's one of the "less known" novels of John Brunner. That's too bad, because it's well worth reading.
What if we do invent instant travel? You know, a cheap device, something the average person can afford to buy, and to place in their house, public parks, anything, anywhere; get in, get out on the other side of the world.
Come on, we all heard, or imagined, or read, (or have hopes! :)), about instant travel, so hey, what if?
I have read this novel a day after finishing Poul Anderson's Brain Wave, which is another "what if" on a different "wish" of humanity. But while Poul Anderson takes the reader step by step to follow the way humanity adapts to it, John Brunner throws them right in the middle of the life of people using it already as a matter of daily fact. What's more, he uses the main character (you know, the character we readers typically expect to identify with) to directly push us in the mind of one who copes with it... in some way.
I don't want to spoil the reading. I'll just say that for me, he did so with complete success. The novel just convinces, without giving many explanations, and it's one of those that stays in one's mind.
Strangely, I understand from random internet searches that it's one of the "less known" novels of John Brunner. That's too bad, because it's well worth reading.
February 17, 2018
I really liked the concept of this book, but I think it should have been developed much further and had more of a plot line. This deals with a planet after a blowup of disease, war, and crime with the invention of the Skelter, which can take you anywhere in the world in seconds. The story involves Hans and Mustafa, two men who get illegal skelter codes to homes where they explore. The privateer had since been developed so that people could not go into people's homes without a secure code. The story tells of Hans' journey to escape being caught with his new love interest that is not exactly thrilled about being taken around the world to his hiding places.
Like I said, the concept is promising, but it needs much more development.
Like I said, the concept is promising, but it needs much more development.
April 3, 2018
Low star rating because for the most part I didn't enjoy the execution of this novel. Interesting and clever concept but there is way to much going on for a 160ish page. There is at least 5 storylines going on. I liked how they were all connected but they were separate. The ending does redeem the story quite well. If someone where to make a dark science fiction short movie on this it would be worth watching. It's very simular to the invisible man but with a transporter. I think the story would have been better if it was longer and spent more time expanding what is going I found it to condensed.
December 2, 2019
A post-apocalyptic fiction about a much-reduced population, due to an epidemic that caused women to be outnumbered by men. The result is, even more unhappy marriages than the norm of reality, as having a wife, any wife,is a status symbol. Moreover, one can travel instantly to almost any part of the world via a "skelter," a shelter that sends you on your way instantly, if you possess the correct code. Humans are still causing the same problems as ever--there are the ones with power who use it to oppress others. There are men who want to dominate and use women...
Not my favorite Brunner.
Not my favorite Brunner.
July 19, 2015
What if we could teleport anywhere, where would we go? A distopian novel, wouldn't it be great if we could go anywhere? The problem is that criminals and terrorists could also go anywhere and wreak their havoc.
September 28, 2023
This is my second dive into the works of John Brunner. Last year I read The Dreaming Earth and was pleasantly surprised with how much I enjoyed it. I’ve heard great things about John Brunner and if one of his seemingly lesser known works was this good, his highly regarded works must be great. I didn’t realize that I picked another obscure work of his from the handful of books of his I’ve acquired as my next read. Unfortunately this wasn’t the hidden gem I was expecting it to be.
Web of Everything is a post apocalyptic story of cold war paranoia. Published over a decade after The Dreaming Earth I was prepared for a shift in style or perspective from Brunner. In this story we follow Hans Dykstra, someone who explores the leftover world of a post apocalyptic landscape ravaged by the “blowup” and disease. A suggested WWIII has left parts of the world uninhabitable but teleportation technology has allowed those still alive to traverse the earth in seconds.
Brunner explores a lot of ideas of globalism, multiculturalism, and general anthropology through this concept. This is honestly one of the more interesting aspects of the book. Characters come from all different walks of life and are made to interact with each other, leading to much of the conflict of the book. Unfortunately this is where a lot of the book’s shortcomings come from too.
Published in 1974, a book like this is bound to not age well. I read a lot of 70s Sci Fi and there are many dated ideals on display in books like this but none have been as glaringly apparent as in this one. I’d say it’s mainly due to the global focus of this book that these problems stand out so much. Brunner writes about many different characters and is unfortunately informed more by cultural stereotypes than actual knowledge of cultures and people.
I’d say the most apparent dated world view is misogyny but racism sure isn’t absent here as well. Nothing is totally offensive or unheard of for the time but led to define a good amount of what I took away from this relatively short read. I honestly found it kind of humorous that on the same page you could find a very orientalist view from the main character, claiming pedophilia to be a common practice in the Arab world before then going into a misogynistic rant about the character’s wife and how he might as well just get himself a male servant to keep house for him. It becomes especially ironic when our protagonist then proceeds to spend the rest of the book trying to gaslight a teenage girl into thinking he is a sensible and honest man so that he can make her his new wife.
As you can start to see, this book is a bit of a mess. For only 150 pages this novella is defined by a first half that is slow to start and spent establishing the world. It isn’t until you are over halfway through the book that the real story begins and from this point it ultimately feels rushed and lacks any real investment for the characters.
Due to a series of events the main character is moving at a fast pace, dragging this teenage girl around with him, telling her everything is fine, while he avoids the antagonist who he is expecting to see around every corner. A story of paranoia, the character begins to lose trust in nearly everyone around him and leads to his ultimate demise. Like I said, this part of the story moves very fast so a lot of the weight or sympathy you might gain for the protagonist is lost. It doesn’t help that this guy is a real product of his time (1974, not the post apocalyptic future).
There really isn’t a lot to grasp onto in terms of investment in this character. This book really comes across as another of the many midlife crisis Sci Fi tales that are prominent of the time. Unfortunately, Web of Everything just isn’t that strong to begin with. Philip K Dick has plenty of midlife crisis novels and sure they can be weird to read but at least they are entertaining. I was surprised that John Brunner wasn’t going through a divorce while writing this as it really comes across as such.
Ultimately, the latter half of the book feels like someone who’s read Camus and Kafka and wanted to make their own Sci Fi version of The Stranger or The Trial. This should work for me as I love both of those books but the execution just isn’t there with this one. Brunner fails to have a character sympathetic enough to identify with and the pacing really loses any opportunity to formulate that relationship.
Instead of an everyman, navigating the absurdity of an empirical system, we are left with a well off libertarian yelling for the government to get off his back. I’m not fully against libertarianism, and used to identify with it pretty closely myself. This story really is the stereotype of the middle age, middle class man telling the government to leave him alone. Alone to do what? To marry a teenage girl. It’s probably for the best that this is one of the forgotten Brunner works.
Web of Everything is a post apocalyptic story of cold war paranoia. Published over a decade after The Dreaming Earth I was prepared for a shift in style or perspective from Brunner. In this story we follow Hans Dykstra, someone who explores the leftover world of a post apocalyptic landscape ravaged by the “blowup” and disease. A suggested WWIII has left parts of the world uninhabitable but teleportation technology has allowed those still alive to traverse the earth in seconds.
Brunner explores a lot of ideas of globalism, multiculturalism, and general anthropology through this concept. This is honestly one of the more interesting aspects of the book. Characters come from all different walks of life and are made to interact with each other, leading to much of the conflict of the book. Unfortunately this is where a lot of the book’s shortcomings come from too.
Published in 1974, a book like this is bound to not age well. I read a lot of 70s Sci Fi and there are many dated ideals on display in books like this but none have been as glaringly apparent as in this one. I’d say it’s mainly due to the global focus of this book that these problems stand out so much. Brunner writes about many different characters and is unfortunately informed more by cultural stereotypes than actual knowledge of cultures and people.
I’d say the most apparent dated world view is misogyny but racism sure isn’t absent here as well. Nothing is totally offensive or unheard of for the time but led to define a good amount of what I took away from this relatively short read. I honestly found it kind of humorous that on the same page you could find a very orientalist view from the main character, claiming pedophilia to be a common practice in the Arab world before then going into a misogynistic rant about the character’s wife and how he might as well just get himself a male servant to keep house for him. It becomes especially ironic when our protagonist then proceeds to spend the rest of the book trying to gaslight a teenage girl into thinking he is a sensible and honest man so that he can make her his new wife.
As you can start to see, this book is a bit of a mess. For only 150 pages this novella is defined by a first half that is slow to start and spent establishing the world. It isn’t until you are over halfway through the book that the real story begins and from this point it ultimately feels rushed and lacks any real investment for the characters.
Due to a series of events the main character is moving at a fast pace, dragging this teenage girl around with him, telling her everything is fine, while he avoids the antagonist who he is expecting to see around every corner. A story of paranoia, the character begins to lose trust in nearly everyone around him and leads to his ultimate demise. Like I said, this part of the story moves very fast so a lot of the weight or sympathy you might gain for the protagonist is lost. It doesn’t help that this guy is a real product of his time (1974, not the post apocalyptic future).
There really isn’t a lot to grasp onto in terms of investment in this character. This book really comes across as another of the many midlife crisis Sci Fi tales that are prominent of the time. Unfortunately, Web of Everything just isn’t that strong to begin with. Philip K Dick has plenty of midlife crisis novels and sure they can be weird to read but at least they are entertaining. I was surprised that John Brunner wasn’t going through a divorce while writing this as it really comes across as such.
Ultimately, the latter half of the book feels like someone who’s read Camus and Kafka and wanted to make their own Sci Fi version of The Stranger or The Trial. This should work for me as I love both of those books but the execution just isn’t there with this one. Brunner fails to have a character sympathetic enough to identify with and the pacing really loses any opportunity to formulate that relationship.
Instead of an everyman, navigating the absurdity of an empirical system, we are left with a well off libertarian yelling for the government to get off his back. I’m not fully against libertarianism, and used to identify with it pretty closely myself. This story really is the stereotype of the middle age, middle class man telling the government to leave him alone. Alone to do what? To marry a teenage girl. It’s probably for the best that this is one of the forgotten Brunner works.
June 7, 2019
Imagine living in a world which has been revolutionised by a transportation device that lets you travel to anywhere in the world instantly, just by walking through a door. Sounds pretty cool right? Well this is a John Brunner novel, and as I get more and more familiar with his work you realise that each fantastic technological progress that mankind makes does come with a heavy downside. In this case the transportation device called a Skelter, has led to the destruction of civilization as we know it.
Although this book is considered one of Brunner’s less important works, it remains a very interesting footnote due to the fact that he deals with the broad philosophical and sociological implications of the existence of this kind of technology. The Skelter may well have made global instantaneous travel a reality, but it has also opened a Pandora's Box, which terrorists, criminals, and other miscreants have used to their own devices to wreak havoc upon the world leading to an apocalyptic war the characters refer to as the Blowup. Years after the dust has settled, it is the invasion of privacy that has become the ultimate crime, leading to the invention of the privateer, that has allowed Skelter owners a privacy code by which to protect themselves.
Published in 1974, a time when global social and political turmoil was about as pronounced as it is today, Web of Everywhere seeks to examine and discuss what the attitudes are that people will need to change if civilization has any real chance at succeeding into the future. The Skelter represents humanity's selfishness taken to its ultimate realization; our desire to want too much, too soon, at no cost. This is no mere science fiction potboiler, instead it is a novel that will engage you intellectually, and give you lots of lots of food for thought on the themes under consideration, pretty much like all of John Brunner’s work I have read so far.
Although this book is considered one of Brunner’s less important works, it remains a very interesting footnote due to the fact that he deals with the broad philosophical and sociological implications of the existence of this kind of technology. The Skelter may well have made global instantaneous travel a reality, but it has also opened a Pandora's Box, which terrorists, criminals, and other miscreants have used to their own devices to wreak havoc upon the world leading to an apocalyptic war the characters refer to as the Blowup. Years after the dust has settled, it is the invasion of privacy that has become the ultimate crime, leading to the invention of the privateer, that has allowed Skelter owners a privacy code by which to protect themselves.
Published in 1974, a time when global social and political turmoil was about as pronounced as it is today, Web of Everywhere seeks to examine and discuss what the attitudes are that people will need to change if civilization has any real chance at succeeding into the future. The Skelter represents humanity's selfishness taken to its ultimate realization; our desire to want too much, too soon, at no cost. This is no mere science fiction potboiler, instead it is a novel that will engage you intellectually, and give you lots of lots of food for thought on the themes under consideration, pretty much like all of John Brunner’s work I have read so far.
February 25, 2024
This was a surprisingly subtle and nuanced book. I know almost nothing about the author and the review GR has for this book was clearly written by someone who never read it and knew no one who had.
We start with two men exploring an abandoned home which we discover was in Sweden. They got there through a "skelter" a device that allows people to teleport instantaneously anywhere on Earth. Brunner does a great job of sketching the society quickly and lightly in a just a few pages, so we know enough to be going on with. I feel this book is mostly about society and how people move within it.
When the skelter was invented there was no privacy lock on it; so anyone could walk in anywhere, basically, and they did. There was crime that went uncaught and unpunished, there was social upheaval leading to nuclear war, there were waves of diseases and large portions of the Earth are now uninhabitable by the much reduced number of people left. More recently, a way of privacy coding was invented and now one of the most reprehensible of crimes, world wide, is the illicit use of codes to unauthorised destinations.
Which brings us back to out two main protagonists who are illicitly exploring an abandoned house, using an illegal code...
Hans is a photographer who claims he wants to document this precious information before it is lost forever. Mustapha Sharif, the blind poet is not disclosing what he gets out of the explorations...
It is unexpectedly complex and well worth reading. Far removed from the basic space opera type book I thought I was picking up, centres on an unlikable protagonist. I would argue, TWO very unlikable protagonists.
We start with two men exploring an abandoned home which we discover was in Sweden. They got there through a "skelter" a device that allows people to teleport instantaneously anywhere on Earth. Brunner does a great job of sketching the society quickly and lightly in a just a few pages, so we know enough to be going on with. I feel this book is mostly about society and how people move within it.
When the skelter was invented there was no privacy lock on it; so anyone could walk in anywhere, basically, and they did. There was crime that went uncaught and unpunished, there was social upheaval leading to nuclear war, there were waves of diseases and large portions of the Earth are now uninhabitable by the much reduced number of people left. More recently, a way of privacy coding was invented and now one of the most reprehensible of crimes, world wide, is the illicit use of codes to unauthorised destinations.
Which brings us back to out two main protagonists who are illicitly exploring an abandoned house, using an illegal code...
Hans is a photographer who claims he wants to document this precious information before it is lost forever. Mustapha Sharif, the blind poet is not disclosing what he gets out of the explorations...
It is unexpectedly complex and well worth reading. Far removed from the basic space opera type book I thought I was picking up, centres on an unlikable protagonist. I would argue, TWO very unlikable protagonists.
Read
July 8, 2023Written during the same period when Brunner was producing his great near-future dystopian quartet, but unlike them, still more dystopian than our present. It uses a more outright science-fictional jumping-off point, with the invention of teleportation changing society in ways familiar from Larry Niven and Alfred Bester's stories on the same theme - except, because this is Brunner, much, much worse. A couple of generations on, after the wars and plagues, society is unsteadily getting back on its feet, trying to find new ways of living and thinking while still being shaped by old habits and recent trauma...and to be honest, that's the bit I wanted to read about, but instead of Zanzibar's polyphony we mostly follow a single lead, Hans Dykstra, first seen engaged in an illegal but seemingly innocuous act, and then damned by degrees as the story proceeds, even as it's mainly told from his own self-justifying viewpoint. Which, you know, is fine, a quick, punchy read - just not an achievement on the scale of which we know Brunner to be capable, even if he's using the same toolkit in the worldbuilding.
(Although it is still refreshing these days for a 142-page book to explicitly introduce itself as something that "grew up to be a novel instead of a novella", as against endemic modern misuse of the latter term)
(Although it is still refreshing these days for a 142-page book to explicitly introduce itself as something that "grew up to be a novel instead of a novella", as against endemic modern misuse of the latter term)
October 23, 2025
The book starts with an interesting premise around teleportation but really fails to tell a good story. I didn't think the whole plot with the protagonist creeping on a young girl to be that interesting and I found the dystopian world depicted by the author to be unoriginal and barely fleshed out. The author really fails around the worldbuilding in telling how a world with teleportation and a handful of living people actually do day-to-day activities.
July 5, 2017
Decent, readable and short enough on-Earth semi-post-apocalyptic sci-fi novel.
Won't blow you away with a cool character or terribly original idea, but it's a nice read.
I certainly liked it more than Zanzibar.
Won't blow you away with a cool character or terribly original idea, but it's a nice read.
I certainly liked it more than Zanzibar.
October 3, 2025
Although short, it took me a while to finish it, as it didn't tempted me as much. It's focused on how am individual interacts with the world in which he lives, but fails at creating a believable society.
October 30, 2013
review of
John Brunner's Web of Everywhere
by tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE - October 30, 2013
1st off, this is "A Frederik Pohl Selection" as the front cover announces. That's immediately promising for me insofar as Pohl is one of the better politically minded SF writers in the US (IMO). As the inside proclaims:
"Frederik Pohl, four-time Hugo Award winner, editor of some thirty science fiction anthologies and author of more than forty books [Web of Everywhere having been published in 1974, the number of Pohl books would now be, of course, much larger.], is an acknowledged master of his field.
"Each book that bears the crest "A Frederik Pohl Selection" reflects the taste, integrity and discrimination that have made his own works so highly respected by critics and enjoyed by millions of readers."
A device called the skelter has been invented wch enables instantaneous traveling. As an unexpected side-effect, Earth's population has been devastated. "Close to two-thirds of the planet's population had been killed by violence or disease within twenty years of the marketing of the first skelters". (p 14) As such, each private location now has an encoded protection against unwanted intrusion. Traveling between locales w/o permission from the destination encoder is a serious crime. Hans, the main character here, is one of these criminals. He & his companion Mustapha have illegally entered a deserted location using the instantaneous travel device. The reader gets hints of why it's deserted:
""There is a smell of death, but it is so faint, it is more likely to issue, I think, from food which has rotted through several summers and been frozen again. Those documents: they say where we have come to. Do they also hint at what became of the people who lived here?"" - p 10
"Recovering almost at once, he said, "No, but we can dismiss fallout, I think. This area must have been well out of range of the big blast at Kiruna and Trondheim." - p 10
""Disease, possibly? So many epidemics were imported here by the skelter . . . " - p11
I'm reminded of Richard Preston's book about Ebola called The Hot Zone. In it, one of the things that I learned that stuck w/ me the most was how this highly infectious & deadly disease spread w/ the assistance of modern transportation. A disease that might've stayed localized in Africa traveled widely thanks to infected persons & monkeys traveling worldwide by airplane.
Hans finds bodies at his illegally accessed destination & sends their bodies to be secretly incinerated: "He didn't bother to rehearse any prayers as he consigned the bodies to the skelter. In Norther Europe these people would presumably have been either atheist—in which case they wouldn't have cared—or Christian. As a moderately devout follower of the Way of Life he regarded Christianity with the same revulsion as black magic." (p 15) Ha ha! My personal experience w/ Christinanity certainly makes it worthy of being considered the true Satanism.
Each chapter begins w/ a poem by the Mustapha character. These poems largely center around the consequences of skelter culture. here's the one that prefaces chapter 4:
"Time was when any lover, seeing his mistress
Was gone from the room, might call for her
And be assured that she would hear his cry.
O my beloved I do not treat you coldly.
rather am I haunted by the knowledge
That one step may have put the world between us." - p 23
""What it comes down to," Mustapha said, "is that mankind from now on must be governed by artists, not by politicians. There is no other conceivable manner in which a survival-prone society can be organized. We must evolve an aesthetic of government, free from ideological trammels; we must commit our fate into the hands of those who derive artistic satisfaction from seeing a well-ordered community, who will crack their skulls into the small hours of the morning over a flaw in their scheme as I may worry myself sleepless over a line in a poem until it suddenly turns head over heels and comes out right." - p 37
Alas, history proves that artists turned to world rulers are just as liable to create disaster as anyone else. Regardless of whether artists want to admit it or not, Hitler was an artist & Mussolini put Italian Futurist Marinetti into a high cultural position. Would you trust Bruce Naumann, a prominent American artist who's against audience participation & who represented the US at La Biennale di Venezia, w/ political power? I wdn't. Not that Naumann's anywhere close to Hitler or Mussolini of course. Remember, famed American poet Ezra Pound supported Fascism & was visited by the leader of the American Nazi Party when he was incarcerated in St Elizabeth's Hospital for being a traitor during WWII. NO-ONE & NO PARTICULAR SUBCULTURE ARE 'FIT' FOR GOVERNING. Not even those lovable cuddly artists.
As usual, Brunner's story is fascinatingly explored & I enjoyed reading it very much. On the other hand, I don't really have much to say about it. I recommend it to every 3rd person on the left - how's that?
John Brunner's Web of Everywhere
by tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE - October 30, 2013
1st off, this is "A Frederik Pohl Selection" as the front cover announces. That's immediately promising for me insofar as Pohl is one of the better politically minded SF writers in the US (IMO). As the inside proclaims:
"Frederik Pohl, four-time Hugo Award winner, editor of some thirty science fiction anthologies and author of more than forty books [Web of Everywhere having been published in 1974, the number of Pohl books would now be, of course, much larger.], is an acknowledged master of his field.
"Each book that bears the crest "A Frederik Pohl Selection" reflects the taste, integrity and discrimination that have made his own works so highly respected by critics and enjoyed by millions of readers."
A device called the skelter has been invented wch enables instantaneous traveling. As an unexpected side-effect, Earth's population has been devastated. "Close to two-thirds of the planet's population had been killed by violence or disease within twenty years of the marketing of the first skelters". (p 14) As such, each private location now has an encoded protection against unwanted intrusion. Traveling between locales w/o permission from the destination encoder is a serious crime. Hans, the main character here, is one of these criminals. He & his companion Mustapha have illegally entered a deserted location using the instantaneous travel device. The reader gets hints of why it's deserted:
""There is a smell of death, but it is so faint, it is more likely to issue, I think, from food which has rotted through several summers and been frozen again. Those documents: they say where we have come to. Do they also hint at what became of the people who lived here?"" - p 10
"Recovering almost at once, he said, "No, but we can dismiss fallout, I think. This area must have been well out of range of the big blast at Kiruna and Trondheim." - p 10
""Disease, possibly? So many epidemics were imported here by the skelter . . . " - p11
I'm reminded of Richard Preston's book about Ebola called The Hot Zone. In it, one of the things that I learned that stuck w/ me the most was how this highly infectious & deadly disease spread w/ the assistance of modern transportation. A disease that might've stayed localized in Africa traveled widely thanks to infected persons & monkeys traveling worldwide by airplane.
Hans finds bodies at his illegally accessed destination & sends their bodies to be secretly incinerated: "He didn't bother to rehearse any prayers as he consigned the bodies to the skelter. In Norther Europe these people would presumably have been either atheist—in which case they wouldn't have cared—or Christian. As a moderately devout follower of the Way of Life he regarded Christianity with the same revulsion as black magic." (p 15) Ha ha! My personal experience w/ Christinanity certainly makes it worthy of being considered the true Satanism.
Each chapter begins w/ a poem by the Mustapha character. These poems largely center around the consequences of skelter culture. here's the one that prefaces chapter 4:
"Time was when any lover, seeing his mistress
Was gone from the room, might call for her
And be assured that she would hear his cry.
O my beloved I do not treat you coldly.
rather am I haunted by the knowledge
That one step may have put the world between us." - p 23
""What it comes down to," Mustapha said, "is that mankind from now on must be governed by artists, not by politicians. There is no other conceivable manner in which a survival-prone society can be organized. We must evolve an aesthetic of government, free from ideological trammels; we must commit our fate into the hands of those who derive artistic satisfaction from seeing a well-ordered community, who will crack their skulls into the small hours of the morning over a flaw in their scheme as I may worry myself sleepless over a line in a poem until it suddenly turns head over heels and comes out right." - p 37
Alas, history proves that artists turned to world rulers are just as liable to create disaster as anyone else. Regardless of whether artists want to admit it or not, Hitler was an artist & Mussolini put Italian Futurist Marinetti into a high cultural position. Would you trust Bruce Naumann, a prominent American artist who's against audience participation & who represented the US at La Biennale di Venezia, w/ political power? I wdn't. Not that Naumann's anywhere close to Hitler or Mussolini of course. Remember, famed American poet Ezra Pound supported Fascism & was visited by the leader of the American Nazi Party when he was incarcerated in St Elizabeth's Hospital for being a traitor during WWII. NO-ONE & NO PARTICULAR SUBCULTURE ARE 'FIT' FOR GOVERNING. Not even those lovable cuddly artists.
As usual, Brunner's story is fascinatingly explored & I enjoyed reading it very much. On the other hand, I don't really have much to say about it. I recommend it to every 3rd person on the left - how's that?
December 25, 2018
Wow! In most sci fi books where they veer slightly off the main idea I dislike them but this was written so perfectly. I loved it, don't know why it has such a low rating
July 5, 2022
Not bad, probably very innovative at the time, and a nice quick easy read.
November 26, 2016
The societal consequence of instantaneous matter transportation is a recurring science-fiction theme. No one has ever done it better than Alfred Bester in The Stars My Destination, though many have tried. (Or have not tried, as with the inconsequential matter transmitters of Star Trek.)
John Brunner came closest to out-Foyling* Bester with this little-noticed novel. Unlike Brunner’s The Infinitive of Go, published six years later, WoE concentrates on the social and political implications of a matter transmitter called a “Skelter.” In the mid-70’s, with the horror of the Tate-LaBianca murders still fresh in everyone’s minds, the name was evocative.
And like the “helter skelter” cult, the result of the Skelter technology’s free access to everywhere was murder, plus explosive plagues, terrorism dwarfing 9/11, and the collapse of civilization. A “puerperal fever” kills 80% of the world’s women, leaving many of the rest sterile. Only the invention of the “privateer,” a method to lock the Skelter doors against uninvited guests, and a strict law against using unauthorized Skelter codes, has managed to salvage what remains of civil society.
Hans Dysktra is a deeply unsatisfied man. He is married (a rarity in this post-Skelter world), but his wife is shallow, vain, stupid, and fat. He works exploring the nuclear-ravaged Skelters of Europe under the aegis of a world-wide government headed by the inventor of the privateer, Chaim Aleuker. But secretly he explores unauthorized locations, documenting the state in which he finds these abandoned houses and the restorations he applies. His secret work, he tells himself, must not be revealed until after his death.
His partner in these efforts is Mustapha Sharif, a blind poet with a method for discovering Skelter codes. Sharif is the opposite of Dykstra in many respects; he lives calmly in a non-Skelter community, he is respected, even revered by many of the world’s leaders, and he deeply appreciates what he has. Despite Sharif’s disability, it is Dykstra who is blind, and Sharif who leads him.
Dykstra’s dark-room work on his latest “find” is ruined when his wife opens the door before the photos are developed. To punish her, he accepts her “treasure hunt” invitation to a party at Chaim Aleuker’s house, and solves the puzzle himself so effectively, he comes to the attention of the world leaders. When the party is overrun by local terrorists, he grabs a young “wild girl” guest and flees with her. Like trying to grasp a cobweb without breaking it, his attempts to have the things he believes he wants lead Dykstra only to destroy them.
The action in the novel is physical as well as mental, but the webs that unite each place to everywhere else serve also to bind people together. Cobwebs in unused dwellings echo the threads of connection that link people to each other. At the center of all these webs dwells Mustapha Sharif, a Way of Life believer whose household is Muslim, a respected elder who directly abets Dykstra’s crimes, a peaceful man whose former partners met violent deaths, a blind man whose observations are sharp and precise.
You can now get this novel on Kindle, but for the full experience, you’ll want the paperback edition. (Watch for it in used bookstores.) Ignore the cheesy cover art. The story between them deserves a wider exposure.
Liner Note:
*Gully Foyle is the central character of The Stars My Destination, an unwitting champion at using jaunte energy, who has succeeded in breaking the planetary barrier to "jaunting," as the self-transmission is called. Even after 50 years, TSMD is still the starting point for many science fiction readers.
John Brunner came closest to out-Foyling* Bester with this little-noticed novel. Unlike Brunner’s The Infinitive of Go, published six years later, WoE concentrates on the social and political implications of a matter transmitter called a “Skelter.” In the mid-70’s, with the horror of the Tate-LaBianca murders still fresh in everyone’s minds, the name was evocative.
And like the “helter skelter” cult, the result of the Skelter technology’s free access to everywhere was murder, plus explosive plagues, terrorism dwarfing 9/11, and the collapse of civilization. A “puerperal fever” kills 80% of the world’s women, leaving many of the rest sterile. Only the invention of the “privateer,” a method to lock the Skelter doors against uninvited guests, and a strict law against using unauthorized Skelter codes, has managed to salvage what remains of civil society.
Theseus / Blinded by the dark / Followed Ariadne’s clew of thread.
Ariadne / Has ceased her spinning / And all doors lead to the Minotaur.
—Mustapha Sharif
Hans Dysktra is a deeply unsatisfied man. He is married (a rarity in this post-Skelter world), but his wife is shallow, vain, stupid, and fat. He works exploring the nuclear-ravaged Skelters of Europe under the aegis of a world-wide government headed by the inventor of the privateer, Chaim Aleuker. But secretly he explores unauthorized locations, documenting the state in which he finds these abandoned houses and the restorations he applies. His secret work, he tells himself, must not be revealed until after his death.
His partner in these efforts is Mustapha Sharif, a blind poet with a method for discovering Skelter codes. Sharif is the opposite of Dykstra in many respects; he lives calmly in a non-Skelter community, he is respected, even revered by many of the world’s leaders, and he deeply appreciates what he has. Despite Sharif’s disability, it is Dykstra who is blind, and Sharif who leads him.
Dykstra’s dark-room work on his latest “find” is ruined when his wife opens the door before the photos are developed. To punish her, he accepts her “treasure hunt” invitation to a party at Chaim Aleuker’s house, and solves the puzzle himself so effectively, he comes to the attention of the world leaders. When the party is overrun by local terrorists, he grabs a young “wild girl” guest and flees with her. Like trying to grasp a cobweb without breaking it, his attempts to have the things he believes he wants lead Dykstra only to destroy them.
The action in the novel is physical as well as mental, but the webs that unite each place to everywhere else serve also to bind people together. Cobwebs in unused dwellings echo the threads of connection that link people to each other. At the center of all these webs dwells Mustapha Sharif, a Way of Life believer whose household is Muslim, a respected elder who directly abets Dykstra’s crimes, a peaceful man whose former partners met violent deaths, a blind man whose observations are sharp and precise.
Once I met a man / who every day / went around the planet counterclockwise.
He said by this means / he gained a day / and would therefore live for ever.
Unluckily for him / Death measures time / otherwise than with clocks and watches.
—Mustapha Sharif
You can now get this novel on Kindle, but for the full experience, you’ll want the paperback edition. (Watch for it in used bookstores.) Ignore the cheesy cover art. The story between them deserves a wider exposure.
Liner Note:
*Gully Foyle is the central character of The Stars My Destination, an unwitting champion at using jaunte energy, who has succeeded in breaking the planetary barrier to "jaunting," as the self-transmission is called. Even after 50 years, TSMD is still the starting point for many science fiction readers.
December 19, 2019
Hans Dykstra is a criminal. Along with the blind poet Mustapha Sharif, he uses illegally obtained location codes to visit abandoned teleport stations and photograph their surroundings. This time they’ve found a surprisingly intact house in Sweden, the former owners dead of personal violence rather than war or plague. A person could, in theory, live here off the grid. Hans tucks away this idea for later.
Hans’ day job isn’t that different from his extracurricular activities. He works for the new world government as a scavenger, going to various wrecked locations in Europe and the former United States looking for stuff that can either be used as is or parts for technology that’s no longer made. A few decades back, a boom in teleportation booths, both public and personal, led to disaster. Only the invention of the “privateer”, a device that somehow prevents people from leaving the booth until the owner lets them, prevented the total collapse of civilization.
Christianity is a dead religion, and Islam not much better off, largely replaced by the pacifist Religion of Life. Fertile women are now relatively rare, and they know their value so convincing a woman to marry you is a social bonus. Which is why Hans is married to Dany, eighteen years his senior. This turned out to be a huge mistake for both of them. He’s a social climber and intellectual snob. She’s emotionally fragile and a dimwit. Dany comes off quite unpleasant, but we’re seeing her from Hans’ perspective and it’s clear he’s making no attempt at empathy.
One of Dany’s hobbies is going to “treasure hunt” parties where one follows a series of clues from teleport booth to teleport booth around the world until you arrive at the party. This party’s clues are particularly difficult, and Hans loses his temper with Dany repeatedly coming back to him for help, especially when she opens his darkroom and spoils his photographs. So he steals her invitation and figures out the clues himself. Hans is book-smart and is in fact the first person to arrive at the party location.
The party turns out to be a way of scouting for new people to get higher posts in the world government, so Hans gets to meet and impress some pretty important celebrities. Even better, he meets Anneliese, sole survivor of a Mennonite-like colony “rescued” after the slaughter of her people–as it happens, Hans is one of the few persons in the world who speaks her native language well due to growing up in the backwaters of Europe. They hit it off.
Then the party is attacked by anti-globalists. In the confusion, Hans takes Annelise through the teleport booth to relative safety. But his motives are ulterior, and the rest of the book is about the consequences of his actions.
Good: A grown man trying to manipulate a naive, traumatized teenage girl into having a “romantic” relationship with him is treated as the contemptible act it is. Hans’ pretense of moral superiority is stripped from him slice by slice even as he mistakes just who is pursuing him for what purpose.
The world is an interesting setup and I could see more stories being told in it.
Less good: The story does tend to treat women as prizes rather than characters in their own right, but that’s largely because we’re following Hans, who thinks that way.
Content note: Suicide.
The ending’s a downer, but if you’re okay with that, this is a decent minor work from Brunner.
Hans’ day job isn’t that different from his extracurricular activities. He works for the new world government as a scavenger, going to various wrecked locations in Europe and the former United States looking for stuff that can either be used as is or parts for technology that’s no longer made. A few decades back, a boom in teleportation booths, both public and personal, led to disaster. Only the invention of the “privateer”, a device that somehow prevents people from leaving the booth until the owner lets them, prevented the total collapse of civilization.
Christianity is a dead religion, and Islam not much better off, largely replaced by the pacifist Religion of Life. Fertile women are now relatively rare, and they know their value so convincing a woman to marry you is a social bonus. Which is why Hans is married to Dany, eighteen years his senior. This turned out to be a huge mistake for both of them. He’s a social climber and intellectual snob. She’s emotionally fragile and a dimwit. Dany comes off quite unpleasant, but we’re seeing her from Hans’ perspective and it’s clear he’s making no attempt at empathy.
One of Dany’s hobbies is going to “treasure hunt” parties where one follows a series of clues from teleport booth to teleport booth around the world until you arrive at the party. This party’s clues are particularly difficult, and Hans loses his temper with Dany repeatedly coming back to him for help, especially when she opens his darkroom and spoils his photographs. So he steals her invitation and figures out the clues himself. Hans is book-smart and is in fact the first person to arrive at the party location.
The party turns out to be a way of scouting for new people to get higher posts in the world government, so Hans gets to meet and impress some pretty important celebrities. Even better, he meets Anneliese, sole survivor of a Mennonite-like colony “rescued” after the slaughter of her people–as it happens, Hans is one of the few persons in the world who speaks her native language well due to growing up in the backwaters of Europe. They hit it off.
Then the party is attacked by anti-globalists. In the confusion, Hans takes Annelise through the teleport booth to relative safety. But his motives are ulterior, and the rest of the book is about the consequences of his actions.
Good: A grown man trying to manipulate a naive, traumatized teenage girl into having a “romantic” relationship with him is treated as the contemptible act it is. Hans’ pretense of moral superiority is stripped from him slice by slice even as he mistakes just who is pursuing him for what purpose.
The world is an interesting setup and I could see more stories being told in it.
Less good: The story does tend to treat women as prizes rather than characters in their own right, but that’s largely because we’re following Hans, who thinks that way.
Content note: Suicide.
The ending’s a downer, but if you’re okay with that, this is a decent minor work from Brunner.
September 30, 2013
What if we invent a teleportation device?
Be careful what you wish for.
This is a lesser known book of John Brunner, which is strange to me, because it's one of the most inspiring science fiction books I've read. The plot is relentlessly paced, the twists catchy, and the fulfillment of the what if is making a lot of sense.
An unexpected sense.
The writing pushes the limits of a novel, breaking one of the common expectations for the main character, with amazing success. (and I didn't see it coming!)
Without wanting to give too much away, I wholeheartedly recommend this novel for anyone who wants to spend a few enjoyable hours.
Be careful what you wish for.
This is a lesser known book of John Brunner, which is strange to me, because it's one of the most inspiring science fiction books I've read. The plot is relentlessly paced, the twists catchy, and the fulfillment of the what if is making a lot of sense.
An unexpected sense.
The writing pushes the limits of a novel, breaking one of the common expectations for the main character, with amazing success. (and I didn't see it coming!)
Without wanting to give too much away, I wholeheartedly recommend this novel for anyone who wants to spend a few enjoyable hours.
July 31, 2009
I liked this book a lot more at the beginning. Not that it really got worse as it went on, just less likeable. Probably correlates pretty directly with how the likeability of the main character decreases.
March 12, 2011
Grade D-
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