Spin (Spin, #1)

by Robert Charles Wilson

Borrowed from CLP on 2/12/24 to read for Beamers Online discussion on Friday, March 1, 2024. Review of that discussion: https://beamerbooks.wordpress.com/2024/03/04/to-everything-turn-turn-turn/ Robert Charles Wilson, b. 1953 , many Hugo etc. nominations. This one won the Hugo. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Charles_Wilson#Bibliography This one: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spin_(novel) https://infogalactic.com/info/Spin_(novel) 2005. Don’t skip the 2020 introduction by John Scalzi! “Spin is about people and how they respond to change—not small-scale change, like changing schools, or divorce, or even the death of a loved one, but the sort of global change that even if not understood cannot be ignored. Change that affects everyone. Change without apparent cause or motivation that anyone affected by it can understand. Change that permanently alters society on a national and planetary level. Change that doesn’t care how you feel about it, can’t be argued with, and won’t respond to your political or social arguments. Change that is an irresistible force, and no matter how immovable you think you are, will unmoor you and set you adrift.” imaginative and complex sci-fi, some fantastical, some hard science family drama & romance with likable characters and a contemporary reality end of the world apocalyptic - a weaker strand Philosophical and religious and sociological themes and debates Gripping story with a good number of chilling moments and all of the above, plus a political thriller QUESTIONS, new things, new words, some answered in the text: the Archway, the Arch the New Reformasi temporal gradient (time differential) the Martian drug Martian archives (digital copies) pp. 72, city-size silver boxes p. 47 Hypotheticals (aliens?) 96, extremophiles the Arch Port cities rantau collectives, rantau gadang budi, warung, adat, time-trapped worlds CVWS—cardiovascular wasting syndrome tanglefoot gel kepala desa NK New Kingdom movement a/k/a Christian Hedonism; later Hectorian, a Preterist (Full or Partial), a Kingdom Reconstructionist—never just “New Kingdom.” Later, “the Messiah issue” …. “Bereans versus Progressives, Covenanters versus Preterists. Is there an Antichrist, and if so, where is he? Does the Rapture happen before the Tribulation or during or after?” ekstasis the Chaykin administration the Clayton administration the Garland administration chemical sclerostatins shotgun ecopoiesis von Neumann machines (a real thing in speculative lit) NEP flights (“nuclear electric propulsion”) Replicators, seeds of an inorganic biology QUESTIONS from reading: When does the story start out? Dates. See notes below Sophisticated character development and relationships, unusual for sci-fi. Usual for this author? Why is the Lawton money not limitless? p. 129 not realistic What is Molly after? MARS: ecopoiesis and homeostatic planetary ecology pp. 114-116 Wun Ngo Wen Fourth Age no metals pp. 146, 154, Sparkmonth, Embermnth Huld of Phraya murkuds Four Ages of a human life on Mars The Fourth Age: a tutelary discomfort RECOGNITIONS of intelligence: Christina Rossetti A.E. Housman Victorian mystery novels Yoko Ono Mark Twain the Parousia demimonde anodyne Maori tattoos instant aphasia perihelion ecopoiesis amanuensis photodissociation cryptoendelithic (neologism: endolithic is a word for an organism able to acquire the necessary resources for growth in the inner part of a rock or in the pores between mineral grains of a rock. Many are extremophiles, living in places long considered inhospitable to life) chiliasm / chiliast crudités regolith interferometers hydrologic cycle and biogeochemical feedback loops red heifer calf cult https://forward.com/culture/560201/red-heifer-third-temple-jerusalem/ TIME DIFFERENTIAL (temporal gradient): 4 times 10 to the ninth is 4,000,000,000 or 4 billion - A.D. See note p. 9. time passes one hundred million times more swiftly outside the barrier, so that the sun itself may last only another 40 subjective years ~ Kirkus Reviews “the night the stars disappeared from the sky” is a riveting opening line. More than three years of sunlight for every second that passed. p. 65 ** the work of extending human influence into the raging torrent of extraterrestrial time p. 89 a million centuries for each of our years. p. 91 “A decade,” he said thoughtfully. “Or a billion years.” p. 94 “One terrestrial second equals 3.17 years Spin time.” p. 114 “let a minute pass on your watch. That’s approximately a hundred and ninety years by an outside clock.” 115 REPETITIONS and themes: Chilling moments Humor haha Societal decay or collapse 180 Hard science Medical ethics and advances Planetary ethics (who to send) Religion reactions point of no return SIMILES, not too many but the ones used are (mostly) just right, many extended, some powerful and pedagogical, e.g., “The gantries grew that winter like iron and steel forests, exuberant, lush, rooted in concrete and watered with reservoirs of federal money…. spaceships like cottonwood pods, poised to carry dormant life to a distant, sterile soil.” p. 100. Sometimes what I call similes take the form of (the more directly stated) metaphor. E.g., “a bacterial armada” 114; “The top shelf was the attic of my mother’s life.” 103 NOTES: ** So how do you build a life under the threat of extinction? p. 45. THE question, at least thus far in the book. When does the story take place.? On p. 46 Tyler, c. 25, says he listens to Duke Ellington, Billie Holiday, Miles Davis, music that had been old even when Marcus Dupree was young,” “the moon landing more than sixty years ago” p. 110 Not a threat if I’m not personally threatened right now. p. 46 How does the mass of humanity understand cosmology? pp. 46-47 >> Tyler and Diane are a lot like Gretchen (and Patty) and me. “platonic buddies” “our telephone tryst, her act of touchless infidelity” “the point of no return and all…” “Which we’ve passed.” p. 83, 97 https://www.facebook.com/penn.hackney/posts/pfbid02kpR1RNoECrWx7EnVMxeYUmrxyAXK1Wpm4TeJ3odSz1q4X2MvQ85KTYFUH9HNeTqSl ** “the human species rendered as a finite event in the life of an ordinary star” p. 96 the PLOT IDEA from which the grand speculation emerges. On fear of dying: “We’re all mortal, but we used to have the consolation of knowing the human species would go on without us.” “But species are mortal, too.” p. 150 “She could, for instance, have married you, Ty, if not for this ridiculous fantasy of hers—” “What fantasy?” “That E.D. is your father. That she’s your biological sister.” p. 98 The prose is meticulous, resonant with real life. E.g., “Diane had once described my mother’s housekeeping as “linear,” by which I think she meant orderly but not obsessive…. Not everything was in its place. But everything *had* a place.” p. 103 The Lawton mysteries; the missing MEMENTOS (SCHOOL) mystery; Molly; 2 CHARACTER vignettes. E.D. Lawton: Much had been made, in the press and in the Lawton family, of Jason’s genius, but I reminded myself that E.D. could claim that title, too. He had parlayed an engineering degree and a talent for business into a major corporate enterprise, and he had been selling aerostat-enabled telecom bandwidth when Americom and AT&T were still blinking at the Spin like startled deer. What he lacked was not Jason’s intelligence but Jason’s wit and Jason’s deep curiosity about the physical universe. And maybe a dash of Jason’s humanity. p. 103. MOLLY SEAGRAM: Molly turned out to be smart, sly, cynical, and better company than I had expected.

Wilson actually understands humans and understands how to write them, the latter not always known (fairly or otherwise) as the forte of science fiction writers.

Jason

D...

T...

Jason, Diane, and Tyler are all flawed, all a product of their times, all self-centered and other-centered at times and in turns.

wrenching change, followed by the “new normal,”

4 times 10 to the ninth is 4 billion (4,000,000,000) - when our sun is into expansion as a red giant. And enigmatic chapter title and an enigmatic opening line. Questions The sun, our life-sustaining star, is currently in its stable phase as a main sequence star. During this phase, it efficiently converts hydrogen into helium in its core. This stable period lasts for approximately 8 billion years. Our solar system, which is around 4.5 billion years old, has already witnessed more than half of the sun’s stable lifetime. However, as the sun exhausts its hydrogen fuel, it will undergo significant changes. When the core runs out of hydrogen, it will be left with helium. Unfortunately, the core won’t be hot or dense enough to burn helium directly. Gravitational forces will take over, compressing the core. As a result, the sun will start burning hydrogen in a shell around the dead core, which still contains helium. This transition marks the sun’s transformation into a red giant. During the red giant phase: The outer regions of the star will expand outward due to compression in the core. The burning hydrogen in the shell around the core will significantly increase the sun’s brightness. The sun’s surface will cool down, transitioning from white-hot to red-hot. Earth’s fate is intertwined with this cosmic drama. As the sun becomes a full-blown red giant, its surface will likely reach the current orbit of Mars. Although Earth’s orbit may also expand slightly, it won’t be enough to save our planet from being drawn into the sun’s surface. Consequently, Earth will rapidly disintegrate, and our fiery demise will unfold. P. 40 says in 5.5 years on earth, 500,000,000 years passed outside. When 4 billion years have passed outside, how many years will have passed in earth? Consider 5.5 is to 500 million as X is to 4 billion. By cross multiplication, 5.5 times 4 billion = 500 million times X. Use math to solve for X. So 22 billion divided by 500 million = 44. Thus 40 to 50 years before solar fuel exhaustion.

Padang

Archway:

Sumatra.

At 473,480 square kilometers, Sumatra is about two thirds the size of Texas.

Carpenter Ridge

Mentawai ...

Diane

Teluk Bayur

Jason Lawton

nut-brown.

A negress?

Tyler.

The other side effects of the drug were temporary and endurable,

Question

And if it had happened in her case maybe it had been a blessing.

Question

Graphomania

Haha question

At 900€ a night? Question

U.N.-approved resettlement programs.

Question

the New Reformasi

the hotel was secure and the stars were out in all their scattered glory.

Then why are the constellations in the past tense?

Haha

Question

the night the stars disappeared from the sky.

Where is this? Question “within commuting distance of Washington, D.C.,” p. 26.

Diane

Jason,

Haha

Haha simile

Simile

(Carol Lawton,

Haha

They lived in the Big House, I lived with my mother in the bungalow at the east end of the property;

their parents

my m...

I had read enough science fiction to grasp the sheer, unspeakable largeness of the night sky.

Octavia Butler’s Lauren Olamina in The Parable of the Sower also read a lot of sci-fi.

I had read enough science fiction to grasp the sheer, unspeakable largeness of the night sky.

Haha yay!

“If I can use my imagination why do I need binoculars?”

Haha

Most of the guests, Jason had said, were aerospace up-and-comers or political staffers.

E. D. Lawton,

Haha

Haha

the spare bedroom…”

When the stars disappeared.

There was nothing but a moment of odd glare that left an afterimage of the stars imprinted on my eyes in cool green phosphorescence.