 First edition cover | |
| Author | Elizabeth Bear |
|---|---|
| Audio read by | Celeste Ciulla |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Science fiction |
| Publisher | Bantam Spectra |
Publication date | November 28, 2006 |
| Media type | |
| Pages | 393 |
| ISBN | 978-0-5535-8904-7 |
| LC Class | CPB Box no. 2689 vol. 7 |
Carnival is a 2006 science fiction novel by Elizabeth Bear, published in the US by Bantam Spectra. It was nominated for a Philip K. Dick Award, a Locus Award for Best Science Fiction Novel and a Lambda Literary Award.
In the future, control of the preservation of interplanetary natural resources has been given over to ecological artificial intelligences called the Governors, who enforce carbon neutrality with strict population controls and energy consumption regulations, and even calculated genocide called "assessment". The parliament of the fascistic Old Earth Colonial Coalition, ruthless in its own support of the AIs, serves as a buffer to prevent unnecessary disruption to humanity. With colonists having left Earth generations before seeking freedom from these restrictions, the Coalition has now, for decades, been subsuming autonomous worlds back under its control. One of these is New Amazonia, a lush planet on which a matriarchal, primarily lesbian society has risen up amidst abandoned alien technology that includes a seemingly inexhaustible power supply. The Amazonian women are aggressive and warlike, but also pragmatic and defensive of their freedom from the male-dominated Coalition that seeks to conquer them. Distrustful of male aggression, they subjugate their men, a minority they seem to tolerate solely for reproduction and labor. [1] [2] [3]
A diplomatic mission to the matriarchal planet New Amazonia reunites ex-lovers Vincent Katherinessen and Michelangelo Kusanagi-Jones after a separation of 17 years. Arriving in the capital city of Penthesilea, the men are ostensibly repatriating looted artwork, but in truth the ambassador-spies have been tasked with obtaining the Amazonians' secret energy technology by any means necessary, and doing what they can to facilitate a Coalition conquest. However, both Vincent (a master of observation) and Angelo (a trained liar and fighter) each have hidden plans to undermine their own mission. Meanwhile, multiple factions among the Amazonians are engaged in covert political intrigues rooted in the gender dynamics of their society. [1] [2] [3]
Annalee Newitz of io9 explained that, faced with strict population controls, the Earth-centric humans in Carnival have become obsessed with reproduction, and have outlawed homosexuality as directly opposing this function. [1] She wrote that "Bear's idea that an eco-regime like this would breed conservatism rather than progressivism is really quite smart", and praised the author's "careful attention to how ideologies might evolve over time". [1] Paul Kincaid of SF Site noted that Vincent and Michelangelo "are homosexuals from a world whose regressive and repressive mores mean that this could get them killed, but for the fact that they are exceptionally well-skilled at their job and also well-practiced in deception". [2] Of the New Amazonian civilization, Newitz wrote:
[Carnival is] a novel where all the traditional ideas of liberal science fiction like matriarchies and ecotopias are turned on their heads. When lesbians rule a planet, they don't create peace and harmony: they become obsessed with guns and honor and dueling. They enslave all men (except homosexuals, whom they call "gentles"), using them to breed and for labor. And they engage in brutal guerilla warfare to gain power in government. [1]
Explaining that the Amazonian women subjugate their men as a means to diffuse the potential of male aggression, Kincaid compared the matriarchal premise to "the feminist science fiction of twenty or perhaps thirty years ago". [2] Joe Tokamak of The Internet Review of Science Fiction called the novel "a fantasy of societal alternatives reminiscent of the sixties or seventies" and yet "fresh, sophisticated material". [3] He also noted how Bear's contrast of the societal differences between the New Amazonians and their visitors initiates conflict that evolves as the characters interact. [3]
In 2007, Carnival was nominated for a Philip K. Dick Award, [4] a Locus Award for Best Science Fiction Novel [5] and a Lambda Literary Award for LGBT Science Fiction/Fantasy/Horror. [6]
Newitz wrote that the novel "manages to do what so few SF novels can ... it offers an intriguing, intellectually-rewarding glimpse at one human possible future while also telling a rip-roaring yarn." [1] Liz Bourke of Tor.com called it "a vivid book, vital and alive", and cited it as her favorite of Bear's science fiction novels. [7] Kincaid wrote, "Strip away the sexual politics overlaid on the story, which add complexity to the plot but not necessarily depth to the novel, and this is a book that could have come straight from the so-called golden age." [2] Though suggesting that "there are too many layers of betrayal and deception for a book of this length", Kincaid wrote that "Bear keeps the whole thing moving at a brisk and satisfying pace ... this is exactly the sort of vivid, pacy novel that used to make science fiction such an exciting genre to read." [2] Writing for SF Crowsnest , Tomas L. Martin called the characters "interesting and very dynamic", the galactic politics "top-notch" and some of the technology "breathtaking", while noting that the novel occasionally "gets a little bogged down and hard to navigate". [8] Tokamak praised the "intriguing, three dimensional characters" and the "compelling and complex plot that gradually gets its hooks into the reader and doesn't let go", while calling the resolution "hasty and disconnected from all the misery the characters go through to get there". [3]
Gregory Dale Bear was an American writer and illustrator best known for science fiction. His work covered themes of galactic conflict, parallel universes, consciousness and cultural practices, and accelerated evolution. His last work was the 2021 novel The Unfinished Land. Greg Bear wrote over 50 books in total.
Robert Charles Wilson is an American-Canadian science fiction author.
Jo Walton is a Welsh and Canadian fantasy and science fiction writer and poet. She is best known for the fantasy novel Among Others, which won the Hugo and Nebula Awards in 2012, and Tooth and Claw, a Victorian era novel with dragons which won the World Fantasy Award in 2004. Other works by Walton include the Small Change series, in which she blends alternate history with the cozy mystery genre, comprising Farthing, Ha'penny and Half a Crown. Her fantasy novel Lifelode won the 2010 Mythopoeic Award, and her alternate history My Real Children received the 2015 Tiptree Award.
LGBT themes in speculative fiction include lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender (LGBT) themes in science fiction, fantasy, horror fiction and related genres. Such elements may include an LGBT character as the protagonist or a major character, or explorations of sexuality or gender that deviate from the heteronormative.
ISFiC Press is the small press publishing arm of ISFiC. It often produces books by the Author Guest of Honor at Windycon, an annual Chicago science fiction convention, launching the appropriate title at the convention.
Peter Watts is a Canadian science fiction author. He specializes in hard science fiction. He earned a Ph.D from the University of British Columbia in 1991 from the Department of Zoology and Resource Ecology. He went on to hold several academic research and teaching positions, and worked as a marine-mammal biologist. He began publishing fiction around the time he finished graduate school.
The Gaylactic Spectrum Awards are given to works of science fiction, fantasy and horror that explore LGBT topics in a positive way. Established in 1998, the awards were initially presented by the Gaylactic Network, with awards first awarded in 1999. In 2002 the awards were given their own organization, the Gaylactic Spectrum Awards Foundation.
Annalee Newitz is an American journalist, editor, and author of both fiction and nonfiction, who has written for the periodicals Popular Science and Wired. From 1999 to 2008, Newitz wrote a syndicated weekly column called Techsploitation, and from 2000 to 2004 was the culture editor of the San Francisco Bay Guardian. In 2004, Newitz became a policy analyst at the Electronic Frontier Foundation. With Charlie Jane Anders, they also co-founded Other magazine, a periodical that ran from 2002 to 2007. From 2008 to 2015, Newitz was editor-in-chief of Gawker-owned media venture io9, and subsequently its direct descendant Gizmodo, Gawker's design and technology blog. As of 2019, Newitz is a contributing opinion writer at The New York Times.
David Geddes Hartwell was an American critic, publisher, and editor of thousands of science fiction and fantasy novels. He was best known for work with Signet, Pocket, and Tor Books publishers. He was also noted as an award-winning editor of anthologies. The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction describes him as "perhaps the single most influential book editor of the past forty years in the American [science fiction] publishing world".
"Jeffty Is Five" is a fantasy short story by American author Harlan Ellison. It was first published in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction in 1977, then was included in DAW's The 1978 Annual World's Best SF in 1978 and Ellison's short story collection Shatterday two years later. According to Ellison, it was partially inspired by a fragment of conversation that he misheard at a party at the home of actor Walter Koenig: "How is Jeff?" "Jeff is fine. He's always fine," which he perceived as "Jeff is five, he's always five." Ellison based the character of Jeffty on Joshua Andrew Koenig, Walter's son. He declared:
... I had been awed and delighted by Josh Koenig, and I instantly thought of just such a child who was arrested in time at the age of five. Jeffty, in no small measure, is Josh: the sweetness of Josh, the intelligence of Josh, the questioning nature of Josh.
Sarah Bear Elizabeth Wishnevsky is an American author who works primarily in speculative fiction genres, writing under the name Elizabeth Bear. She won the 2005 John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer, the 2008 Hugo Award for Best Short Story for "Tideline", and the 2009 Hugo Award for Best Novelette for "Shoggoths in Bloom". She is one of a small number of writers who have gone on to win multiple Hugo Awards for fiction after winning the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer.
Elizabeth A. Lynn is an American writer most known for fantasy and to a lesser extent science fiction. She is particularly known for being one of the first writers in science fiction or fantasy to introduce gay and lesbian characters; in honor of Lynn, the widely known California and New York–based chain of LGBT bookstores A Different Light took its name from her novel. She is a recipient of the World Fantasy Award—Novel.
Charlie Jane Anders is an American writer. She has written several novels as well as shorter fiction, published magazines and websites, and hosted podcasts. In 2005, she received the Lambda Literary Award for work in the transgender category, and in 2009, the Emperor Norton Award. Her 2011 novelette Six Months, Three Days won the 2012 Hugo and was a finalist for the Nebula and Theodore Sturgeon Awards. Her 2016 novel All the Birds in the Sky was listed No. 5 on Time magazine's "Top 10 Novels" of 2016, won the 2017 Nebula Award for Best Novel, the 2017 Crawford Award, and the 2017 Locus Award for Best Fantasy Novel; it was also a finalist for the 2017 Hugo Award for Best Novel.
A relatively common motif in speculative fiction is the existence of single-gender worlds or single-sex societies. These fictional societies have long been one of the primary ways to explore implications of gender and gender-differences in science fiction and fantasy. Many of these predate a widespread distinction between gender and sex and conflate the two.
City at the End of Time is a 2008 science fiction novel by American writer Greg Bear. It was published in August 2008 by Del Rey in the United States, and Gollancz in the United Kingdom. The story follows three drifters in present-day Seattle who are tormented by strange dreams of the Kalpa, a city one hundred trillion years in the future. The Kalpa is attempting to ward off the Typhon, an inexplicable entity that has consumed the rest of the ancient universe and broken down the laws of physics.
Aqueduct Press is a publisher based in Seattle, Washington, United States that publishes material featuring a feminist viewpoint.
Neon Yang, formerly JY Yang, is a Singaporean writer of English-language speculative fiction best known for the Tensorate series of novellas published by Tor.com, which have been finalists for the Hugo Award, Locus Award, Nebula Award, World Fantasy Award, Lambda Literary Award, British Fantasy Award, and Kitschie Award. The first novella in the series, The Black Tides of Heaven, was named one of the 100 Best Fantasy Books of All Time by Time Magazine. Their debut novel, The Genesis of Misery, the first book in The Nullvoid Chronicles, was published in 2022 by Tor Books, received a starred review from Publishers Weekly, received a nomination for the 2022 Goodreads Choice Award for Science Fiction, and was a Finalist for the 2023 Locus Award for Best First Novel and 2023 Compton Crook Award.
The Future of Another Timeline is a 2019 science-fiction novel by Annalee Newitz. The feminist time-travel adventure follows Tess, a professional time traveler, geoscientist, and secretly a member of the Daughters of Harriet (Tubman), who are working to make the future better for women.
Autonomous is a 2017 science fiction novel by Annalee Newitz. It is Newitz's debut novel and was published by Tor Books on September 19, 2017. Set in a near future Earth, the book describes a world where both humans and intelligent robots can be owned as property. The events of the novel follow Jack, a "drug pirate" who manufactures illegal versions of patented drugs, and Paladin, a combat robot who is owned by the law enforcement agency searching for Jack after one of the drugs she reverse-engineered turns out to have dangerous side effects.