The Queendom of Sol

Last updated

The Queendom of Sol

Author Wil McCarthy
Genre Science fiction
Publisher Del Rey Books

The Queendom of Sol is a science fiction book series by American author Wil McCarthy. It includes The Collapsium (2000), [1] The Wellstone (2003), [2] Lost in Transmission (2004), [3] and To Crush the Moon (2005). [4] The first two novels of the series were also printed together as The Monarchs of Sol by Science Fiction Book Club ( ISBN   0739433881).

Contents

The Queendom referred to is the present-day Kingdom of Tonga. In the Queendom of Sol, humanity has returned to monarchism as a stabilizing force in the face of accelerating technological change.

The Collapsium

The Collapsium is a 2000 hard science fiction novel and the first in the series. [5] [6] [7] The first section of the novel is based on McCarthy's short story "Once Upon a Matter Crushed", which was a Sturgeon Award finalist. [8] A reviewer stated McCarthy used postmodern literary technique in consciously creating a protagonist who is a "throwback" to the scientist-heroes of Golden Age SF. [9]

The Wellstone

The Wellstone is a 2003 novel, publishes as the second in the series. [10] In The Wellstone, McCarthy explores the lives of immortal humans known as immorbids in the future. Nanotechnology has created the wellstone, programmable matter that can emulate nearly any other form of matter, [11] and nanotech fax machines that can not only fabricate objects on demand, but store and retrieve human bodies (with minds intact), cure disease or reverse aging, or be used as teleporters. Ultradense exotic matter known as collapsium makes gravity manipulation and faster-than-light communication possible. Humanity has formed a solar system–wide society based on monarchy.

Many of the technologies in this novel are also described in McCarthy's 2003 nonfiction book, Hacking Matter .

To Crush the Moon

To Crush the Moon, published in 2005, [12] is the last in the four-part series.

Awards

Awards for The Queendom of Sol books
YearWorkAwardResultRef.
2000 The Collapsium Theodore Sturgeon Award Finalist [13]
2002 Nebula Award Novel Finalist [14] [15]
2007 To Crush the Moon Nebula Award Novel Finalist [16] [17]

Covers

Related Research Articles

Wil McCarthy is an American science fiction novelist, president and co-founder of RavenBrick, and the science columnist for Syfy. He currently resides in Colorado. Rich Man's Sky won the 2022 Prometheus Award.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michael Swanwick</span> American science fiction author (born 1950)

Michael Swanwick is an American fantasy and science fiction author who began publishing in the early 1980s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Kessel</span> American author

John Joseph Vincent Kessel is an American author of science fiction and fantasy. He is a prolific short story writer, and the author of four solo novels, Good News From Outer Space (1989), Corrupting Dr. Nice (1997), The Moon and the Other (2017), and Pride and Prometheus (2018), and one novel, Freedom Beach (1985) in collaboration with his friend James Patrick Kelly. Kessel is married to author Therese Anne Fowler.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nalo Hopkinson</span> Jamaican Canadian writer (born 1960)

Nalo Hopkinson is a Jamaican-born Canadian speculative fiction writer and editor. Her novels – Brown Girl in the Ring (1998), Midnight Robber (2000), The Salt Roads (2003), The New Moon's Arms (2007) – and short stories such as those in her collection Skin Folk (2001) often draw on Caribbean history and language, and its traditions of oral and written storytelling.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nina Kiriki Hoffman</span> American science fiction writer

Nina Kiriki Hoffman is an American fantasy, science fiction and horror writer.

Vonda Neel McIntyre was an American science fiction writer and biologist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Esther Friesner</span> American novelist

Esther Mona Friesner-Stutzman, née Friesner is an American science fiction and fantasy author. She is also a poet and playwright. She is best known for her humorous style of writing, both in the titles and the works themselves. This humor allows her to discuss with broader audiences issues like gender equality and social justice.

Strange Horizons is an online speculative fiction magazine. It also features speculative poetry and non-fiction in every issue, including reviews, essays, interviews, and roundtables.

Tim Pratt is an American science fiction and fantasy writer and poet. He won a Hugo Award in 2007 for his short story "Impossible Dreams". He has written over 20 books, including the Marla Mason series and several Pathfinder Tales novels. His writing has earned him nominations for Nebula, Mythopoeic, World Fantasy, and Bram Stoker awards and has been published in numerous markets, including Asimov's Science Fiction, Realms of Fantasy, Orson Scott Card's InterGalactic Medicine Show, and Strange Horizons.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Catherynne M. Valente</span> American writer

Catherynne Morgan Valente is an American fiction writer, poet, and literary critic. For her speculative fiction novels she has won the annual James Tiptree, Jr. Award, Andre Norton Award, and Mythopoeic Award. Her short fiction has appeared in Clarkesworld Magazine, the anthologies Salon Fantastique and Paper Cities, and numerous "Year's Best" volumes. Her critical work has appeared in the International Journal of the Humanities as well as other essay collections.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charlie Jane Anders</span> American science fiction author and commentator (born 1969)

Charlie Jane Anders is an American writer specializing in speculative fiction. She has written several novels as well as shorter fiction, published in magazines and on websites, and hosted podcasts; these works cater to both adults and adolescent readers. Her first science fantasy novels, such as All the Birds in the Sky and The City in the Middle of the Night, cover mature topics, received critical acclaim, and won major literary awards like the Nebula Award for Best Novel and Locus Award for Best Science Fiction Novel. Her young adult trilogy Unstoppable has been popular among younger audiences. Shorter fiction has been collected into Six Months, Three Days, Five Others and Even Greater.

<i>Clarkesworld Magazine</i> American online fantasy and science fiction magazine

Clarkesworld Magazine is an American online fantasy and science fiction magazine. It released its first issue October 1, 2006, and has maintained a regular monthly schedule since, publishing fiction by authors such as Elizabeth Bear, Kij Johnson, Caitlín R. Kiernan, Sarah Monette, Catherynne M. Valente, Jeff VanderMeer and Peter Watts.

The Aurealis Awards are presented annually by the Australia-based Chimaera Publications and WASFF to published works in order to "recognise the achievements of Australian science fiction, fantasy, horror writers". To qualify, a work must have been first published by an Australian citizen or permanent resident between 1 November of the prior year and 31 October of the corresponding year; the presentation ceremony is held the following year. It has grown from a small function of around 20 people to a two-day event attended by over 200 people.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ken Liu</span> Chinese-American writer

Ken Liu is an American author of science fiction and fantasy. Liu has won multiple Hugo and Nebula Awards for his novel translations and original short fiction, which has appeared in F&SF, Asimov's Science Fiction, Analog, Lightspeed, Clarkesworld, and multiple "Year's Best" anthologies.

Yoon Ha Lee is an American science fiction and fantasy writer, known for his Machineries of Empire space opera novels and his short fiction. His first novel, Ninefox Gambit, received the 2017 Locus Award for Best First Novel.

A list of works by, or about, the American science fiction author Larry Niven.

Naomi Kritzer is an American speculative fiction writer and blogger. Her 2015 short story "Cat Pictures Please" was a Locus Award and Hugo Award winner and was nominated for a Nebula Award. Her novel Catfishing on CatNet won the 2020 Lodestar Award for Best Young Adult Book.

<i>Nebula Awards Showcase 2005</i> Science fiction anthology

Nebula Awards Showcase 2005 is an anthology of award-winning science fiction short works edited by American writer Jack Dann. It was first published in trade paperback by Roc/New American Library in March 2005.

Sarah Pinsker is an American science fiction and fantasy author. She is a nine-time finalist for the Nebula Award, and her debut novel A Song for a New Day won the 2019 Nebula for Best Novel while her story "Our Lady of the Open Road won the 2016 Nebula Award for Best Novelette. Her novelette "Two Truths and a Lie" received both the Nebula Award and the Hugo Award. Her fiction has also won the Philip K. Dick Award, the Theodore Sturgeon Award and been a finalist for the Hugo, World Fantasy, and Tiptree Awards.

The Science Fiction Awards Database (SFADB) is an index of science fiction, fantasy, and horror awards compiled by Mark R. Kelly and published by the Locus Science Fiction Foundation. Known formerly as the Locus Index to SF Awards, it has been cited as an invaluable science fiction resource, and is often more up-to-date than the awards' own websites.

References

  1. "The Collapsium by Wil McCarthy". Publishers Weekly . July 31, 2000. Retrieved October 13, 2024.
  2. "The Wellstone" . Booklist . March 15, 2003. Retrieved October 12, 2024.
  3. "Lost in Transmission" . Booklist . March 15, 2004. Retrieved October 12, 2024.
  4. "To Crush the Moon" . Booklist . May 15, 2005. Retrieved October 12, 2024.
  5. "The Collapsium by Wil McCarthy". Publishers Weekly . July 31, 2000. Retrieved October 13, 2024.
  6. "The Collapsium". Kirkus Reviews . July 1, 2000. Retrieved October 12, 2024.
  7. "The Collapsium" . Booklist . August 2000. Retrieved October 12, 2024.
  8. "Sturgeon Award nominees". Locus . Archived from the original on January 10, 2013. Retrieved April 17, 2012.
  9. Gerald Jonas (September 3, 2000). "Reviewed This Week—The Collapsium (and others)". Books. The New York Times. Retrieved April 17, 2012. Its hero, Bruno de Towaji, is smart and sexy—a brooding supergenius who combines the most estimable qualities of Albert Einstein, Sherlock Holmes and Marlon Brando. Of course, he is a postmodern construct—a conscious throwback to the scientist-heroes of early 20th-century science fiction, who defeated evil and won the girl with weapons they whipped up in the laboratory on a moment's notice.
  10. "The Wellstone" . Booklist . March 15, 2003. Retrieved October 12, 2024.
  11. Cass, S. (June 2003). "The wellstone [Book Review]". Page Turners. IEEE Spectrum . Vol. 40, no. 6. IEEE. p. 40. doi:10.1109/MSPEC.2003.1203083.
  12. "To Crush the Moon" . Booklist . May 15, 2005. Retrieved October 12, 2024.
  13. "Sturgeon Award nominees". Locus . Archived from the original on January 10, 2013. Retrieved April 17, 2012.
  14. "The Locus Index to SF Awards: 2002 Nebula Awards". Locus . Archived from the original on June 5, 2011. Retrieved December 6, 2011.
  15. "Nebula Awards 2002". SFADB . Retrieved October 13, 2024.
  16. "Nebula Awards 2007". SFADB . Retrieved October 13, 2024.
  17. "The Locus Index to SF Awards: 2007 Nebula Awards". Locus . Archived from the original on June 5, 2011. Retrieved December 6, 2011.