Ian Randal Strock’s Fantastic Books has just brought Shariann Lewitt‘s Memento Mori back into print. First published in 1995, Booklist called it “One of the most original portrayals of artificial intelligence since Arthur C. Clarke’s duplicitous HAL.”
In the book, “It’s the end of the world as we know it. What can you make of it but art?
“The colony world of Reis was once a prosperous, glittering center of manufacture and trade. But now, in the grip of planet-wide plague, Reis has been quarantined—cut off from the rest of the galaxy. Only electronic communication can cross the barrier.
“No one knew where the plague came from. No one knows how it is spread. And no one knows who will live or die. Which leaves one big question: What do you do in the meantime, while you’re waiting to find out?
“Time is killing them, but the handful of disaffected artists who hang at Club Metz are past masters at killing time. Society is falling apart; the A.I. that runs everything is acting weirder every day—but they’ll find ways to survive, or at least prevail.”
The New York Review of Science Fiction called the book “A mature and insightful work of science fiction,” while Absolute Magnitude said it’s “A truly marvelous book. The writing is skillful and stylish, and the science is cutting-edge—you can’t really ask for a lot more.” Publishers Weekly said “The novel is ambitious, tackling issues of being and nothingness, pain and pleasure, the nature of life (artificial as well as human) and what makes it bearable.… Lewitt’s prose is strong and her take fresh, sharp and intelligently subversive.”