Inherit the Earth

Best known in the U.S. for his stylishly written horror novels and alternate histories, Stableford (The Hunger and Ecstasy of Vampires; The Carnival of Destruction), who began his career as an SF writer, returns to his roots with a complex, hard-SF tale of nanotechnology and life extension. Having barely survived the Plague Wars of the 21st century, humanity has supposedly entered a Utopian era, one in which the average life span is at least 150 years and immortality may be imminent. Damon Hart, posthumous son of Conrad Helier, the much venerated scientist who saved humanity from extinction during the plagues, wants nothing to do with his father's legacy and has cut himself off from his father's colleagues and their research. Then Damon's life is disrupted by the Eliminators, terrorists who begin to publish Net-based attacks on Helier, proclaiming that the scientist was in fact responsible for the plagues and was therefore an enemy of humankind. They also claim that Helier, supposedly 50 years dead, is still alive; eventually, they insist that Damon is Helier in disguise. Secrets and lies abound in a future where all evidence, even a dead body, can be falsified though the skillful application of computer- and nanotechnology; in time, Damon discovers that virtually nothing he has been told is true. This futuristic thriller, which contains provocative speculations about the effect of extreme life extension on society, isn't Stableford's best, but it's an enjoyable and challenging piece of work nonetheless. (Sept.)