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Vitals (novel)

Vitals is a 2002 techno-thriller novel by American writer Greg Bear, nominated for a John W. Campbell Memorial Award in 2002.[1]

First edition (publ. Del Rey Books)

The main protagonist is Hal Cousins, a scientist who wishes to find a way to prevent death. He gets his funding from angel investors – rich businessmen who are determined to live a thousand years. On an exotic ocean floor lifeform retrieval mission in a small deep sea vessel, his pilot goes berserk, starts spouting gibberish, and tries to kill him. He survives, but when he gets back to the ship, he finds that a member of the crew also went mad and started spouting gibberish, killing four scientists on board the ship. The rest of the crew is distant from him, on the grounds of what he calls bad mojo. He is disowned by the sponsor in question. Hal's twin brother Rob is murdered, by someone who is later revealed to be Ben Bridger.

The story develops from there, taking in his twin brother's widow, Lissa; Rudy Banning, a once respected professor and writer turned into an anti-semitic conspiracy theorist by a brain-altering microbe; and a scheming group of immortals who want to stay unique. They are able to do this because they have access to bacteriological research by Russian scientist Maxim Golokhov from the 1940s who was working for Beria and Stalin. Stalin possibly cameos in the story, but the issue is left vague.

There are five parts with different first-person narrators. Parts one, three, and five are narrated by Hal Cousins, and parts two and four are narrated by Benjamin Bridger.

By the end of the book, the main characters are all either dead, irrelevant, or the victim of mind-altering xenophages.

Some elements of the book relate to transhumanism and life extension. Biology is a major theme in Bear's work, and bacteria and bacterial intelligence played a central role in his 1983 novel Blood Music as well.

Reviews edit

  • Review by Gary K. Wolfe (2001) in Locus, #489 October 2001
  • Review by Don D'Ammassa (2001) in Science Fiction Chronicle, #219 December 2001
  • Review by Nick Gevers (2001) in Locus, #491 December 2001
  • Review by John Grant (2002) in Interzone, #177 March 2002
  • Review by John Clute (2002) in Interzone, #181 August 2002
  • Review by Peter Heck (2002) in Asimov's Science Fiction, September 2002
  • Review by Thomas A. Easton [as by Tom Easton] (2002) in Analog Science Fiction and Fact, October 2002
  • Review by Lawrence Person (2002) in Nova Express, Summer 2002
  • Review [German] by Regnier Le Dyckt (2004) in phantastisch!, #14
  • Review [French] by Pascal J. Thomas (2004) in Galaxies, #35[2]

References edit

  1. ^ "2002 Award Winners & Nominees". Worlds Without End. Retrieved 2009-07-11.
  2. ^ "Title: Vitals". www.isfdb.org. Retrieved 2022-11-27.

External links edit

  • Vitals on Worlds Without End


vitals, novel, this, article, about, 2002, novel, other, uses, vital, disambiguation, vitals, 2002, techno, thriller, novel, american, writer, greg, bear, nominated, john, campbell, memorial, award, 2002, first, edition, publ, books, this, article, multiple, i. This article is about the 2002 novel For other uses see Vital disambiguation Vitals is a 2002 techno thriller novel by American writer Greg Bear nominated for a John W Campbell Memorial Award in 2002 1 First edition publ Del Rey Books This article has multiple issues Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page Learn how and when to remove these template messages This article relies largely or entirely on a single source Relevant discussion may be found on the talk page Please help improve this article by introducing citations to additional sources Find sources Vitals novel news newspapers books scholar JSTOR June 2020 This article possibly contains original research Please improve it by verifying the claims made and adding inline citations Statements consisting only of original research should be removed June 2020 Learn how and when to remove this template message Learn how and when to remove this template message The main protagonist is Hal Cousins a scientist who wishes to find a way to prevent death He gets his funding from angel investors rich businessmen who are determined to live a thousand years On an exotic ocean floor lifeform retrieval mission in a small deep sea vessel his pilot goes berserk starts spouting gibberish and tries to kill him He survives but when he gets back to the ship he finds that a member of the crew also went mad and started spouting gibberish killing four scientists on board the ship The rest of the crew is distant from him on the grounds of what he calls bad mojo He is disowned by the sponsor in question Hal s twin brother Rob is murdered by someone who is later revealed to be Ben Bridger The story develops from there taking in his twin brother s widow Lissa Rudy Banning a once respected professor and writer turned into an anti semitic conspiracy theorist by a brain altering microbe and a scheming group of immortals who want to stay unique They are able to do this because they have access to bacteriological research by Russian scientist Maxim Golokhov from the 1940s who was working for Beria and Stalin Stalin possibly cameos in the story but the issue is left vague There are five parts with different first person narrators Parts one three and five are narrated by Hal Cousins and parts two and four are narrated by Benjamin Bridger By the end of the book the main characters are all either dead irrelevant or the victim of mind altering xenophages Some elements of the book relate to transhumanism and life extension Biology is a major theme in Bear s work and bacteria and bacterial intelligence played a central role in his 1983 novel Blood Music as well Reviews editReview by Gary K Wolfe 2001 in Locus 489 October 2001 Review by Don D Ammassa 2001 in Science Fiction Chronicle 219 December 2001 Review by Nick Gevers 2001 in Locus 491 December 2001 Review by John Grant 2002 in Interzone 177 March 2002 Review by John Clute 2002 in Interzone 181 August 2002 Review by Peter Heck 2002 in Asimov s Science Fiction September 2002 Review by Thomas A Easton as by Tom Easton 2002 in Analog Science Fiction and Fact October 2002 Review by Lawrence Person 2002 in Nova Express Summer 2002 Review German by Regnier Le Dyckt 2004 in phantastisch 14 Review French by Pascal J Thomas 2004 in Galaxies 35 2 References edit 2002 Award Winners amp Nominees Worlds Without End Retrieved 2009 07 11 Title Vitals www isfdb org Retrieved 2022 11 27 External links editVitals on Worlds Without End nbsp This article about a 2000s science fiction novel is a stub You can help Wikipedia by expanding it See guidelines for writing about novels Further suggestions might be found on the article s talk page vte Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Vitals novel amp oldid 1124068924, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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