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Ron Hale-Evans
rwhe@ludism.org
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I just finished reading the final novel in a six-volume science fiction cycle by Brian Stableford sometimes called "Emortals". Privately, I call it the "Third Millennium series" because it is based loosely on a future history by Stableford and David Langford called The Third Millennium (1984) (not to be confused with the apocalyptic Christian fantasy novel of the same name).
The Emortals series spans approximately 13 centuries, from the late 20th century to the middle of the Fourth Millennium. Much of the action focuses on the characters' quest for "emortality" (true immortality is not seen as a plausible goal because a putative immortal would still be subject to death by misadventure).
This is not great speculative fiction. Stableford is neither Greg Egan nor Gene Wolfe. However, the Emortals series is thought-provoking; for example, Stableford's reasoning why periodic rejuvenation by nanotechnology would provide only "false emortality" is a bloody thread running throughout the series, and it is not at all clear that he is wrong. Also thought-provoking is the ideology of Hardinism, which posits that the Earth must be owned by someone (in this case, a small clique of emortal capitalists) in order to prevent a catastrophic global "tragedy of the commons". (Hardin's original paper can be found online.)
The volumes in the series are listed below, in Stableford's preferred reading order (= rough chronological order). Book links in this article are part of my Powell's affiliate program, as detailed on the Books Ron Read page. If you enjoy this series of novels, you might also enjoy the game 6 Billion. (In this case, the link benefits Games to the Rescue.)
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