The Wellstone

Praise for the works of WIL McCARTHY

THE WELLSTONE

“An ideal blend of wit and superscience, set in a brilliant future age when wealth and immortality just aren’t enough. McCarthy gives an adventurous new spin to the ongoing rebellion of the young.”

—David Brin

“Wil McCarthy asks a question for the first immortals: if their children do not know or fear death, might death become an exciting adventure?”

—Sean McMullen

“THE WELLSTONE has a madcap, inventive energy that proves irresistible. Wil McCarthy’s previous book, THE COLLAPSIUM, was dazzling in its ingenuity, and THE WELLSTONE—a deranged take on a boys’ adventure tale, with its log cabin flying through the Kuyper Belt on its programmable matter sails—is a sequel worthy of its predecessor.”

—Walter Jon Williams

THE COLLAPSIUM

“[Protagonist] Bruno de Towaji... is surely speaking for his creator when he assures another character, ‘Imagination really is the only limit.’ ”

—The New York Times

“The future as McCarthy sees it is a wondrous place. While there are amusing attributes and quirks to McCarthy’s characters, the greater pleasures of this novel lie in its hard science extrapolations. McCarthy plays up his technical strengths by providing a useful appendix and glossary for the mathematically inclined reader.”

—Publishers Weekly

“A standout novel. McCarthy has added a lyricism reminiscent of Roger Zelazny to cutting-edge hard science in the manner of Robert L. Forward.”

—The Denver Post

“Ingenious and witty... as if Terry Pratchett at his zaniest and Larry Niven at his best had collaborated.”

—Booklist

“The author of Bloom once again demonstrates his talent for mind-expanding sf. Vibrant with humor, drama, and quirky ideas. Highly recommended.”

—Library Journal

“A fairy tale [with]... the most delicious superscience since Larry Niven’s Ringworld. Stylistic diversity and hard scientific rigor blended with panache and striking imagination. McCarthy works hard to draw out pathos and character development. Genuinely exciting—a wonderful hoot.”

—The New York Review of Science Fiction

“Fresh and imaginative. From a plausible yet startling invention, McCarthy follows the logical lines of sight, building in parallel the technological and societal innovations. ‘Our Pick.’ I wanted to visit this Queendom and meet these people”

—Science Fiction Weekly

“[A] comedy of manners about High Physics, immortality, mad scientists, and murder. Great fun [with a] Wodehousemeets-Doc-Smith aesthetic. As ingenious as the physics and special effects are, it is their juxtaposition to the wit and comedy that gives the novel its particular flavor. [A] playful, thoughtful book.”

—Locus

“Top-notch. Terribly good fun. This very funny book has something for everyone.”

—Entertainment Tomorrow

“McCarthy knows his physics, and makes it extremely easy to suspend disbelief. He creates a world that is both foreign and amazing... but in McCarthy’s hands it appears all but inevitable.”

—Mindjack Magazine

“Wil McCarthy is a certified science fiction treasure, a real-life rocket scientist with a gorgeous writing style and rapier wit to boot. [While his] high-concept physics ideas... are deft and fascinating, it’s his characters and story that make The Collapsium a book to savor, a complex and layered story in the grand tradition of science fiction’s masters.”

—Therese Littleton, Amazon.com

“Quite entertaining. The science is larger-than-life, and so are the characters.”

—SF Site

“I don’t recall the last time a book made me laugh out loud. I did so here on page 146, and at the book’s end I did so again... though my eyes were moist as well. McCarthy has created a story here that is distinctly Asimovian in flavor, though his voice is very much his own.”

—SF Revu

“Prepare to use your grey matter. [McCarthy] fills his pages with lovingly rendered descriptions... but it is the strength of his scientific imagination that really shines through.”

—SFX Magazine (UK)

“A most dazzling future. What follows is a mind-spinning struggle that recalls a Henry Fielding novel of manners, Michael Moorcock’s epic sagas and the cosmic free-for-alls of Doc Smith. There’s fascinating science aplenty, mad scientists, robots running amok... What more could you want?”

—The Weekly Australian

“A decidedly odd but enjoyable mix of mannered, decadent comedy and far-out physics. I liked and was even prepared to believe in [it].”

—Ansible (UK)

BLOOM

“Bloom is tense, dynamic, intelligent, offering a terrifyingly vivid view of how technology can rocket out of our control.”

—David Brin

“What clever and compelling science fiction! The Bloom future is all too believable.”

—James Gleick,

author of Chaos: Making a New Science

“Wil McCarthy makes ideas jump. Bloom grabs you from very first scene and doesn’t let go till the last page. It’s irresistible.”

—Walter Jon Williams

“Ultimately [humanity] must learn to ask new questions. The book’s message is [that] in a universe stranger than we know, ignorance may be inevitable, but it’s definitely not bliss.”

—The New York Times

“Swiftly paced, consistently inventive and tightly written. This is a novel that knows its business.”

—The Washington Post

“McCarthy has worked out a bleakly dramatic future. This is the kind of broad view of mankind’s future and the universe reminiscent of Arthur C. Clarke.”

—The Denver Post

“The science is consistent and integral to the story, and the characters are much more plausibly drawn than are so many folks in [other speculative] fiction. In nearly every passage, we get another slice of the science of McCarthy’s construction, and a deeper sense of danger and foreboding.”

—San Diego Union-Tribune

“The writing is vivid. Readers who can plug into the prose and navigate its dense circuitry will find themselves rewarded with a wallop of a finale that satisfies high expectations for high-concept SF.”

—Publishers Weekly

“An ingenious yarn with challenging ideas, well-handled technical details and plenty of twists and turns.”

—Kirkus Reviews

“McCarthy is an entertaining, intelligent, amusing writer, with Clarke’s thoughtfulness [and] Heinlein’s knack for breakneck plotting.”

—Booklist

“Succeeds on many different levels, combining a unique literary style with complex scientific speculation and political intrigue. Wil McCarthy’s most entertaining and thought-provoking novel yet.”

—Locus

“An intense narrative of survival. Bloom works on several levels even while beckoning the reader into deeper mysteries. McCarthy proves once again that he has the wit and narrative power to take us to the outer reaches of space and down into the vast unknown of human, and inhuman, consciousness.”

—Barnes and Noble Explorations

“Complex and inventive. Hundreds of pages of smart, suspenseful science fiction. ‘Our Pick.’ ”

—Science Fiction Weekly

“An astonishingly original concept, one of the most chilling versions of nanotechnology yet envisioned. McCarthy is able to make the idea... seem quite believable. The pacing of the book is also excellent. McCarthy has a real talent for hard-SF concepts and thriller plotting.”

—SF Age

“A feast of exposition [that is] tasty as well as nutritious. His sworn agenda to balance hard science, adventure, and characterization is vindicated by the completed product. Bloom is a fine synthesis between Hard and Literary SF, a trick many have tried, but few have managed.”

—SF Revu

“The science is plausible, the narrative sinewy and taut. [McCarthy’s] assurance and skill are evident throughout. Starlog Verdict: ***** [5 out of 5 stars].”

—Starlog UK

“Bloom might be the wide-screen novel nanotech SF needs to kick-start itself. As soon as I read the cover blurb I couldn’t wait to start reading, and then once I’d started reading I couldn’t stop. Wil McCarthy’s take on nanotech SF may be just about as far as we can go with the idea in fiction.”

—Infinity Plus (UK)

“Destined to become the classic nanotechnology novel.”

—Bookman News

“Impressive. Believable. The story-telling and plot devices are tight, tight, tight. I regretted ever having to put the book down. I found it to be often insightful, in psychology, relationships, even philosophy. But the bottom line is that Bloom is fun. Complaints? Nope, can’t think of one.”

—Fantastica Daily