Distress
by Greg Egan

Greg Egan is turning into one of the nineties's most watched science-fiction authors. And with good reason: his stories, written in the best tradition of "what if" SF stories, poses some really wild and wacky situations that are anchored in reality as we know it...or rather, in a reality we think we know.

Take the book, Distress, by him as an example. It starts off as an examination into how genetic engineering, embedded recording system (really embedded, as in embedded in your body) and personal digital pads have changed the future for both the better and worse. It ends up changing the entire fabric of the universe, transforming it into one whose foundations are wholly different.

The book starts off with Andrew Worth, the main character in the story, covering some rather strange stories involving biotechnology and genetic engineer. How strange? How about interviewing a man who has transformed himself into a living, self-contained biosystem able to synthesise his own food from any material ("I could live off old tires," the interviewee says)? Or a grisly scene where the victim of a murder is temporarily revived in order to name his murderer? Andrew, fed up of covering such stories, takes on an assignment to cover a conference where competing forms of TOE (theory of everything) will be revealed and debated over, with one being 'selected' as the TOE for our universe.

This is where things start to turn sinister. Various 'anti-science' cults have gathered to protest the TOE conference, saying that revealing the TOE will 'demystify' the universe. But as it turns out, these groups are not the major problem when Andrew finds out that a secretive pro-science group is willing to take more forceful action than just protesting the conference. This group apparently feels that it is very important that the 'correct' TOE be chosen at the conference.

Egan packages the whole story in a shell of wonderful science and technology. Mercifully, he has his characters accept the scientific and technological wonders of the world as they are, so there are few "plot-stopping explanations" along the way, except in the very eye-opening treatments of how the TOE could be formed and its possible impact on humanity (and the universe) when it is finally revealed.

Oh yes, almost forgot. A strange disease known as Distress has appeared and is spreading. Distress has no known vectors and causes its victims to go psychotic. By the end of the book, an incredible link has developed between Distress and the revelation of the TOE that would be is accepted.

A nicely written book with Egan's usual impressive way of combining genetic engineering, quantum mechanics and the universe into one. Unusually, he also puts in quite a number of political and cultural jabs against various governments and 'culturally-oriented' groups in the book. I suppose one of the points Egan wants to make that no matter how much science and technology advance, there will always be groups who distort and use them for their own ends.

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Distress by Greg Egan

Distress
by Greg Egan