Bloom - Softcover

In the distant future, nanotechnology has gotten out of control. The inner solar system has been overrun by Mycora, atom-size machines that devour everything they touch. Humanity has long since fled Earth for the cold reaches of the outer system, where the lack of heat and sunlight make it difficult--but not impossible--for the Mycora to bloom. Life in the Immunity is hard, and the survivors of humanity face the constant onslaught of the ever-evolving Mycora. But if they are to survive, the remaining humans must try to learn what happened to Earth, and whether the Mycora are finding ways to overcome their susceptibility to cold. When the Immunity mounts an expedition to plant probes on Earth's polar caps, shoemaker and aspiring journalist John Stasheim is asked to come along to chronicle the journey. He soon learns that the trip will be fraught with as many political dangers as nanotech ones, and that the Mycora are both more and less than they seem. An excellent SF novel along the lines of Greg Bear's Blood Music, but with more action and plot. Wil McCarthy is a writer to watch. --Craig E. Engler

As Arthur C. Clarke's editor, I'm not easy to wow. I expect vast ideas and real-life characters grappling with the ramifications of those ideas. All too often, though, I find myself disappointed in so-called "hard science fiction," as it tends either to be science-heavy (I'll read Scientific American for that!) or plodding in its actual story elements, as if someone who understands science can't truly visualize fiction. Wil McCarthy's Bloom did not disappoint me--not through all my readings of it in its various incarnations, and not in the end. The concept of the spore bloom that eats our solar system scared the pants off me, and when our shipload of characters had to actually travel right into the heart of it, I feared for them. And that's what I expect from a good science fiction novel: I need to believe that our sciences can actually lead to incredible situations, and then I need to be either wowed or terrified. Wil McCarthy delivers on all fronts, and I can't wait till his next book--which I can't talk about, because the science in it is just too cutting edge!
                        --Shelly Shapiro, Executive Editor

*Science Fiction Book Club Alternate Selection

Great Quotes for 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

"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