Tower of Dreams
Sep. 28th, 2011 09:33 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
marycatelliTower of Dreams by Jamil Nasir.
One common trait of near future SF is that it becomes alternate history very soon. This book, for instance, was published in 1999. This knowledge helps when reading.
Our hero Blaine Ramsey is in the Middle East, digging. Which is to say, looking for Images that spring from the collective unconscious that can be used for advertising and the like. It's been a blank thus far, but he gets one -- a lovely dream of a beautiful young woman hopping up on the wall between her garden and his. Then someone drags her down on the other side and starts to beat her.
And he starts to see Images even while he's awake. And then -- he learns that the young woman is the famous actress Aida, which is impossible. Once an Image has been dredged up from the unconscious and presented to the multitudes, all that conscious attention drains the power from it.
He sets out to Cairo to get to the bottom of it, and finds that other diggers have also had problems. He gets to meet Aida and discovers many things, leading up to a remarkable ending.
Anyone interested in the use of religion in fiction will probably find it interesting.
One common trait of near future SF is that it becomes alternate history very soon. This book, for instance, was published in 1999. This knowledge helps when reading.
Our hero Blaine Ramsey is in the Middle East, digging. Which is to say, looking for Images that spring from the collective unconscious that can be used for advertising and the like. It's been a blank thus far, but he gets one -- a lovely dream of a beautiful young woman hopping up on the wall between her garden and his. Then someone drags her down on the other side and starts to beat her.
And he starts to see Images even while he's awake. And then -- he learns that the young woman is the famous actress Aida, which is impossible. Once an Image has been dredged up from the unconscious and presented to the multitudes, all that conscious attention drains the power from it.
He sets out to Cairo to get to the bottom of it, and finds that other diggers have also had problems. He gets to meet Aida and discovers many things, leading up to a remarkable ending.
Anyone interested in the use of religion in fiction will probably find it interesting.