Chris Moriarty
Encyclopedia
Chris Moriarty is an American
science fiction
writer.
She has lived in the U.S., Europe, Mexico and Southeast Asia.
Before becoming a science fiction writer, she worked as a horse trainer, ranch hand, tourism industry employee, guide and environmental lawyer. As of early 2008, Chris was married with one child.
Moriarty's first novel, Spin State, was a finalist for the Philip K. Dick, John Campbell
, Spectrum
and Prometheus Award
s. Her second, Spin Control, published in 2006, won the 2007 Philip K. Dick Award and was a finalist for the Lambda Literary Award
for SF.
The two novels feature common characters in a future where Earth has undergone ecological collapse. A large part of humanity has migrated to various planets and space habitats, both in the solar system and around nearby stars such as Barnard's Star
and 51 Pegasi
. The technologies feature cloning, artificial intelligence
s, genetic constructs and use of a material referred to as "condensate
" which allows instantaneous communication and teleportation.
Groups known as Syndicates, who manufacture their members as genetic constructs, have broken away from humanity, referring to themselves as posthuman
. Their technology is rigorously suppressed in human space by "UNSec", a descendant of the United Nations
. The inhabitants of human space may be augmented with wetware
interfaces so that they can directly interact with the "spinstream", the flow of data based on quantum entanglement
. Some parts of the computer network have become self-aware, and are allowed to exist under restrictions imposed by UNSec. They can talk either through the spinstream, or by using "shunts", people who have been implanted with devices that enable them to be "operated" by AI's, or even by other people.
Both novels occur during a time of uneasy peace between UNSec and the Syndicates, after a devastating conflict in space. Recurring characters include Catherine Li, a construct masquerading as three-quarters human, and Cohen, an AI who is in love with her. Several Syndicate characters recur, but since they are clones it is not certain if they represent the same individuals.
Li is a UN officer responsible for the victory which ended the Syndicate war. She is caught between the sinister machinations of UNSec and the unknown motives of the Syndicates. The stories feature murder investigations, espionage, high-tech firefights and explorations of sexuality and human emotions. Spin State revolves around Li's assignment by UNSec to investigate the murder of a scientist on Compson's World, her original home, and the source of "condensate" which is found in coal deposits on the planet. The scientist in question, whom Li claims as a distant relative, was actually a genetic construct from the same line as Li herself. In Spin Control a Syndicate member goes to Earth, apparently to sell the secret of a bioweapon he found on a terraformed planet. He finds himself shuttled back and forth across the conflict line in a revived Israeli-Palestinian guerilla war, with Li as one of the interested parties.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
science fiction
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
writer.
She has lived in the U.S., Europe, Mexico and Southeast Asia.
Before becoming a science fiction writer, she worked as a horse trainer, ranch hand, tourism industry employee, guide and environmental lawyer. As of early 2008, Chris was married with one child.
Moriarty's first novel, Spin State, was a finalist for the Philip K. Dick, John Campbell
Campbell award (best novel)
The John W. Campbell Memorial Award for Best Science Fiction Novel for best science fiction novel was created in 1973 by writers and critics Harry Harrison and Brian W. Aldiss to honor Campbell's name...
, Spectrum
Gaylactic Spectrum Awards
The Gaylactic Spectrum Awards are given to works of science fiction, fantasy and horror that explore LGBT topics in a positive way. Established in 1998, the awards were initially presented by the Gaylactic Network, with awards first awarded in 1999. In 2002 the awards were given their own...
and Prometheus Award
Prometheus Award
The Prometheus Award is an award for libertarian science fiction novels given annually by the Libertarian Futurist Society, which also publishes a quarterly journal Prometheus. L. Neil Smith established the award in 1979, but it was not awarded regularly until the newly founded Libertarian Futurist...
s. Her second, Spin Control, published in 2006, won the 2007 Philip K. Dick Award and was a finalist for the Lambda Literary Award
Lambda Literary Award
Lambda Literary Awards are awarded yearly by the US-based Lambda Literary Foundation to published works which celebrate or explore LGBT themes. Categories include Humor, Romance and Biography. To qualify, a book must have been published in the United States in the year current to the award...
for SF.
The two novels feature common characters in a future where Earth has undergone ecological collapse. A large part of humanity has migrated to various planets and space habitats, both in the solar system and around nearby stars such as Barnard's Star
Barnard's star
Barnard's Star, also known occasionally as Barnard's "Runaway" Star, is a very low-mass red dwarf star approximately six light-years away from Earth in the constellation of Ophiuchus . In 1916, the American astronomer E.E...
and 51 Pegasi
51 Pegasi
51 Pegasi is a Sun-like star located 15.6 parsecs from Earth in the constellation Pegasus...
. The technologies feature cloning, artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence is the intelligence of machines and the branch of computer science that aims to create it. AI textbooks define the field as "the study and design of intelligent agents" where an intelligent agent is a system that perceives its environment and takes actions that maximize its...
s, genetic constructs and use of a material referred to as "condensate
Bose–Einstein condensate
A Bose–Einstein condensate is a state of matter of a dilute gas of weakly interacting bosons confined in an external potential and cooled to temperatures very near absolute zero . Under such conditions, a large fraction of the bosons occupy the lowest quantum state of the external potential, at...
" which allows instantaneous communication and teleportation.
Groups known as Syndicates, who manufacture their members as genetic constructs, have broken away from humanity, referring to themselves as posthuman
Posthuman
Posthuman may refer to:*Posthuman, a hypothetical future being whose basic capacities so radically exceed those of present humans as to be no longer human by our current standards...
. Their technology is rigorously suppressed in human space by "UNSec", a descendant of the United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
. The inhabitants of human space may be augmented with wetware
Wetware
Wetware may refer to:* Wetware , brain* Wetware , biological tools and parts* Wetware , a 1988 Rudy Rucker biopunk novel* Wetware , a 2000 album by The Cassandra Complex...
interfaces so that they can directly interact with the "spinstream", the flow of data based on quantum entanglement
Quantum entanglement
Quantum entanglement occurs when electrons, molecules even as large as "buckyballs", photons, etc., interact physically and then become separated; the type of interaction is such that each resulting member of a pair is properly described by the same quantum mechanical description , which is...
. Some parts of the computer network have become self-aware, and are allowed to exist under restrictions imposed by UNSec. They can talk either through the spinstream, or by using "shunts", people who have been implanted with devices that enable them to be "operated" by AI's, or even by other people.
Both novels occur during a time of uneasy peace between UNSec and the Syndicates, after a devastating conflict in space. Recurring characters include Catherine Li, a construct masquerading as three-quarters human, and Cohen, an AI who is in love with her. Several Syndicate characters recur, but since they are clones it is not certain if they represent the same individuals.
Li is a UN officer responsible for the victory which ended the Syndicate war. She is caught between the sinister machinations of UNSec and the unknown motives of the Syndicates. The stories feature murder investigations, espionage, high-tech firefights and explorations of sexuality and human emotions. Spin State revolves around Li's assignment by UNSec to investigate the murder of a scientist on Compson's World, her original home, and the source of "condensate" which is found in coal deposits on the planet. The scientist in question, whom Li claims as a distant relative, was actually a genetic construct from the same line as Li herself. In Spin Control a Syndicate member goes to Earth, apparently to sell the secret of a bioweapon he found on a terraformed planet. He finds himself shuttled back and forth across the conflict line in a revived Israeli-Palestinian guerilla war, with Li as one of the interested parties.
Fiction
- Spin series
- Spin State (2003) Bantam SpectraBantam SpectraBantam Spectra is the science-fiction division of Bantam Books, which is owned by Random House.According to their website, Spectra publishes "science-fiction, fantasy, horror, and speculative novels from recognizable authors" Spectra authors have collectively won 31 such awards in the fields of...
- Spin Control (2006) Bantam SpectraBantam SpectraBantam Spectra is the science-fiction division of Bantam Books, which is owned by Random House.According to their website, Spectra publishes "science-fiction, fantasy, horror, and speculative novels from recognizable authors" Spectra authors have collectively won 31 such awards in the fields of...
- Ghost Spin (2012) Bantam SpectraBantam SpectraBantam Spectra is the science-fiction division of Bantam Books, which is owned by Random House.According to their website, Spectra publishes "science-fiction, fantasy, horror, and speculative novels from recognizable authors" Spectra authors have collectively won 31 such awards in the fields of...
- Spin State (2003) Bantam Spectra
- The Inquisitor's Apprentice (2011) Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
External links
- SFness Chris Moriarty's Science Fiction Blog
- Official Website for Chris Moriarty's Science Fiction Books
- Official Website for The Inquisitor's Apprentice