City of a Thousand Suns
Encyclopedia
City of a Thousand Suns is a 1965 science fiction
novel
by Samuel R. Delany
, and is the final novel in the Fall of the Towers
trilogy.
As in the other two books, the setting is the post-apocalyptic empire of Toromon, confined by a surrounding "Barrier" of highly-radioactive land, and inhabited by mutant/evolved "forest people" (some of whom are telepaths) and devolved "neanderthals", as well as normal humans. The events of the book focus on a claimed war. Soldiers are told repeatedly "we have an enemy behind the barrier" and placed in coffin-like modules to be teleported into enemy territory to do battle.
However, it turns out that the matter transporter or teleportation system has never actually worked, and the war is a hoax. The soldiers are wired into a computer prior to their "teleportation" experience but actually remain in their coffins. They hallucinate battles, with their experiences generated and coordinated by the computer. The pre-determined fatalities are killed by an enemy energy weapon within the communal reality, as the survivors remember it, but in reality are electrocuted and burned within their coffins. In some respects, this foreshadows the 1999 film The Matrix
.
However, Toromon actually does have a real enemy of sorts, on another plane of existence, and at the end of the book there is a cosmic conflict which leads to this entity being prevented from conducting further malicious experiments on Toromon.
The stories of the Fall of the Towers trilogy were originally set in the same post-holocaust Earth as Delany's earlier The Jewels of Aptor
; however, linking references were removed in later revised editions.
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...
novel
Novel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
by Samuel R. Delany
Samuel R. Delany
Samuel Ray Delany, Jr., also known as "Chip" is an American author, professor and literary critic. His work includes a number of novels, many in the science fiction genre, as well as memoir, criticism, and essays on sexuality and society.His science fiction novels include Babel-17, The Einstein...
, and is the final novel in the Fall of the Towers
The Fall of the Towers
The Fall of the Towers is a trilogy of science fiction books by Samuel R. Delany.First published in omnibus form in 1970, the trilogy was originally published individually as Captives of the Flame , The Towers of Toron , and City of a Thousand Suns...
trilogy.
As in the other two books, the setting is the post-apocalyptic empire of Toromon, confined by a surrounding "Barrier" of highly-radioactive land, and inhabited by mutant/evolved "forest people" (some of whom are telepaths) and devolved "neanderthals", as well as normal humans. The events of the book focus on a claimed war. Soldiers are told repeatedly "we have an enemy behind the barrier" and placed in coffin-like modules to be teleported into enemy territory to do battle.
However, it turns out that the matter transporter or teleportation system has never actually worked, and the war is a hoax. The soldiers are wired into a computer prior to their "teleportation" experience but actually remain in their coffins. They hallucinate battles, with their experiences generated and coordinated by the computer. The pre-determined fatalities are killed by an enemy energy weapon within the communal reality, as the survivors remember it, but in reality are electrocuted and burned within their coffins. In some respects, this foreshadows the 1999 film The Matrix
The Matrix
The Matrix is a 1999 science fiction-action film written and directed by Larry and Andy Wachowski, starring Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Anne Moss, Joe Pantoliano, and Hugo Weaving...
.
However, Toromon actually does have a real enemy of sorts, on another plane of existence, and at the end of the book there is a cosmic conflict which leads to this entity being prevented from conducting further malicious experiments on Toromon.
The stories of the Fall of the Towers trilogy were originally set in the same post-holocaust Earth as Delany's earlier The Jewels of Aptor
The Jewels of Aptor
The Jewels of Aptor is a 1962 science fiction novel by Samuel R. Delany, and is Delany's first published novel. Prior to this, he had sold a pair of articles to Seventeen Magazine, only one of which was printed...
; however, linking references were removed in later revised editions.