Empty Cities of the Full Moon
Encyclopedia
Empty Cities of the Full Moon is a science fiction
novel by Howard V. Hendrix
first published in 2001.
of the humanity by an artificial prion
originally designed to help the mentally ill but which becomes a shamanistic pandemic
of madness, shape-shifting and death. There are 2 plots-lines which each follow the same set of characters before and after this near extinction.
. In Universe A, the universe in which Hendrix's
previous novel Better Angels
occurs, the accident is avoided allowing 3 of the major characters in that novel to be born. However in Universe A Prime the accident does occur and the resulting deaths prevent those characters from being born. The 3 characters are brothers Jiro and Seiji Ansel Yamaguchi, and their cousin John Drinan.
Years later in 2032 the process of Jiro's transcendence
, which occurs at the end of Better Angels
, results in John being thrown from Universe A to Universe A Prime. Empty Cities of the Full Moon takes place in Universe A Prime after this.
based cure for mental illness, created by Tomoko Fukuda.
Soon a drumming and dancing mania
begins to sweep the globe, causing a large and increasing portion of the population to drop out of their societies. Due to his interest in shamanism
Mark Fornash is the first person to recognize the manias as a single phenomenon patterned after shamanistic
practises, and to predict it progression from drumming and dancing to visions, shape-shifting, soul-flying and death.
The story follows the progress of the disease through the view points of these characters, as well as: Simon Lingham, ex-husband of Tokomo, and World Health Organization
investigator; Sister Vena, a nun
in Calcuta
who observes extreme stigmata in patients in last stages of the pandemic; Leira Losaba, a police lieutenant in Johannesburg
who investigates a series of murders involving shape-shifted people; Cameron Spires, one of the survivors of the car accident at the beginning of the novel, an eccentric billionaire with interests in human longevity and long-term survival.
As the pandemic progresses Cameron eventually organizes a conference to pool research, which brings all of the major character together. The pandemic appears to be related to the Tokomo's prion's, but the extreme effects can not be explained. As madness and death consume the world, Cameron uses his enormous wealth to create a bolt-hole in the Bahamas and to bring all of the major characters to safety. However, before Cameron departs to his island he holds a final tele-conference with some powerful allies, who have died but been recorded in a powerful computer system. This system is the "Gödelian Non-standard Optimized Market Evolution Systems" or GNOMES. This organization Tetragammaton and these characters (Dr. Vang, Michael Dalke, and Martin Kong) have appeared in previous Hendrix
novels involved in the long-term survival of humanity through the creation of mind-machine interfaces. This conversation reveals that Tetragammaton, was involved in the creation of the pandemic but that it has gone out of control. Dalke and Kong claim that the GNOMES were ultimately responsible for creating the pandemic as a complete defence against extinction and by orders of mysterious entity the Allesseh. The Allesseh is a massive consciousness at the centre of the galaxy, described in Hendrix
's novel Better Angels
.
Cameron's granddaughter Trillia Spires and her lover Ricardo, soon follow him when Ricardo is found to have signs of the plague, and exiled per Cameron's rules. They hope to catch up with Simon in New York City
and to discover a cure for Ricardo. Their journey takes them up the American
east coast
, encountering all of the major characters of the novel who are each dealing with the post-pandemic world in their owns ways. Each character, except Leire who has become a Werfolk-hating warlord, either joins the group or offers some aid.
By the time the group reaches New York, Ricardo's symptoms are entering the final stages of the pandemic. Ricardo's plague induced vision lead them to where Simon has connected himself to GNOMES. Simon is learning from and changing the GNOMES. He reveals Cameron's involvement in not preventing the plague, and Cameron arrives with a security team, claiming that he engineered the plague so that he could re-make humanity in his image. However, Ricardo dies and transcends during this conflict preparing the way for John to return to his universe and transmitting full knowledge of the works of the pandemic to every human on the planet. This final knowledge will allow the three types of human, Urfolk, Werfolk, and Merfolk, to choose their own destinies and control the effects of the pandemic. The group exiles Cameron and returns to the Bahamas to begin the process of re-building their world.
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 by Howard V. Hendrix
Howard V. Hendrix
Howard Vincent Hendrix is an American scholar and science fiction writer. He was born in Cincinnati. He is a cousin of blues musician Mike Tetrault. He is author of the novels Lightpaths and Standing Wave, Better Angels, Empty Cities of the Full Moon, The Labyrinth Key, and Spears of God...
first published in 2001.
Plot introduction
The novel revolves around the near extinctionExtinction
In biology and ecology, extinction is the end of an organism or of a group of organisms , normally a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and recover may have been lost before this point...
of the humanity by an artificial prion
Prion
A prion is an infectious agent composed of protein in a misfolded form. This is in contrast to all other known infectious agents which must contain nucleic acids . The word prion, coined in 1982 by Stanley B. Prusiner, is a portmanteau derived from the words protein and infection...
originally designed to help the mentally ill but which becomes a shamanistic pandemic
Pandemic
A pandemic is an epidemic of infectious disease that is spreading through human populations across a large region; for instance multiple continents, or even worldwide. A widespread endemic disease that is stable in terms of how many people are getting sick from it is not a pandemic...
of madness, shape-shifting and death. There are 2 plots-lines which each follow the same set of characters before and after this near extinction.
Explanation of the novel's title
The title of the novel comes from both the correlation between the pandemic's symptoms and the full moon, and that the pandemic effectively emptied the cities.Plot summary
The novel opens in 1999 with a car accident occurring in parallel universesMultiverse (science)
The multiverse is the hypothetical set of multiple possible universes that together comprise everything that exists and can exist: the entirety of space, time, matter, and energy as well as the physical laws and constants that describe them...
. In Universe A, the universe in which Hendrix's
Howard V. Hendrix
Howard Vincent Hendrix is an American scholar and science fiction writer. He was born in Cincinnati. He is a cousin of blues musician Mike Tetrault. He is author of the novels Lightpaths and Standing Wave, Better Angels, Empty Cities of the Full Moon, The Labyrinth Key, and Spears of God...
previous novel Better Angels
Better Angels
Better Angels is a science fiction novel by Howard V. Hendrix first published in 1999.-Plot introduction:Better Angels is a prequel to Hendrix's earlier novels Lightpath and Standing Wave, filling in history about how the characters in those novels came to be who they are.-Explanation of the...
occurs, the accident is avoided allowing 3 of the major characters in that novel to be born. However in Universe A Prime the accident does occur and the resulting deaths prevent those characters from being born. The 3 characters are brothers Jiro and Seiji Ansel Yamaguchi, and their cousin John Drinan.
Years later in 2032 the process of Jiro's transcendence
Transcendence (philosophy)
In philosophy, the adjective transcendental and the noun transcendence convey the basic ground concept from the word's literal meaning , of climbing or going beyond, albeit with varying connotations in its different historical and cultural stages...
, which occurs at the end of Better Angels
Better Angels
Better Angels is a science fiction novel by Howard V. Hendrix first published in 1999.-Plot introduction:Better Angels is a prequel to Hendrix's earlier novels Lightpath and Standing Wave, filling in history about how the characters in those novels came to be who they are.-Explanation of the...
, results in John being thrown from Universe A to Universe A Prime. Empty Cities of the Full Moon takes place in Universe A Prime after this.
Year 2032(pre-human extinction)
When John is thrown between universes he quickly discovers that there is no record of his existence. The trauma of this event causes John to lose himself in depression. After meeting Mark Fornash, John en-rolls himself in a clinical trial of an experimental artificial prionPrion
A prion is an infectious agent composed of protein in a misfolded form. This is in contrast to all other known infectious agents which must contain nucleic acids . The word prion, coined in 1982 by Stanley B. Prusiner, is a portmanteau derived from the words protein and infection...
based cure for mental illness, created by Tomoko Fukuda.
Soon a drumming and dancing mania
Dancing mania
Dancing mania was a social phenomenon that occurred primarily in mainland Europe between the 14th and 17th centuries. It involved groups of people, sometimes thousands at a time, who danced uncontrollably and bizarrely...
begins to sweep the globe, causing a large and increasing portion of the population to drop out of their societies. Due to his interest in shamanism
Shamanism
Shamanism is an anthropological term referencing a range of beliefs and practices regarding communication with the spiritual world. To quote Eliade: "A first definition of this complex phenomenon, and perhaps the least hazardous, will be: shamanism = technique of ecstasy." Shamanism encompasses the...
Mark Fornash is the first person to recognize the manias as a single phenomenon patterned after shamanistic
Shamanism
Shamanism is an anthropological term referencing a range of beliefs and practices regarding communication with the spiritual world. To quote Eliade: "A first definition of this complex phenomenon, and perhaps the least hazardous, will be: shamanism = technique of ecstasy." Shamanism encompasses the...
practises, and to predict it progression from drumming and dancing to visions, shape-shifting, soul-flying and death.
The story follows the progress of the disease through the view points of these characters, as well as: Simon Lingham, ex-husband of Tokomo, and World Health Organization
World Health Organization
The World Health Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations that acts as a coordinating authority on international public health. Established on 7 April 1948, with headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, the agency inherited the mandate and resources of its predecessor, the Health...
investigator; Sister Vena, a nun
Nun
A nun is a woman who has taken vows committing her to live a spiritual life. She may be an ascetic who voluntarily chooses to leave mainstream society and live her life in prayer and contemplation in a monastery or convent...
in Calcuta
Kolkata
Kolkata , formerly known as Calcutta, is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal. Located on the east bank of the Hooghly River, it was the commercial capital of East India...
who observes extreme stigmata in patients in last stages of the pandemic; Leira Losaba, a police lieutenant in Johannesburg
Johannesburg
Johannesburg also known as Jozi, Jo'burg or Egoli, is the largest city in South Africa, by population. Johannesburg is the provincial capital of Gauteng, the wealthiest province in South Africa, having the largest economy of any metropolitan region in Sub-Saharan Africa...
who investigates a series of murders involving shape-shifted people; Cameron Spires, one of the survivors of the car accident at the beginning of the novel, an eccentric billionaire with interests in human longevity and long-term survival.
As the pandemic progresses Cameron eventually organizes a conference to pool research, which brings all of the major character together. The pandemic appears to be related to the Tokomo's prion's, but the extreme effects can not be explained. As madness and death consume the world, Cameron uses his enormous wealth to create a bolt-hole in the Bahamas and to bring all of the major characters to safety. However, before Cameron departs to his island he holds a final tele-conference with some powerful allies, who have died but been recorded in a powerful computer system. This system is the "Gödelian Non-standard Optimized Market Evolution Systems" or GNOMES. This organization Tetragammaton and these characters (Dr. Vang, Michael Dalke, and Martin Kong) have appeared in previous Hendrix
Howard V. Hendrix
Howard Vincent Hendrix is an American scholar and science fiction writer. He was born in Cincinnati. He is a cousin of blues musician Mike Tetrault. He is author of the novels Lightpaths and Standing Wave, Better Angels, Empty Cities of the Full Moon, The Labyrinth Key, and Spears of God...
novels involved in the long-term survival of humanity through the creation of mind-machine interfaces. This conversation reveals that Tetragammaton, was involved in the creation of the pandemic but that it has gone out of control. Dalke and Kong claim that the GNOMES were ultimately responsible for creating the pandemic as a complete defence against extinction and by orders of mysterious entity the Allesseh. The Allesseh is a massive consciousness at the centre of the galaxy, described in Hendrix
Howard V. Hendrix
Howard Vincent Hendrix is an American scholar and science fiction writer. He was born in Cincinnati. He is a cousin of blues musician Mike Tetrault. He is author of the novels Lightpaths and Standing Wave, Better Angels, Empty Cities of the Full Moon, The Labyrinth Key, and Spears of God...
's novel Better Angels
Better Angels
Better Angels is a science fiction novel by Howard V. Hendrix first published in 1999.-Plot introduction:Better Angels is a prequel to Hendrix's earlier novels Lightpath and Standing Wave, filling in history about how the characters in those novels came to be who they are.-Explanation of the...
.
Year 2065(post-human extinction)
The pandemic has resulted in the near-extinction of humanity. Some of the survivors where fully resistant to the pandemic and have remained human, called Oldfolk or Urfolk, and some were partially resistant have become Werfolk having some of the madness, drumming, dancing, and shape shifting of the pandemic. Over the past 30 years Cameron Spires has perfected a longevity treatment, created a dolphin-human hybrid species called the Merfolk, kept the islands strictly isolated from the Werfolk, prevented further research into the pandemic and maintained himself as the unquestioned 'founder-ruler'. This has driven all of the major characters, except Simon Lingham, back to the mainland in search of answers. Simon Lingham, leaves for the same reasons soon after the story begins.Cameron's granddaughter Trillia Spires and her lover Ricardo, soon follow him when Ricardo is found to have signs of the plague, and exiled per Cameron's rules. They hope to catch up with Simon in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
and to discover a cure for Ricardo. Their journey takes them up the American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
east coast
East Coast of the United States
The East Coast of the United States, also known as the Eastern Seaboard, refers to the easternmost coastal states in the United States, which touch the Atlantic Ocean and stretch up to Canada. The term includes the U.S...
, encountering all of the major characters of the novel who are each dealing with the post-pandemic world in their owns ways. Each character, except Leire who has become a Werfolk-hating warlord, either joins the group or offers some aid.
By the time the group reaches New York, Ricardo's symptoms are entering the final stages of the pandemic. Ricardo's plague induced vision lead them to where Simon has connected himself to GNOMES. Simon is learning from and changing the GNOMES. He reveals Cameron's involvement in not preventing the plague, and Cameron arrives with a security team, claiming that he engineered the plague so that he could re-make humanity in his image. However, Ricardo dies and transcends during this conflict preparing the way for John to return to his universe and transmitting full knowledge of the works of the pandemic to every human on the planet. This final knowledge will allow the three types of human, Urfolk, Werfolk, and Merfolk, to choose their own destinies and control the effects of the pandemic. The group exiles Cameron and returns to the Bahamas to begin the process of re-building their world.
Release details
- 2001, United States of AmericaUnited StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, Penguin Putnam Inc. ISBN 0441008444, Pub August 7 2001, HardcoverHardcoverA hardcover, hardback or hardbound is a book bound with rigid protective covers... - 2001, United States of AmericaUnited StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, Ace Trade ISBN 0441009379, Pub August 6 2002, PaperbackPaperbackPaperback, softback or softcover describe and refer to a book by the nature of its binding. The covers of such books are usually made of paper or paperboard, and are usually held together with glue rather than stitches or staples...
External links
- Agony Column review by Rick Kleffel
- Infinity Plus review by John Grant
- Curled Up With a Good Book review
- SciFi.com review by D. Douglas Fratz
- Strange Horizons review by Lori Ann White