August 1, 2005
Kotzwinkle's first adult novel since The Bear Went Over the Mountain
(1996) is a rollicking old-school space opera complete with sensitive robots, wily space aliens and secretive societies in turmoil. In a lab hidden inside the notorious Junk Moon, scientists on the Amphora Project strive to find the key to immortality from encoded data left behind long ago by the mysterious "Ancient Aliens." Stuart Landsmann, the project's chief scientist, tells Amphora's backers they must stop the research or risk bringing about the end of the world, but his warnings are ignored. Jockey Oldcastle, space pirate and rogue, teams up with mild-mannered biologist Adrian Link to uncover the truth about Amphora, as people around the project start dying, their bodies transformed to crystal. The story twists along at breakneck pace through a future of absurd decadence and immense possibility. Along the way, Kotzwinkle fans will find sharply resonant moments as well as pointed humor and insight into human nature at its worst and best. Agents, Elaine Markson and Ron Bernstein
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August 1, 2005
The Amphora project is the attempt by a consortium of the Planet Immortal's rich and powerful to create immortality and enlightenment, and in light of the previous success of an alien species' work with the technology of ancient aliens, success now seems tenable. Hidden on the Junk Moon, the project has attracted the attention of space pirate Jockey Oldcastle, who heard about it from a scientist kicked off the project because of his doomsaying. Investigating the rumors, Oldcastle, his navigator Lizardo, botanist Adrian Link, and the robot Upquark discover that Project Amphora isn't doing what it's supposed to. Instead, it's turning subjects into fragile crystal, thereby rapidly depopulating Planet Immortal. Oldcastle, Lizardo, and Link must decipher the motives of the extradimensional beings truly responsible for the immortality technology and rush to keep predators at bay. An entertaining trip through an exotic future full of weird tech and plenty of heroics and adventure in the company of bizarre creatures.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2005, American Library Association.)
August 15, 2005
In this delightful piece of froth and the author's first adult novel in over ten years, Kotzwinkle ("The Fan Man") resurrects the classic space opera of E.E. Smith's "Lensman" series and tempers it with the whimsy of Douglas Adams's "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy". The scientists of Project Amphora are seeking to unlock the secret to immortality, but something has gone awry. Space pirate Jockey Oldcastle; his reptilian navigator, Lizardo; a timid botanist, Link; and Link's birdwoman girlfriend are called upon to find out why Project Amphora's experiments have the citizens of Planet Immortal turning into crystal. In order to save the planet's living creatures, the group must fight an ancient, extradimensional enemy. Kotzwinkle hauls out the cliché s of golden age sf with panache, e.g., "Superliminal channel open," "I'm in the vortex thread," "He's reorganizing himself on a new level of reality." Those who prefer hard science, however speculative, are advised to look elsewhere. But for a diverting tale and some good-hearted fun, this may be just the book for some readers. Recommended for general collections. [See Prepub Alert, "LJ" 6/15/05.] -David Keymer, Modesto, CA
Copyright 2005 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.