Terminal Cafe - Softcover

McDonald, Ian

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0553374168 ISBN 13: 9780553374162

Publisher: Spectra, 1994

Synopsis

It is a few decades after a revolutionary technology has given humans the ability to resurrect the dead. The ever-increasing population of the risen dead is segregated into areas called necrovilles. Here they have created a wild culture, untouched by the restrictions of the law - except that the dead cannot stray into the realm of the living, nor the living into the teeming necrovilles, after nightfall. It is November 1, the Day of the Dead. Virtual artist Santiago Columbar, creator of drugs and 'ware that melt and reconfigure reality for his many disciples, has grown bored with the realities at his command. There is one reality he has yet to try, the culmination of his life as an artist: He will venture into the forbidden streets of the Saint John dead town, and there walk willingly into the open arms of death. At Santiago's invitation, four of his friends will meet in Saint John to record his death and resurrection. On their way to witness Santiago's transformation, as the necroville erupts into the first volley of a revolution against the living, each will face danger and adventure in the wild streets of the dead...and find that life has changed forever.

About this title

From the Publisher:

"Ian McDonald's stimulating ideas and rich prose have won him a devoted readership on both sides of the Atlantic. Now comes his most provocative novel yet. Los Angeles is much like any other city; the rich are getting richer, the poor are getting more numerous, and the dead are working hard to pay off their resurrection debts, the cost of their immortality. Science has finally conquered the last barrier to immortality, death itself, with the microscopic machines of nano technology. Like any other city, Los Angeles has its Necroville or "City of the Dead," the segregated, walled ghetto where the dead sleep, eat and live, off-limits to living humans. Except tonight. Tonight is the Night of the Dead and anyone who is anyone will be in Necroville. Because this is the wildest party Los Angeles has ever seen. And as mysterious events and the Night of the Dead conspire, the fate of humanity soon hangs in the balance.

From Kirkus Reviews:

Los Angeles of the 21st century is a land where death has been eradicated, thanks to nanotechnology, and so life is cheap. Every major city has a Necroville, where the first generation of the resurrected pay off the debts they incurred to be born again. McDonald (The Broken Land, 1992, etc.) juxtaposes the story of a group of young friends who gather annually in a celebratory night of the living dead against a literal clash of life and death as the army of the reborn wages war against their mortal enemies. But the real horror story here is about the living: Drug designer and playboy Santiago Columbar constantly seeks obliteration as an escape from life's ambiguities; yuppie cyberspace lawyer Yoyo Mok is so eager to soar up the virtual corporate ladder that she risks her friends' lives to solve the case of a resurrected rich client; and spoiled Toussaint, the son of Adam Tessler, who invented the resurrection process, betrays his father to a team of reborn terrorists. Each of these tales unfolds while battleships blast in high-orbit, corporate denizens maneuver in plush restaurants, and teens glide through all-night murder sprees. McDonald's lush prose paints a vivid and credible Armageddon. World-building SF that's punk, funky, and frightening: a fantastic acid trip to the end of the world. -- Copyright ©1994, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

About this edition

• Publisher: Spectra
• Publication date: 1994
• ISBN 10: 0553374168
• ISBN 13: 9780553374162
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 288