Kiln People by David Brin, Tor, $25.95, ISBN 0765303558
DAVID BRIN has always had a talent for inventing new twists to familiar
science, and in Kiln People he鈥檚 come up with a cracker.
Bursting with ideas, memorable characters and witty new slang, his novel
propels us into a colourful and fully realised future. In it, the technique
called 鈥渟oulistics鈥� makes it possible to imprint a copy of a human soul鈥檚
鈥渟tanding wave鈥� into a specially prepared clay duplicate to produce short-lived
autonomous copies of the original human. These 鈥渄ittos鈥� live for just 24 hours.
Millions of people lead multiple lives and transfer memories back from their
clay selves.
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Albert Morris is a private detective who uses dits for his tedious
assignments. His latest case begins as a simple ditnapping but soon turns into
something far more profound as Albert comes up against not one but three evil
geniuses using soulistics for their own ends. The plot makes frequent and
knowing use of pulp fiction plot devices, but Brin explores the ramifications of
copying human souls into disposable slave bodies. Fun to read and
thought-provoking, this is excellent science fiction.