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A Billion Eves
Infinite earths wait within easy reach. All you need is a powerful machine called a ripper, and the courage to leap into the unknown. Kala grows up in a world born from this extraordinary technology -- a vicious, male-dominated world where pretty young women are routinely abducted and then taken away to new earths. But Kala wants to break free of this cycle, and she eventually gets her chance.
"Claire stepped out the front door, and hesitated. Two long trucks were parked in the otherwise empty street. But where was the campus? Past the trucks, exactly where the Fine Arts building should be standing, a rugged berm had been made of gray dirt and gray stone and shattered tree trunks. Beyond the berm was a forest of strange willowy trees. Nameless odors and a dense gray mist were drifting out of the forest on a gentle wind. And illuminated by the moon and endless stars was a flock of leathery creatures, perched together on the nearest limbs, hundreds of simple black eyes staring at the newcomers."
"A Billion Eves" won the Hugo Award as the best novella of 2006. It has been reprinted many times, but this version has tweaks and small improvements supplied by the author and another decade of writing experience.
"Claire stepped out the front door, and hesitated. Two long trucks were parked in the otherwise empty street. But where was the campus? Past the trucks, exactly where the Fine Arts building should be standing, a rugged berm had been made of gray dirt and gray stone and shattered tree trunks. Beyond the berm was a forest of strange willowy trees. Nameless odors and a dense gray mist were drifting out of the forest on a gentle wind. And illuminated by the moon and endless stars was a flock of leathery creatures, perched together on the nearest limbs, hundreds of simple black eyes staring at the newcomers."
"A Billion Eves" won the Hugo Award as the best novella of 2006. It has been reprinted many times, but this version has tweaks and small improvements supplied by the author and another decade of writing experience.
72 pages, ebook
First published January 1, 2006
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
November 6, 2021
This was a very strange science fiction novella. It goes from story to lore, to story, and a little character development. With big ideas of multiverses and ecology and criticisms on some extremely patriarchal religions, like mormons. Very interesting.
November 16, 2024
A Multiverse/parallel Earths story, with some original touches. Good, well-written, pretty bleak.
A comparable is Barton's Acts of Conscience, which I also just read (2016):
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6...
-- but with misogyny instead of odd sex.
Per James Nicoll, recommended reading for when your will to live grows too strong....
Available as a $3 Kindle.
A comparable is Barton's Acts of Conscience, which I also just read (2016):
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6...
-- but with misogyny instead of odd sex.
Per James Nicoll, recommended reading for when your will to live grows too strong....
Available as a $3 Kindle.
August 18, 2016
testo molto interessante e di ottima costruzione. Un'idea avvincente e uno svolgimento ancora più appassionante. non ho messo 5 stelle solo perché avrei preferito uno svolgimento più lungo con un maggior approfondimento dei momenti iniziali delle colonizzazioni. Comunque un ottimo autore!
May 19, 2026
I had to request the anthology this story was in through interlibrary loan, which already made me feel a little committed before I even started reading and thankfully, it was worth the effort.
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This is one of those sci-fi stories that feels massive in scope while still staying deeply human. The ideas are ambitious, strange, and thought-provoking in a way that good science fiction should be.
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What makes it especially interesting is that this story came out in 2007 - before Marvel turned the multiverse into mainstream pop culture and before AI became part of everyday conversation.
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Favorite line: “But Claire kept talking, reminding him, “In another few weeks, a couple months at most, you will be doomed.”
“What do you mean?”
“Once enough girls are pregnant, we won’t need you anymore.”
All the careful planning, but he hadn’t let himself imagine this one obvious possibility.”
.
This is one of those sci-fi stories that feels massive in scope while still staying deeply human. The ideas are ambitious, strange, and thought-provoking in a way that good science fiction should be.
.
What makes it especially interesting is that this story came out in 2007 - before Marvel turned the multiverse into mainstream pop culture and before AI became part of everyday conversation.
.
Favorite line: “But Claire kept talking, reminding him, “In another few weeks, a couple months at most, you will be doomed.”
“What do you mean?”
“Once enough girls are pregnant, we won’t need you anymore.”
All the careful planning, but he hadn’t let himself imagine this one obvious possibility.”
June 5, 2013
http://clarkevivo.blogspot.it/2012/12...
Uno studente universitario psicotico rapisce un intero collegio di studentesse trasferendo le povere ragazze e se stesso in un universo parallelo, instaurando una religione patriarcale che durerà per millenni e che si espanderà su milioni di altre terre gemelle. In tutto ciò una ragazza di nome Kala cercherà una difficile quanto impossibile emancipazione. Libro molto amaro ambientato in un futuro che, usando un gioco di parole, ci riporta a un passato da dimenticare.
Uno studente universitario psicotico rapisce un intero collegio di studentesse trasferendo le povere ragazze e se stesso in un universo parallelo, instaurando una religione patriarcale che durerà per millenni e che si espanderà su milioni di altre terre gemelle. In tutto ciò una ragazza di nome Kala cercherà una difficile quanto impossibile emancipazione. Libro molto amaro ambientato in un futuro che, usando un gioco di parole, ci riporta a un passato da dimenticare.
May 28, 2016
Una sorta di religione oltranzista, aggressiva, maschilista e ormonale occupa mondi alternativi, utilizzando il rapimento per fornire le donne necessarie a mettere al mondo nuovi figli, che a loro volta continueranno in questa pratica.
Ma la mentalità maschile è una mentalità di stupro, delle donne così come della natura, e i mondi conquistati inesorabilmente sono condannati a morte.
E' necessario che sorga una nuova Eva, per rifondare l'umanità su principi più rispettosi della natura e dei rapporti tra gli individui.
Ma la mentalità maschile è una mentalità di stupro, delle donne così come della natura, e i mondi conquistati inesorabilmente sono condannati a morte.
E' necessario che sorga una nuova Eva, per rifondare l'umanità su principi più rispettosi della natura e dei rapporti tra gli individui.
June 19, 2015
Fa riflettere, ci sono molti spunti peccato per la brevità. Maschilismo; religione vista come estremismo che oppone ma anche interessante vedere come nasce una religione, ricorrendo solo a certi documenti che confermino il proprio punto di vista; rapporto con l'ambiente, colonizzare/distruggere ecosistema oppure adattarsi ad un ambiente estraneo cercando di alterarlo il meno possibile
July 3, 2024
Male chauvinist pig fansasy
Just the kind of thing project 2025 would like to do next
Follows that logic to its 'extreme what- if' conclusion.
Just the kind of thing project 2025 would like to do next
Follows that logic to its 'extreme what- if' conclusion.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews