Three-Ring Psychus

by John Shirley

2013 A.D. With an intolerable population crisis and impending global conflict, the human race was faced with an war and destruction, or moving into the next stage of psychic development. Then came the Great Unweighting - a partial cancellation of gravity, destroying cities, killing countless people, but the survivors possessed strange new telekinetic powers. The old rules were meaningless; anarchy and violence prevailed. It was with great pain that people learned the collective unconscious was becoming conscious, and empathy meant mass suffering. But with all this the old prejudices survived, and men still turned to force as the answer to their problems. Could humanity learn to adapt... and survive?

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction

240 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published November 1, 1990

About the author

John Shirley won the Bram Stoker Award for his story collection Black Butterflies, and is the author of numerous novels, including the best-seller DEMONS, the cyberpunk classics CITY COME A-WALKIN', ECLIPSE, and BLACK GLASS, and his newest novels STORMLAND and A SORCERER OF ATLANTIS.

He is also a screenwriter, having written for television and movies; he was co-screenwriter of THE CROW. He has been several Year's Best anthologies including Prime Books' THE YEAR'S BEST DARK FANTASY AND HORROR anthology, and his nwest story collection is IN EXTREMIS: THE MOST EXTREME SHORT STORIES OF JOHN SHIRLEY. His novel BIOSHOCK: RAPTURE telling the story of the creation and undoing of Rapture, from the hit videogame BIOSHOCK is out from TOR books; his Halo novel, HALO: BROKEN CIRCLE is coming out from Pocket Books.

His most recent novels are STORMLAND and (forthcoming) AXLE BUST CREEK. His new story collection is THE FEVERISH STARS. STORMLAND and other John Shirley novels are available as audiobooks.

He is also a lyricist, having written lyrics for 18 songs recorded by the Blue Oyster Cult (especially on their albums Heaven Forbidden and Curse of the Hidden Mirror), and his own recordings.

John Shirley has written only one nonfiction book, GURDJIEFF: AN INTRODUCTION TO HIS LIFE AND IDEAS, published by Penguin/Jeremy Tarcher.

John Shirley story collections include BLACK BUTTERFLIES, IN EXTREMIS, REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY WEIRD STORIES, and LIVING SHADOWS.

source: Amazon

Reviews

[Michael Shelton · Rating 3 out of 5]

This would have made a better short story I think, but it was still short enough to hold my interest. The basic setup is that one day suddenly the Earth experiences a planet-wide episode of "degravitation". Everyone and everything starts floating up into the sky and creating chaos all around. When gravitation returns to normal, millions are dead and the survivors realize they have a new found ability dubbed "Up". That is, they can control the gravitation around themselves and other objects and "Up" into the air at will. There is also some ability to psychically transmit messages and "feel" other people's thoughts.

It's a nice, interesting premise but it takes a few chapters to get off the ground (sorry, couldn't resist). The middle section of the book deals with survivors banding together and creating new colonies. Some are well intentioned while others are vicious scavengers. How will humanity use this new ability and how does it affect society as a whole? Those are the main questions being asked and I thought everything seemed entirely plausible. I don't usually like politics in my sci-fi books and this became a major theme at the end so I was a little disappointed. Still, it wasn't boring and it didn't interfere with the main action going on.

All in all it was a good book and I'm glad I read it. Shirley is more known for his horror and cyberpunk stories so this was something a little bit different from him. I will definitely read more of his works in the future.

[Kaimonster · Rating 3 out of 5]

Neat world-building and exploration of a physical and emotional idea. Rich and full of humanity and the love of humanity. Bonus points for positive portrayals of gay and intersex characters. The gay characters were treated super normally, which was refreshing and great; the intersex character was the Sacred Androgyne, you know, magical and wondrous and strange, instead of being an actual person, but the portrayal was still positive so I'll take it.

[James]

2013 A.D. With an intolerable population crisis and impending global conflict, the human race was faced with an alternative: war and destruction, or moving into the next stage of psychic development. Then came the Great Unweighting - a partial cancellation of gravity, destroying cities, killing countless people, but the survivors possessed strange new telekinetic powers. The old rules were meaningless; anarchy and violence prevailed. It was with great pain that people learned the collective unconscious was becoming conscious, and empathy meant mass suffering. But with all this the old prejudices survived, and men still turned to force as the answer to their problems. Could humanity learn to adapt... and survive?

[joanna · Rating 5 out of 5]

wow what a ride so far!

[David Agranoff · Rating 3 out of 5]

Full review coming.