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The Problem With Immortality
In the 28th century, the human race has eternal life, and no reason to live.After living for hundreds of years, people have tried everything. Done everything. And they are bored with living.An eccentric trillionaire named Francisco Odour hires Anson Ford, the top Fixer on the planet Earth, to find something worth living for. Anson will have to explore every facet of humanity to find an answer to the biggest problem the human race has ever faced.But Anson will also have to find his own reason to live. After rashly leaving Jennifer, his wife of 311 years, he realizes it was the biggest mistake of his life, and that he can't enjoy life without her. Can he win her back, and find a solution to humanity's crisis of eternal existence? This book has adult situations.
523 pages, Paperback
Published May 10, 2019
75 people are currently reading
33 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
September 15, 2019
It's 2754. Humanity has conquered aging and achieved both immortality and the ability to roll back the biological clock -- some people choose to look 18, others choose their 20s, very few choose to look 30 or older. After living hundreds of years, increasing numbers of people are finding it difficult to find interesting things to do. Many have become bored with life itself. Some try to escape through government-sanctioned drugs, others through virtual reality and other services that seek to provide quality of life enhancement through various means. Our hero is a Fixer, someone whose job it is to help others find new reasons to live. He chose to look like he's 32 (again, choosing to look over 30 is a rarity). He also just left his wife of 300+ years. While grappling with that, he takes on a new client, who happens to be the third richest person in the world with a net worth of over seven trillion dollars, a man who tasks him with finding a new reason to live. This story shows him tackling his biggest Fixer challenge ever and discovering that leaving his wife may have been the biggest mistake of his long life.
I'm the sort who loves high technology and this story's loaded with it. My favorite tech in the story is a system that pairs virtually reality with holography and androids to generate fully immersive fantasy experiences. To that end, we see a man and his wife living as pharaohs in ancient Egypt (the man's name happens to be George Washington -- a nice touch that the author has fun with) and a woman who wishes to tackle social injustice as President of the United States -- in our time, long before high technology rendered her job of social worker functionally obsolete. There's MUCH more fun to be had with such things in these pages, I simply shared two of my favorites. I promise that many more cool bits await you.
The author does a masterful job of using his characters to take us inside all the tech and the struggles of living extra-long lives. He also writes in short, well-crafted scenes devoid of unnecessary detail. He gives you real human storytelling devoid of crap and clutter and manages to deliver pure entertainment value while letting the big themes and issues place just enough weight on every character choice and moment.
Great writing, great pacing, great ideas about where humanity might be headed, awesome technology, and engaging, often colorful, always interesting characters -- you'll find all that and more in this story. I recommend it in every way possible, especially if you love science fiction delivered through fine storytelling.
I'm the sort who loves high technology and this story's loaded with it. My favorite tech in the story is a system that pairs virtually reality with holography and androids to generate fully immersive fantasy experiences. To that end, we see a man and his wife living as pharaohs in ancient Egypt (the man's name happens to be George Washington -- a nice touch that the author has fun with) and a woman who wishes to tackle social injustice as President of the United States -- in our time, long before high technology rendered her job of social worker functionally obsolete. There's MUCH more fun to be had with such things in these pages, I simply shared two of my favorites. I promise that many more cool bits await you.
The author does a masterful job of using his characters to take us inside all the tech and the struggles of living extra-long lives. He also writes in short, well-crafted scenes devoid of unnecessary detail. He gives you real human storytelling devoid of crap and clutter and manages to deliver pure entertainment value while letting the big themes and issues place just enough weight on every character choice and moment.
Great writing, great pacing, great ideas about where humanity might be headed, awesome technology, and engaging, often colorful, always interesting characters -- you'll find all that and more in this story. I recommend it in every way possible, especially if you love science fiction delivered through fine storytelling.
April 17, 2019
Fascinating Scifi Adventure
This is a really thought provoking story! The book starts off with explaining the setting. It's the year 2754. Immortality and a way to reverse the aging process were discovered, so there was a large population of people who looked to be in their 20s even though they were much older than that. In addition to this, advances in technology made working something that only needed to be done if someone wanted to, so most people had a lot of free time on their hands. Everyone was able to experience everything life had to offer, but then they got bored because they already did everything multiple times. The World Government helped out with this in three ways: assisted death, hallucinogenic weed, and the dreamscape, where anything they imagined came true in their minds. Each of these causes death, and the world's population started to shrink.
The main character is Anson, a man who had been married to his wife for over 300 years. This was very rare, as the typical marriages nowadays only lasted for a few decades. He got tired of the same woman for so long, so he left her to find someone new, after being with lots of different women, he got bored, and just in time, he got a high paying client who will pay lots of money to answer one question: why should he continue to live.
Anson and his assistant look for reasons, including women, virtual reality, and the fear of death. While they are out doing that, Anson had moments where something would remind him of his ex-wife. He still missed her, and she still missed him. Will they find a good enough reason for his client to live? Will Anson get back together with his wife? Read the book to find out!
This is a really thought provoking story! The book starts off with explaining the setting. It's the year 2754. Immortality and a way to reverse the aging process were discovered, so there was a large population of people who looked to be in their 20s even though they were much older than that. In addition to this, advances in technology made working something that only needed to be done if someone wanted to, so most people had a lot of free time on their hands. Everyone was able to experience everything life had to offer, but then they got bored because they already did everything multiple times. The World Government helped out with this in three ways: assisted death, hallucinogenic weed, and the dreamscape, where anything they imagined came true in their minds. Each of these causes death, and the world's population started to shrink.
The main character is Anson, a man who had been married to his wife for over 300 years. This was very rare, as the typical marriages nowadays only lasted for a few decades. He got tired of the same woman for so long, so he left her to find someone new, after being with lots of different women, he got bored, and just in time, he got a high paying client who will pay lots of money to answer one question: why should he continue to live.
Anson and his assistant look for reasons, including women, virtual reality, and the fear of death. While they are out doing that, Anson had moments where something would remind him of his ex-wife. He still missed her, and she still missed him. Will they find a good enough reason for his client to live? Will Anson get back together with his wife? Read the book to find out!
April 13, 2019
A fun and exciting sci-fi about life ever after.
“The Problem of Immortality” by Gary L.M. Martin is another of his great Sci-Fi reads.
The year is 2754 and the human race has found the fountain of youth, so to speak. Anson Ford gets bored with his wife Jennifer after three hundred years and decides one day it’s over, walking out the door and never looking back, he sleeps with multiple women until he finally realizes he wants to win Jennifer back.
It was a wild ride of a book. There was a lot of sex and wild desires. I loved it when Death Incorporated was introduced in the book and people were shown what it would feel like to take risks with their lives in order to make you feel excited about living.
My favorite thing about the book was just how it described what life would be like if you lived forever. The boredom with your partner, creativity goes out the window and you seem to just exist. There’s no thrill in it, it’s just one foot in front of the other, day in and day out.....
A well written and insightful sci-fi book, five stars!
“The Problem of Immortality” by Gary L.M. Martin is another of his great Sci-Fi reads.
The year is 2754 and the human race has found the fountain of youth, so to speak. Anson Ford gets bored with his wife Jennifer after three hundred years and decides one day it’s over, walking out the door and never looking back, he sleeps with multiple women until he finally realizes he wants to win Jennifer back.
It was a wild ride of a book. There was a lot of sex and wild desires. I loved it when Death Incorporated was introduced in the book and people were shown what it would feel like to take risks with their lives in order to make you feel excited about living.
My favorite thing about the book was just how it described what life would be like if you lived forever. The boredom with your partner, creativity goes out the window and you seem to just exist. There’s no thrill in it, it’s just one foot in front of the other, day in and day out.....
A well written and insightful sci-fi book, five stars!
September 29, 2020
I thought I was going to be reading a serious science fiction book. Then I read the word “tittyologist” and realized I was mistaken. Very slow, just repeating variations on the same scenario over and over. They go into a new unusual situation, then things turn out to be sinister and not as they seemed on the surface, and the two wish they were back together again. I predict that they will be back together by the end of the book. But I can’t endure it long enough to make it that far. Not recommended.
May 17, 2019
Too Good To Categorize (Pigeonhole)
I had never read any of Gary Martin's work but - what the hay - he has the same name as one of my cousins. Why not try it? Now I'm So glad I did. One warning, though, if you're too much of a bluenose to enjoy a good (okay, GRAPHIC) description of people procreating purely for recreational purposes then you might want to read something else. This isn't a book from "Beeline Books" but it has enough RAW SEX to be. 😉
I had never read any of Gary Martin's work but - what the hay - he has the same name as one of my cousins. Why not try it? Now I'm So glad I did. One warning, though, if you're too much of a bluenose to enjoy a good (okay, GRAPHIC) description of people procreating purely for recreational purposes then you might want to read something else. This isn't a book from "Beeline Books" but it has enough RAW SEX to be. 😉
June 4, 2021
I applaud the author for some creative ideas about the challenges humanity would face if we were immortal and had no material needs, however I think this book was just an average read. Not bad, no great.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews