The Fortunate Fall

✍ Scribed by Carter, Raphael

• Book ID: 110485555
• Publisher: Tor Books
• Year: 1996
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 158 KB
• Category: Fiction
• ISBN-13: 9780312863272

✦ Synopsis

Maya Andreyeva is a "camera, " a reporter with virtual reality broadcasting equipment implanted in her brain. What she sees, millions see; what she feels, millions share. "Gripping. . . . One of the most promising SF debuts in recent years."--Publisher's Weekly starred review.

Amazon.com Review

In 23rd-century Russia, where the "Net" is at once a source of freedom and a means of control, Maya Andreyeva is the perfect reporter. The chips hardwired into her brain allow her to detail not only what she sees but what she hears, tastes, smells, and feels, all in resonant virtual reality. When clues turn up pointing to a massacre and a cover-up, Maya, the ultimate journalist, is compelled find the truth. Along the way she discovers answers not only to the puzzle she has set out to solve, but to secrets about her own life. At the same time, author Raphael Carter provides a compelling and chilling story that also raises serious questions about such issues as homophobia and censorship.

From Publishers Weekly

Maya Andreyeva is a reporter on the Net?a "camera." Everything she sees, hears or feels is immediately broadcast to millions. Now she's got a handle on the story of a lifetime, the government-led coverup of a series of massacres. Urged on by her mysterious new partner, Keishi Mirabara, the wired technician in charge of editing her broadcasts for public consumption, Maya seeks an interview with Pavel Voskresenye, a survivor of one of the massacres. She finds, however, that she has put her life at risk simply by contacting Pavel, because he is also being sought by the Weavers, the all-powerful Net police. Carter's repressive future Earth is a strange place. The U.S. lies in near ruins after a failed attempt at world domination. And in this world where virtual reality makes almost everything possible, it's hard to be certain of anything. Like many first novels, Carter's suffers from occasional problems of pacing and structure. Even so, this highly literate, grim and gripping example of latter-day cyberpunk counts as one of the most promising SF debuts in recent years.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.