X-Message-Number: 2063 Date: 05 Apr 93 15:30:20 EDT From: Charles Platt <> Subject: CRYONICS Cryonics in Science Fiction To: Cryonet April 5, 1993 Science-fiction readers on the net may be interested to hear that A. A. Attanasio (a lyrical stylist who has had a number of novels published by Bantam) has recently completed a novel with a strong cryonics theme. It describes the revival of a neurosuspension patient a thousand years in the future, and his plight as he becomes a pawn in a power game played by various futuristic players, some of whom rescue him and embark on a trek across the surface of Mars. It's told with a nice mix of poeticism and adventure. I expect it to be published by HarperCollins about one year from now. Attanasio is an old friend of mind, and it was I who first interested him in cryonics. The neurosuspension patient in his novel is nicknamed "Mister Charlie," being very loosely modeled on me, much to my amusement. I'm hoping I may be able to persuade the author and the publisher to include Alcor's 800 number somewhere in this novel, maybe in the section of acknowledgments at the beginning. I doubt that the book will greatly advance the cause of cryonics, but it's a pleasure to see the theme being taken seriously by a writer whose past work has received critical acclaim. Since I have a copy of the book on disk, I will ask the author if he is willing to have the first chapter posted here. This is the chapter which describes "Mister Charlie" regaining consciousness after a thousand or so years. Attanasio presents this sequence with a twist that I doubt anyone has thought of before. I won't say any more; it would spoil the story. --Charles Platt Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=2063