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

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