The Freeze-Frame Revolution

Praise for The Freeze-Frame Revolution 2019 John W. Campbell Memorial Award nominee 2018 British Science Fiction Award nomination A Publishers Weekly Staff Pick / Summer 2018 Read A Goodreads Best Sci-Fi/Fantasy title of Jan-August 2018 1000 Year Plan 2018 Recommended Reading List Locus Recommended Reading List 2018 SCKA Award nominations “ The Freeze-Frame Revolution is a delicious morsel of hard science fiction . . . The setup of the book is irresistible, and the science is high-concept, but the story is driven by Sunday’s relationships and her conviction in herself and her companions.” — Washington Post “ The Freeze-Frame Revolution (Tachyon), the shortest and latest novel from Canadian Peter Watts, is as brilliant and enticingly acute as any of his earlier and longer work.” — Seattle Review of Books “ The Freeze Frame Revolution is the purest driven high concept SF . . . as vivid and carnal and profane as the headiest of high-end literature.” —Richard Morgan, author of Altered Carbon "This is definitely vintage Watts—outstanding; exciting, and terrifying.” —Cory Doctorow, author of Little Brother and Walkaway “The latest from Watts ( Blindsight, 2006) packs a significant punch into a small package.” — Booklist [STARRED REVIEW] “In this short, tight novel that contains vast science-fictional speculation, the human crew of the construction ship Eriophora spends 66 million years building interstellar wormhole gates, so they have lots of time to ponder issues of purpose. Sunday Ahzmundin, on a quest to find a missing crewmate, has to deal with another coworker, Lian, who is traumatized after the ship is damaged by one of the “occasional demons” that pop out of newly opened gates. Dropping in and out of suspended animation as scheduled by the Chimp, the AI that runs the ship, Sunday begins to uncover the secrets behind Lian’s subsequent death and the disappearances of other crew members, learning what hides beneath the ship’s closed and rigidly structured society. Watts ( Echopraxis) puts the concept of humanity under the knife, teasing out how Chimp’s programming and Sunday’s loyalty can both tie them together and set them at odds. Watts pits the drive toward success against the need for connection, leading to an ending as open and as expansive as the universe. SF fans will love this tale of bizarre future employment and genuine wonder.” — Publishers Weekly [STARRED REVIEW] “Entertaining and provocative, brilliant and ambitious, The Freeze-Frame Revolution is compelling science fiction with heart.” — Foreword “Part thriller, part hard-SF vision, part existential nightmare . . . impressive and intriguing.” — Locus “Fast; rich, and cool— The Freeze-Frame Revolution fascinates!” —Greg Bear, author of Eon and Take Back the Sky “A savvy, fast-paced, vivid mix of humans way off-planet, pounding biology, robotics, cyberpunk, and even music. That's right, everything you've come to expect and enjoy from Peter Watts, and maybe a little more. This is one of his best—short; unforgettable, highly recommended.” —Paul Levinson, author of The Plot to Save Socrates and The Silk Code “Peter Watts blows my mind every single time.” —Kelly Robson, author of Gods, Monsters, and the Lucky Peach “Darkness and awesome technology lurk in Peter Watts’new book, The Freeze-Frame Revolution.” —Vernor Vinge, author of A Fire Upon the Deep “In The Freeze-Frame Revolution, Peter Watts takes us millions of years into the future and hundreds of light-years away, where an isolated fragment of humanity must confront exotic physics, unfathomable entities, and the unforeseen consequences of their own technologies. But it is a profoundly human story about people, people not unlike us, under inescapable stress. A brilliant, thoughtful story bursting with radical ideas.” —David D. Levine, author of the Andre Norton Award-winning Arabella of Mars trilogy “A gripping story of a deep human future—the dependent relationship between human and AI tangles and grows with the delicious creep of suspense to the very last page. Watts is a poet when it comes to science. A pleasure to read.” —Justina Robson, author of Keeping it Real “ The Freeze-Frame Revolution is a slow-motion rebellion as heart-stopping as any roller coaster ride and will delight readers across the science fiction spectrum. It was a joy to read and I found myself unable to put it down once I got started.” —K. B. Wagers, author of Before the Throne and the forthcoming Farian War trilogy “Peter Watts is a triple threat: exacting hard science extrapolation, an imagination that runs hot enough to give you contact burns, and a gift for thrusting his characters in situations that will expand the mind while shattering even the most guarded of reader hearts. In The Freeze-Frame Revolution, he puts a handful of fragile human beings into a mind-bending, explosive and utterly inhuman situation, and lights a ten-thousand year fuse. Unforgettable!” —A. M. Dellamonica, author of Indigo Springs “Watts tak