Count to a Trillion

I just finished John C. Wright's science fiction novel Count to a Trillion. Having wished to read The Hermetic Millennia, I was advised to pick up the preceding novel first. I'm glad I did.

Count to a Trillion introduces Menelaus Illation Montrose, a lawyer specializing in "out of court settlements" based on Spanish dueling traditions revived by beleaguered landowners to circumvent confiscatory twenty-third century property laws.

Montrose's mathematical genius allows him to thrive in a Texas--devastated by germ warfare, depopulation, and governmental collapse--where duels are decided by the sophistication of each duelist's pre-programmed bullets. (Wright describes the evolutionary weapons escalation that produced his future setting's nine-pound, foot long pistols in highly creative detail.)

Fate seemingly intervenes when Montrose is approached by the organizers of mankind's first voyage to another star. The protagonist, who grew up idolizing (to him) ancient Star Trek cartoons, becomes obsessed with deciphering the (to humans) unintelligible glyphs covering the alien monument found in orbit around an antimatter star. To this end, he takes matters into his own hands by injecting himself with an experimental drug based in part on the monument's own undeciphered calculus. The process increases Montrose's intelligence to superhuman levels but also plunges him into raving, finger-biting depths of madness.

And then the story starts.

Combining a grand vision of human destiny reminiscent of Frank Herbert's Dune and technological savvy to rival William Gibson (plus rustic humor and truly sympathetic characters often missing from both), Count to a Trillion comes highly recommended.

The Passion of St. Bill

As far as movie adaptations of his books go, William Gibson ranks close behind Stephen King on the disappointment scale. New Rose Hotel was good, if not very accessible. There were two X-Files episodes: one decent, the other...wanting. Then you have the tragic rejection of his script for Alien III, especially considering what we got instead. What's to be said when your best-known film is Johnny Mnemonic?

Now, after a long hiatus, news of a new film project based on a William Gibson book has surfaced--and not just any book; but the seminal story that is perhaps the jewel in the sci-fi author's crown. Word from the Cannes Film Festival is that Gibson's breakthrough novel Neuromancer has been picked up for production. Some healthy skepticism is natural at this point, but the few reported details seem to hint at light on the horizon.

The first promising sign is that Vincenzo Natali is attached to direct. Considering his work on Cube, it's hard to imagine someone better qualified to helm this project. Also intriguing is the fact that Tokyo, Istanbul, and London; all of which are either visited or mentioned in the novel, have been cited as shooting locations.

If anyone is holding his breath over the outcome of this project, it isn't Gibson. The iconic author responded to the news via his Twitter account, advising fans to quit worrying about Neuromancer in favor of preparing for the impending eschaton.