{"id":8260,"date":"2024-12-01T17:02:27","date_gmt":"2024-12-01T23:02:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/?p=8260"},"modified":"2025-04-08T12:32:46","modified_gmt":"2025-04-08T17:32:46","slug":"review-charles-stross-singularity-sky-offers-cornucopia-of-cutting-edge-sf-and-libertarian-vision","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/review-charles-stross-singularity-sky-offers-cornucopia-of-cutting-edge-sf-and-libertarian-vision\/","title":{"rendered":"Hall of Fame finalist review: Charles Stross’ Singularity Sky offers cornucopia of cutting-edge SF and libertarian themes"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Michael Grossberg<\/a><\/p>\n

Although published more than two decades ago, Singularity Sk<\/i>y (Ace Books, 2003) still feels fresh and brilliant in its cutting-edge SF and explicitly libertarian vision.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

A strong write-in candidate for Best Novel in the year it was first published more than two decades ago, Singularity S<\/em>ky has been nominated for the first time for the Prometheus Hall of Fame for Best Classic Fiction.<\/p>\n

Fabulously inventive and sophisticated in its cornucopia of world-building, Stross\u2019 widely acclaimed first novel successively introduces a wild variety of clashing cultures, divergent interests, hidden motives and compelling characters. Although some story elements might seem fanciful or within the realm of fantasy, all are ultimately rooted in plausible science fiction.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

A CORNUCOPIA OF SF IMAGINATION
\n<\/b>
\nA savvy adventure brimming with imagination, humor and wit, Stross\u2019s impressive first novel interweaves solid storytelling, intelligent space opera, romance, and some humor with an ingenious blend of SF concepts.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Among them: artificial intelligence, bioengineering, immortality, nanotechnology, time travel via faster-than-light starships, self-replicating information networks, and above all the Singularity, (first popularized by Vernor Vinge but nicely imagined and detailed by Stross).<\/p>\n

Kaleidoscopic and epic but also nuanced and intimate in its human drama, Singularity Sky <\/i>is set in the 25th century after a post-Singularity humanity has been disrupted by forces beyond its control – most notably, the mysterious super-intelligence named the Eschaton, a godlike A.I. that first developed self-awareness on Earth in the 21st century.<\/p>\n

Perhaps most impressively, Stross imagines a fascinating variety of cultures and levels of civilization coming into contact and conflict. That includes a libertarian Earth without coercive government and functioning exclusively through private contracts, several waves of radically alien visitors, and The New Republic, a reactionary and repressive set of Victorian-era-level colonies with secret police, a ruthless bureaucracy, and no Internet.<\/p>\n

RECOGNIZABLY HUMAN (AND LIBERTARIAN!) CHARACTERS
\n<\/b>
\nAt the sympathetic and most recognizably human center of the complex story is spaceship engineer Martin Springfield, an Earth-based contractor hired to provide technical work for the New Republic\u2019s fleet, and who finds himself forced to join a ship heading for battle.<\/p>\n

During preliminary vetting and questioning by New Republic officials, who simply can\u2019t imagine the possibility of a functioning society without authoritarian government, Martin reveals his very different and libertarian perspective about the realities back on his home planet:<\/p>\n

“Government?”
\nMartin rolled his eyes.
\n“I come from Earth. For legislation and insurance, I use Pinkertons, with a backup strategic infringement policy from the New Model Air Force. As far as employment goes, I am incorporated under charter as a personal corporation with bilateral contractual obligations to various organizations, including your own Admiralty. For reasons of nostalgia; I am a registered citizen of the People’s Republic of West Yorkshire, although I haven’t been back there for twenty years. But I wouldn’t say I was answerable to any of those, except my contractual partners – and they’re equally answerable to me.”<\/p>\n

Among the hundreds of human colonies scattered across interstellar space – some more or less authoritarian, but all ultimately dramatizing Stross\u2019 insights from an implicitly pro-freedom, pro-peace, pro-civilization perspective – is static backwater Rochard\u2019s World, loosely modeled after 19th-century Russia.<\/p>\n

A WOW OF AN OPENER<\/b><\/p>\n

In one of the freshest and most whimsical opening chapters of almost any SF novel of the past generation, Singularity Sky<\/i> sets up its framing mystery when alien cell phones begin dropping out of the sky onto Rochard\u2019s World.<\/p>\n

Gradually, its naive, unsuspecting, impoverished, oppressed citizens are exposed to a dizzying cascade of super modern goods and ideas by the alien Festival, an unusual group of advanced interstellar visitors who use cell phones to communicate with and seduce each planet\u2019s citizenry.<\/p>\n

Using orbiting Cornucopia machines to manufacture any conceivable technology, desirable goods or imaginable biological transformations, the Festival grants any and all wishes, however fantastical. Their only requirement: that others have something they find worth trading for – specifically, interesting new information, including art, culture, ideology and beliefs.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are seekers of information. We trade,\u201d the Festival informs one of the planet\u2019s citizens.
\n\u201cYou trade?\u201d Burya glanced up, a trifle disappointed. Interstellar capitalist entrepreneurs were not what he had been hoping for.\u201d<\/p>\n

A WITHERING OF THE STATE
\n<\/b>
\nBurya Rubenstein is a leading revolutionary among Rochard\u2019s World\u2019s underground of neo-Marxist and Soviet-commune-style revolutionaries, who\u2019ve been biding their time to liberate their colony from the New Republic.<\/p>\n

As the Singularity transforms his world, Burya is far from the only one struggling to navigate \u201cthrough a wasteland (that) had recently gone from bucolic feudalism to transcendent post humanism without an intervening stage\u201d and drifting \u201cthrough a dream of crumbling empires.\u201d<\/p>\n

One visitor to Rochard\u2019s World, eager to help, belatedly reveals Earth\u2019s initial intentions (before the Singularity) \u201cto ship power tools to their own home-grown libertarian underground for a decade now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Contra Marxist theory, Stross even wittily portrays a real-world \u201cwithering away of the State\u201d – one that \u201cwasn\u2019t destroyed by committees or soviets or worker\u2019s cadres; it was destroyed by people\u2019s wishes going true\u201d – along with the elimination of the cadres, who become superfluous after the planet\u2019s radical transformation by \u201cabout a thousand years of progress in less than a month.\u201d<\/p>\n

AN AUTHORITARIAN EMPIRE IN CRISIS
\n<\/b>
\nA rigidly hierarchical and aristocratic empire, The New Republic has suppressed modern technology on its colony worlds for generations. Yet, the elite use starships and some forbidden technologies as needed to protect their authoritarian rule.<\/p>\n

The stakes rise when a crisis is sparked from The New Republic\u2019s rash decision to take violent actions to defend its empire and stop the Festival’s distribution of prohibited technology.<\/p>\n

When the regime schemes to engage in illicit time travel to send its fleet into the past to stop the Festival before it has substantially disrupted Rochard\u2019s World, only a few people recognize such actions could provoke a wider disaster.<\/p>\n

THE ESCHATON\u2019S WARNING
\n<\/b>
\nEarth’s representatives, at least, take seriously the Eschaton\u2019s ban on time travel to protect the timeline by keeping it clear and paradox-free, and thus prevent any threats to its own extinction.\u00a0 <\/span>Moreover, if anyone truly crosses the line, the Eschaton has a track record of resorting to a scale of planetary extinction that can affect many other worlds within a radius of many light years.<\/p>\n

At least, the Eschaton offers a clear and far warning, placed on large permanent monuments on every human colony planet:<\/p>\n

1. I am the Eschaton. I am not your god.<\/em>
\n2. I am descended from you, and I exist in your future.<\/em>
\n3. Thou shalt not violate causality within my historic light cone. Or else.<\/em><\/p>\n

Also representing Earth\u2019s interests and wiser concerns is Rachel Mansour, a U.N. diplomat pre-stationed within the New Republic. Both Rachel and Martin share a libertarian perspective, a decency and compassion reflecting Earth\u2019s freer and more advanced society and a greater understanding of the Eschaton and its dangers.<\/p>\n

A LIBERTARIAN CONVERSATION
\n<\/b>
\nExplaining her libertarian views to a recalcitrant New Republic true believer, Rachel says: \u201c\u2026what you\u2019re protesting about boils down to a dislike for anything that disturbs the status quo. You see your government as a security blanket, a warm fluffy cover that\u2019ll protect everybody from anything bad all the time. There\u2019s a lot of that kind of thinking in the New Republic; the idea that people who aren\u2019t kept firmly in their place will automatically behave badly. But where I come from, most people have enough common sense to avoid things that\u2019d harm them; and those that don\u2019t, need to be taught. Censorship just drives problems underground.\u201d<\/p>\n

What a beautiful and insightful statement about the distorted and narrow thinking of authoritarian cultures, contrasted with the more optimistic and human attitudes of a free society!<\/p>\n

A back-and-forth conversation among Rachel, Martin and Vassily, a New Republic loyalist, is similarly illuminating – and poignant:<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been trying for years to tell your leaders, in the nicest possible way: information wants to be free. But they wouldn\u2019t listen,\u201d she said.
\n\u201cFor forty years we tried. Then along comes the Festival, which treats censorship as a malfunction and routes communications around it\u2026.
\n\u201cBut information isn\u2019t free. It can\u2019t be,\u201d Vassily objects.
\n\u201cI mean, some things – if anyone could read anything they wanted, they might read things that would tend to deprave and corrupt them, wouldn\u2019t they? People might give exactly the same consideration to blasphemous pornography that they pay to the Bible! They could plot against the state, or each other, without the police being able to listen in and stop them!\u201d
\nMartin sighed.
\n\u201cYou\u2019re still hooked on the state thing, aren’t you?\u201d he said. \u201cCan you take it from me, there are other ways of organizing your civilization?\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Charles Stross at Finncon in 2019 (Creative Commons license)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

THE GENIUS OF STROSS
\n<\/b>
\nKnown for his impressive constellation of big ideas, intelligently deployed for suspenseful and imaginative hard SF, Stross also excels at incorporating so-called \u2018social SF\u201d tropes exploring and contrasting the impact on humanity and social behavior of various political-economic systems – and in the process, revealing the relatively greater efficacy and ethics of freedom, with its corresponding greater accountability and responsibility.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>With so many characters, cultures and plot twists as well as flashes of wit and humanity, Singularity Sky <\/i>expertly <\/i>juggles its dizzying array of elements.<\/p>\n

Although part of the middle section focus a bit more on space battles than those who aren’t fans of military SF might prefer, even here the novel packs a cumulative punch while weaving deeper threads that amplify the overall dramatic arc and achieves a satisfying climax – and a wistful, hopeful epilog.<\/p>\n

A REAL RELATIONSHIP
\n<\/b>
\nAs a bonus, Stross balances his big ideas with the intimacy and caring of a very human relationship that develops between Martin and Rachel, two people I came to care about very much.<\/p>\n

Although each has their own goals and motives, these two Earth-culture-based libertarians learn to connect, develop some genuine chemistry together and work toward a common end, beyond mere survival.<\/p>\n

Both Martin and Rachel face suspicions and misunderstandings, with Rachel further discounted by the patriarchal New Republic, simply because the male bureaucrats and starship crew aren\u2019t used to smart, independent women who speak up when they sense danger.<\/p>\n

Among the most intriguing misunderstandings, from the perspective of libertarians, is how the New Republic views Rachel\u2019s U.N. affiliation as governmental, when actually the United Nations in this future is described by Earth citizens as a private agency operating through contracts but without state enforcement power. (And I suppose, if you\u2019re a libertarian who favors an extremely limited government – rather than anarchocapitalism – then it should be easy for you to view the U.N. as described here as actually pretty close to that ideal, too.)<\/p>\n

THE POLITICS OF ADULTHOOD
\n<\/b>
\nMore profoundly, Stross explores and accurately contrasts the psychology of authoritarians and libertarians, framing the key difference as a choice between the rational, responsible politics of adulthood and the irresponsible, infantilizing politics that reduces adults to babies controlled by a Big Brother, Dominating Daddy or Smothering Mother State.<\/p>\n

For instance, a New Republic military officer, brought up his entire life to accept the reactionary assumptions of a command-and-control society, continues to flounder and is unable to grasp the new realities of a world of freedom and adulthood that he never has experienced and never imagined:<\/p>\n

Vassily glanced to them in bewilderment, his ears beginning to glow bright red,
\n\u201cYou\u2019ve got a lot to learn about the real world, kid,\u201d Martin tells him.
\n\u201cWill you stop calling me a child!\u201d
\nRachel hunched around in her chair and stared at him.
\n\u201cBut you are, you know. Even if you were sixty years old, you\u2019d still be a child to me. As long as you expect someone or something else to take responsibility for you, you\u2019re a child. You could fuck your way through every brothel in New Prague, and you\u2019d still be an overgrown schoolboy.\u201d
\nShe looked at him sadly.
\n\u201cWhat would you call a parent who never let their children grow up? That\u2019s what we think of your government.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ultimately, through Rachel and Martin\u2019s eyes, readers of Singularity Sky <\/i>come to appreciate more clearly the flaws of repressive and regressive regimes while opening up our minds to new vistas of freedom and human possibility.<\/p>\n

Note:<\/strong> Singularity Sky, <\/em>initially a contender in 2003 for Best Novel as a write-in candidate (written in on the finalist ballot when it was discovered by LFS members after the normal mid-February nominating deadline), is one of 10 nominees for the next Prometheus Hall of Fame for Best Classic Fiction.<\/p>\n

The Hall of Fame finalist judging committee is expected to select and announce next year’s slate of finalists by the end of the year.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

IF YOU WANT TO KNOW MORE ABOUT THE PROMETHEUS AWARDS:<\/b><\/p>\n

* Prometheus winners:\u00a0For the full list of Prometheus winners, finalists and nominees \u2013 including the annual Best Novel and Best Classic Fiction (Hall of Fame) categories and occasional Special Awards \u2013 visit the enhanced\u00a0Prometheus Awards page<\/a>\u00a0on the LFS website, which now includes convenient links to all published essay-reviews in our Appreciation series explaining why each of more than 100 past winners since 1979 fits the awards\u2019 distinctive dual focus on both quality and liberty.<\/p>\n

* Read \u201cThe Libertarian History of Science Fiction,\u201d<\/a> an essay in the international magazine\u00a0Quillette<\/i>\u00a0that favorably highlights the Prometheus Awards, the Libertarian Futurist Society and the significant element of libertarian sf\/fantasy in the evolution of the modern genre.<\/p>\n

*\u00a0Watch videos of past Prometheus Awards ceremonies (including the recent 2023 ceremony<\/a> with inspiring and amusing speeches by Prometheus-winning authors Dave Freer<\/a> and Sarah Hoyt)<\/a>, Libertarian Futurist Society panel discussions with noted sf authors and leading libertarian writers, and other LFS programs on the Prometheus Blog\u2019s\u00a0Video page.<\/a><\/p>\n

* Check out the Libertarian Futurist Society\u2019s Facebook page<\/a> for comments, updates and links to Prometheus Blog posts.<\/p>\n

*\u00a0Join us! To help sustain the Prometheus Awards and support a cultural and literary strategy to appreciate and honor freedom-loving fiction, \u00a0join<\/a> the Libertarian Futurist Society, a non-profit all-volunteer association of freedom-loving sf\/fantasy fans.<\/p>\n

Libertarian futurists believe that culture matters! We understand that the arts and literature can be vital in envisioning a freer and better future – and in some ways can be even more powerful than politics in the long run, by imagining better visions of the future incorporating peace, prosperity, progress, tolerance, justice, positive social change, and mutual respect for each other\u2019s rights, individuality and human dignity.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Michael Grossberg Although published more than two decades ago, Singularity Sky (Ace Books, 2003) still feels fresh and brilliant in its cutting-edge SF and explicitly libertarian vision. A strong write-in candidate for Best Novel in the year it was first published more than two decades ago, Singularity Sky has been nominated for the first … Continue reading Hall of Fame finalist review: Charles Stross’ Singularity Sky offers cornucopia of cutting-edge SF and libertarian themes<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2353,8,35],"tags":[278,150,2514,477,2507,2308,1011,2515,268,2505,2506,441],"class_list":["post-8260","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-book-reviews","category-review","category-selected-book-reviews","tag-anarchy","tag-charles-stross","tag-eschaton","tag-freedom","tag-ftl-drive","tag-government","tag-libertarian","tag-new-republic","tag-prometheus-hall-of-fame","tag-singularity-sky","tag-the-festival","tag-time-travel"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pe8nGl-29e","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8260","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8260"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8260\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8895,"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8260\/revisions\/8895"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8260"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8260"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8260"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}