Shadow Of The Scorpion A Novel of the Polity by Neal Asher

Shadow Of The Scorpion A Novel of the Polity by Neal Asher

This is a science fiction novel. It is about a spy, Ian Cormac, a remorseless man with a capacity for extreme violence and an ability to think on his feet. There is a lot of action and intrigue in this novel.

This story is the beginning of Ian Cormac's career. It starts wtih Ian Cormac's first tour of duty in the military. The setting is at the end of a war between the human Polity and the Prador, a vicious predatory alien carnivorous species who view humans as exotic cattle.

Not all of humanity likes being part of the Polity. Artificial intelligences have taken over creating an age of prosperity for humanity. People are better housed, clothed, and educated. Still, people want their freedom. Not everyone wants to be integrated into a machine society.

There are flashbacks to Ian's childhood. His mother reminds him that he should be an adult before he accepts any cybernetic enhancements. Part of the theme of this novel is the relation between man and machine and what keeps us human.

Ian Cormac finds himself at the wrong place at the right time. He is recruited by the artificial intelligences to investigate rebel activity next to a fallen Prador ship. His job is to prevent the rebels from getting access to alien weapons of mass destruction.

It is a trial by fire for Ian who must outthink the rebels and outfight them despite being untrained in espionage. Cormac demonstrates constant ruthlessness, biting sarcasm, willingness to tinker with deadly weapons, and the ability to mislead with the best.

There is a second thread with flashbacks to Ian's childhood. His mother has excised many of the memories which would have caused him pain or remorse. Many of these memories are about the war with the Prador. A rogue artificial intelligence helps him remember about his fathers death and other painful childhood memories. The removed memories are part of what make him so dangerous.

This novel is very dark. It asks a lot of philosophical questions. What divides humans from machines? How can we maintain our freedom and individuality in an artificial world? Combined with the philosophical questions are all out fast paced action sequences. The artificial intelligences come across as more human than humanity. I had a hard time putting this novel down.

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Ellery Queen (left), American mystery writer, and James Yaffe

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Cory Doctorow: Writing In The Age of Distraction http://www.locusmag.com/Features/2009/01/cory-doctorow-writing-in-age-of.html

Today was interesting. We had two rounds of meetings with local service agencies; one at 10 a.m. and one at 2 p.m. We talked about the services which are available at our library, and gave a variety of handouts to the visiting agencies. The agencies wanted a variety of improvements. They would like a service to fill out government forms; a map of the library, and many other improvements.

We had coffee, tea, fruit, and some pastries. I ended up speaking twice about the service brochure which I wrote with my colleague. This is the first time it has been shown to the public. It is a work in progress right now. I think I did fine with it. I am not that used to doing community outreach.

Something I noticed while we were working on the design of the new services brochure in Microsoft Publisher is that working on this blog has considerably changed my sense of design. Looking at lots of blogs gives you an idea of which two and three column pages work well. You end up reading lots of two and three column documents if you follow blogs. I think that it has improved my basic editing skills considerably.

Manipulating text boxes has become much easier in microsoft documents because of how blogs are broken up into discreet bites. I had previously designed flyers in Microsoft Word, but this is the first time I am using publisher to create documents. I am looking forward to further training in how to use publisher to create documents. So far, I have worked on bookmarks, 5 1/2 by 8 1/2 inch pages, flyers, and brochures. I think I might try and design a business card in publisher on card stock.

I had a chance to finish reading The Shadow of the Scorpion by Neal Asher on the way home. I will begin writing a review tomorrow. The Lost Art of Walking: The History, Science, and Literature of Pedestrianism by Geoff Nicholson came in for me to read. I once again have to many books to read. It has become a habit now that I have began writing about books that I have several to read.

Many books after reading the first chapter cease appealing to me. I find this happens more and more as I read more. Learning about grammar, editing, and reviewing changes your view on books considerably.

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Peter S. Beagle at University of California Berkeley. He is the writer of The Last Unicorn and A Fine and Private Place.

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Here goes. Today was rather interesting. I ordered some military titles and did some more weeding. A new book came in for me, Shadow of the Scorpion, A Novel of the Polity by Neal Asher. It is a science fiction novel. I even started reading it on the train home.

Mostly I have been printing up fliers, a new email reference flyer, a flyer for Weslaw Patron Access Computers, and a flyer for Learn-A Test databases. I also have been working on a new service brochure which we are going to present to a group of visiting people from the local service agencies. I am looking forward to the event tomorrow. It should be quite interesting.

I spent time folding up the new brochures about services available at the library, and cutting out "How To Get A Library Card" bookmarks for tomorrows meeting this evening. There are stacks of brochures, flyers and bookmarks on my desk ready to go. I still have quite a bit to go tomorrow.