Perdido Street Station
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| Perdido Street Station | |
.jpg) Cover of first UK edition |
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| Author | China Miéville |
|---|---|
| Illustrator | Edward Miller |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Series | Bas-Lag novels |
| Genre(s) | Speculative fiction |
| Publisher | Macmillan |
| Publication date | 2000 |
| Media type | print (hardcover & paperback) |
| Pages | 710 pp |
| ISBN | 0-333-78172-4 |
| Preceded by | King Rat |
| Followed by | The Scar |
Perdido Street Station is the second published novel by China Miéville, and the first in a series that is set in the fictional world of Bas-Lag, a world where both magic (referred to as 'thaumaturgy') and steampunk technology exist. Perdido Street Station is set in Bas-Lag's large city-state of New Crobuzon.
The novel was nominated for the 2002 Nebula Award for Best Novel and Hugo Award for Best Novel.[1][2] It won the Arthur C. Clarke Award and the British Fantasy Society's August Derleth Award in 2001 and both the Premio Ignotus (2002) and Kurd Laßwitz (2003) Best Foreign Novel Awards.[3][4][5][6] It also won the Amazon.com Editors' Choice Award in Fantasy in 2001.[7] In May 2009, it will be available as an audiobook from Random House.[8]
Contents |
[edit] Plot
In an interview, Miéville described this book as "basically a secondary world fantasy with Victorian era technology. So rather than being a feudal world, it's an early industrial capitalist world of a fairly grubby, police statey kind!" [9]
Isaac Dan der Grimnebulin is an eccentric scientist living in the city of New Crobuzon with his Khepri girlfriend Lin. While Lin, an artist, is commissioned to create a sculpture of mob boss Mr. Motley, Isaac is offered a unique challenge. He is approached by the garuda Yagharek, who asks for the restoration of his wings which were cut off by his tribe as punishment for a crime that he claims has no human equivalent. Isaac is sparked by the seemingly impossible nature of the task, and gathers all manners of flying beasts to study in his lab - including multicolored, unidentifiable larvae gathered through illicit means. Once Isaac learns that the caterpillar only eats a hallucinogenic drug called "dreamshit", he begins to feed it, unwittingly stimulating its metamorphosis into an incredibly dangerous, hypnotic and monstrously large butterfly-like insect, a slake-moth, that feeds off the dreams of sentient beings, leaving them as catatonic vegetables. Later, it is revealed that dreamshit is in fact the "milk" of a fully-grown dream slake-moth, and that four other such creatures have been sold to Mr. Motley, a hideously Remade crime boss, and "milked" to produce the drug. When the fifth larva transforms and escapes, it frees its brethren, and together they plague the citizens of New Crobuzon until Isaac can find a way to stop them.
[edit] Characters
- Isaac Dan der Grimnebulin, a human scientist, dabbling in all fields but obsessed with his pet theory of "crisis energy". Lover to Lin, and close friends with Derkhan Blueday.
- Yagharek, an exiled and de-winged Garuda from the Cymek Desert, far south of New Crobuzon. He comes to Isaac in order to have his flight restored, no matter how (nor the cost).
- Lin, Isaac's lover, and a Khepri artist who is commissioned by the gangster Mr. Motley to create a sculpture in his form.
- Derkhan Blueday, a middle-aged lesbian and seditionist, co-editor of the Runagate Rampant (an underground newspaper).
- Lemuel Pigeon, Isaac's contact with New Crobuzon's criminal underworld.
- Mr. Motley, New Crobuzon's most feared ganglord, who runs a dreamshit harvesting operation, among many other nefarious activities. He presumably originated as a human but has altered his body many times through remaking, into an amorphous collection of body parts and appendages.
- Mayor Bentham Rudgutter, the corrupt mayor of New Crobuzon who bargains deals with crime syndicates and demons alike.
- MontJohn Rescue, an ambassador of the feared handlingers (powerful parasites who take over other species as hosts), working for the mayor.
- Teafortwo, a dim-witted and friendly Wyrman who runs small favours for Isaac.
- Construct Council, a hive-minded artificial intelligence formed in the city's rubbish dump. It controls many Constructs (simplistic robots originally engineered for janitorial and other purposes) in New Crobuzon.
- The Weaver, a multi-dimensional being in the form of a giant spider, who speaks in a never-ending torrent of free-verse poetry.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, 2002 SFWA Final Nebula Awards Ballot, http://www.sfwa.org/awards/2003/NebFinal2002.html, retrieved on 2008-04-20
- ^ World Science Fiction Society, The 2002 Hugo Award & Campbell Award Winners, http://www.fanac.org/conjose/wsfs/hugo_nominees.htm, retrieved on 2008-04-20
- ^ The Arthur C. Clarke Award, 2001 Winner, http://www.clarkeaward.com/index.php?view=article&catid=34%3APrevious+Winners&id=55%3A2001+Winner&option=com_content&Itemid=58, retrieved on 2008-04-20
- ^ British Fantasy Society, BFS Awards - Past Winners, http://www.britishfantasysociety.org/past-awards.html#2001, retrieved on 2008-04-20
- ^ Asociación Española de Fantasía, Ciencia Ficción y Terror, (List of Premio Ignotus award winners, in Spanish), http://www.aefcft.com/ignotus/resumen.htm, retrieved on 2008-04-20
- ^ The Locus Index to SF Awards: Kurd Lasswitz Preis Winners by Year, http://www.locusmag.com/SFAwards/Db/LasswitzWinsByYear.html, retrieved on 2008-04-20
- ^ Amazon.com, 2001 Editors' Choice: Fantasy, http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html/ref=amb_link_1401432_12?ie=UTF8&docId=221114&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=left-2&pf_rd_r=1R1EMP18HHE2R4J3AZKM&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=218533301&pf_rd_i=725796, retrieved on 2008-04-20
- ^ Random House, Inc., Perdido Street Station by China Miéville - Unabridged Audiobook Download, http://www.randomhouse.com/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780739384268, retrieved on 2008-10-13
- ^ Marshall, Richard (February 2003), "The Road to Perdido: An Interview with China Miéville", 3:AM Magazine, http://www.3ammagazine.com/litarchives/2003/feb/interview_china_mieville.html, retrieved on 2008-04-20
[edit] External links
- Perdido Street Station publication history at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
- Audio review and discussion of Perdido Street Station at The Science Fiction Book Review Podcast
- Runagate Rampant: Perdido Street Station description, list of awards, publication history, and annotations.
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