Exploring the nature of intelligence and the unexpected consequences of progress, the meaning of personhood and life, and what we really have to fear from technology and the future, Toward eternity is a gorgeous, thought-provoking novel that challenges the notion of what makes us human-and how love survives even the end of that humanity.
"The stories brought together in this collection introduce for the first time in English the dazzling speculative imaginings of Djuna, one of South Korea's most provocative SF writers. Whether describing a future society light years away or satirizing Confucian patriarchy, these stories evoke a universe at once familiar and clearly fantastical. Also collected here for the first time are all six stories set in the Linker Universe, where a mutating virus sends human beings reeling through the galaxy into a dizzying array of fracturing realities. Blending influences ranging from genre fiction (zombie, vampire, SF, you name it) to golden-age cinema to Conrad's Heart of Darkness, Djuna's stories together form a brilliantly intertextual, mordantly funny critique of the human condition as it evolves into less and more than what it once was"--
Delving into the essence of intelligence and the unforeseen repercussions of advancement, this novel examines personhood, the meaning of life, and our fears surrounding technology's future. It provocatively questions the foundations of humanity while portraying how love endures even amidst the potential loss of that humanity. Through its rich narrative, it invites readers to reflect on profound philosophical themes and the complexities of emotional connections in a rapidly evolving world.
"For fans of the worlds of Philip K. Dick, Squid Game, and Severance: An absorbing tale of corporate intrigue, political unrest, unsolved mysteries, and the havoc wreaked by one company's monomaniacal endeavor to build the world's first space elevator-from one of South Korea's most revered science fiction writers, whose identity remains unknown. On the fictional island of Patusan-and much to the ire of the Patusan natives-the Korean conglomerate LK is constructing an elevator into Earth's orbit, gradually turning this one-time tropical resort town into a teeming travel hub: a gateway to and from our planet. Up in space, holding the elevator's "spider cable" taut, is a mass of space junk known as the counterweight. And it's here that lies the key-a trove of personal data left by LK's former CEO, of dire consequence to the company's, and humanity's, future. Racing up the elevator to retrieve the data is a host of rival forces: Mac, the novel's narrator and LK's Chief of External Affairs, increasingly disillusioned with his employer; the everyman Choi Gangwu, unwittingly at the center of Mac's investigations; the former CEO's brilliant niece and his power-hungry son; and a violent officer from LK's Security Division, Rex Tamaki-all caught in a labyrinth of fake identities, neuro-implant "Worms," and old political grievances held by the Patusan Liberation Front, the army of island natives determined to protect their sovereignty. Conceived by Djuna as a low-budget science fiction film, with literary references as wide-ranging as Joseph Conrad and the Marquis de Sade, The Counterweight is part cyberpunk, part hardboiled detective fiction, and part parable of Korea's neocolonial ambition and its rippling effects"-- Provided by publisher