Special Order – Holy Fire

Got this in the mail today. Back in the 90s, when I was living in San Francisco, Bruce Sterling was one of my favorite authors, and this remains one of my favorite books of all time. It’s a science fiction novel that takes place in the late 21st century, and is about a reserved old woman, Mia, who has a medical procedure that makes her young again. After the operation, she starts calling herself Maya and flees to Europe to live a bohemian, artistic lifestyle. Sterling was pretty popular back then, part of the cyberpunk movement, but nowadays most of his books are out of print. I ordered this from eBay for five bucks – which included shipping. Goes to show how fickle the literary gods are….

Currently reading.

This is actually three books in one, Chinua Achebe’s “African” trilogy, including “Things Fall Apart” from 1958. This work pretty much launched post-colonial literature and paved the way for the generation of great African writers who came after, including the wondrous Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.