Signal to Noise

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by: Eric S. Nylund

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Binding: Mass Market Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN: 9780380792924
ISBN: 0380792923
Label: Eos
Manufacturer: Eos
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 400
Publication Date: 1999-06
Publisher: Eos
Release Date: June 01, 1999
Studio: Eos

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Alternate Versions: Click to Display

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Editorial Review:

Product Description:
Jack Potter puts computer cryptography to work for the highest bidder: sometimes for private corporations, sometimes for the government. Sometimes the work is legal; if not, Jack simply raises his price. But one day, Jack discovers something cloaked in the hiss of background radiation streaming past the Earth from deep space: a message from an alien civilization. One that's eager to do business with humanity -- and its representative.

Before he knows it, Jack has entered into a partnership that will open a Pandora's Box of potential profit and loss. The governments, the multinationals, and mysterious players more powerful still, all want a piece of the action -- and they're willing to kill, even wage war, to get it. Now Jack is entangled shifting web of deceit and intrigue in which no one, not even his closest friends, can be trusted. For Earth's cloak-and-dagger business practices are writ large in the heavens...and hostile takeovers are just as common across light years as they are across boardroom tables.



Amazon.com Review:
Eric Nylund's fourth novel is touted by the publisher as "hyperpunk," but what is that, exactly? Is it the spastic child of cyberpunk? The willful offspring poking Father Gibson in the eye? While Signal to Noise introduces some fascinating virtual sleights of hand, the overall impression is of a continuation of the nano-techno-cyberpunk genre rather than a leap in evolution to a new form of fiction.

This latest offering from the former Microsoft employee will undoubtedly thrill writers of code and the romantics who call themselves hackers. Nylund's main characters are affixed with permanent implants allowing instant access to cyberspace; a virtuality so vivid that they often prefer the virtual over the reality. The trouble begins when Jack Potter, an encryption expert who's done some shady work for the NSO, finds and decodes a message buried in old astronomical data. Contact with the outreaching alien and information bartering result. Unfortunately, someone else is watching, too. "Down the hall, bars rattled. It was a nice touch. Cold churned in Jack's stomach, diffused down his legs and up his spine. It was synthetic fear generated by the bubble. He fought it. DeMitri took a set of keys from his pocket, picked one out, then opened a cell door ... 'Alcatraz'--he spread his arms in a grand gesture--'is a reflection of what's on your mind, Jack. Feeling guilty about something?'"

The brilliance of Signal to Noise is in the science: the idea of looking out into the swirling sea of the cosmos and finding patterns hidden amongst the static hiss of the births and deaths of stars. At times, the math itself has more depth than many of the characters, who tend to be reminiscent of stock figures in pulp fiction. Which isn't to say that there's no fun to be had here. As the novel progresses, the ante is upped until Jack is bartering the alien for Earth itself. An extra implant crammed into Jack's brain against his will is starting to burn out his optical nerve, and he's no longer sure who his friends are. Log on to Signal to Noise to find out who the bad guys are, and who, if anyone, is going to survive. --Jhana Bach




Rating: - Listen Up!
Eric's new book (Mortal Coils) will be out soon!!! Sometime in february i think, so keep an eye out for it!!! Make sure you buy it!

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Rating: - Signal to Sensational
Signal to Noise is without a doubt my favorite sci-fi novel to date. Nylund has woven some truly fantastic scientific concepts into action-packed narrative. I really think his vision of the future classroom it dead-on. -Stephen Prins, author of: Strife of the Lorin

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Rating: - Great Backdrop...... but where's the *Story*???
As I finished the nearly 400 page novel, I found myself wondering where the plot went. Don't get me wrong, Nyland describes a great deal of his future world in this novel, and throws in some interesting concepts about business of the future, as well as socio-political changes, but ultimately, a novel is about the story, not the descriptive details.

This richly detailed and excessively technobabble filled) backdrop serves as the settin for only an opening chapter of a story. At the ... Read More

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Rating: - A Geek Gone Bad
Signal to Noise is fast paced, clean, and above all: fun. The characters are solid. The story line makes sense while still being un-predictable, and Nylund's vison of the future is possible.

I enjoyed this work emmensely and will read it again and again throughout the future

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Rating: - On the edge of Stupendous
The frightenting and magical world of the future (think "Accelerando") is brilliantly portrayed in this sleeper of a winner. This could be one of the best two or three books of the year for its surrealistic sense of disquiet and angst. Our hero is one for the books - a souped up bubble worker who actually cares about folks.

The book wittily combines world politics, futuristic science and the stress of navigating the eddies of personal relationships. No one is quite whom they appear ... Read More

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