Donnerjack

Donnerjack

In our world, called the Verite, he is a Scottish laird, an engineer, and a master of virtual reality design. In the computer-generated universe of Virtu, created by the crash of the World Net, he is a living legend. Scientist and poet with a warrior's soul, Donnerjack strides like a giant across the virtual landscape he helped to shape. And now he has bargained with Death himself for the return of love. The Lord of Entropy claimed Ayradyss, Donnerjack's beloved dark-haired lady of Virtu, with no warning, leaving a hole in the Engineer's heart. But Death offered to return her to him for a price: a palace of bones...and their first-born child. Since offspring have never before resulted from any union of the two worlds, Donnerjack accepts Death's conditions--and leads his reborn lover far from the detritus and perpetual twilight of Deep Fields to his ancestral Scottish lands, hoping to build a sanctuary and a self for Ayradyss in the first world. But there is no escaping, because cataclysmic change is taking place in Virtu. A bizarre new religion is sweeping through this ever-shifting universe where the homely can be virtually beautiful, the lame can walk and the blind can see. Now it's threatening to spill over into Verite. And its credo is a call for a different kind of order. For all the ancient myths still occupy Virtu. And the Great Gods on Mt. Meru are amassing great armies in anticipation of the time when a vast computer system attempts to take over the reality that constructed it. This "new" Roger Zelazny work was finished posthumously with the help of his coauthor and friend, Jane Lindskold. Unlike some after-the-fact "collaborations," this one has Zelazny written all over it. It's a typical tale from one of science fiction's greats, a world-spanning story that deals heavily with mythology and the ability to cross between two realities. In this case the realities are the real world, Verité, and the virtual world, Virtù. When Donnerjack--one of the architects of Virtù--loses his lover Ayradyss, he makes a pact with Death to return her from the dead. In return, Death demands their first-born child, who will be the first baby born from a Verité/Virtù union, and a force to be reckoned with in both worlds. Zelazny died in 1995 after beginning this next-to-last hard sf collaboration with Lindskold. They have created a dazzling, 22nd-century future in which the real world, Verite, coexists with a computer-generated realm, Virtu. While citizens of Verite can visit the virtual world, denizens of Virtu cannot exist in Verite until John D'Arcy Donnerjack makes a deal with Death to save his beloved Virtual, Ayradyss. She is the first to cross over to Verite in exchange for giving their firstborn son to Death. First Donnerjack and then his son must find a way to cheat Death. In this intricately plotted novel, the authors create believable, densely populated worlds with a richness of characterization and subplots that will leave readers believing in Virtu. Highly recommended for most sf collections. Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc. The late Zelazny's last novel, completed by Lindskold, is one of his largest and most ambitious. In the future, a worldwide computer net has crashed, in the process having created a virtual-reality alternate world complete with its own gods. A century or so after the crash, the gods of the virtual-reality world are ambitious to conquer ours, and one Jay Donnerjack, son of a creator of the original net, becomes a classic champion figure. Zelazny and his posthumous collaborator tackle a venerable theme with wholly satisfactory competence. They make Jay seriously sweat for his victory, and they demonstrate, among other things, an impressive folkloric scholarship and prose styles that mesh almost seamlessly. All the mythic resonances we have come to expect from Zelazny are here in abundance, making for a fine tale but also making us regret even more his premature departure. Roland Green Begun by Zelazny before his death in 1995, and completed by collaborator Lindskold: a novel combining virtual reality with Zelazny's abiding interest in gods and mythology within a science fiction setting (e.g., Lord of Light, 1967). Early in the 22nd century, the real world, Verit‚, coexists with a computer-universe, Virt—, created--or maybe discovered--during the Genesis Scramble when the world computer net crashed. Engineer John D'Arcy Donnerjack of Verit‚ loves Ayradyss of Virt—, so when she dies, John petitions death for her return. Death agrees but demands John's firstborn child. But then John is astounded when Ayradyss reappears--in Verit‚! Soon, too, she becomes pregnant, then dies- -permanently--shortly after giving birth. Furious, John challenges Death and fights him to a draw, thereby winning a reprieve for young Jay--though when John dies, he must be raised by robot Dack. Meanwhile, the gods of Virt—, Seaga, Skyga, and Earthma, are plotting to invade and subdue Verit‚. Later, Jay,