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Watermind
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Product Description
From storm drains, illegal dumps, and flooded landfills, all of North America’s most advanced technology flows down the Mississippi River—microchips, nano-devices, pharmaceuticals, genetically modified seed—and lodges in the Louisiana delta. Out of this mire emerges a self-organized neural net, drifting in the water: the Watermind. It can freeze, boil, condense, and move—seemingly at will.
Both infuriating and sympathetic, CJ Reilly is a brilliant, sexy, self-destructive MIT dropout running away from Cambridge and the suicide of her ironic, emotionally-distant father. She is working as a laborer in Devil’s Swamp near Baton Rouge, cleaning up a small pollution spill, when she and her new lover, Max, discover the mysterious Watermind. Reilly’s more interested in investigating it than containing it, but when it kills someone and escapes into the Mississippi, corporations, governments, protesters, the Coast Guard, and a really wacky underground journalist get involved. And there’s no longer any question that it must be destroyed before it reaches the ocean. Watermind is Philip K. Dick meets The Blob, a postmodern combination of camp SF motifs and writerly ambition attacking serious subjects.
Product Details
- Amazon Sales Rank: #339898 in Books
- Published on: 2008-11-11
- Released on: 2008-11-11
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Binding: Hardcover
- 304 pages
Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
Buckner (War Surf) theorizes a brand-new intelligence emerging from electronic trash in this cautionary near-future tale. When troubled MIT grad school dropout CJ Reilly encounters bizarre ice covering steamy Louisiana's polluted Devil's Pond, she has visions of saving the world after she analyzes a sample and discovers its power to purify water. Then the mysterious substance responds to music and begins to move, and Reilly becomes convinced of its sentience. When it kills a man, scientist Roman Sacony, whose company owns the pond, is determined to utterly destroy the emerging life form, while CJ insists on trying to save it. Despite the suspense and nonstop action, unlikable characters make it hard to root for anyone, and the scientifically sound ending is narratively unsatisfying. The story succeeds best when it traverses Louisiana's geography, and only indifferently when it traverses the human heart. (Nov.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Review
—Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine
“A bold idea. Well-drawn characters. A gripping tale. A first-class novel.”
—Ben Bova
“The action comes crisp and smart in this fast-moving novel, rich in ideas. I liked it a lot.”
--Gregory Benford
“Part techno-thriller, part speculative science, and all quality.”
—Mike Resnick
About the Author
M.M. Buckner won the Philip K. Dick Award for her last SF novel, War Surf. She lives in Brentwood, Tennessee.
Customer Reviews
It floats!
I really enjoyed reading this book. It seems to be a cautionary tale, warning us of the folly of using nature as our very own dumping ground, yet it also shows that something beautiful can come out of garbage.
Some of the science was simplistic, though that was probably necessary to keep the story running and not become weighed down with theoretical nonsense. A lot of the water science, though was pretty accurate and really made that part of the story hold together.
I was left wanting more, though I suppose that sets the stage for a sequel, which I will also read and be happy with if it's half as good as this book.
All in all, WATERMIND is a good read; suspend your disbelief and dive in, the water's fine!
engaging cautionary science fiction 
Although her future seemed bright, CJ Reilly dropped out of MIT graduate school. She heads south with hopes of cleansing her disturbed mind. In sweltering but polluted Devil's Pond, Louisiana she finds a strange phenomena that should not be there: ice. After testing a sample, CJ believes she has found a magical elixir to save the water supply; the ice purifies water.
However, the ice turns even more mysterious when she observes it react to music and display locomotion skills. When the ice kills scientist Roman Saxony, CJ reconsiders her belief she will be a world hero. Instead she needs to destroy the metamorphosing ice that has "waded" into the Mississippi before it destroys the world.
An engaging cautionary science fiction warning people to watch how they dispose of their discards (in this case electronic, but easily extrapolates to drugs in the water systems and nuclear energy byproduct waste, etc). In some ways the ice seems like the Blob; however unlike both of the films that stars heroes, none of the humans especially CJ is heroic as everyone seems to have their own agenda. Fans will enjoy touring Louisiana with the WATERMIND host.
Harriet Klausner
Receives an excellent narration by Tanya Eby Sirois
M.M. Buckner's WATERMIND receives an excellent narration by Tanya Eby Sirois and tells of a dangerous life evolving in toxic waterways. A sexy self-destructive dropout cleaning up a small pollution spill comes across the mysterious Watermind - and finds it holds a murderous danger to all.
