Babylon Babies
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Overview
Set in the hidden "flesh and chip" breeding grounds of the first cyborg communities and peopled by Siberian mafiosi, Babylon Babies has as its hero a hard-boiled leatherneck veteran of Sarajevo named Toorop. His latest assignment is to escort a young woman named Marie Zorn from Russia to Canada. But when Toorop is offered an even higher fee by another organization, he realizes Marie is no ordinary girl. A schizophrenic and the possible carrier of a new artificial virus, Marie is bearing a mutant embryo created by an American cult, the Cosmic Church of the New Resurrection. They dream of producing a genetically modified messiah, which will end all human life as we know it.Synopsis
In a futuristic thriller, a veteran of Sarajevo must escort a young woman pregnant with a mutant embryo, a genetically modified messiah whose birth may signal the end of human life as we know it.
Publishers Weekly
Explosive and paranoid, this futuristic fable by French sci-fi novelist Dantec explores the frightening ramifications of genetic experimentation. In a constantly shifting world conflict circa 2013, violent-minded (though well-read) Hugo Cornelius Toorop, a 20-year Special Forces veteran of the Bosnian conflict, is offered a lucrative new job by the Siberian mafia in Kazakhstan to transport a young woman to Montreal. Who is Marie Zorn, and what does she carry that is top secret? Armed with new identities and the requisite grenades, Hugo, along with his expert team-the gun-happy Israeli Rebecca Waterman and the hard-core Belfast rebel Dowie-get her to Montreal, where it becomes clear that Marie is a pawn in a vast, pernicious artificial biosphere program and that, moreover, she's pregnant, feared to be carrying an animal clone, and thus contaminated. The nimble, hyperbolic Dantec creates a surreal alternate identity for her on the streets of Quebec through a kind of virtual death. Toorop is pressed by a New Age army of cyborgs (aka Cosmic Dragons) to find Marie and bring her back, and under drug experiments he penetrates the double helix to achieve a surprisingly humanistic conclusion. Riddled with acronyms and pop culture allusions, this is an intense, intellectually labyrinthine ride. (Nov.) Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.
Editorials
Publishers Weekly
Explosive and paranoid, this futuristic fable by French sci-fi novelist Dantec explores the frightening ramifications of genetic experimentation. In a constantly shifting world conflict circa 2013, violent-minded (though well-read) Hugo Cornelius Toorop, a 20-year Special Forces veteran of the Bosnian conflict, is offered a lucrative new job by the Siberian mafia in Kazakhstan to transport a young woman to Montreal. Who is Marie Zorn, and what does she carry that is top secret? Armed with new identities and the requisite grenades, Hugo, along with his expert team-the gun-happy Israeli Rebecca Waterman and the hard-core Belfast rebel Dowie-get her to Montreal, where it becomes clear that Marie is a pawn in a vast, pernicious artificial biosphere program and that, moreover, she's pregnant, feared to be carrying an animal clone, and thus contaminated. The nimble, hyperbolic Dantec creates a surreal alternate identity for her on the streets of Quebec through a kind of virtual death. Toorop is pressed by a New Age army of cyborgs (aka Cosmic Dragons) to find Marie and bring her back, and under drug experiments he penetrates the double helix to achieve a surprisingly humanistic conclusion. Riddled with acronyms and pop culture allusions, this is an intense, intellectually labyrinthine ride. (Nov.) Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.Library Journal
In a near future plagued by wars and other disasters, a mercenary named Thoorop, a veteran of Sarajevo, accepts a commission to transport a young woman named Marie Zorn to Canada from Russia. As the pair travel across Europe to North America, other groups make offers for Marie, and Thoorop realizes that she is no normal woman, but a vessel for a mutant embryo whose hardwired genetic makeup could change the world. A cult hit when first published in France, this savvy sf adventure by the author of The Red Siren features memorable characters, a speedy plot, and a visionary glimpse of a world on the brink of cosmic transformation. Soon to be a movie directed by Mathieu Kassovitz (Gothika), this novel is recommended for larger sf collections. Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.From the Publisher
"Dantec has created a compelling story with evocative ideas that may prove even more illuminating with subsequent readings, and a reader who undertakes the arduous journey from cover to cover will be rewarded with an entertaining tale." Arthur Bangs sffworld.comSemiotext(e)
"Dantec is a literary revolution." Science Fiction
Semiotext(e)
" Babylon Babies, an under-appreciated novel by French punk rocker turned writer Maurice G. Dantec, deserves a wider audience, and not just because its author is frequently mentioned in the same breath as Michel Houellebecq (and definitely not because the book is being adapted into a movie starring Vin Diesel)... what makes this novel (translated by Noura Wedell) so haunting is its vision of a near future in which society has fractured along every possible national, tribal and sectarian fault line." New York Times Book Review
Semiotext(e)
"Riddled with acronyms and pop culture allusions, this is an intense, intellectually labyrinthine ride." Publishers Weekly
Semiotext(e)
"[T]his novel by Maurice Dantec was an epic ride."ThickOnline.com
Semiotext(e)
"The book deals with the breakdown of community and political certainty. It is gingered with snippets from Dantec's favourite philosophers and loaded with thoughts of his own. The result is a real workout for the reader. Babylon Babies is a vast encyclopedia of the future as seen through a crystal ball with cracks in the glass.... Babylon Babies is part of a genre that makes play with religious ideas. You might call it theo-fiction." The Sydney Morning Herald
Semiotext(e)