Air (1st ed. 2004 ISBN 0312261217, 2nd ed. 2005 ISBN 0575076976) is a novel by Geoff Ryman. It won the British Science Fiction Award and the Arthur C. Clarke Award. 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Geoffrey Charles Ryman (born 1951) is a writer of science fiction, fantasy and slipstream fiction. ... The British Science Fiction Association (BSFA) annually presents four awards (though numbers have differed in previous years) based on a vote of BSFA members and recently also members of the Eastercon. ... The Arthur C. Clarke award is a British award given for the best science fiction novel first published in the United Kingdom during the previous year. ...

The first edition was published in paperback as Air: Or, Have Not Have.

Spoiler-free summary

Air is the story of Chung Mae, a smart but illiterate peasant woman in a small village in the fictional country of Karzistan (loosely based on the country of Kazakhstan), and her suddenly leading role in reaction to dramatic, worldwide experiments with information technology. Information technology (IT) or Information and communication(s) technology (ICT) is a broad subject concerned with technology and other aspects of managing and processing information, especially in large organizations. ...