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Altered Carbon (2002) is a hardboiled science fiction novel by Richard Morgan. Set some five hundred years in the future in a universe in which the United Nations Protectorate oversees a number of extrasolar planets settled by human beings, it features protagonist Takeshi Kovacs. Kovacs is a former United Nations Envoy and a native of Harlan's World, a planet settled by the Japanese yakuza with Eastern European labour. Image File history File links Altered_Carbon_cover_1_(Amazon). ...
Richard Morgan (b. ...
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The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ...
Takeshi Kovacs is the prime character of the books Altered Carbon, Broken Angels, and Woken Furies by Richard Morgan, which take place several centuries in the future. ...
Some notable science fiction novels, in alphabetical order by title: 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne 2001: A Space Odyssey by Arthur C. Clarke 334 by Thomas M. Disch An Age by Brian Aldiss The Andromeda Strain by Michael Crichton The Atrocity Exhibition by J.G. Ballard...
A publisher is a person or entity which engages in the act of publishing. ...
A Gollancz edition of The Door Into Summer, displaying the distinctive yellow dust jacket style. ...
See also: 2001 in literature, other events of 2002, 2003 in literature, list of years in literature. ...
Hardcover books A hardcover (or hardback or hardbound) is a book bound with rigid protective covers (typically of cardboard covered with cloth, heavy paper, or sometimes leather). ...
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A hardcover (or hardback or hardbound) book is bound with rigid protective covers (typically of cardboard covered with cloth or heavy paper) and a stitched spine. ...
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A hardcover (or hardback or hardbound) book is bound with rigid protective covers (typically of cardboard covered with cloth or heavy paper) and a stitched spine. ...
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Broken Angels Broken Angels (2003) is a military science fiction novel by Richard Morgan. ...
Hardboiled crime fiction is a uniquely American style pioneered by Dashiell Hammett, refined by Raymond Chandler, and endlessly imitated since by writers such as Mickey Spillane. ...
Science fiction is a form of speculative fiction principally dealing with the impact of imagined science and technology, or both, upon society and persons as individuals. ...
Richard Morgan (b. ...
UN and U.N. redirect here. ...
Infrared Image of a possible extrasolar planet (lower left) in the Constellation Taurus, taken by the Hubble Space Telescope. ...
Takeshi Kovacs is the prime character of the books Altered Carbon, Broken Angels, and Woken Furies by Richard Morgan, which take place several centuries in the future. ...
For other uses, see Yakuza (disambiguation). ...
Plot In the novel's quasi-cyberpunk and somewhat dystopian world, human personalities can be stored digitally and downloaded into new bodies, called sleeves. Most people have stacks in their spinal columns that store their memories. If their body dies, their stack can be stored indefinitely. Catholics have arranged that they will not be resleeved as they believe that the soul goes to Heaven when they die, and so would not pass on to the new sleeve. This makes Catholics targets for murder, since killers know their victim will not be resleeved to testify. A U.N. resolution to alter this legal position forms one strand of the novel's plot, in order to allow the authorities to temporarily sleeve a deceased Catholic woman to testify in a murder trial. Berlins Sony Center reflects the global reach of a Japanese corporation. ...
A dystopia (or alternatively cacotopia) is a fictional society, usually portrayed as existing in a future time, when the conditions of life are extremely bad due to deprivation, oppression, or terror. ...
UN and U.N. redirect here. ...
Most people cannot afford to get resleeved more than once per lifetime, so while most people can live indefinitely, only the wealthy are able to acquire replacement bodies on a continual basis. The long-lived are called Meths, short for Methuselahs. The very rich are also able to keep copies of their minds in remote storage, which they update every so often. This ensures that even if their stack is destroyed, they can be resleeved. Methuselah or Metushélach (Hebrew: / Standard / Tiberian / ; Man of the dart, or alternatively when he dies/died, it will be sent/has been sent) is the oldest person whose age is mentioned in the Hebrew Bible. ...
One such Methuselah, a man named Laurens Bancroft, has apparently committed suicide, destroying his stack. He is resleeved from a backup, but as a result has no memories of his actions during his final hours. He believes his apparent suicide was actually a murder and hires Takeshi Kovacs to investigate his death.
Kovacs was an Envoy, a member of a military unit formed to cope with the challenge of interstellar warfare. Faster-than-light travel is only possible by transmitting the digitally stored across space into a new sleeve. Transmitting normal soldiers in this way would severely inhibit their effectiveness, since they would have to cope with a new body while fighting. To combat this, Envoy training emphasises mental techniques necessary to survive in different bodies over physical strength. The effectiveness of the Envoy Corps' training is such that Envoys are banned from holding governmental positions on most worlds.
Kovacs, killed in the novel's prologue and stored in digital form, is downloaded into a sleeve formerly inhabited by Bay City (formerly San Francisco) policeman Elias Ryker. The plot unfolds through Kovacs's narrative. Kovacs eventually solves the mystery, but only after great personal suffering under which he is able to bear up only because of his Envoy training. This page is a candidate for speedy deletion. ...
Awards and nominations The Philip K. Dick Memorial Award is a science fiction award sponsored by the Philadelphia Science Fiction Society, and named after science fiction writer Philip K. Dick. ...
Film adaptation According to the back cover of Market Forces, and the review by Inchotaus Group the rights to Altered Carbon for film production have been purchased. IMDb presently states that a film of the same name is scheduled for release in 2009, to be directed by James McTeigue.[1] Market Forces is a science-fiction novel by Richard Morgan, first published in 2004. ...
James McTeigue is a film director born in Australia. ...
Release details - 2002, Great Britain, Victor Gollancz Ltd, ISBN 0-575-07321-7, Pub date February 28 2002, Hardback
- 2004, United States of America, Del Rey, ISBN 0-345-45768-4, Pub date March 4 2003, Paperback
- 2006, Hungary, Agave Könyvek, ISBN 963-7118-38-1, Pub date 2006, Paperback
- 2006, Croatia, Algoritam, ISBN 953-220-422-9, Pub date 2006, Hardback
References Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st century. ...
is the 312th day of the year (313th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...
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