Thursday, 3 December 2009

THE MARTIAN INCA

Panther SF paperback, 1978. Cover illustration by Peter Gudynas.

"BRAIN-BLAST ON MARS 
When a Russian spacecraft carrying soil samples from Mars crashes on a remote Bolivian village, the Indians who salvage it fall into a mysterious comatose condition. Only two recover, and on re-awakening, they are conscious of a strange new awareness of themselves and the world outside. Julio, indeed, believes himself to be the Inca - the divine imperial ruler - reborn. 
Meanwhile, up in space a manned American vessel is on its way to Mars. After the 240 million mile voyage, tension on the ship is high and when at last Mars is reached, the deadly soil adds an extra dimension to an already explosive situation... 
What constituent of the Martian soil is causing its literally mind-blowing effects? The answer may be the missing clue to a vital discovery about Man's evolutionary potential..."
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5 comments:

  1. Mark P Hensel3 December 2009 at 18:36

    Have you ever read Ian Watson's The Embedding? It sounds like there may be some similarity in themes, although in The Embedding, it's native americans in the Amazon, not Incans.

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  2. Unknown4 December 2009 at 14:31

    I'm sure I was reading about it the other day! Can't remember where, doesn't it have something to do with linguistics? This is going to drive me mad now! ;)

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  3. Mark P Hensel4 December 2009 at 18:20

    Yeah the embedding in the title refers to embedded language, which everyone in the book is trying to understand/achieve. There's a long discussion of the book here: http://tenser.typepad.com/tenser_said_the_tensor/2006/04/the_embedding_b.html

    I thought the book was really good, but I've never read any of Watson's other novels.

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  4. Unknown5 December 2009 at 12:43

    Thanks for the link! I'll be looking out for this book I reckon. I can recommend The Martian Inca, I'm only 1/4 way through but going nicely, there's loads of Ian's books on eBay ;)

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  5. Mark P Hensel6 December 2009 at 18:30

    NP, I hope that you like it. I'll definitely get a copy of Martian Inca, it sounds good!

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