Air, also known as
Air: Or, Have Not Have, is a 2005 novel by
Geoff RymanGeoffrey Charles Ryman is a writer of science fiction, fantasy and surrealistic or "slipstream" fiction.Ryman currently lectures in Creative Writing for University of Manchester's English Department. His most recent full-length novel, The King's Last Song, is set in Cambodia, both at the time of...
. It won the
British Science Fiction Association AwardThe British Science Fiction Association annually presents four awards based on a vote of BSFA members and recently also members of the Eastercon.19701971197219731974'1975...
, the
James Tiptree, Jr. AwardThe James Tiptree, Jr. Award is an annual literary prize for works of science fiction or fantasy that expand or explore one's understanding of gender...
, and the
Arthur C. Clarke AwardThe 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 award was established with a grant from Arthur C. Clarke and the first prize was awarded in 1987...
, and was on the short list for the Philip K. Dick Award in 2004, the Nebula Award in 2005, and the John W. Campbell Memorial Award in 2006.
Ryman initially wrote a short story for
The Magazine of Fantasy & Science FictionThe Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction is a digest-size American fantasy and science fiction magazine first published in 1949 by Mystery House and then by Fantasy House. Both were subsidiaries of Lawrence Spivak's Mercury Press, which took over as publisher in 1958. Spilogale, Inc...
entitled "Have Not Have", which was included in the April 2001 edition. This was expanded into a novel initially titled
Air: Or, Have Not Have, and renamed to just
Air in all editions since the first.
Air is the story of a town's fashion expert Chung Mae, a smart but illiterate peasant woman in a small village in the fictional country of Karzistan (loosely based on the country of
KazakhstanKazakhstan , officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a country situated in Eurasia that is ranked as the ninth largest country in the world. It is also the world's largest landlocked country. Its territory of 2,727,300 km² is greater than Western Europe...
), and her suddenly leading role in reaction to dramatic, worldwide experiments with a new
information technologyInformation technology , as defined by the Information Technology Association of America , is "the study, design, development, implementation, support or management of computer-based information systems, particularly software applications and computer hardware." IT deals with the use of electronic...
called Air.
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Air, also known as
Air: Or, Have Not Have, is a 2005 novel by
Geoff RymanGeoffrey Charles Ryman is a writer of science fiction, fantasy and surrealistic or "slipstream" fiction.Ryman currently lectures in Creative Writing for University of Manchester's English Department. His most recent full-length novel, The King's Last Song, is set in Cambodia, both at the time of...
. It won the
British Science Fiction Association AwardThe British Science Fiction Association annually presents four awards based on a vote of BSFA members and recently also members of the Eastercon.19701971197219731974'1975...
, the
James Tiptree, Jr. AwardThe James Tiptree, Jr. Award is an annual literary prize for works of science fiction or fantasy that expand or explore one's understanding of gender...
, and the
Arthur C. Clarke AwardThe 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 award was established with a grant from Arthur C. Clarke and the first prize was awarded in 1987...
, and was on the short list for the Philip K. Dick Award in 2004, the Nebula Award in 2005, and the John W. Campbell Memorial Award in 2006.
Ryman initially wrote a short story for
The Magazine of Fantasy & Science FictionThe Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction is a digest-size American fantasy and science fiction magazine first published in 1949 by Mystery House and then by Fantasy House. Both were subsidiaries of Lawrence Spivak's Mercury Press, which took over as publisher in 1958. Spilogale, Inc...
entitled "Have Not Have", which was included in the April 2001 edition. This was expanded into a novel initially titled
Air: Or, Have Not Have, and renamed to just
Air in all editions since the first.
Plot introduction
Air is the story of a town's fashion expert Chung Mae, a smart but illiterate peasant woman in a small village in the fictional country of Karzistan (loosely based on the country of
KazakhstanKazakhstan , officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a country situated in Eurasia that is ranked as the ninth largest country in the world. It is also the world's largest landlocked country. Its territory of 2,727,300 km² is greater than Western Europe...
), and her suddenly leading role in reaction to dramatic, worldwide experiments with a new
information technologyInformation technology , as defined by the Information Technology Association of America , is "the study, design, development, implementation, support or management of computer-based information systems, particularly software applications and computer hardware." IT deals with the use of electronic...
called Air. Air is information exchange, not unlike the
InternetThe Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standardized Internet Protocol Suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
, that occurs in everyone's brain and is intended to connect the world. After a test of Air is imposed on Mae's unprepared mountain town, everyone and everything changes, especially Mae who was deeper into Air than any other person. Afterwords, Mae struggles to prepare her people for what is to come while learning all about the world outside her home.
Release details
- 2004, UK, St. Martin's Griffin (ISBN 0-312-26121-7), Pub date ? October 2004, paperback (First edition)
- 2005, UK, Gollancz (ISBN 0-575-07697-6), Pub date 21 July 2005, hardback
- 2005, UK, Gollancz (ISBN 0-575-07811-1), Pub date 14 September 2006, paperback
External links
- Have Not Have, the first chapter as an excerpt at Infinity Plus.
- Air at Worlds Without End
- Review of Air by Geneva Melzack and Ian Emsley for Strange Horizons.