Peter Watts Is An Angry Sentient Tumor: Revenge Fantasies and Essays

(Paperback)

Publishing Details

Classifications

Physical Properties

Description

A smart, sardonic, and entertaining collection of short nonfiction with broad reader appealAuthor is well-known as a firebrand; he was banned from the U.S. during a border incidentFeatures over 50 essays and diatribes on popular culture, politics, science, fiction, religion, and more

Reviews

[STARRED REVIEW] Former marine biologist and Hugo Awardwinning sf author Watts has collected over 50 essays from his blog, Crawl, and other sources from as far back as 2004. His writing is irreverent, self-depreciating, profane, and funny, showcasing a Hunter S. Thompsonesque studied rage and dissatisfaction with the status quo combined with the readability and humor of John Scalzi. These thought-provoking essays rail against hypocrisy, question the usefulness of consciousness, and explore counterrhetorical biases and how they impact our society. With intellectual rigor, clarity, and dark humor, Watts covers subjects as widely divergent as holidays, law enforcement and surveillance, homelessness, and the intersection of science and sf in the study of dolphin language. His film criticism covers J. J. Abrams' Star Trek movies, Blade Runner 2049, and the fallacy of oppression in the X-Men franchise. He shares personal stories, too: a lifethreatening illness, the death of his brother. This collection of well-written essays has actual science backing up most of Watts' opinions about politics and humanity. Give it to readers looking for a deep dive into privacy, antirhetorical biases, and other sociological issues.
Booklist

Peter Watts will shatter your illusions, crush your dreams, and vaporize your defense mechanisms, because he cares. He cares deeply about our world, and he respects you enough not to coddle you with reassurances. These essays are proof of thatthey are tough love for the mind.
Karl Schroeder, author of Ventus and Permanence

You may not agree with every opinion Watts has, but you will have to admit he is an excellent writer, presents his opinions and facts clearly and concisely, and he is passionate about what he thinks.
She Treads Softly

There's an underlying feeling to the pieces presented in the book that Watts cares He cares about the planet, he cares about humanity, he cares about everything. He gets angry at things precisely because he cares so much. And it really does show.
The MT Void

Praise for Peter Watts

Watts, undoubtedly, is a genius.
Medium

Peter Watts is some precisely engineered hybrid of Lucius Shepard and Gregory Benford, lyrical yet hard-edged, purveyor of sleek surfaces and also the ethical and spiritual contents inside.
Locus

Known for his pitch-black views on human nature, and a breathtaking ability to explore the weird side of evolution and animal behavior, Watts is one of those writers who gets into your brain and remains lodged there like an angry, sentient tumor.
io9

Peter Watts blows my mind every single time.
Kelly Robson, author of Gods, Monsters, and the Lucky Peach

Watts ranges from huge-scale ideas (The Island, with a living membrane surrounding a star) to the immediate (what if airport scanners grew sophisticated enough to detect even potential criminals, in The Eyes of God) He asks the questions that the best science fiction writers ask, but that the rest of us may be afraid to answer.
Chicago Tribune

A sharp and incisive stylist with a rather tragic, if clear-eyed, view of human nature, and the capacity for some remarkable hard-SF inventions.
Locus

Watts continues to challenge readers with his imaginative plots and superb storytelling.
Library Journal

Possessing the stern moral acuity of James Tiptree, [Watts] also exhibits the intellectual zest of Arthur C. Clarke.
Paul Di Filippo, Barnes & Noble Review

It seems clear that every second Peter Watts is not actually writing must be spent reading, out at the cutting edge of all the sciences and all the arts at once.
Spider Robinson, author of the Callahan Series

Holding himself to a higher standard of storytelling, Watts uses the effects of mainstream sci-fi, yet continually aims at something deeper in humanity and societys soul.
Speculiction

Praise for The Freeze-Frame Revolution

2018 British Science Fiction Award nomination
A Publishers Weekly Staff Pick / Summer 2018 Read
A Goodreads Best Sci-Fi/Fantasy title of Jan-August 2018
1000 Year Plan 2018 Recommended Reading List
Locus Recommended Reading List

ThisTHISis the future of science fiction." Richard A. Morgan, author of Altered Carbon

"The Freeze-Frame Revolution is a delicious morsel of hard science fiction . . . The setup of the book is irresistible, and the science is high-concept, but the story is driven by Sundays relationships and her conviction in herself and her companions.
Washington Post

The Freeze-Frame Revolution (Tachyon), the shortest and latest novel from Canadian Peter Watts, is as brilliant and enticingly acute as any of his earlier and longer work.
Seattle Review of Books

"This is definitely vintage Wattsoutstanding, exciting, and terrifying.
Cory Doctorow, author of Little Brother and Walkaway

The latest from Watts (Blindsight, 2006) packs a significant punch into a small package.
Booklist

[STARRED REVIEW] Entertaining and provocative, brilliant and ambitious, The Freeze-Frame Revolution is compelling science fiction with heart.
Foreword

Fast, rich, and coolThe Freeze-Frame Revolution fascinates!
Greg Bear, author of Eon and Take Back the Sky

Darkness and awesome technology lurk in Peter Wattsnew book, The Freeze-Frame Revolution.
Vernor Vinge, author of A Fire Upon the Deep

Author Bio

Peter Watts is a former marine biologist and a current science-fiction author. His debut novel in the Rifters series, Starfish, was a New York Times Notable Book, and his novel, Blindsight, has become a required text in undergraduate courses ranging from philosophy to neuroscience, and was a finalist for numerous North American genre awards. His shorter work, including Beyond the Rift, has received the Shirley Jackson, Hugo, and Aurora awards. Wattss work is available in twenty languages and has been cited as inspirational to several popular video games. He lives in Toronto.