A debut novel of remarkable beauty and invention, The Fortunate Fall is back in print for the first time in almost three decades as a Tor Essential, with a new introduction by Jo Walton. Tor Essentials presents new editions of science fiction and fantasy titles of proven merit and lasting value, each volume introduced by an appropriate literary figure. On its first publication in 1996, The Fortunate Fall was hailed as an SF novel of a wired future on par with the debuts of William Gibson and Neal Stephenson. Now it returns to print, in advance of forthcoming new work by the same author. It is one of the great underground classics of the last several decades in SF. Maya Andreyeva is a "camera," a reporter with virtual-reality-broadcasting equipment implanted in her brain. What she sees, millions see; what she feels, millions share. And what Maya is seeing is the cover-up of a massacre. As she probes into the covert political power plays of a radically strange near-future Russia, she comes upon secrets that have been hidden from the world...and memories that AI-controlled thought police have forced her to hide from herself. Because in a world where no thought or desire is safe, the price of survival is betrayal-of your lover, your ideals, and yourself. This new Tor Essentials edition of The Fortunate Fall includes a new introduction by Jo Walton, winner of the Hugo, Nebula, and World Fantasy Awards. At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
"The voice of The Fortunate Fall is by turns ironic and vulnerable, clear and strong."
Maureen McHugh, author of China Mountain Zhang
"Heartbreakingly beautiful…prose as rich and textured as the characters and society it describes. [Cameron Reed] combines William Gibson's dazzling talent for technological extrapolation with Theodore Sturgeon's unerring knowledge of the human heart."
