(Untitled)

[razorsmile]

In the Black Man excerpt available at the Random House website, Carl Marsalis, the protagonist, uses a martial art called tanindo. Upon investigation, I discovered "tanin" is Japanese for "not a blood-relative". Put that together with the fact that Marsalis is a reconstruction of a certain kind of now-extinct ruthless alpha-male warlord genotype

Comments

[kali921]

I'm not getting it, because I am deficient. Plz to be explaining?

In the grim future of Carl Marsalis, there is only war.

[razorsmile]

The premise (or a premise anyway) of the book is that folks have learned to vat-grow pre-civilized hardcases who are militarily useful not so much for physical ability (that's an engineering problem, so to speak) but for attitude and aptitude (intimidatory ultraviolence). More to the point, these pre-civilized abilities are no longer possessed by the modern human race, circa early 22nd Century; hence the creation of the Variant Thirteens in the first place

[matociquala]

I guess I really ought to read this one. *g* Gah! Books! They're EVERYWHERE.

[razorsmile]

Yes, you should. I think you personally will love it. Have you seen my most recent post? It's a monster. Never mind, you should be almost writing :D

[matociquala]

I didn't make it through Altered Carbon, but god, I should hope nobody is still judging me by my first novel.... So, yanno.

Also, I get to read this summer! Look! Lookit me reading!

[razorsmile]

I get a metric ton of vicarious pleasure out of how much you busy people appreciate your rare moments of ease.