Air (novel)

infobox Book |
name = Air: Or, Have Not Have
title_orig =
translator =


image_caption = First edition cover
author = Geoff Ryman
cover_artist =
country = United Kingdom
language = English
series =
genre = Science fiction novel
publisher = St. Martin's Griffin
release_date = October 2004
media_type = Print (Paperback & Hardback)
pages = 400 pp (first edition, paperback)
isbn = ISBN 0-312-26121-7 (first edition, paperback)
preceded_by =
followed_by =

"Air", also known as "Air: Or, Have Not Have", is a 2005 novel by Geoff Ryman. It won the British Science Fiction Association Award , the James Tiptree, Jr. Award, and the Arthur C. Clarke Award, and was on the short list for the 2006 Nebula Award for Best Novel in the novel category.

Ryman initially wrote a short story for the Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction entitled "Have Not Have", which was included in the April 2001 edition. [ [http://www.scifi.com/sfw/issue350/books.html book review at scifi.com] ] 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 Kazakhstan), and her suddenly leading role in reaction to dramatic, worldwide experiments with a new information technology called Air. Air is information exchange, not unlike the Internet, 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. Afterwards, 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

References

*"AIR (Book)." Kirkus Reviews 71.20 (15 Oct. 2003): 1248.
*Cannon, Peter, and Jeff Zaleski.. "AIR (Book)." Publishers Weekly 250.45 (10 Nov. 2003): 47-47.
*Johnson, Roberta. "Air (Book)." Booklist 100.7 (Dec. 2003): 655-655.

External links

* " [http://www.infinityplus.co.uk/stories/air.htm Have Not Have] ", the first chapter as an excerpt at Infinity Plus.
* [http://www.strangehorizons.com/reviews/2005/11/two_views_cit.shtml Review of "Air"] by Geneva Melzack and Ian Emsley for Strange Horizons.