I have been driven mad trying to remember the title and author of a terrific sci-fi novel I read some time ago.
The plot goes something like this:
It is in a universe where the major intelligent beings are self-aware, conscious, super-intelligent starships. There are no other characters except the ships. The book is told in a series of communications between the ships in their own voices and is wry, often very funny and also deeply allegorical. Some of the ships are chatty, some gruff, others self-important, some are tart and a few are ... well, odd.
The starships/intelligences come in a large variety: very big ships; military/police ships (these police the other ships); medium-sized ships; and small fast ships. Each is a distinct personality and they form alliances and sub-groups. Some may carry other life-forms but these are never heard from and are irrelevant to the story. Some of the ships have huge egos to match their size, and give themselves pompous and self-inflatory names such as "Magnificent Hammer of the Celestial Overstitch" and "I Am The Answer" (an even bigger ship calls itself "What Was The Question?").
This "universe" is upset when a very large and very old starship which has not been heard from in a long time and was thought 'gone', reappears and, to all outward appearances and utterances, seems it might well be 'insane' ("it always was more than a little odd", remarks one of the ships). The ship has renamed itself and is sending out some very dubious and disturbing utterances but is also mysterious in where it has been and what it has seen.
This novel would probably be characterised in the sci-fi future fantasy genre and there are no wizards, dragons, no pre-industrial mage crap - no one or anything else except the ships voices and, if memory serves, an unspecified, unnamed narrator.
Can anyone can put me out of my misery by naming the book and/or its author?
beaujean
The plot goes something like this:
It is in a universe where the major intelligent beings are self-aware, conscious, super-intelligent starships. There are no other characters except the ships. The book is told in a series of communications between the ships in their own voices and is wry, often very funny and also deeply allegorical. Some of the ships are chatty, some gruff, others self-important, some are tart and a few are ... well, odd.
The starships/intelligences come in a large variety: very big ships; military/police ships (these police the other ships); medium-sized ships; and small fast ships. Each is a distinct personality and they form alliances and sub-groups. Some may carry other life-forms but these are never heard from and are irrelevant to the story. Some of the ships have huge egos to match their size, and give themselves pompous and self-inflatory names such as "Magnificent Hammer of the Celestial Overstitch" and "I Am The Answer" (an even bigger ship calls itself "What Was The Question?").
This "universe" is upset when a very large and very old starship which has not been heard from in a long time and was thought 'gone', reappears and, to all outward appearances and utterances, seems it might well be 'insane' ("it always was more than a little odd", remarks one of the ships). The ship has renamed itself and is sending out some very dubious and disturbing utterances but is also mysterious in where it has been and what it has seen.
This novel would probably be characterised in the sci-fi future fantasy genre and there are no wizards, dragons, no pre-industrial mage crap - no one or anything else except the ships voices and, if memory serves, an unspecified, unnamed narrator.
Can anyone can put me out of my misery by naming the book and/or its author?
beaujean
https://i.imgur.com/CMmcJnn.png
The book I'm after might very possible be 'Excession'. I have a copy of that in text format in my book collection. I've had a quick skim and there are a lot more non-ship actions and characters than I remembered but the ship names and some of their communications ring bells. I'll have to reread the book to be sure, but you may just have hit the nail at first try!
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