- Hot Sleep
infobox Book |
name = Hot Sleep
title_orig =
translator =
image_caption =
author =Orson Scott Card
cover_artist =
country =United States
language = English
series =
genre =Science fiction
publisher = Baronet Publishing
media_type = Print (Hardcover &Paperback )
pages = 309 pp
isbn = ISBN 0-312-02304-9
release_date = 1979
preceded_by =
followed_by ="Hot Sleep: The Worthing Chronicle" (1979) is a
science fiction novel byOrson Scott Card . Although it is currently out of print, Card's novel "The Worthing Chronicle " (1983) covers some of the same ground.Plot summary
The book follows Jason Worthing, also known as Jazz, who is a boy growing up on Capitol, the capital planet of the Empire. Jas has "the swipe", which is a
genetic trait that allows fortelepathy . The swipe is feared in the Empire, so those who possess it are executed. After being found out as a swipe, Jas tries to escape, which leads to his capture by Abner Doon, who helps him rise to prominence as a space pilot. Eventually, Abner sends Jason away as the head of a colony so that the swipe would become more widespread, but when his ship reaches the planet, he is attacked, and the memories of all but one of the three-hundred eleven colonists are destroyed and two-third of the colonist are killed or damaged beyond awakening. Jason prevails, however, leading to the survival of the colony, which he visits every several years, being on Somec the rest of the time. Eventually, Abner Doon comes and sees how Jason has done, and after Doon leaves, Jason takes his ship to the bottom of the ocean.The title
The title arises from the operation of somec, the life extension drug forming the foundation of the interstellar Empire. Somec creates an unbearable, torturous burning sensation throughout the body while pushing the patient to
suspended animation . However, the somec process exterminates the user's memory, and so these memories are recorded and stored separately shortly before they go under, to be returned to the body after they have awakened, and so the memory of the process itself cannot be retained. Thus, each somec patient experiences the panic of burning hot sleep "for the first time" (as far as their memory goes) no matter how many times they have taken somec before.Other publication
Hot Sleep was re-released as a serialized novel in the first issue of Card's "
Intergalactic Medicine Show " in October 2005.Related Works
*"Capitol"
*"The Worthing Chronicle "
*"The Worthing Saga "ee also
*
List of works by Orson Scott Card
*Orson Scott Card External links
* [http://www.hatrack.com/osc/bibliography/index.shtml Publication information for "Hot Sleep" available from Card’s website]
* [http://www.intergalacticmedicineshow.com/cgi-bin/mag.cgi?do=issue&vol=i1&article=_hotsleep-001 The novel "Hot Sleep" from Card's website IGMS]
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