Super-State
A masterful evocation of the future of nationhood and technology from the master of British science fiction. A stunning new edition of a modern classic.
‘The titan of science fiction.’– Telegraph
Forty years has passed and ‘Europe’ now refers to vast swathes of the Earth: a unified super-state that has just enacted a successful space mission, landing people on Jupiter’s Moon and spurring the people at home to look at their lives and what they’ve made of the world.
Global warming ravages the planet, where shrunken coasts endure huge tidal attacks while inland ideological wars continue. Technology has advanced to the point where androids assist with menial work – but are conscious enough to be baffled by humanity’s weaknesses. So much is different but very little has changed.
Told through a network of relatives, lovers, friends, a president (and those sent to assassinate him), Super-State looks to the future while exploring the most timeless human challenges with huge wit and precision. A satire skewering best intentions and cynicism alike, written at the start of the new Millennium by the master of British Science Fiction.
Brian Aldiss, OBE, was a fiction and science fiction writer, poet, playwright, critic, memoirist and artist. Born in Norfolk in 1925, after leaving the army, Aldiss worked as a bookseller, which provided the setting for his first book, The Brightfount Diaries (1955). His first published science fiction work was the story ‘Criminal Record’, which appeared in Science Fantasy in 1954. Passing away in 2017, over the course of his life Aldiss wrote nearly 100 books and over 300 short stories – becoming one of the pre-eminent science fiction writers of the 20th and 21st century.