A Dream of Wessex (1977)
Christopher Priest
Book Description
The western democracies are disintegrating, scarred by violence and gripped with fear of terrorist attacks. Trying to find solutions to today's problems, Julia Stretton and other specialists at the Wessex Project have created a virtual reality projection of a utopian future where all current issues have been resolved - how did they achieve it? But on entering Wessex, they lose all memory of their 'real' lives outside, and as they move back and forth the lines between dream and reality become obscured. When Julia's ex-lover, the sadistic Paul Mason, joins the project, he has a sinister plan to take the Wessex projection to a new and terrifying level ...
Christopher Priest's fifth novel, A Dream of Wessex (1977), is a classic of science fiction that will keep readers guessing until the startling, mind-bending conclusion. Priest's novels The Space Machine, The Affirmation, and The Separation are also available from Valancourt.
Christopher Priest
Book Description
The western democracies are disintegrating, scarred by violence and gripped with fear of terrorist attacks. Trying to find solutions to today's problems, Julia Stretton and other specialists at the Wessex Project have created a virtual reality projection of a utopian future where all current issues have been resolved - how did they achieve it? But on entering Wessex, they lose all memory of their 'real' lives outside, and as they move back and forth the lines between dream and reality become obscured. When Julia's ex-lover, the sadistic Paul Mason, joins the project, he has a sinister plan to take the Wessex projection to a new and terrifying level ...
Christopher Priest's fifth novel, A Dream of Wessex (1977), is a classic of science fiction that will keep readers guessing until the startling, mind-bending conclusion. Priest's novels The Space Machine, The Affirmation, and The Separation are also available from Valancourt.
reviews
'[An] excellent and intriguing novel ... the characters and their emotions are real, the concepts fascinating, and the sense of foreboding almost unbearable.' - Library Journal
'This fine novel about time-unravellers has hallucinatory powers ... Priest is a novelist of real distinction.' - The Times (London)
'Christopher Priest is one of our most gifted young writers of science fiction. I recommend A Dream of Wessex. I can best convey its quality by saying that I think not only H.G. Wells but Thomas Hardy himself would have enjoyed and approved of it.' - John Fowles, author of The Magus
'It is a strange novel, technically very assured in its shifts of time and handling of place-in-time, sketching in the edges of the dream with considerable vividness. A fine, exciting novel - SF if you want a label, but an enrichment not only of the sub-genre, but the whole genre too.' - The Guardian
'This fine novel about time-unravellers has hallucinatory powers ... Priest is a novelist of real distinction.' - The Times (London)
'Christopher Priest is one of our most gifted young writers of science fiction. I recommend A Dream of Wessex. I can best convey its quality by saying that I think not only H.G. Wells but Thomas Hardy himself would have enjoyed and approved of it.' - John Fowles, author of The Magus
'It is a strange novel, technically very assured in its shifts of time and handling of place-in-time, sketching in the edges of the dream with considerable vividness. A fine, exciting novel - SF if you want a label, but an enrichment not only of the sub-genre, but the whole genre too.' - The Guardian
|
BOOK DETAILS
ISBN: 195432149X ISBN-13: 978-1954321496 $29.99 US, 224 pp. Case Laminate Hardcover Published 2016 BOOK DETAILS
ISBN: 1943910235 ISBN-13: 978-1943910236 $17.99 US, 224 pp. Trade paper Published 2016 |
Due to copyright restrictions, this title is only available to customers in the U.S. and Canada.
|
ALSO AVAILABLE THROUGH ONLINE RETAILERS
MORE TITLES BY THIS AUTHOR
|
|
|
|
AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY
Christopher Priest was born in Cheshire, England in 1943. He began writing soon after leaving school and has been a full-time freelance writer since 1968. He has published thirteen novels, four short story collections and a number of other books, including critical works, biographies, novelizations, and children’s nonfiction.
Priest first gained notice with short stories contributed to science fiction magazines such as Impulse and New Worlds in the 1960s and later won widespread acclaim for his novels, including Inverted World (1974), The Affirmation (1981), and The Glamour (1984). The success of these novels, which have gone on to be recognized as classics of the genre, led Granta to name Priest one of the top young British novelists in its 1983 list. More recently, The Prestige (1995) won both the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for best novel of the year and the World Fantasy Award and was adapted for a major Hollywood film directed by Christopher Nolan, and The Separation (2002) won both the Arthur C. Clarke and BSFA Awards. Priest’s work has also earned major awards internationally, including the Kurd Laßwitz Award (Germany), the Eurocon Award (Yugoslavia), the Ditmar Award (Australia), and Le Grand Prix de L’Imaginaire (France). In 2001 he was awarded the Prix Utopia (France) for lifetime achievement.
In addition to writing books, Priest has written drama for radio and television, and as a journalist he has written features and reviews for The Times, the Guardian, the Independent, the New Statesman, the Scotsman, and many different magazines.
His most recent novel, The Adjacent, was published in the U.S. in April 2014.
Priest first gained notice with short stories contributed to science fiction magazines such as Impulse and New Worlds in the 1960s and later won widespread acclaim for his novels, including Inverted World (1974), The Affirmation (1981), and The Glamour (1984). The success of these novels, which have gone on to be recognized as classics of the genre, led Granta to name Priest one of the top young British novelists in its 1983 list. More recently, The Prestige (1995) won both the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for best novel of the year and the World Fantasy Award and was adapted for a major Hollywood film directed by Christopher Nolan, and The Separation (2002) won both the Arthur C. Clarke and BSFA Awards. Priest’s work has also earned major awards internationally, including the Kurd Laßwitz Award (Germany), the Eurocon Award (Yugoslavia), the Ditmar Award (Australia), and Le Grand Prix de L’Imaginaire (France). In 2001 he was awarded the Prix Utopia (France) for lifetime achievement.
In addition to writing books, Priest has written drama for radio and television, and as a journalist he has written features and reviews for The Times, the Guardian, the Independent, the New Statesman, the Scotsman, and many different magazines.
His most recent novel, The Adjacent, was published in the U.S. in April 2014.