The Goliath Stone

Starred review from April 8, 2013
Worried about destructive meteors, nanotechnologist Toby Glyer launches the satellite Briareus to act as an early-warning system. But the on-board nanites start evolving and Briareus disappears, reappearing 25 years later—on a collision course with Earth. This may sound dire, but Niven (the Ringworld series) and Harrington (Soul Survivor) turn it into a rollicking good time. To deal with the looming threat, Glyer recruits May Wyndham, whose company was responsible for the initial launch, and William Connors, a genius who has surreptitiously been improving humanity by introducing nanites into the population. As nanites make the protagonists younger, healthier, and sexier, they engage in fast, funny, and gloriously self-referential repartee, with repeated homage paid to classic science-fiction writers and their work. The hard science can be dense, but it never gets in way of the breezy mood that gives this delightful romp its wings.

Starred review from April 15, 2013
New collaboration about nanotechnology from Harrington (author of several stories set in universes created by Niven) and the vastly influential creator of the Ringworld series, etc. Dr. Toby Glyer cured AIDS using nanotechnology. But his vision, and that of his genius partner, William Connors, ironically plagued by ill health and confined to a wheelchair, extended much farther. Twenty-five years ago, planning to mine wealth from asteroids, they launched a spaceship loaded with nanites that was to rendezvous with an asteroid and steer it back into Earth's orbit. But when the probe lost contact shortly after reaching its target, the U.S. government succumbed to the "gray goo" hypothesis--that nanites would inevitably run out of control and consume the planet--and shut Toby down. Now, the target asteroid has reappeared, heading for Earth on schedule. Unfortunately, it's 10 times the size of the original and evidently won't only take up Earth's orbit, but smack into it. The asteroid, Forge, is now inhabited--by intelligent nanites. The government's only hope is to grab Toby, but thanks to a mysterious series of events, he teams up with rocket scientist May Wyndham and disappears. They soon realize they're infected with nanites and now have perfect health, among other advantages. How? Why? Then, at the Olympics, a certain Mycroft Yellowhorse, representing the Joint Negotiating Alliance of Indian Tribes, wins the marathon in just over an hour and a quarter. Toby and May finally grasp who Mycroft must really be, what he has accomplished and what he still intends to achieve. Leaping from concept to concept at the speed of thought, the book is bulging with jokes, puns and witticisms and is plotted so cleverly you don't even notice there is a plot. A brilliantly crafted yarn that also manages to be an edge-of-the-seat thriller. And funny. Laugh-out-loud funny. What are you waiting for?

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May 15, 2013

By the mid-21st century, Dr. Toby Glyer has nearly perfected the use of nanites in affecting medical cures. Nanotechnology has also made possible the acquisition of wealth through asteroid mining. What has been merely a theory becomes all too real, however, when an extinction-level asteroid plummets toward Earth on a collision course. The nanites sent to shift the asteroid's path away from Earth seem to develop a mind of their own, and no one knows in whose best interests they are acting. VERDICT Niven, multiple award-winning author of the "Ringworld" series, combines his talent for exciting, hard sf with the skills of Harrington, the author of Soul Survivor, to provide an action-packed biotech thriller that's filled with ideas and made stronger by well-developed characters. The subject matter and style lend themselves to film as well as sf, providing a fast and entertaining look at the not-so-distant future.

Copyright 2013 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 15, 2013
What happens when humans tamper with the natural course of evolution without anticipating the effect of their actions? Answer: absolutely nothing good. Niven and Harrington's novel follows Dr. Toby Glyer, a brilliant scientist and the man responsible for creating nanonites. Early in his career, Glyer's nanonites were shot onto an asteroid for the purpose of study and then promptly forgotten about. Twenty-five years later, the same asteroid is now on a collision course with earth, and driving the asteroid are evolved, now-sentient nanonites. If this impending doom at the hands of nanonites was not enough, Dr. Glyer suspects that humans, to amazing side effects, are unknowingly ingesting these evolved nanonites. Incredibly, across the nation, cancer is down, infant mortality is down, terrorism is down, and acts of violence are down. But a darker side is brewing; suicide of a very particular section of the population is skyrocketing. With witty dialogue and laugh-inducing prose, this is an incredibly fun read, sure to entertain sf fans.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)