Hammered






ADVANCE PRAISE FOR

HAMMERED
“A gritty and painstakingly well-informed peek inside a future we’d all better hope we don’t get, liberally seasoned with VR delights and enigmatically weird alien artifacts. Genevieve Casey is a pleasingly original female lead, fully equipped with the emotional life so often lacking in military SF yet tough and full of noir attitude; old enough by a couple of decades to know better but conflicted enough to engage with the sleazy dynamics of her situation regardless. Out of this basic contrast, Elizabeth Bear builds her future nightmare tale with style and conviction and a constant return to the twists of the human heart.” —Richard Morgan
“Hammered has it all. Drug wars, hired guns, corporate skulduggery, and bleeding-edge AI, all rolled into one of the best first novels I’ve read in I don’t know how long. This is the real dope!” —Chris Moriarty, author of Spin State

“A glorious hybrid: hard science, dystopian geopolitics, and wide-eyed sense of wonder seamlessly blended into a single book. I hate this woman. She makes the rest of us look like amateurs.” —Peter Watts, author of Starfish and Maelstrom

“Packed with a colorful panoply of characters, a memorable and likeable antiheroine, and plenty of action and intrigue, Hammered is a superbly written novel that combines high tech, military-industrial politics, and complex morality. There is much to look forward to in new writer Elizabeth Bear.” —Karin Lowachee, Campbell Award–nominated author of Warchild

“Even in scenes where there is no violent action, or even much physical action at all, the thoughts and emotions of Ms. Bear’s characters, as well as the dynamic tensions of their relationships, create an impression of feverish activity going on below the surface and liable to erupt into plain view at any moment. . . . The language is terse and vivid, punctuated by ironic asides whose casual brutality—sometimes amusing, sometimes shocking—speaks volumes about these people and their world. . . . This is a superior piece of work by a writer of enviable talents. I look forward to reading more!” —Paul Witcover, author of Waking Beauty

“Hammered is one helluva good novel! Elizabeth Bear writes tight and tough and tender about grittily real people caught up in a highly inventive story of a wild and woolly tomorrow that grabs the reader from the get-go and will not let go. Excitement, intrigue, intelligence—and a sense of wonder, too! Who could ask for anything more?” —James Stevens-Arce, author of Soulsaver, Best First Novel 2000 (Rocky Mountain News)
“In this promising debut novel, Elizabeth Bear deftly weaves thought-provoking ideas into an entertaining and tight narrative.” —Dena Landon, author of Shapeshifter’s Quest (Dutton, fall 2004)