If you could mind-meld with any historical figure, who would it be? Einstein, Shakespeare, Helen of Troy? Somewhere in the near future, a fascinating method is developed to encode a client with all of the memories--indeed, the entire personality--of another person. The characters' selections range from the mundane (Babe Ruth) to the offbeat (Anne Boleyn) to the downright terrifying (Jesus), with varying results. What's surprising is how lightly these people enter into permanent symbiosis with a stranger--marriage seems hardly a commitment at all compared to having someone's entire being hardcoded into your brain!

Reading this book is like walking the same path at different times of day: some plot points repeat like a worker on an assembly line while others, viewed in a different light, suddenly seem more sinister or powerful. Several of the stories seem overly familiar, while some have been sculpted into truly affecting, original tales--most notably those of Margaret Ball, Kristine Kathryn Rusch, and Gary A. Braunbeck. While the cadence of the stories becomes lulling at times, there are some magnificent twists and tangents to uncover. A satisfying read, but one can't help wondering what would've happened had the writers been given more leg room. --Jhana Bach


From Publishers Weekly
Having cooked up a way of reconstituting the dead from their DNA to merge them with living humans, Scarborough (The Healer's War) gathered 14 fellow fantasy and SF writers to imagine the consequences. The perennially popular Kristine Kathryn Rusch is among them, as are the prolific Jerry Oltion and the meticulous and writerly R. Garcia y Robertson. There is some lovely prose here. Gary A. Braunbeck's "Who Am a Passer By" abounds with passion and poetry. Carole Nelson Douglas, invoking Florence Nightingale, crafts an interesting composition through clever jump-cuts and ellipses. Scarborough's setup is a fertile one for SF fabulation, and there are three or four different approaches represented here, stylistically (e.g., monologues by one or both symbionts or the viewpoint of an interested third party) and thematically (e.g., the procedure as therapy or as a selfish plot). The conceit becomes a bit tedious by the ninth or 10th application, though. Several of the stories end abruptly in predictable moralisms, the conclusions logical but emotionally undeserved. Most are marred to some degree by awkward floods of facts that derail the narrative or violate the believability of the character; perhaps this is due to the preponderance of historical themes, requiring elucidations of actual circumstances. For the many SF fans more interested in ideas than in stylistic virtues, this will be no obstacle to the book's enjoyment. (Nov.) Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Booklist
If you could incorporate the memories of any historical figure into your own, whose would you choose? That question is cleverly answered in each story in this collection. Editor Scarborough's contribution introduces Tibetan scientist Tsering, who so longs for his dead wife, Chime, that, thanks to knowing someone from student days who is now a technology magnate capable of funding development of the appropriate, amazing process, he incorporates her into himself and becomes the androgynous Chimera. The protagonists of the succeeding stories also miss something they deeply desire and assume famous personalities that they think will help them gain what they want. Of course, how history paints, say, Doc Holliday or Florence Nightingale, may not truly represent the personality that suddenly inhabits a protagonist's skull. That is the wrinkle that makes these stories work, some better than others. Certain combinations are inspired, like the janitor who calls on Edgar Allan Poe to write a poem for his dying mother, and the distraught mother who hopes Meriwether Lewis will lead her injured daughter out of catatonia. Roberta Johnson


From Kirkus Reviews
Editor Scarborough sets the ground rules and creates the scenario for these 15 new stories: namely, what would happen if you could recover the personality of anyone who had ever lived (provided they left some recoverable remains)? Further, what if you could install the personality in your own head? When Tibetan scientist Tsering's beloved wife dies, he sets about restoring her by deriving memories from her cells and introducing them into his own brain: the result is a strange, serene, androgynous amalgamation. Scarborough goes on from there, showing the rest of the authors how it should be done, describing how a distracted financial whiz takes Sir Walter Scott on board. Lillian Stewart Carl's man-hating feminist absorbs Henry VIII's lusty, tragic Anne Boleyn. Sandy Schofield's Bill Gatesalike nerd tries out but rejects the too-earthy Babe Ruth. Otis Redding sings again, courtesy of David Bischoff. Jerry Oltion reanimates Leonardo da Vinci. Janet Berliner resuscitates Mata Hari. And Kristine Kathryn Rusch wonders whose blood it really is that stains the Shroud of Turin. Amusing idea, engaging outcome. -- Copyright ©1999, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.


Book Description
Download the dead in this provocative new collection of original stories by the finest names in science fiction.

Suppose you could pick a famous historical figure and experience your own life as that person. What would you do? Excel in science under the extraordinary influence of Leonardo Da Vinci? Spice up your daily grind with a dash of Mata Hari? Unnerve your neighbors as Edgar Allan Poe? Or, for those who like to live dangerously, there are whispers of a black market--where no one is forbidden.

A word of caution: previous performance does not guarantee future predictability. And in the hands of these masters of science fiction and fantasy, your experience of past lives reborn may not be at all what you expect...

The complete list of contributors:* Elizabeth Moon * Carole Nelson Douglas * Kristine Kathryn Rusch * Jerry Oltion * Rod Garcia Y Robertson * Margaret Ball * Janet Berliner * David Bischoff * Gary Braunbeck * Nina Kiriki Hoffman * Tom Knowles * Lillian Stewart Carl * Sharan Newman * Sandy Schofield * Elizabeth Ann Scarborough

* All new and original stories
* The stories draw on a diverse range of characters--from Doc Holliday to Mata Hari--each fully researched by the author with fascinating results


Download Description
"Download the dead in this provocative new collection of original stories by the finest names in science fiction. Suppose you could pick a famous historical figure and experience your own life as that person. What would you do? Excel in science under the extraordinary influence of Leonardo Da Vinci? Spice up your daily grind with a dash of Mata Hari? Unnerve your neighbors as Edgar Allan Poe? Or, for those who like to live dangerously, there are whispers of a black market--where no one is forbidden. A word of caution: previous performance does not guarantee future predictability. And in the hands of these masters of science fiction and fantasy, your experience of past lives reborn may not be at all what you expect... The complete list of contributors:* Elizabeth Moon * Carole Nelson Douglas * Kristine Kathryn Rusch * Jerry Oltion * Rod Garcia Y Robertson * Margaret Ball * Janet Berliner * David Bischoff * Gary Braunbeck * Nina Kiriki Hoffman * Tom Knowles * Lillian Stewart Carl * Sharan Newman * Sandy Schofield * Elizabeth Ann Scarborough * All new and original stories * The stories draw on a diverse range of characters--from Doc Holliday to Mata Hari--each fully researched by the author with fascinating results "


About the Author
Elizabeth Ann Scarborough is a full-time writer. She is a nurse by training, and served in that capacity in Vietnam, which was the setting for her Nebula Award-winning fantasy novel, The Healer's War.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Pick a famous historical figure and experience your own life as that person. What would you do? Excel in science under the extraordinary influence of Leonardo da Vinci? Spice up your daily grind with a dash of Mata Hari? Unnerve your neighbors as Edgar Allan Poe? Or, for those who like to live dangerously, there are whispers of a black market - where no one is forbidden.. "A word of caution: Previous performance does not guarantee future predictability. And in the hands of these masters of science fiction and fantasy, your experience of past lives reborn may not be at all what you expect...

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

Having cooked up a way of reconstituting the dead from their DNA to merge them with living humans, Scarborough (The Healer's War) gathered 14 fellow fantasy and SF writers to imagine the consequences. The perennially popular Kristine Kathryn Rusch is among them, as are the prolific Jerry Oltion and the meticulous and writerly R. Garcia y Robertson. There is some lovely prose here. Gary A. Braunbeck's "Who Am a Passer By" abounds with passion and poetry. Carole Nelson Douglas, invoking Florence Nightingale, crafts an interesting composition through clever jump-cuts and ellipses. Scarborough's setup is a fertile one for SF fabulation, and there are three or four different approaches represented here, stylistically (e.g., monologues by one or both symbionts or the viewpoint of an interested third party) and thematically (e.g., the procedure as therapy or as a selfish plot). The conceit becomes a bit tedious by the ninth or 10th application, though. Several of the stories end abruptly in predictable moralisms, the conclusions logical but emotionally undeserved. Most are marred to some degree by awkward floods of facts that derail the narrative or violate the believability of the character; perhaps this is due to the preponderance of historical themes, requiring elucidations of actual circumstances. For the many SF fans more interested in ideas than in stylistic virtues, this will be no obstacle to the book's enjoyment. (Nov.) Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews

Editor Scarborough sets the ground rules and creates the scenario for these 15 new stories: namely, what would happen if you could recover the personality of anyone who had ever lived (provided they left some recoverable remains)? Further, what if you could install the personality in your own head? When Tibetan scientist Tsering's beloved wife dies, he sets about restoring her by deriving memories from her cells and introducing them into his own brain: the result is a strange, serene, androgynous amalgamation. Scarborough goes on from there, showing the rest of the authors how it should be done, describing how a distracted financial whiz takes Sir Walter Scott on board. Lillian Stewart Carl's man-hating feminist absorbs Henry VIII's lusty, tragic Anne Boleyn. Sandy Schofield's Bill Gates￯﾿ﾽalike nerd tries out but rejects the too-earthy Babe Ruth. Otis Redding sings again, courtesy of David Bischoff. Jerry Oltion reanimates Leonardo da Vinci. Janet Berliner resuscitates Mata Hari. And Kristine Kathryn Rusch wonders whose blood it really is that stains the Shroud of Turin. Amusing idea, engaging outcome.