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Paul Kieniewicz tackles immortality in his first novel By Bev Vincent, Conroe Courier April 11, 2003 * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * "What would a society look like if its population were immortal? How would people handle the heavy weight of endless time? How would they remain sane knowing that every day was much like the one before and the one after? These are some of the questions that Woodlands author Paul Kieniewicz explores in “Immortality Machine,” his first novel. Planet Erda is populated by the mortals of the Tiga and another group, believed to be aliens. The two populations do not intermingle --- Tigan myths about the immortals keep them tightly cloistered in their city behind the mountains. The immortals are simply disinterested in the time-bound Tigans, so long as they stay in Tiga and don’t threaten their quiet ways. Gereint, a Tigan, is obsessed with mortality. His fiancée died recently and he has turned his studies to understanding life spans and the causes of death. When he discovers a Tigan prisoner is at least 200 years old, Gereint becomes interested in exploring the old rumors of an immortality machine in the alien city. To leave the city is punishable by death. Gereint no longer has much reason to live among the mortals, though he decided to risk escaping to the alien city. He believes that the immortality machine will end his society’s problems. A dishonored military officer named Marti accompanies Gereint, though not out of any support for the man’s mission. The aliens living in the city of domes have little interest in Gereint’s quest for immortality. He is time sick, so overwhelmingly conscious of yesterday, today and tomorrow that if he were to become immortal he would surely go mad. The immortals have developed a society where the passage of time is extraneous and most people think of themselves as part of a collective rather than as individuals. They are impatient with many of Gereint’s questions, which they consider irrelevant. In their argot, these things “do not relate.” Since their lives can possibly last hundreds of years, barring fatal accident, the immortals have discarded many issues that seem important to Gereint. This isn’t the first time someone has come from the Tiga in search of immortality. The city’s residents built an army of androids to protect them when danger impinges on their society. In a clever reversal of a science fiction trope, Kieniewicz’s artificial beings are more emotional and more concerned with mortality than their creators. One android, a sexpot named Zusi, enjoys jolting the normally staid immortals out of their emotionless existences. The author has clearly given the issue of longevity much thought, exploring the skills necessary to survive and enjoy --- though it’s not clear the immortals experience joy --- perpetual life. The individuals spend much time in meditation and little in serious thought or communication. Their diversions --- the hazardous game of disk, for example --- serve mainly to remind them that death is more than an abstraction. For a first novel, the complex setting and society are impressively well conceived and detailed, Gereint is a determined protagonist, though his sidekick Marti, a foil to Gereint’s ambitions, tends to be annoying and whiny. Some of the dialog is stilted and over-formal. This is to be expected of the immortals, who rarely use language to communicate, but Gereint’s discourse is occasionally starchy and unnatural. These are mild flaws, though in an interesting and thought-provoking story." --- Bev Vincent, Book Critic, The Conroe Courier, April 12, 2003
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