New Watts novel published under a free license

Peter Watts (Peter Watts) - one of the most talented science fiction of our time. As his friend Cory Doctorow (author of the blog Boing Boing ) says, Peter writes “the most evil and dark science fiction,” he is especially good at developing ideas that lie at the junction of biology and technology. This is not surprising, since Watts himself has a degree in marine biology. For example, in one of his previous works he described in detail and scientifically sound the situation when computer viruses evolve following the example of biological viruses. A computer pandemic acquires many biological features.

The new novel by Peter Watts is called “Blindsight” (“Blind Sight”). The plot develops in 2082, when humanity in a blissful state almost completely plunged into a virtual matrix, but then the unexpected happened. Alien research probes have penetrated into the earth's atmosphere, and astronomers have discovered some alien body on the edge of the solar system.

The Tezey ship with an amazing crew on board was sent for reconnaissance. The captain of the ship - the mysterious artificial intelligence, a genetically modified vampire. He submits to a cyborg biologist, a linguist with multiple mental disorders, a professional pacifist soldier, as well as Siri Keeton, an impassive expert with one half of the brain who is able to model and predict someone else's behavior, even without understanding it. This strange team comes into contact with some alien artifact, which is even difficult to call a conscious being in the sense that is commonly understood.

The other day the book “Blindsight” was published under the free Creative Commons license, and the text appeared in the public domain . The license allows downloading and reading the text, as well as free printing and reproduction of the work in any quantity. On the official website even the layout layouts of a typographic quality book cover are laid out so that the printout looks even more beautiful.