Moriarty, Chris 1968-

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Moriarty, Chris 1968-

PERSONAL:

Born 1968; married.

ADDRESSES:

Home—NY. E-mail—moriarty@sff.net.

CAREER:

Writer. Has worked as a ranch hand, horse trainer, backcountry guide, and lawyer.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Philip K. Dick Award, 2007, for Spin Control.

WRITINGS:

Spin State, Bantam Books (New York, NY), 2003.

Spin Control, Bantam Books (New York, NY), 2006.

SIDELIGHTS:

Winner of the 2007 Philip K. Dick Award, science fiction novelist Chris Moriarty has created a future world in which ecological collapse has sent many humans to live in space habitats and on other planets. In this strange new world, groups known as Syndicates have broken away from human- ity, forming themselves into genetic constructs. However, such technology is forbidden by the UNSec, a group derived from the old United Nations, and it attempts to suppress such human engineering. Though these two groups, the Syndicates and UNSec, have been at war, Moriarty sets her two books during a time of peace. In her debut novel, Spin State, the author presents her major protagonist, Major Catherine Li, a UN peacekeeper, who is sent to distant Compson's World to investigate the murder of a scientist. Li, herself a construct who has passed as a human, finds that this distant planet is populated by constructs and artificial intelligence (AI), and the scientist in question is a distant relative of Li. She must now face her own background in this novel that depicts "a vivid future world of high technology and low politics with sharply drawn characters and a taut storyline," as Library Journal writer Jackie Cassada described the work. A Publishers Weekly contributor added further praise, terming Spin State a "highly atmospheric debut."

Spin Control is set in the same universe as Spin State. This sequel again features Li and the AI who is in love with her, Cohen. A cloned entomologist, Arkady, comes to Earth to sell technology leading to a super bioweapon in order to rescue his kidnapped lover. A Publishers Weekly reviewer found this second novel "richly textured." Booklist writer Regina Schroeder also had praise for the work, terming it a "high-stakes, tension-riddled" adventure that was "more than just another dire-future thriller."