by John Varley
First published 1994
Hildy Johnson lives on Luna, where humanity rebuilt after aliens drove them from Earth. The moon colony offers everything people once dreamed of: bodies that live for centuries, memories stored in computers, the ability to switch sexes at will. Yet Hildy feels hollow inside this technological paradise. Citizens around him succumb to a strange epidemic of suicide, finding existence meaningless despite their enhanced capabilities. Even the vast computer system that oversees their daily lives seems to share their existential crisis. As Hildy investigates the growing wave of self-destruction, he discovers that comfort and immortality cannot fill the void where purpose once lived. The survivors of humanity's greatest catastrophe face a different kind of extinction on their artificial shores.
Genres: science-fiction, dystopia, literary-fiction
Vibes: atmospheric, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: fish-out-of-water, found-family
Setting: Luna, Earth
Period: Future
479 pages · Paperback · Harper Collins
Content warnings: depression, suicide