Gray Matters (Magill’s Guide to Science Fiction and Fantasy Literature)
At a glance:
- Author: William Hjortsberg
- First Published: 1971
- Type of Work: Novel
- Type of Plot: Science fiction—technocratic
- Time of Work: The late twenty-fourth century
- Setting: A cerebromorph depository and various places on Earth
- Genres: Long fiction, Science fiction
- Subjects: Future, Bioengineering or biotechnology, Consciousness, Brain
- Locales: Earth
The Plot
There are three main plot lines in Gray Matters. William Hjortsberg shifts among these plot lines, which at times intersect. Each of the main characters in the story begins as a cerebromorph, a disembodied brain hooked up to an elaborate system of life support and memory banks. Denton “Skeets” Kalbfleischer was a twelve-year-old boy severely injured in an airplane crash. He became the first candidate for a cerebrectomy, a process by which the brain is removed from the body to be placed in a depository. Vera Mitlovic was a famous film actress who murdered her...
[The entire page is 913 words long]
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