Title: Heiliges Feuer
First published: February 1, 2001
Description: A provocative, insightful yet chilling tale of the very possible near future.  A world where the oil driven industrial/military complex is replaced by a purely medically driven bureaucracy. Originally initiated as an emergency measure that was enacted to save the world from man made plagues and retro-viruses, the bureaucracy slowly evolves into a world culture that is obsessed with the ideal of longevity.  An entire generation bends the will and resources of the world to combat the effects of aging and the extension of the human lifespan.   The result; a slowly stagnating geriatric hierarchy that refuses to die and relinquish power.  The young have become a tiny minority who are becoming strident,despondent and even militant in a world where they may never be aloud to "come of age".  The story revolves around a mid-level bureaucrat (Mia) who is granted access to a radical new and experimental rejuvenation  treatment as a reward for  good service and  behavior. The conflict of  newly rediscovered youth and the geriatric bureaucracy that she helped to create is compelling and even poignant.  The author's insights and critical examination of the ideas of aging,life extension and the ultimate cost of government  control/interference/regulation in and of the lives of the people are particularly relevant to this day .
Subjects: Long Now Manual for Civilization, Fiction, Aging, Twenty-first century, Fiction, science fiction, general, Fiction, dystopian, Fiction, science fiction, cyberpunk, Fiction, women, Fiction, science fiction, genetic engineering
LC classification: PS3569.T3876 H6 1996