Reviews

"Hendrix's sentences have punch, his plots have points, and he knows his science--what more can one ask of cutting edge science fiction?"
--Gregory Benford, physicist and Nebula Award-winning author of Timescape "One of the very best novelists writing in science fiction today."
--Kim Stanley Robinson, Hugo and Nebula award-winning author of The Years of Rice and Salt

"Stephen Hawking meets Tom Clancy! Quantum physics and international intrigue combine in the best novel yet by the finest new SF writer of the last decade. Howard V. Hendrix's THE LABYRINTH KEY is the book everyone will be talking about this year, not just in science-fiction circles, but also in the halls of power in Washington."
--Robert J. Sawyer, Hugo Award-winning author of Hominids "With the hip fecundity of Neal Stephenson, the speculative acuity of John Brunner, and the suspense-building audacity of John LeCarre, Howard Hendrix fashions a science-fiction thriller that's truly twenty-first-century in its tone, subject matter and style. Blending metaphysics with quantum physics, THE LABYRINTH KEY explores a possible future fusion of magic and science that is truly revolutionary. Hopping from exotic real-world locales to even more outre virtualities, this tale will keep the reader guessing till its climax."
--Paul DiFilippo, author of Fuzzy Dice and A Mouthful of Tongues

"If Robert Ludlum or Eric Ambler had written a science fiction novel, then it might have resembled THE LABYRINTH KEY. An intriguing thriller, it's also first-rate speculation: a masterful blend of genres. If you searching for thought-provoking novel, this shouldn't be missed."
--Alan Steele, Hugo Award-winning author of Chronospace "ONE OF THE VERY BEST NOVELISTS WRITING IN SCIENCE FICTION TODAY."
--KIM STANLEY ROBINSON, award-winning author of the Mars Trilogy "One could almost imagine that some of the action sequences of this novel were written by Tom Clancy, while some of the scientific discussions remind one of Gregory Benford, and two sequences involving hiking in the Sierra Nevadas could have been written by Kim Stanley Robinson. The past few years have spawned several other novels of cryptology and secret histories, most notably Neal Stephenson's Cryptonomicon, but Hendrix has been perhaps the most successful incorporating such concepts into a hard-SF context."-Off the Shelf, SciFi.com From the Trade Paperback edition.

In this busy tale of near-future virtual reality and real-life espionage, Hendrix (Empty Cities of the Full Moon) mixes Renaissance Kabbalism, quantum computing and the memory techniques of a 16th-century Jesuit priest into a narrative of secret societies and spy agencies fighting to shape the course of human evolution. The disappearance of historian Jaron Kwok in China sets the Asian superpower and America on a collision course. Kwok's college roommate and now replacement, Ben Cho, is charged by his NSA superiors with finding out what the historian discovered in the old files of a CIA China expert. Meanwhile, Hong Kong detective Lu Mei-lin ("Marilyn Lu") struggles to solve Kwok's strange vanishing act, working on the only clue left behind, a pile of nanotech ashes. Hendrix plays with the concept of labyrinths and mazes as devices that both hide and reveal. The book features abstruse speculation on memory and forgetting, on the making and breaking of secrets and the mind's ability to manipulate the quantum nature of reality. Unfortunately, the earnestness of conspiracy theory punctures the dizzying metaphysical bubbles Hendrix blows, leaving the story a bit flat. And in an infinitude of infinite universes, where everything occurs, tragedy loses its significance and sting. (Mar. 30) Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

"One of the very best novelists writing in science fiction today."
--Kim Stanley Robinson, Hugo and Nebula award-winning author of The Years of Rice and Salt

"Stephen Hawking meets Tom Clancy! Quantum physics and international intrigue combine in the best novel yet by the finest new SF writer of the last decade. Howard V. Hendrix's THE LABYRINTH KEY is the book everyone will be talking about this year, not just in science-fiction circles, but also in the halls of power in Washington."
--Robert J. Sawyer, Hugo Award-winning author of Hominids "With the hip fecundity of Neal Stephenson, the speculative acuity of John Brunner, and the suspense-building audacity of John LeCarre, Howard Hendrix fashions a science-fiction thriller that's truly twenty-first-century in its tone, subject matter and style. Blending metaphysics with quantum physics, THE LABYRINTH KEY explores a possible future fusion of magic and science that is truly revolutionary. Hopping from exotic real-world locales to even more outre virtualities, this tale will keep the reader guessing till its climax."
--Paul DiFilippo, author of Fuzzy Dice and A Mouthful of Tongues

"If Robert Ludlum or Eric Ambler had written a science fiction novel, then it might have resembled THE LABYRINTH KEY. An intriguing thriller, it's also first-rate speculation: a masterful blend of genres. If you searching for thought-provoking novel, this shouldn't be missed."
--Alan Steele, Hugo Award-winning author of Chronospace "ONE OF THE VERY BEST NOVELISTS WRITING IN SCIENCE FICTION TODAY."
--KIM STANLEY ROBINSON, award-winning author of the Mars Trilogy "One could almost imagine that some of the action sequences of this novel were written by Tom Clancy, while some of the scientific discussions remind one of Gregory Benford, and two sequences involving hiking in the Sierra Nevadas could have been written by Kim Stanley Robinson. The past few years have spawned several other novels of cryptology and secret histories, most notably Neal Stephenson's Cryptonomicon, but Hendrix has been perhaps the most successful incorporating such concepts into a hard-SF context."-Off the Shelf, SciFi.com From the Trade Paperback edition.