In a perilous future where disposable duplicate bodies fulfill every legal and illicit whim of their decadent masters, life is cheap. No one knows that better than Albert Morris, a brash investigator with a knack for trouble, who has sent his own duplicates into deadly peril more times than he cares to remember.
But when Morris takes on a ring of bootleggers making illegal copies of a famous actress, he stumbles upon a secret so explosive it has incited open warfare on the streets of Dittotown.
Dr. Yosil Maharal, a brilliant researcher in artificial intelligence, has suddenly vanished, just as he is on the verge of a revolutionary scientific breakthrough. Maharal's daughter, Ritu, believes he has been kidnapped-or worse. Aeneas Polom, a reclusive trillionaire who appears in public only through his high-priced platinum duplicates, offers Morris unlimited resources to locate Maharal before his awesome discovery falls into the wrong hands.
To uncover the truth, Morris must enter a shadowy, nightmare world of ghosts and golems where nothing -and no one-is what they seem, memory itself is suspect, and the line between life and death may no longer exist.
David Brin's Kiln People is a 2003 Hugo Award Nominee for Best Novel.
“David Brin delivers what science fiction readers want-intelligence, action, and an epic scale” —Asimov's Science Fiction
“David Brin is a skillful storyteller . . . His novels brim with invention, and there is more than enough action to keep the story exciting.” —The Cleveland Plain Dealer
“Intricate plotting, unflagging inventiveness, and a judicious sprinkling of puns and in-jokes: Brin keeps the pages feverishly turning.” —Kirkus Reviews
“Brin presents a rich, kaleidoscopic story that challenges the concepts of identity and individuality.” —Library Journal
“Brin deftly explores the issues of identity, privacy and work . . . the book features the author's usual style, with a lighter touch and punish humor abounding amid the hard SF speculation.” —Publisher's Weekly
“More than any writer I know, David Brin can take scary, important problems and turn them sideways, revealing wonderful opportunities. This talent shows strongly in Kiln People, a novel which is deep and insightful and often hilarious, all at the same time.” —Vernor Vinge