Excellent Quotes: The Windup Girl

I just finished a book that reminded me of the quality of Frank Herbert's Dune. It is set in a futuristic Thailand in the aftermath of brutal bio-terrorist plagues that were developed by large agribusinesses as ways to undermine one another's profits. The resulting out-of-control genetic drift destroyed the planet's natural foods and, as the back cover says, "forces mankind to the cusp of post-human evolution." Very creepy and plausible stuff and a great read:

"The sun peers over the rim of the earth, casting its blaze across Bangkok. It rushes molten over the wrecked tower bones of the old Expansion and the gold-sheathed chedi of the city's temples, engulfing them in light and heat. It ignites the sharp high roofs of the Grand Palace where the Child Queen lives cloistered with her attendants, and flames from the filigreed ornamentation of the City Pillar Shrine where monks chant 24-7 on behalf of the city's seawalls and dikes. The blood warm ocean flickers with blue mirror waves as the sun moves on, burning."

-Bacigalupi, Paolo. The Windup Girl. San Francisco (CA): Night Shade Books, 2010. P. 60.

PS - The book features lots of great Thai ambiance, decrepit old scientists, lady-boys, and megodonts -- huge genetically engineered elephants used to power factories in a Brazil-like high tech/low tech dystopia. Oh, and, speaking of great quotes, Elvis Costello is a genius and "Almost Blue" proves it; now playing on iTunes.