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Kirinyaga [MultiFormat]
eBook by Mike Resnick
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$1.29 |
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$0.97 |
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eBook Category: Science Fiction Hugo Award Winner, Nebula Award(R) Nominee
eBook Description:  A Kirinyaga story. An African tribe struggles to maintain their customs on a terraformed planet.
eBook Publisher: Fictionwise.com, Published: F&SF, 1988
Fictionwise Release Date: June 2000
This eBook is also available in the following bundle(s):
Available eBook Formats [MultiFormat - What's this?]: Adobe Acrobat (PDF) [97 KB], eReader (PDB) [35 KB], Palm Doc (PDB) [22 KB], Rocket/REB1100 (RB) [22 KB], Microsoft Reader (LIT) [42 KB] - PocketPC 1.0+ Compatible, Franklin eBookMan (FUB) [92 KB], hiebook (KML) [87 KB], Sony Reader (LRF) [43 KB], iSilo (PDB) [19 KB], Mobipocket (PRC) [24 KB], Kindle Compatible (MOBI) [85 KB], OEBFF Format (IMP) [37 KB]
Words: 7123
Reading time: 20-28 min.
Microsoft Reader (LIT) Format: Printing DISABLED, Read-Aloud ENABLED
Adobe Acrobat (PDF) Format: Printing DISABLED, Read-Aloud DISABLED
All Other formats: Printing DISABLED, Read-aloud DISABLED
 
When Mike Resnick was asked to contribute to an anthology about terraformed asteroids chartered to create Utopian* colonies, he chose to reconstruct Kirinyaga, the original home of the Kikuyu people, as it was before the Europeans changed it into Kenya. The anthology was never published, so one story led to many, each depicting the ethical struggles of Koriba, the mundumugu (witch doctor),and his battle to preserve the new Kirinyaga against interference by Maintenance, the space station that monitors the climate and orbit of Kirinyaga.
Maintenance does not approve of Kirinyaga's laws, though by charter they are prohibited from intervening. But when Koriba decides that a baby must die, Maintenance decides that intervention is required. Koriba is in charge of a world, but Maintenance exerts control over many worlds, and each believes they are right for their own reasons. There will be a contest of rigid moralities, a passion play in which there can be no real winners.
This is a "must read" story for anyone interested in history and future history and the moral dilemmas facing powerful people trying to find freedom in a complex world. Nothing is as simple as it seems. Kirinyaga will give you a taste of what's to come as more of Koriba, Kirinyaga, and the society of his new world and its struggles emerge.
*A special note: Utopia does not mean perfect. It means nowhere. It's a good thing to keep in mind as you read this story. Also, Kirinyaga might seem to end somewhat abruptly. When I first read it, in 1988, it didn't feel that way because there was still a strong political resonance at the end. I'm not sure it's still there, so it might be good to tell you that the people and places at the end are all real. The Mau Mau were a secret warrior clan of the Kikuyu, led by Jomo Kenyatta (who was called "Burning Spear"), to force the Europeans to relinquish their stranglehold on Kenya. The revolution eventually succeeded, though Kenyatta himself was jailed from 1953 until 1961. In 1963 he became the first Prime Minister of Kenya. A year later Jomo Kenyatta became President, and served Kenya in that capacity until his death in 1978. "Uhuru" is Swahili for Freedom. -L E FORMAN, Fictionwise Recommender
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