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eBook Category: Science Fiction Locus Poll Award Nominee, HOMer Award Nominee, Asimov's Reader's Choice Award Nominee
eBook Description: In a full-blown Internet media economy of the near future, the film and sports stars of the mid-20th century achieve a perversely glamorous revival. Has their sort of glamour truly been lost in the 21st century, and can it ever be regained?

eBook Publisher: Fictionwise.com, Published: Asimov's, 2000
Fictionwise Release Date: January 2003

29 Reader Ratings: Great Good OK Poor

Available eBook Formats [MultiFormat - What's this?]: Adobe Acrobat (PDF) [161 KB], eReader (PDB) [56 KB], Palm Doc (PDB) [44 KB], Rocket/REB1100 (RB) [41 KB], Microsoft Reader (LIT) [84 KB] - PocketPC 1.0+ Compatible, Franklin eBookMan (FUB) [113 KB], hiebook (KML) [137 KB], Sony Reader (LRF) [85 KB], iSilo (PDB) [38 KB], Mobipocket (PRC) [47 KB], Kindle Compatible (MOBI) [75 KB], OEBFF Format (IMP) [67 KB]
Words: 13045
Reading time: 37-52 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

"Feel the Zaz" by James Patrick Kelly was an audio play on the Internet before becoming a novelette in the June 2000 issue of Asimov's. Dylan McDonough runs a failing media site on the Net called Starscape, which recreates the celebrities of the 20th century, when he meets a woman named Vanity Mode. Her ability to recreate or "double" the celebrities, aided by her CAT implant in her brain, makes Starscape a hit. She has Down Syndrome, however, and as such has but a short while to live after meeting Dylan. This story struck me as an excellent example of what science fiction does best; namely, it tells the story of well-rounded characters while providing logical and realistic extrapolation of social and technological trends, and braids these two aspects together until they are inseparable. Dylan and Vanity's story could not happen without the extrapolated technology, and the technology wouldn't mean anything if it did not deeply affect the lives of realistic characters."--Chris Markwyn, Tangent Online (Learn more about Tangent Online, the Internet's leading SF&F short fiction review website)

Everyone wants to be Cary Grant. I want to be Cary Grant.

--Cary Grant

"Accepting for Vanity Mode is Dylan McDonough, artistic director of Starscape."

Dylan was stunned. For a few ticks he couldn't move, couldn't hear or even see the audience which filled the virtual Colosseum. It had happened just as Vanity had planned. Then Bug pounded him on the back. "Go on. Go get it!" He could see that Letty was crying.

Dylan brought his avatar off the stone bench into sheets of cold applause. The designers had recreated the Colosseum in all its marble and gilt glory for this year's Websters. Fifty thousand avatars watched in disappointment as Dylan played his avatar through the virtual crowd to pick up Vanity's award. He knew the zaz was plummeting. Everyone had been hoping to see what Vanity Mode looked like, or at least how she would present when she wasn't doubling. Nobody cared what Dylan McDonough looked like. The Academy crowd would be clicking out by the dozens, the general audience by the millions. Of course, it would have been impossible for most people to tell the difference. The avatars in the audience were still clapping; their smiling faces beamed up at him as he passed. But the Vnet was where Dylan made his living. He could sense unattended avatars going flat, losing their edges.

He accepted the Webster from Lillian Citrus, who had her avatar presenting with a tree viper curled into her décolletage. "Wow," he said. The word came out as a croak. Back at the studio, he bumped his voice fx from delight to elation, although it was grief that caught in his throat. He held the little golden monitor at arm's length, saw the reflection of his face twist across its polished surface. This was all that she had ever wanted, and she wasn't here to enjoy it. "On behalf of Vanity Mode and Starscape," he said, "I'd like to thank the Academy for this award." He set the Webster for Best Double of 2038 on the podium. "I have a brief statement to read." His avatar took out a piece of paper. "When we're done here this evening, I would ask that you click to Starscape, where we will launch a biography sim to coincide with this great honor which you have bestowed on us. We have tried to tell Vanity Mode's story on it. I regret to inform you that it will mark her final appearance on our site."

The unattended avatars in the audience seemed puzzled at this, but nothing more. Only those who were live with their users registered shock. Dylan's avatar unfolded the virtual paper slowly, to give people time to click in. The paper was blank, but he, Letty and Bug had spent weeks scripting the speech, now open on the desktop from which he controlled his avatar. While he waited, Dylan wondered if what he was feeling was a surge in the zaz. Two years ago, that would have worried him. Back then, he was quite certain that zaz was nothing but click count divided by attention quotient. It was something you measured afterward, not what you felt in the moment, like laughter or applause.

"Vanity Mode," he read, "was a true star, as eternal as any of those she brought back to life on Starscape."

Vanity had said once that great zaz was like being kissed by an entire country. He remembered thinking she was crazy.