Aristoi

[amonite.livejournal.com]

"Aristoi"- by Walter Jon Williams - read this book! The writing is not always the greatest, and there is far to much gratuitous sex (the main character falls in love at first sight like four times) but some of the stuff the author does representing different identities within a psyche is just genious.

In his book, the Aristoi are (usually) benevolent and very, very smart rulers of the real world and the virtual world (think like a holodeck reaching across space). They esteem multiple identities highly, though the author has a nasty tendency to call them 'limited personalities'. Despite the moniker, however, they basically all function as a co-concious multiple. With the addition of the virtual world, they can all even be doing vastly seperate tasks at once! Those aristoi in training who do not have multiple identities actually drive their body to the limits in the book in order to get them.

Anyway, its an amazing treatment on multiples. Cool things happen like Gabriel and one of the others, like Welcome Rain, end up talking/thinking at the same time, so the page will be split in half.

Some time I shall write up a proper review, if there is not one already - but the book got me thinking. Is there something besides 'multiples' we can use as a generic moniker?

I rather like 'Aristoi' -since Plato's day when they were the wise and mostly good leaders of the people. And there is now precendent in a sci-fi book. I plan to use Aristoi as the name for a race in a role playing game I am creating, and they will have several identities each as well.

Anyone want to start a massive letter writing campaign to the author? ;) It is certainly a good intro book for wanting to see one way multiple thought processes can intertwine in ones head.

 

Comments

[mirrorbrothers.livejournal.com]

"Aristoi" is a little arrogant for a real-world name, don't you think? Makes it sound like we think we're better than everyone else.

[amonite.livejournal.com]

I suppose, especially if one traces the 'Aristoi' to its relation to 'aristocrat'....but my first introduction to the term was in the book. And admittedly, most were a bit snotty. But it was supposed to mean a benevolent leader committed to gaining wisdom.

And I was not so much suggesting we use the term (though I like it, and the book at least gives a precedent), but that it might be cool to come up with a word besides 'multiple'. Although multiple works. ^.^ Although when I tell people I am a multiple, the first thing they usually think of is MPD and that leaves a tangled web to unweave :S

[de-linques.livejournal.com]

Walter John Williams was at Bubonicon this year, a sci-fi/fantasy convention. He did a reading from a new short story of his. During the course of the story, the main character--a kind of reality-program celebrity in the future--creates an alter-ego blogger who also develops a following. When it comes out that the two celebrities are the same person, one of them says, "I'm honored you would think I am X, but I'm not. I just happen to live in his head."

We did not get or make a chance to talk to him.

About Aristoi, our roommate recommended it to us and we enjoyed it. I wouldn't want to call multiples "Aristoi" though; it does sound kind of froofy.

- Luc

[amonite.livejournal.com]

Yah..it does...lol. But it would be cool to have a name. This guy sounds more and more interesting :) MAybe a letter campaign would be cool after all, although since his work tends to favor multiples, might not want to scare him off! :) Do you know the name of the short story? I should probably read more of his work.

Aristoi

[brandon2431.livejournal.com]

Will get the book as soon as we can buy a new book!
Just from a writing perspective, we'd like to see the talking/thinking treatment. Stephen King pulls it off pretty well, but we'd like to see how another author does it.
Also how another author treats what is known as 'walk-ins'.

As far as singletons *trying to become* multi, and not for purposes of malingering ?
If they knew how good this can be, we think they'd be lining up for it.

Massive letter campaign...

[brandon2431.livejournal.com]

We'd be willing to get in on a massive thank you note campaign....

Books re/multiplicity=positive

[brandon2431.livejournal.com]

So 'Aristoi' is one, 'Blindside or Blindsided' is two.....there was a third one, probaby fifteen years ago, nonfiction, by a woman named Sandra J. Hocking who was herself multiple. This was a book about multiplicity, by a multi, about living as multiple. A simple book of suggestions, and anecdotes of what-it's-like.
One thing she related was that, she could feel herself being "heavily under the influence of" an inside person, without them coming out, and this was no big deal. She related a story about eating in restaurant, and one of her inside people wanted a saurkraut burger (think it was...) so she simply ordered the kruat burger in addition to her own dinner, and both she and the hungry insider had what they wanted for dinner. She said the ohter diner looked at her a little funny, but that was pretty much it.
We liked the book.....think we may have owned it. (This was a long time ago.) Haven't seen it in many years. It was qutie positive and upbeat....no, "Oklay, write about your whole life and all the trauma, etc."......just very practical.
(Sure hope it reappears on the market....)