Necroville by Ian McDonald
Necroville is a fictional setting that explores a future where humanity has conquered death through advanced nanotechnology, allowing individuals to be reborn into synthetic bodies. However, those who are resurrected, referred to as the "dead," exist as a marginalized underclass, lacking legal recognition as humans and confined to areas like Necroville. The narrative centers around a carnival event that temporarily bridges the divide between the living and the dead, allowing "meat humans" to interact with the resurrected.
Key characters include Santiago Columbar, a master drug designer who invites friends to the Terminal Cafe; Trinidad, a disillusioned seeker of purpose; Tousaint, the estranged son of a corporate leader entwined in the resurrection industry; YoYo, a lawyer navigating a complex case involving stolen memories; and Camaguey, a man facing his own mortality while grappling with a techtronic virus. Each character embarks on a personal journey that intertwines themes of identity, exploitation, and the quest for freedom.
As the narrative unfolds, tensions rise between the living and the dead, leading to significant confrontations and a movement for the legal rights of the resurrected. The climax reveals a transformative moment for the characters, culminating in a new understanding of life, death, and existence beyond Earth. Through these experiences, Necroville raises profound questions about humanity, mortality, and societal structures.
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Subject Terms
Necroville
First published: 1994 (as Terminal Cafe, 1994, in the United States)
Type of work: Novel
Type of plot: Science fiction—cyberpunk
Time of work: The near future
Locale: The Los Angeles sprawl
The Plot
On the morning of November 1, one year early in the twenty-first century, master drug designer Santiago Columbar sends an invitation to four old friends to meet him that night at the Terminal Cafe in Necroville. Nanotechnology has made it possible for humans to escape death: They can be reborn into techtoplastic bodies, and the process can be repeated whenever necessary, perhaps forever. The resurrected dead, however, are not legally human. As a permanent underclass, they are exploited and are confined at night to deadtowns such as Necroville.
On this night, however, the dead are allowed to have a carnival, and “meat humans” (those in flesh bodies) can frolic with them. Santiago, who believes that he has experienced all that flesh permits, summons his friends for a visit before he goes off on a jaunt with the dead. Before some of them eventually come together on the morning after the deads’ carnival, however, each has an adventure somewhere between life and death.
Trinidad is a dilettante looking for something to believe in, her spirit emptied by the adrenaline-freak lover who deserted her by taking one chance too many. She helps a stranger destroy a cult leader who is physically stranded between life and death and who tempts others to gamble on becoming immortal without dying.
Tousaint is the alienated son of Adam Tesler, head of the corporation that controls the resurrection process. He left his home and became a surgically altered soarer of urban air currents. His escapist noninvolvement ends when he is kidnapped by agents of the Freedead, those who have escaped control of the meat humans, who control all space above Earth orbit, and who have come back to liberate their kin. Eventually, he must take control of the corporation to ensure the deads’ legal rights.
YoYo is a young lawyer who finds herself playing the role of film noir detective in the case of a dead woman whose memories have been stolen. As it turns out, this is first a feint in a battle between divisions within the resurrection corporation, then a part of the Freedead strategy to get legal recognition of their existence.
Camaguey is dying. He finally found love with a dead woman, but when her body began to degenerate, she unknowingly infected him with a techtronic virus that is grotesquely mutating his body into plastic. In his first horror, Camaguey destroyed his lover, but in the time remaining to him, he meets the dead prostitute Nute. With her help, he comes to understand and accept his fate.
Santiago himself rides with the Night Hunt, groups of the dead who track and kill one another. They will be reborn, but each agonizing death is real. Santiago discovers that he is not ready to give up on life after all.
The Freedead succeed in their mission. The dead will be able to communicate openly with the living and to go into space to carry out their destiny of spreading humanity throughout the universe.
In the morning, shaken and altered by their experience, Trini, YoYo, and Santiago come together in the Terminal Cafe. Nute joins them, to give them a message from Camaguey.