Urbis Morpheos [jhc] by Stephen Palmer

TITLE: Urbis Morpheos

A NOVEL by Stephen Palmer

PUBLICATION DATE: June 2010

EDITION: Jacketed Hardcover

COVER ART: Stephen Palmer

PRINT RUN: 500 unsigned

INTRODUCTION: Gwyneth Jones

ISBN: 978-1-906301-43-9

SYNOPSIS:

A million years in the future, two ecosystems stand opposed. The first, Nature, has faded, and exists only as isolated havens or, in the wider world, as biomes perverted by artifice into hideous forms. Against it stands the manufacturing ecosystem, which has evolved into a myriad lifelike shapes yet offers only an antiseptic brutality.

The land itself has changed. It is mutable. Maps remain accurate for little more than decades in Urbis Morpheos, the great manufactured environment that once was Earth . . .

In this bleak and hostile world live two women, Psolilai and psolilai, both of whom are on a mission. Psolilai (who dreams of psolilai) seeks wisdom following the funeral of her uncle and the discovery of a mysterious scriber. psolilai (who dreams of Psolilai) seeks 3Machines, the owl, the fount of wisdom of the great haven of Mahandriana, which is composed entirely of fungus. Both of these women have as their aide the peripatetic mycologist Gularvhen, who knows more than he says and who rides a three-eared horse
with six voices. For in Urbis Morpheos the artificial computing system is scarlet and deadly, while the natural knowledge system is soft and fungal, full of secrets.

What is the truth of the ancient artifacts The Constructor and The Transmuter? What is the connection between them, the shapeshifting malleads and the sentients of the manufacturing ecosystem, the agens? In a world so numinous with artificial mystery most people have forgotten their origins in nature, Psolilai and psolilai must follow their paths and find wisdom. But men and devices stand in their way. And the most powerful being in Urbis Morpheos perhaps has hidden plans . . .