| Author | Edward Ashton |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Genre | Science fiction |
| Publisher | St Martin's Griffin |
Publication date | February 15, 2022 |
| Publication place | United States |
| Media type | Print, e-book |
| Pages | 369 pp. (hardcover) |
| ISBN | 9783641280543 (Hardcover) |
Mickey7 is a 2022 science fiction book by Edward Ashton. The story follows a space explorer, Mickey Barnes, aka Mickey7, as he is on his seventh cloned iteration, surviving on a beachhead installation on an alien world. A sequel, Antimatter Blues, was released in March 2023.[1]
A film adaptation directed by Bong Joon-ho is scheduled to be released in 2024.[2]
Mickey7 is an “expendable” space-traveller who is sent on a borderline-suicidal mission to colonize the ice world Niflheim. When one Mickey dies, another is cloned in his place with most of his memories intact, making him technically immortal, in the worst way possible.
Ashton started writing the book in 2015.[3] Ashton wanted to explore teletransportation paradox in a shorter novella, but was urged to write more by Navah Wolfe.
Discussing the background of the novel, Ashton said, "I wrote a short story a number of years ago that explored... a sort of crappy immortality... I liked the idea and wanted to see how that could be expanded if you coupled it with an exploitative social structure."[4]
NPR included it among its list of the Best SciFi Books of 2022.[5]
Writing for Locus Magazine, Gabino Iglesias called the book, a "multilayered, wildly entertaining story" and wrote, "MICKEY7 has something for everyone while also putting a fresh spin on the idea of clones."[6]
Writing for Transfer Orbit, Andrew Liptak praised it as a "fun sci-fi romp, part Andy Weir's The Martian and John Scalzi's Old Man's War and Sue Burke's Semiosis."[7]
Writing for New Scientist, Sally Adee, called it "the first novel I have come across that properly explores the philosophy behind (uploaded consciousness)."[8]
It was nominated as one of the Best Science Fiction books of 2022 by Goodreads.[9]
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Main article: Mickey 17 |
The book is being adapted into a film directed by Bong Joon-ho and starring Robert Pattison as Mickey, Steven Yeun, Toni Collette, Naomi Ackie, and Mark Ruffalo.[10]
When asked about the adaptation, Ashton responded that Bong is "going to change a lot about the book." but said he is not nervous and described Bong as a, "genius."[3]