ISBN 1-85798-462-5 (UK hbk),,, 0-553-09958-2 (US hbk),,, 1-85799-884-7 (UK trade pbk)

"Sterling's twenty-first century Earth finds the medical community as the single dominating force in society. As a result, the wealthy elderly are living longer, while the young are made outcasts. Mia Ziemann is a ninety-four-year-old woman who volunteers for an uncertain medical procedure to restore her youth when she realizes she has lived a life devoid of pleasure. But an experimental second procedure, and the dubious company she keeps, could make Mia's second life a short one." [publisher's promo]

"Mia Ziemann, 93, may have the body and mind of a thirty year old, but she's stuck with the secure but tedious existence of a rich old woman.

"In a world changed almost, but not quite beyond recognition by the unceasing march of technological progress, Mia isn't unusual. But in Europe there is a movement away from the pragmatism of most of those who have lived long and hard. In Prague, Mia confronts her boredom, her fear of entropy, and a whole new philosophy that challenges her very sense of self." [jacket blurb, UK trade pbk, 1997]

"...Examines the social and economic impact of biomedical advances through the story of Mia Zieman, a wealthy 94-year-old woman who chooses to undergo a rejuvenation process so radical and disorienting that those who survive it call themselves 'posthuman'.

"It may be Sterling's best novel, and it's certainly one of the best of the year." --Gary K.Wolfe (in Locus , Issue 428, Vol.37, No.3, September 1996).

"Maybe what I am drawn to in this book is its transformation of the romantic, adolescent rebellion of conventional science fiction into a more serene but no less passionate vision of human and post-human possibilities, whether the holy fire is burning bright or banked and glowing. In its ironies, its balance, its recognition of the place and importance of adventure and caution, creativity and control, vividness and calm, youth and age, Holy Fire shows what even the gawkiest SF raw material can become when it grows up into a real novel." --Russell Letson (in Locus , Issue 428, Vol.37, No.3, September 1996).

• Books by Bruce Sterling