Celestial Matters
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.jpg) First American edition cover | |
| Author | Richard Garfinkle |
|---|---|
| Cover artist | Bob Eggleton |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Science fantasy, alternate history |
| Publisher | Tor Books |
Publication date | 1996 |
| Publication place | United States |
| Media type | Print (Hardcover & Paperback) |
| Pages | 348 (Hardcover edition) |
| ISBN | 0-312-85934-1 |
| OCLC | 33246093 |
| 813/.54 20 | |
| LC Class | PS3557.A71536 C4 1996 |
Celestial Matters is a science fantasy novel by American writer Richard Garfinkle, set in an alternate universe with different laws of physics.[1] Published by Tor Books in 1996, it is a work of alternate history, as the physics of this world and its surrounding cosmos are based on the physics of Aristotle and ancient Chinese Taoist alchemy.[2][3]
Celestial Matters won the 1997 Compton Crook Award for best first science fiction novel.[4]
In the world of Celestial Matters, Ptolemaic astronomy and Aristotelian physics are valid scientific models of the surrounding world and cosmos. The Earth lies at the center of the universe, surrounded by crystal spheres which hold each of the planets, the sun and the moon, all enclosed in the sphere of the fixed stars. Earthly matter, composed of the classical four elements of earth, air, fire, and water, naturally moves in straight lines. Heavenly matter naturally rises and moves in circles. This is the universe as understood by the ancient Greeks.
The science of the ancient Chinese also applies, but as the novel is told from the perspective of the Greeks, it is less well-understood. Xi, the Chinese notion of spirit and flow, can be manipulated to move objects and energy. The Chinese five elements of earth, metal, water, wood, and fire are transmuted one into the other. Part of the central theme of the book is the two system's mutual misunderstanding and bafflement of each other.
In this world, the Delian League (Greeks) and Middle Kingdom (Chinese) have been fighting a war for nearly a thousand years, ever since the time of Alexander the Great when the warrior-culture of Sparta and the Athenian Akademe were fused into a half-world conquering force. Their technologies are locked together, however, and neither empire can gain the upper hand. Each side secretly despairs of its chances and has come to consider desperate measures.
