Inside a Silver Box: A Novel

by Walter Mosley

Overview

Walter Mosley's talent knows no bounds. Inside a Silver Box continues to explore the cosmic questions entertainingly discussed in his Crosstown to Oblivion. From life's meaning to the nature of good and evil, Mosley takes readers on a speculative journey beyond reality.

In Inside a Silver Box, two people brought together by a horrific act are united in a common cause by the powers of the Silver Box. The two join to protect humanity from destruction by an alien race, the Laz, hell-bent on regaining control over the Silver Box, the most destructive and powerful tool in the universe. The Silver Box will stop at nothing to prevent its former master from returning to being, even if it means finishing the earth itself.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780765375223
Publisher:	Tor Publishing Group
Publication date:	01/12/2016
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	304
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.20(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

WALTER MOSLEY is one of the most versatile and admired writers in America today. He is the author of more than forty critically acclaimed books, including the major bestselling mystery series featuring Easy Rawlins (A Little Yellow Dog, Bad Boy Brawly Brown, etc.) and the speculative short novels that make up Crosstown to Oblivion (The Gift of Fire, On the Head of a Pin, Merge, Disciple, Stepping Stone). Mosley’s short fiction has been widely published, and his nonfiction has appeared in The New York Times Magazine and The Nation. He is the winner of numerous awards, including an O. Henry Award, a Grammy, and PEN American Center’s Lifetime Achievement Award. He lives in New York City.

Hometown:

New York, New York

Date of Birth:

January 12, 1952

Place of Birth:

Los Angeles, California

Education:

B.A., Johnson State College

Website:

http://www.waltermosley.com

Editorial Reviews

Well written and imaginative...plenty here—both style and story—to satisfy readers of speculative fiction.” —Booklist on Stepping Stone/Love Machine

“One of this nation's finest writers.” —The Boston Globe

“A writer whose work transcends category and qualifies as serious literature.” —Time

From the Publisher

2014-11-06
After an African-American thug murders a white graduate student jogging in Central Park, the two team up to combat an alien menace in Mosley's (Rose Gold, 2014, etc.) latest science-fiction effort.When Ronnie Bottoms brains Lorraine Fell with a rock, her corpse conveniently falls on top of the Silver Box, an incredibly powerful AI remorseful about its original purpose: fulfilling the whims of the Laz, a sadistic conquering race. When the Box acts to help Ronnie resurrect Lorraine, they also inadvertently awaken the Laz as well, which soon sets its sights on Earth. Mosley is always genuinely interested in getting inside people's heads and trying to bridge social, economic and racial divides—or at least, to disseminate understanding about the natures of those divides. But for some reason, his science fiction is typically crafted in the form of fables, and the insights which seem organic and integrated in his mysteries lose subtlety in his SF. The message of this particular fable is also somewhat murky: What do Lorraine and Ronnie gain by their encounter with the Silver Box? Have they really become more enlightened? Ronnie does become a more philosophical person, willing to consider the implications of his actions (although fidelity doesn't seem part of that package). But Lorraine seems to have gained Ronnie's less attractive qualities in return, rejecting philosophy (formerly her area of study) and words for the purely physical, running for miles and having sex with a stranger (the oddly named Alton Brown—does Mosley have some connection with the Food Network celebrity?). And although she's strong enough now to resist her domineering father's bullying, she apparently has no problem continuing to accept his financial support and never for one second worries that it might be cut off. Food for thought, if not entirely digestible.

Kirkus Reviews