Sci-fi fiction which deals with longevity?

[CoreyHaim8myDog]

Robert Heinlein Time Enough For Love

also,
C.J. Cheryh Cyteen

Both great reads


EDIT: I realised you said 'Recent', though I think both those are worthy of their salt, and still stand up to todays pulp.

I think William Gibson wrote something on the topic, but that's a decade old now...

Gibson's newest novel, The Peripheral, also has longevity in it. Very cool way, IMO. See link above.

 

[trappedslider]

The first movie that came to mind involves extension of life, rather than actual immortality, at the cost of the lives of clones: "The Island."

Or the movie it ripped off clonus the parts horror

 

[Jhaelen]

The Red Mars, Green Mars, Blue Mars trilogy by Kim Stanley Robinson comes to mind.

+1 This trilogy immediately sprang to my mind, especially because it's quite hard sci-fi and makes an excellent effort to think about the implications for society and humankind.

At the back of my mind I recall another great sci-fi novel about a society of immortals, but the title currently escapes me. Hmpf... hopefully I'll be able to recall it.

Edit: Maybe I was thinking about a novel by Ken MacLeod? "Newton's Wake" might have been it.

Edit2: Peter Hamilton's "Misspent Youth" also tackles the topic to some degree.

 

[tomBitonti]

Immortality figures strongly in Old Twentieth by Joe Haldeman, Ace 2006.

TomB

 

[Deuce Traveler]

I was also going to say the already mentioned Lazarus Long books by Heinlein (Time Enough for Love) and Zelazny's "Lord of Light". The Lazarus Long books always read like they were just an excuse to publish Heinlein's personal fantasies, and immortality is achieved through genetic breeding where families known for long lives were encouraged to intermarry until a genetic line was produced with lifespans several times the norm.

Lord of Light was a much more engaging book, where scientists and engineers discover a way to put their consciousness into grown bodies in order to achieve immortality, then abuse this system in order to take the mantle of a Hindu pantheon and subjugate the society they were supposed to shepherd. One scientist rebels, however, and becomes the Lord of Light. One of my favorite books, and a direct influence on one of my PbP adventures I had run here on this site. Here's a quote:

"His followers called him Mahasamatman and said he was a god. He preferred to drop the Maha- and the -atman, however, and called himself Sam. He never claimed to be a god, but then he never claimed not to be a god."