title: Aristoi
author:  Walter Jon Williams 
description: In this complex and rewarding novel, Williams (Days of Atonement) has created a future which features many of the wonders SF has been promising us for years: virtual reality, genetic engineering, faster-than-light travel, artificial intelligence, nanotechnology, telepathic links with computers, and more. Perhaps most interesting is that people have control of their daimones, different aspects of personality that are given specific names. The class system remains: the aristoi are the seemingly perfect humans who wield power and influence; in fact, some worship them as gods. An aristos named Gabriel discovers a conspiracy among three others of his class, who have created several worlds that are barbaric, with little technology and rampant disease and sickness. They have also killed other aristoi to cover their tracks and violated the sanctity of the Logarchy, the massive, open computer network that links all humans. In a nice touch, Williams renders several scenes in two columns of text on the page, the left describing the action, the right Gabriel's internal dialogue with his daimones. And in one delicious scene Gabriel has sex with two different women at the same time--one in virtual reality, one in real space. <br />Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.
zlib_text: ARISTOI
  
  
  Walter Jon Williams
  
  With thanks and gratitude to Sage Walker, Rebecca Meluch, William F. Wu,
  Melinda Snodgrass, Pati Nagle, Sally Gwylan, Pat McGraw, Salomon Montoya,
  Karen McCue, Mr. Bill Packer, Laura J. Mixon, Judith Tarr.
  
  Special thanks to Kathy Hedges for help in preparing this ebook.
  
  This is a work of fiction. All the characters and events portrayed in this
  book are fictitious, and any resemblance to real people or events is purely
  coincidental.
  
  ARISTOI
  
  
  Copyright (c) 1992, 2012 by Walter Jon Williams
  
  All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book, or portions
  thereof, in any form.
  
  Author’s Note
  
  Parts of the original 1992 edition of Aristoi were formatted in a unique
  format, broken into two columns, with the action described in the rightmost
  column, and the character’s internal dialog (conducted by his daimones) on the
  left. For this electronic edition, I have spent countless hours trying to
  duplicate this style in the various e-formats availabl