ISBN 0-553-57292-X
Published By: Bantam Spectra
Subject: Cyberpunk

In Heavy Weather Sterling takes his gritty 'cyberpunk' style takes it out of the realm of cyberspace and into the world of ecology and environmental politics. The story focuses on a troupe of wandering storm chasers who are out looking for the big one. A tornado a whole order of magnitude greater then anything ever seen before.

Not being a meteorologists I can't say how accurate his techy weather talk is or isn't. But it does get a little heavy at times, with enough buzz words in some sentences to strain even the most tech minded of us. The characters in the story are more witnesses then active participants. The real star of the novel is the weather itself, a product of mans total disregard of the planet we live on. Sterling makes sure to point this out on more then one occasion, even going as far near the near the end of story to ask the question "When do you think the human race conclusively lost control over its own destiny" just in case you hadn't got the hint yet. The members of his troupe have wide rang of answers for this, mostly dealing with our greed for the present overshadowing our concerns for the future.