Mad fantasy-fic idea: what if even death is no escape from the law, and contracts signed in life remain binding after shuffling off this mortal coil?
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@cstross Can I join a list for a signed first edition hardcover of this now?
@SciPolTech No because I'm not writing it: I'm already 400 words into the sequel to "Starter Pack" and it's going to take me the rest of the year.
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Mad fantasy-fic idea: what if even death is no escape from the law, and contracts signed in life remain binding after shuffling off this mortal coil?
In this setting, all contract lawyers are necromancers. A zombie is what you get when an undischarged bankrupt dies. And so on.
@cstross all accident compensation claims are made directly by the victims, in the flesh (or whatever's left of it)
Companies are very serious about safety.
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Mad fantasy-fic idea: what if even death is no escape from the law, and contracts signed in life remain binding after shuffling off this mortal coil?
In this setting, all contract lawyers are necromancers. A zombie is what you get when an undischarged bankrupt dies. And so on.
@cstross K.W. Jeter did something similar in “Noir”
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Mad fantasy-fic idea: what if even death is no escape from the law, and contracts signed in life remain binding after shuffling off this mortal coil?
In this setting, all contract lawyers are necromancers. A zombie is what you get when an undischarged bankrupt dies. And so on.
@cstross
Ghosts with unfinished business... literallyA director can't pass on until replaced at the next AGM
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Mad fantasy-fic idea: what if even death is no escape from the law, and contracts signed in life remain binding after shuffling off this mortal coil?
In this setting, all contract lawyers are necromancers. A zombie is what you get when an undischarged bankrupt dies. And so on.
@cstross Tangentially related, what if a practical cure for aging was discovered? There is a novel called The Postmortal which imagines the many dystopian aspects of never dying.
Richard K Morgan's Altered Carbon series imagines immortality via mind uploading and body swapping tech as technologies which demonstrably have lead to the end of alien civilizations but which humans just can't resist.
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Mad fantasy-fic idea: what if even death is no escape from the law, and contracts signed in life remain binding after shuffling off this mortal coil?
In this setting, all contract lawyers are necromancers. A zombie is what you get when an undischarged bankrupt dies. And so on.
@cstross ah you're talking about 100year copyright protection rights?
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@cstross Tangentially related, what if a practical cure for aging was discovered? There is a novel called The Postmortal which imagines the many dystopian aspects of never dying.
Richard K Morgan's Altered Carbon series imagines immortality via mind uploading and body swapping tech as technologies which demonstrably have lead to the end of alien civilizations but which humans just can't resist.
@cstross Both have the idea of immortality as a sort of cultural trap with the potential for permanent underclasses and rulling classes and horrifically long term contracts.
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Mad fantasy-fic idea: what if even death is no escape from the law, and contracts signed in life remain binding after shuffling off this mortal coil?
In this setting, all contract lawyers are necromancers. A zombie is what you get when an undischarged bankrupt dies. And so on.
Sounds a bit like Jack Gilmour
Wish Lawyer: Law is Hell Series by Ed Ryder
Jack Gilmour (Wish Lawyer: Law is Hell #1) and Demons in the Details (Wish Lawyer: Law is Hell #2)
(www.goodreads.com)
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Mad fantasy-fic idea: what if even death is no escape from the law, and contracts signed in life remain binding after shuffling off this mortal coil?
In this setting, all contract lawyers are necromancers. A zombie is what you get when an undischarged bankrupt dies. And so on.
@cstross Sounds a bit like some of Max Gladstones work.
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@cstross your brain wouldn't stop, throwing ideass at you, would it?
@leyrer
Sometimes it's just @foone being a muse: https://wandering.shop/@cstross/116108084351760427
@cstross -
Mad fantasy-fic idea: what if even death is no escape from the law, and contracts signed in life remain binding after shuffling off this mortal coil?
In this setting, all contract lawyers are necromancers. A zombie is what you get when an undischarged bankrupt dies. And so on.
@cstross See real world demonology and immortality. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juridical_person
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@leyrer
Sometimes it's just @foone being a muse: https://wandering.shop/@cstross/116108084351760427
@cstross@towo I saw that
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@cstross in other words, scientology?
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Mad fantasy-fic idea: what if even death is no escape from the law, and contracts signed in life remain binding after shuffling off this mortal coil?
In this setting, all contract lawyers are necromancers. A zombie is what you get when an undischarged bankrupt dies. And so on.
@cstross may I suggest Katarina Pistor's "The Code of Capital"?
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Mad fantasy-fic idea: what if even death is no escape from the law, and contracts signed in life remain binding after shuffling off this mortal coil?
In this setting, all contract lawyers are necromancers. A zombie is what you get when an undischarged bankrupt dies. And so on.
@cstross
That feels familiar, but not sure why. Maybe a short story from some anthology, or something Deathy from Terry Pratchett or Piers Anthony or what's his name that did Sandman. -
Mad fantasy-fic idea: what if even death is no escape from the law, and contracts signed in life remain binding after shuffling off this mortal coil?
In this setting, all contract lawyers are necromancers. A zombie is what you get when an undischarged bankrupt dies. And so on.
Driven a little bit by personal experience, would these particular Contract Lawyers be Barristers? I had to pay one for specialised legal advice, not for representation in court.
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Mad fantasy-fic idea: what if even death is no escape from the law, and contracts signed in life remain binding after shuffling off this mortal coil?
In this setting, all contract lawyers are necromancers. A zombie is what you get when an undischarged bankrupt dies. And so on.
@cstross If you haven't yet seen the show "Extraordinary", it's a must watch. There's a character in it who can do séance-style summonings of the dead, so of course her job is to work with lawyers untangling wills and titles
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@cstross Tangentially related, what if a practical cure for aging was discovered? There is a novel called The Postmortal which imagines the many dystopian aspects of never dying.
Richard K Morgan's Altered Carbon series imagines immortality via mind uploading and body swapping tech as technologies which demonstrably have lead to the end of alien civilizations but which humans just can't resist.
@Infoseepage Ssh, that might be a spoiler for the novel I just finished …!
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@Infoseepage Ssh, that might be a spoiler for the novel I just finished …!
@cstross Immortality as a product/treatment is anything new for SciFi. It's been providing rich fodder for authors for decades upon decades of speculation on the perverse shapes civilizations with access to such technology might take. You've got books like Vance's To Live Forever and Sheckley's Immortality, Inc. going back to the 1950's. Personal favorites growing up are Haldeman's Buying Time and Boat of a Million Years.
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@cstross Immortality as a product/treatment is anything new for SciFi. It's been providing rich fodder for authors for decades upon decades of speculation on the perverse shapes civilizations with access to such technology might take. You've got books like Vance's To Live Forever and Sheckley's Immortality, Inc. going back to the 1950's. Personal favorites growing up are Haldeman's Buying Time and Boat of a Million Years.
@cstross Lately, caught a few episodes of The Beauty, which is about a lab created immortality virus which gets loose, mutates and is sexually transmissible. It radically reshapes individuals for youth, health and beauty, but comes with a ticking time bomb of spontaneous combustion within a few years of infection unless you get an expensive suppressive shot. Sort of the ultimate in "the first one is always free" perpetual rent seeking.
