Mickey7

Mickey7 is a 2022 science fiction novel by Edward Ashton. Its sequel, Antimatter Blues, was released in March 2023. A film adaptation directed by Bong Joon-ho is scheduled to be released in 2025.

Premise
Space explorer Mickey Barnes, a.k.a. Mickey7, survives on a beachhead installation on an alien world. He is an "expendable" space traveler sent on a near-certain-death mission to colonize the ice world Niflheim. When one Mickey dies, another is cloned in his place with most of his memories intact, effectively rendering him immortal.

Creation
Ashton started writing the book in 2015. Ashton wanted to explore teletransportation paradox in a shorter novella, but was urged to write more by Navah Wolfe.

Discussing the background of the novel, Ashton said: "I wrote a short story a number of years ago that explored... a sort of crappy immortality... I liked the idea and wanted to see how that could be expanded if you coupled it with an exploitative social structure."

Reception
NPR included it among its list of the Best Sci-Fi Books of 2022.

Writing for Locus, Gabino Iglesias called the book a "multilayered, wildly entertaining story" and wrote, Mickey7 has something for everyone while also putting a fresh spin on the idea of clones."

Writing for Transfer Orbit, Andrew Liptak praised it as a "fun sci-fi romp, part Andy Weir's The Martian and John Scalzi's Old Man's War and Sue Burke's Semiosis."

Writing for New Scientist, Sally Adee called it "the first novel I have come across that properly explores the philosophy behind (uploaded consciousness)".

It was nominated as one of the Best Science Fiction books of 2022 by Goodreads.

Film adaptation
The book is being adapted into a film directed by Bong Joon-ho and starring Robert Pattinson as Mickey, Steven Yeun, Toni Collette, Naomi Ackie and Mark Ruffalo.

When asked about the adaptation, Ashton responded that Bong is "going to change a lot about the book", but said he is not nervous and described Bong as a "genius". Filming began in August 2022 and wrapped in December. The film was scheduled to be released theatrically on March 29, 2024, but has been pushed back to January 31, 2025, due to delays related to strike disruption.