Eversion

Product Information

The Old Man and the Martian Sea" – originally published in Life on Mars (April 2011), Jonathan Strahan, ed. CENTURY RAIN (2004) A murder mystery in 1959 Paris opens a can of worms for struggling PI and jazzman Wendell Floyd. Space opera, parallel worlds, jazz, etc. A personal favorite of mine, although I’ve sworn there will never be a sequel. Open and Shut" – originally published online by Gollancz (January 2018) (a Revelation Space story). [35] Eversion: not to be confused with inversion, is a fancy way of saying "inside-out". After being grounded in several incarnations of exploration ships, having twisted myself up with the great characterizations, I have to say that I came out of this a bit inside-out, as well.

Zima Blue and Other Stories. San Francisco, CA: Night Shade Books, 2006. ISBN 1-59780-058-9 (Contains nearly all of the author's non-Revelation Space universe stories at the time of publication). Reprinted as Zima Blue and Other Stories. London: Gollancz, 2009. ISBN 0-575-08405-7 (British edition has additional stories 1) Cardiff Afterlife; 2) Minla's Flowers; 3) Digital to Analogue; 4) Everlasting) not included in the original publication. Introduction by Paul McAuley.) Five of his novels and several of his short stories take place within one consistent future universe, usually now called the Revelation Space universe after the first novel published in it, although it was originally developed in short stories for several years before the first novel. Although most characters appear in more than one novel, the works set within this future timeline rarely have the same protagonists twice. Often the protagonists from one work belong to a group that is regarded with suspicion or enmity by the protagonists of another work. While a great deal of science fiction reflects either very optimistic or dystopian visions of the human future, Reynolds's future worlds are notable in that human societies have not departed to either positive or negative extremes, but instead are similar to those of today in terms of moral ambiguity and a mixture of cruelty and decency, corruption and opportunity, despite their technology being dramatically advanced. I will say, though, that this is not a typical big Reynolds story. It carries a different vibe from the majority of his work I’ve read. It matches his more character focused novellas in scope, delivering on human moments with a hefty side helping of science fiction “ideas.” So while I was a little disappointed that he didn’t go harder in the paint with his bread and butter, I was more than satisfied by the particular exploration offered here. For the Ages" – originally published in Solaris Rising: The New Solaris Book of Science Fiction (November 2011), Ian Whates, ed.

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It's even gloomier than his other works and with a longer exposition than usual, but one that will pay off eventually. It gradually builds up tension, and is definitely messing with your mind - you won't be able to discern reality from imagination until almost at the end. Alastair Reynolds has already proved himself a master of intelligent space opera such as Shadow Captain - with Eversion he enters more exotic territory, giving us an SF novel where things are much more weird and wonderful, and he succeeds equally well here.

Reynolds describes in great detail the technologies and mathematics used to locate and identify the Edifice (great use of the Big Dumb Object trope). Fans of science will be thrilled to follow it. But readers more interested in the characters and the emotional core of the story will also enjoy this one. At each stage of this mystery, the characters reveal different facets of their personalities and inner drives. Silas longs for things (and relationships) that are unattainable for various reasons. He also seems to "reset" reality when he gets too close to the truth. Why? Well, that's the core of the mystery! Beyond the Aquila Rift" – Originally published in Constellations (2005), Peter Crowther, ed.; reprinted in The Year's Best Science Fiction: Twenty-Third Annual Collection (2006, ISBN 0-312-35334-0), Gardner Dozois, ed.; and in Year's Best SF 11 (2006, ISBN 978-0-06-087341-7), David G. Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer, eds.. a b c Ulen, Neal. "An Interview with Best-Selling Science Fiction Author Alastair Reynolds". Futurism. Archived from the original on 17 January 2019 . Retrieved 17 January 2019. Alastair Reynolds’ atmospheric descriptions of the different time periods were so well done. In each time period, Doctor Coade is addicted to some kind of substance. First it’s opium, and later morphine. At one point, photography has been invented and we get to see how the characters use it on the ship. We also get to witness the progression of medicine, as Coade is always a doctor, but his equipment and methods keep evolving as the story goes along. In the beginning, he’s treating a patient with a serious head injury, and later that same character appears with the same injury, but medical practices have improved, and so Coade is able to better help his patient. I found this evolution fascinating!A Spy in Europa – a short story by Alastair Reynolds". Infinityplus.co.uk . Retrieved 10 June 2013. The Last Log of the Lachrimosa" – originally published in Subterranean Online (July 2014) (a Revelation Space story) [31] The novel starts on a tall ship in the early 1800s in waters in the Arctic, then jumps to a paddle-steamer near the Antarctic, then a dirigible over Antarctica, and eventually concludes in the future on a submarine-like explorer under the ice of Europa, the Jupiter moon. Spheres have two surfaces – an inside and an outside. A sphere eversion turns it inside-out and reverses the two surfaces. Contrary to intuition, it is possible to do this without cutting or tearing or creasing the sphere’s surface. Cool! Yeah, but, well, it isn’t what Alastair Reynolds’ new science fiction novel is actually about. Alastair Reynolds is a former research astronomer with the European Space Agency, and now prolific hard-sf/space opera writer, best known for his Revelation Space novels and stories, almost all of which I have previously read. Eversion is a stand-alone novel, and not set in the Revelation Space universe. I found the novel to be conceptually related to Reynolds’ 2004 stand-alone novel Century Rain. In fact, the first chapter of Century Rain was included after the conclusion of this novel as a teaser. If you liked that, you will like this too.