I’m currently rebuilding the website as the old one got totally messed up when i was playing around with things (no idea what happened).
So i thought that while it was a total clusterfuck mess of SQL, i would take the opportunity to give it a whole new life and everything.
So if you go clicking on things you might find that very strange things happen. Don’t moan, i know a lot of things are broken, i’m working on it, it takes time.
I’ve got tons of old posts and pages from three websites that i’m working through and will be gradually posting all the stuff i want to keep on here while fixing all the broken things as i go through, one post, one page, at a time.
On top of doing all that, i will, of course, be continuing to add more new content and my latest posts will always appear directly below.
Or, if you prefer, you can also follow me on Twitter and Pinterest where i put a link to all new posts.
Enjoy
Remainers — Alastair Reynolds
Available in Tales from the Edge: Escalation.
A little story that Alastair wrote for the Maelstom’s Edge Universe.
You don’t need to know anything about the Universe other than a maelstrom of energy is travelling up the spiral arm of the galaxy wiping out everything in its path. Systems are being evacuated and there’s lots of different factions with different views as to how to deal with things.
This story covers a journey back to one of the evacuated planets.
Rather good.
Next up from Alastair is Visiting Hours.
Bye for now.
Alastair’s Page
#scifi #alastairreynolds
Sixteen Questions for Kamala Chatterjee — Alastair Reynolds
Available in Belladonna Nights and Other Stories.
Kamala Chatterjee is defending her PHD paper in front of three judges, with sixteen questions to get through.
This really isn’t Alastair’s finest work. I think it’s another one of those stories of his that just didn’t work out but he threw it into a collection to fill the pages with.
You mileage may vary though.
Rolling on through Alastair’s books, next up is Remainers.
Bye for now.
Alastair’s Page
#scifi #alastairreynolds
The Medusa Chronicles — Alastair Reynolds and Stephen Baxter
This time Alastair teams up with Stephen Baxter to write this interesting yarn, taking us from an alternative history of the Apollo missions all the way into the deep heart of Jupiter, hundreds of years later.
As usual with anything Alastair Reynolds, it’s just great all round writing. What i really liked about this one is the recreation of Jupiter with a whole eco system going on all the way down to the core of the planet.
Once again we’ve plenty of AI stuff going on, and going wrong on a cosmic scale (rapidly approaching an Earth near you, in case you’ve been sleeping under a rock and hadn’t noticed), and a solar-system wide war with a cyborg, running/wheeling/flying around, trying to make peace between everyone.
It’s a really good novel, and whether you believe me or not, i don’t care. If you don’t want to read it, just because i think it’s really good, then that’s your loss, not mine.
Next up from Alastair is Sixteen Questions for Kamala Chatterjee, which i’m diving straight into in my quest to read everything by Alastair before the AI’s take over and destroy everything of value that ever existed and turn the Earth into a volcanic wasteland (which won’t be long, according to some people).
Bye for now.
Alastair’s Page
#scifi #alastairreynolds
A Murmuration — Alastair Reynolds
Available in Belladonna Nights and Other Stories.
Not one of Alastair’s best stories, i’m left at the end not really understanding what is happening in the outside world and therefore why any of this research is being done. But if you enjoy a good murmuration of starlings then you might enjoy it just for the good descriptive writing of such things.
Let’s hope The Medusa Chronicles is better.
Bye for now.
Alastair’s Page
#scifi #alastairreynolds
Slow Bullets — Alastair Reynolds
At the end of a major war, the worse of the worse, from both sides (known as the Dregs by the crew), are put onto a sleeper ship and sent off to a far flung corner of the galaxy.
One by one the Dregs awaken: and find that something has gone horribly wrong with the ship. With it’s systems failing, the ship has ended up where it should have been but a very long time in the future.
A really good story with the Dregs having to learn to put their differences aside and work together to survive, but some differences need settling first.
Next up in Alastair’s list is A Murmuration.
Bye for now.
Alastair’s Page
#scifi #alastairreynolds
Wrecking Party — Alastair Reynolds
Available in Belladonna Nights and Other Stories.
An interesting look at how future AI’s will view primitive machines: plenty of food for thought.
Next up is Slow Bullets.
Bye for now.
Alastair’s Page
#scifi #alastairreynolds
Sad Kapteyn — Alastair Reynolds
Another AI story.
This time an AI turns up around Kapteyn’s Star, a red dwarf a very long way away from Earth.
Basically the whole story is the AI’s transmission back to Earth, which i won’t go into because it would spoil the punch line at the end.
Really good. Maybe one day only the AI’s that we’ve sent out into the galaxy will be all that’s left of us, and i wonder what other species will make of them.
Next up on Alastair’s list is Wrecking Party.
Bye for now.
Alastair’s Page
#scifi #alastairreynolds
In Babelsberg — Alastair Reynolds
Available in the collection, Beyond the Aquila Rift.
Another story from Alastair featuring a genetically modified Tyrannosaurus rex, but unlike At Budokan where the T. Rex was a rock star, this time it’s a chat show host.
The main premise of the the story is that an AI, named Vincent, that’s been out mapping the solar system implanted in a space ship is now back on Earth implanted in a humanoid body doing the chat show round and other public appearances to publicise its exploits.
But another corporation had it’s own AI out and it’s just returned with some rather contradicting information from Vincent.
I do enjoy Alastair’s AI stories, they’re usually excellent.
Next up is Sad Kapteyn.
Bye for now.
Alastair’s Page
#scifi #alastairreynolds
A Map of Mercury — Alastair Reynolds
Available in Belladonna Nights and Other Stories.
A rather interesting idea exploring transhumanism in the context of living on Mercury: specifically a group of transhumanists who make art for the sake of it.
A fixer is sent to Mercury to contact one of the transhumanist artists to make them an offer, but finds something rather different than what he expected to find.
Next up in Alastair’s timeline is, In Babelsberg.
Bye for now.
Alastair’s Page
#scifi #alastairreynolds
The Lobby — Alastair Reynolds
Available in Belladonna Nights and Other Stories.
A bit of a weird one from Alastair. A couple of oddballs take some strange drug and start seeing things that may or may not be as it seems to people not on drugs.
I’m not sure what Alastair’s point is with this one.
Anyway, moving on, it’s A Map of Mercury next
Bye for now.
Alastair’s Page
#scifi #alastairreynolds
Fiction
. . .me thinks it’s a good time to re-read Asimov.
Fiction
Nonfiction
Nonfiction
