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.

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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

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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.

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Another super good read in this excellent trilogy, but Alastair left the ending wide open for a good follow-up story or three.

I do hope Alastair comes back to this universe, it’s a rather good place to read about and after getting to the end of this trilogy it’s rather clear that it’s a really good place for Alastair to write lots more about.

Bring it on, please, Alastair.

Next up in Alastair’s list is The Lobby.

Bye for now.

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This is the second book in the Poseidon’s Children trilogy and a great follow on from Blue Remembered Earth.

Skipping quite a few years into the future there’s been some cloning and big ship building to take us to Crucible, the planet that Ocular discovered.

This story is mostly about the shenanigans of the first caravan of “holoships” that are well on their way, and also the shenanigans going on back in the solar system, and what good shenanigans they are too.

Super well written and totally captivating, as usual with Alastair, and a wonderful second episode in this trilogy.

Now i can’t wait to get my reading teeth into the final book in the trilogy, which is Poseidon’s Wake.   Bring it on!

Bye for now.

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This follows on quite nicely from the future Earth setting of The Water Thief, albeit this story is about a family who made their fortune during the times of climate collapse, whereas The Water Thief is about a family dumped an all but forgotten in a climate refugee camp.

So definitely read The Water Thief before diving into this, it may give you a bit of perspective as to the what the world went through outside of the Akinya family.

But, i digress, what about this story?   Well, this story is the first in a trilogy that is another of Alastair’s super long narrations that he so wonderfully excels at.

The matriarch of the family dies and the family is set spinning down a trail of clues left behind by said matriarch, all while tearing itself apart along old lines of enmity.

And it’s a great paperchase of clues.

Slow starting, but stick with it, you’ll be well rewarded.

And now i’m diving straight into the second book of this trilogy, On the Steel Breeze.

Bye for now.

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Available in the collection, Beyond the Aquila Rift.

An interesting look at the post climate apocalyptic future, that we’re now facing, when people have been moved into massive refugee camps because the earth is in such a bad state.   Work is scarce and only available through a VR kind of thing.   This story is about one of these VR workers in a camp.

In a way this is a good little forerunner for Blue Remembered Earth, which feels like its set further into the future that’s described in this story.   Only difference is that Blue Remembered Earth is centred around a wealthy corporate family who made their fortune out of the apocalypse (let’s face it, a lot of people are going to get very wealthy out of it).

Anyway, a good little story that’ll get you in the mood for Blue Remembered Earth.

This is the last of Alastair’s shorts, for now.   Next up, we’re diving back into the long stuff with the aforementioned, Blue Remembered Earth.

Bye for now.

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Available in the collection, Beyond the Aquila Rift.

A soldier gets injured on a battlefield and is rescued by a medical robot and placed in a trauma pod, but things aren’t quite as they might seem.

Is this the future of medical care, with AI treating us in pods?   Probably.   I think this story gives us some of Alastair’s thoughts on the matter.

Brilliant!

Next up from Alastair is The Water Thief.

Bye for now.

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Available in the collection, Beyond the Aquila Rift and the anthology Edge of Infinity.

In the future, when we have space travel all over the solar system, there might be some sculptors who decide to carve asteroids and other things in space and leave them floating around as works of art for other space travellers to look upon.

This story involves one such artist and probably the greatest work of a rock carver that ever was, or maybe will ever be: and do they want the fame/infamy due them because of it.

Super good, Alastair’s imagination at its best.   I really enjoyed this wonderful idea of future artists.

Next up from Alastair is Trauma Pod.

Bye for now.

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Available in Belladonna Nights and Other Stories.

Another super good little story from Alastair, who is just as good at the short stories as he is at the massively long epics he writes.

This time we’re transported to the Amazon rain forest and once more the bulldozers are threatening the indigenous tribes.

Coming next from Alastair is Vainglory.

Bye for now.

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Available in Belladonna Nights and Other Stories and Solaris Rising 1.

A really good story.   Not too long, just long enough for Alastair to make his point about the universe.

Alastair has a good physicist moment in this when two characters are discussing about the expansion of the universe and what it will mean for future peoples of the universe: very interesting and well worth reading this story for alone.

Next up from Alastair will be Magic Bone Woman.

Bye for now.

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Available in the anthology, The Year’s Best Science Fiction #29.

A rather short short which would be great if Alastair expands upon it at some point in the future.   A rather different relationship is revealed between the pilot and the ship.

Next up from Alastair will be For the Ages.

Bye for now.

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Available in the collection, Beyond the Aquila Rift.

Another of Alastair’s Mars stories.   This one is set in Mars’ future after a few goes at terraforming have happened before getting things right.

But what happened to all that old terraforming equipment?

I really thought this was a wonderful story, a lost stowaway girl meets an old man who takes her to see a Martian sea.

Next up in Alastair’s timeline is Ascension Day.

Bye for now.

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Available in the anthology, Shine.

A wonderful twist on the “should we resurrect dinosaurs” theme.   Especially for the heavy rock types out there.

Next up in Alastair’s time line is The Old Man and the Martian Sea.

Bye for now.

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You’ll find this in the collection, Zima Blue and Other Stories.

This is one of those “many-worlds interpretation” stories.   To be honest, i place this sort of nonsense firmly in the same box as flat earth twaddle and god grovelling.

I take from this story that Alastair also thinks “many-worlds interpretation” is a load of nonsense as well and if you truly believe in it then get a gun and keep playing Russian roulette, because obviously one of you keeps surviving so you can’t really die.

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It’s the real story about the first person to land on Mars.

A reporter gets a message from Mars that she believes can only have come from the person that were first to land there, the person who has been missing ever since.   So off she goes to meet them to get the story of the decade.

Super good writing with a really well done take on Dissociative Identity Disorder, and a wonderful base jumping experience that’s not to be missed out on.

After Fresco, which i felt was well below par for Alastair, this was definitely back to his usual high standards of sci-fi.

If ya wanna read you’ll find this in the collection, Zima Blue and Other Stories.

Next up in Alastair’s bibliography is Century Rain from 2004: his very first super length novel.

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You’ll find this in the collection, Deep Navigation.

A rather brief short story about an observatory near Jupiter that listens to broadcasts from other galaxies.

I get the idea that this should be a prequel to something: not sure what the point is being on its own.   Ho hum.

Next in the timeline from Alastair, it’s The Real Story from 2002.

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The fourth book in Alastair’s Merlin Series, and should be read immediately after The Iron Tactician.

Leaving his previous hitch-hiker behind, Merlin then finds another to join him on his quest to find the ultimate weapon against the Huskers.   Will they find it?   Will Merlin finally get to use it?   Will there be some ultimate act of betrayal?

You’ll have to read it yourself to find out.

Great ending though.

Sadly, for now at least, this is the fourth and final book in this short but very enjoyable tetralogy.

You’ll find this in the collection, Zima Blue and Other Stories.

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The third book in Alastair’s Merlin Series, and should be read immediately after Minla’s Flowers.

More shenanigans as Merlin finds another system to play fixer in, this time it’s because he needs a new syrinx and this system happens to have one the cohort sold them.   Merlin knows this because he picks up a hitch-hiker along the way, who is the only surviving member of the Cohort ship who sold the syrinx.

So it’s all big war things and all that sort of stuff.

Next book — and final book — in this enjoyable little tetralogy will be Merlin’s Gun.   I wonder if the title gives away the fact that he finally found it? We shall soon find out: at least, i shall.

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This is the second book in Alastair’s Merlin Series, and should be read immediately after Hideaway.

We left off with Merlin leaving the cohort to find a fabled super weapon that he’ll then use to defeat the cyborgs known as Huskers.   During one transit Merlin’s ship, Tyrant, is thrown rather violently out of the Waynet.   It transpires that this is due to a kink in the Waynet as it passes a star named Calliope, and he urgently needs to stop at one of its planets, Lecythus, for repairs and refuelling.   While on the planet Merlin meets Minla and her people.

Unfortunately, Merlin realises that the kink in the Waynet that caused his problems is being caused by the Waynet being pulled towards Calliope, and once the Waynet line reaches the Calliope’s core then it’s pretty much all over for the whole system and everyone in it.   This then leads to all kinds of problems when he tells his new found friends on Lecythus that they’ve only got 70 years left . . .

. . . but it also leads to a rather good story as well.

Definitely some food-for-thought for those who enjoy all those wonderful philosophical debates about Star Fleet’s First Directive.

All told, i’m really enjoying this series and am diving straight into The Iron Tactician for Merlin’s next adventure.

It’s available in the collections, Beyond the Aquila Rift and Zima Blue and Other Stories.

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The first book in the Merlin Series tetralogy.

There’s just a handful of humans left with a galaxy full of nasty cyborgs hunting them down to extinction, so it’s time to find a place to “hideaway”.   But one person, Merlin, doesn’t want to “hideaway”, instead he wants to go and find a weapon to fight back with.

All the usual best from Alastair.   It’s great to have a break from the shorts as i’m working through his whole back catalogue and get into something a bit bigger: this is looking to be a really good series.

Next up is Minla’s Flowers.

You’ll find Hideaway in the collection, Zima Blue and Other Stories, or in Interzone.

Bye for now.

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You’ll find this in the collection, Zima Blue and Other Stories.

It’s one of those sci-fi stories that goes on about quantum babble and how there’s a universe for every possible outcome of every possible situation.   To be honest, i think this theory is no different than the theory of god, both total nonsense made up by people who really don’t understand Nature and how it works.

Then Alastair has our protagonists in this book starting a war over whether god is right or quantum babble is right — which is just silly when all intelligent people already know that they’re both utter nonsense, which i hope is the point that Alastair is making in this story?   Although, thinking about it, he has wrote some other really bizarre stuff that makes no sense in other books, like the sheep in Inhibitor Phase; so maybe Alastair really is a die-hard quantum babble-ist and thinks that quantum babble-ists everywhere should rise up and start a war against the god grovellers?   Who knows the true thoughts of fiction writers?

But, whatever, have a read, it’s a fairly good story.

Coming next in the Alastair Reynolds reading list, from the year 2000, will be Merlin’s Gun.

Bye for now.

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You’ll find this in the collection, Deep Navigation.

Super good idea on how we might test future prisoners as to whether or not they’re suitable for parole.

Although we have to be sure that those doing the testing can’t be allowed to fiddle with the test — don’t we?

Enjoyable.

Next in the timeline from Alastair, it’s Angels of Ashes, from 1999.

Bye for now.

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You’ll find this in the collection, Deep Navigation.

A rather enjoyable short story, and a definite must read for any weirdos out there who are considering cryonics.

You never know who is going to end up buying out the corporation you originally contracted with, and once you’re frozen you won’t get any further say whatsoever as to what level those contracts will be honoured.   Maybe your new corporate owners will find a better use for your frozen bits in 20 or 30 years time.

Cremation is much cheaper and you know you’ll only be good for plant fertiliser afterwards.

Next up in Alastair’s writings will be Viper, a short story from 1999.

Bye for now.

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