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.

Alastair’s Page

#scifi #alastairreynolds

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.

Alastair’s Page

#scifi #alastairreynolds

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.

Alastair’s Page

#scifi #alastairreynolds

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.

Alastair’s Page

#scifi #alastairreynolds

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.

Alastair’s Page

#scifi #alastairreynolds

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.

Alastair’s Page

#scifi #alastairreynolds

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.

Alastair’s Page

#scifi #alastairreynolds

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.

Alastair’s Page

#scifi #alastairreynolds

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.

Alastair’s Page

#scifi #alastairreynolds

Available in the collection, Beyond the Aquila Rift.

Definitely not Alastair’s greatest literary moment.

It just all seems a bit cobbled together out of various random sci-fi tropes.   He even managed to shoe horn some dragons into this awful dystopia.

Ho hum, the greatest writers don’t always write great things.

Next up on Alastair’s list is Lune and the Red Empress.

Alastair’s Page

#scifi #alastairreynolds