Impact Parameter: And Other Quantum Realities [Hardcover]

Geoffrey A. Landis (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1, 2001

Reading more like a news report from the future than contemporary fiction, this collection of short stories combines hard science with rich emotionalism to explore myriad realities. Stories in this collection include “Into the Blue Abyss,” where the seas of Uranus are explored. There are stories detailing a space freighter and its encounter with space pirates, the “marsforming” of Mars, mathematical theorems from a very unlikely source, how Sherlock Holmes deals with a parasitic alien, the horrors of a hopeless war, and a voyage into a black hole.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Landis's first short story collection (after his well-received first novel, 2000's Mars Crossing) contains 16 distinguished stories published between 1984 and 2001, with an author's afterword providing valuable insights into the genesis of individual stories as well as Landis's attitudes toward his work. In balancing his expertise as a working scientist against his obvious love of language and emotional sensitivity, Landis consistently achieves striking characterizations within the confines of ingenious futuristics. Because he feels that SF ought to offer hope that the future will be better than what's past, most of these stories end, if not happily, at least positively. In the Hugo-winning "A Walk in the Sun," a marooned spacewoman saves herself by walking 11,000 kilometers around the moon, and, in the enormously moving "Beneath the Stars of Winter," starving zeks in Stalin's bitter gulag create a hymn sub voce to the indomitable human thirst for freedom. Many of the author's central figures are outcasts, like the wry narrator of "Outsider's Chance," who outwits (or does he?) space pirates; the lesbian heroine of "Across the Darkness," who will help found a world that will never forget the dreams that made it; and the unforgettable Sarah of "Snow," a homeless prostitute and a gifted mathematician. Landis's preference for the scientific puzzle story is also evident in "Into the Blue Abyss," a startling exploration of the enigmatic planet Uranus, and in "The Singular Habits of Wasps," a stunner of a Sherlock Holmes story hinging on entomological life cycles. Landis's finest success, though, transcends mental acuity and dazzling storytelling; he gives "hard" science fiction a heart.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Here are 16 stories by award-winning hard-science sf writer Landis, who works for NASA, cogently introduced by Joe Haldeman, and informatively discussed in an afterword by their author. Some of the stories are classic cases of a scientific premise turned into a tale. The Hugo-winning "A Walk in the Sun," for instance, takes the protagonist across the moon's surface, for she has to stay in the sun to keep her solar cells charged. "Into the Blue Abyss" works from the proposition that the planet Uranus consists entirely of ocean and has no solid core. Others are more abstruse--"Rorvik's War," for example, with what it does with computer simulations. There is a Sherlock Holmes pastiche, "The Singular Habit of Wasps," and two extraordinarily powerful pieces with minimal sf content, "Beneath the Stars of Winter" and "Winter Fire." A matter of an author putting his best foot forward, this collection is very good indeed, and not only for hard-science sf fans. Roland Green
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 330 pages
• Publisher: Golden Gryphon Press; 1 edition (November 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1930846061
• ISBN-13: 978-1930846067
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.9 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #862,479 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Surprisingly Good, February 11, 2002

By 

Fosky Bob "human" (Vacaville, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Impact Parameter: And Other Quantum Realities (Hardcover)

I was surprised by the depth of this story collection. I had Landis pegged as an 'Analog author', meaning one that writes good science but poor story. I am overjoyed to admit that I was wrong.

This is a quite good story collection. Some of the stories are typical Analog fare, but the majority of them are extraordinary tales that will please any SF reader. The stories are arranged roughly in chronological order. There is some variation but the newer stories are grouped more towards the back of the volume. This allows the reader to watch Landis' growth from his humble beginnings as part of Stan Schmidt's cadre to an author who is published in diverse venues.

There is no one story in this collection that stands out as 'Best of the Book'. 'Beneath the Stars of Winter', 'Winter Fire', 'A Walk in the Sun', 'Dark Lady', 'Approaching Perimelasma', and the humorous 'What We Do Here at NASA' are all mature and engaging pieces of fiction. I was slightly disappointed with the acclaimed 'The Singular Habits of Wasp', a Holmes pastiche which had a plot reminiscent of Michael Dibdin's classic novel _The Last Sherlock Holmes Story_.

While reading this collection I discovered that Mr. Landis is a mature and talented author with a mastery of the art of pacing. Each of his stories flows. They reach a peak and then gently diminish. I am very impressed with this collection and will very soon begin an avid search for more of Landis' stories. Highly recommended.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent hard science-fiction short stories, November 14, 2001

By 

"g_williams" (Tampa/St. Petersburg, FL) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Impact Parameter: And Other Quantum Realities (Hardcover)

I was impressed by the author's first novel, MARS CROSSING, so I was very eager to read his collection of short stories, and I found that I was not disappointed. Many of these stories have appeared in magazines and anthologies, and have won awards. Landis is clearly a "hard" science-fiction writer, in that the science element in his stories is interesting and accurate, but he does not neglect the characters-- the short-short "Snow," for example, is a superb story which views the character with clarity and sympathy. Many stories are about exploration-- "Into the Blue Abyss," for example, is about exploring the oceans of Uranus---- and others are focused on humanity. Two of the stories, "Winter Fire" and "Rorvik's War", look at the future of war, with a focus on the human element.
Overall, this book is an excellent collection of hard science-fiction stories. Highly recommended.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Depth and Grace, December 21, 2001

By 

Mary A. Turzillo "Marite" (Cleveland, OH United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Impact Parameter: And Other Quantum Realities (Hardcover)

Landis has many personas as a writer. On the one hand, "A Walk in the Sun" is a classic "well made story." On the other, "Snow" is a fey, post-modern sally at our preconceptions about society. His style is elegant and transparent, his characters sympathetic, his plots full of surprises and yet not just conventionally paced genre fiction. If you liked his novel _Mars Crossing_ ( and I did) you'll want to sample this treasure trove of impelling fictions, small and large. It's a special treat in this time when it's so hard to find a volume of short fiction for the lover
of the form.