Science Fiction Book Club; Book Club Edition edition (2005)
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16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
The strongest original-story anthology I've read in awhile.,
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This review is from: One Million A.D. (Hardcover)
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This is an anthology of six original novellas of the very far future, commissioned by the Science Fiction Book Club, in a departure from their usual reprints-only policy. The authors are all well-known: Robert Reed, Robert Silverberg, Nancy Kress, Alastair Reynolds, Charlie Stross, and Greg Egan. Plus a nice introduction by supereditor Gardner Dozois. A stellar lineup! The opening story, "Good Mountain" by Robert Reed, is set in an old water-world colony with some unusual terraforming adaptations. Reed's writing and characterizations are very fine, but the story has an odd twist ending that undercut its impact, at least for me. But who could resist a railway system where the passengers ride inside giant worms? Robert Silverberg has a long-standing interest in the far future. His "A Piece of the Great World" is a story of a world recovering from a Long Winter, after a heavy meteorite bombardment. It's set in the world of his novels _At Winter's End_ and _The New Springtime_. As you'd expect, Silverberg's writing is polished and professional. This isn't one of his best stories, though it has some nice moments, and some gorgeous images. Silverberg fans won't go away unhappy. Nancy Kress has clone-sisters, a galaxy-spanning quantum AI and clashing branes in her far-future "Mirror Image". One clone-sister is convicted of an awful crime, and sentenced to life on a prison planet. Her sisters try to rescue her, and solve the mystery of who really dunnit. Fine world-building and a good story. Alastair Reynold's clever, colorful and very fast-moving "Thousandth Night" takes us to 2,000,000 AD, for a family reunion of the clone-line of Abigail Gentian, a noted star-traveler who picked an unusual (but effective) way to "double the pleasure, double the fun!", carried to the eighth power. But the reunion turns into a murder-mystery, and the fate of the Galaxy is in the balance! Classic Reynolds, not to be missed. Charles Stross's "Missile Gap" is a major new story. It's Yet Another Stross replay of the Cold War, set on a Very Big Dumb Object.... I can't say much more without spoiling the fun (which has a dismal outcome, for us Old Humans), except to say that "Missile Gap" will leave you scratching your head, wondering what the hell really happened. Who was that CIA 'man'? Denizens of rec.arts.sf.science will see the results of Charlie's past inquiries about ekranoplans. Stross is an astonishingly inventive author who's giving staid old SF some well-needed kicks in the pants. Stories like this are why I keep reading this stuff. "Missile Gap" is worth buying the book for. The windup story is "Riding the Crocodile" by Greg Egan, who hasn't been writing much SF lately, more's the pity. And certainly not because he's forgotten how: this is a typically dazzling Egan story, and if it's not quite up with his very best, it's still very, very good. With such grace notes as the festival planet Tassef, where the Listening Party had proved so popular that the authorities "imposed a thousand-year limit on their presence, if they wished to remain embodied without adopting local citizenship..." This is the strongest original-story anthology I've read in awhile. Recommended -- though, as you'll see below, YMMV. Review copyright 2006 by Peter D. Tillman First published at SF Site
4.0 out of 5 stars
Very strong collection,
By
This review is from: One Million A.D. (Hardcover)
I'm sad I left this on my shelf so long before reading it, this is one of the strongest collections I've read and really showcases the strengths of the novella, a form I particularly love but doesn't appear enough in the short fiction magazines.The conceit of each of the stories in the collection is the far far future, a relatively recent idea as the editor points out in the foreward. What we want from this is a sense of true difference, even humans at that point should be incredibly alien. Though all stories are good, there are some better and some worse. Robert Reed's story though truly alien with the setup of an earth undergoing total tectonic collision and giant worms providing transport was perhaps the least strong. Charles Stross' story though good was the least alien, transporting cold war era earth to the future on a huge discworld. I thought the Kress story about the clone sisters was both sufficiently alien and sufficiently strong. The Alistair Reynolds story was also top-notch in portraying betrayal amongst an immortal clone family in a post-scarcity far future, a future where they gather together every 200,000 years and it is nothing for one of them to spend thousands of years preparing the venue. The Silverberg and Egan story fall in the middle, both good stories and reasonably alien in their point of view of uplifted species and humans in another apparently post-scarcity human/computer hybrid future respectively. This book really should be in print and offered to a mass audience.
3.0 out of 5 stars
One Milliion AD,
By Paul D. Lowe (Huntington, WV USA) - See all my reviews
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: One Million A.D. (Hardcover)
Bought this book to read a story by Alastair Reynolds. I enjoyed the story and the book was reasonably priced. The condition and delivery were as promised. I was pleased with this purchase.
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