Threshold Shift [Hardcover]

Eric Brown (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 2006

This unique collection of science fiction stories focuses on the human emotions that have no place in a world made unrecognizable by science and technology. Three stories that deal with the Kethani aliens—a group that has come to present-day Earth offering life after death via technological resurrection—are included, as is “The Children of Winter,” a lucid tale of doomed love between alien species on a far-off world in the distant future. As characters are pushed to their moral thresholds, they attempt to deal with the unforseen consequences contained in fascinating new technologies.

 

 

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The 10 stories in this collection from British author Brown (Engineman) thoughtfully address questions of morality, life and death while creating deeply personal worlds. Two of the best are "The Children of Winter," about a first contact gone awry and its repercussion years later, and "Hunting the Slarque," about a man brought back from death who hunts down the creature that killed him. Death—or its absence—weaves together three stories set in a post–first contact Earth where the alien Kéthani have abolished death, including "The Kéthani Inheritance," in which a man has to come to terms with his resurrected, abusive father, and "Thursday's Child," in which a terminally ill girl's parents fight over whether to give her the implant that would guarantee her immortality. While some readers may feel the stories stop short of a full resolution, all can appreciate the graceful writing. (Sept.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

"The Children of Winter" opens Brown's collection with a tale of love between members of alien species taught to despise each other and of the discovery, after years of ignorance, of a terrible truth. "Thursday's Child," "The Kethani Inheritance," and "The Touch of Angels"--set in Brown's Kethani world, in which the alien Kethani have come to Earth and offered eternal life through implants that bring people back after death--detail the consequences of human mistrust of the strange and new and the implications of life after death. In the volume closer, "The Hunting of the Slarque," a wealthy man brings Hunter back from death to capture the creature that killed him: the last descendant of a sentient species on the planet Tartarus, which orbits a sun about to go nova. Brown's stories (there are six more, one coauthored by Stephen Baxter), with their focuses on the effects of the extraordinary on everyday people, make for most satisfying reading. Regina Schroeder
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 265 pages
• Publisher: Golden Gryphon Press; First Edition edition (September 1, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1930846436
• ISBN-13: 978-1930846432
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.9 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,254,590 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Strongly recommended for science fiction collections and reading lists., December 9, 2006

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Threshold Shift (Hardcover)

Accomplished Eric Brown presents Threshold Shift, an anthology of fantastic tales of the imagination that includes the British Science Fiction Award winning tales "The Children of Winter" about a hopeless love affair between alien kinds on an icy world in the far future, and "Hunting the Slarque" about a Hunter resurrected by the curator of an alien zoo and set against the vicious creature that killed him, the Slarque. Other stories include three set in Brown's Kehani universe, in which aliens offer the people of Earth immortality - a gift that comes with abiding moral and ethical dilemmas. Threshold Shift explores the complex problems arising from future technology, as well as constructing fantastic alien visions and worlds, and is strongly recommended for science fiction collections and reading lists.