Book Preview Never take pop culture too seriously – after all, look what happened to Woody Allen and Paul McCartney. Luckily for us, there’s no better writer to prick the vacuum bubble into which too many critics have retreated than Barry Bayley, whose witty, transsurreal stories have ornamented SF since the early days of New … Read more
Book Preview Jundrak came as a bringer of uncertain news. The manner of his coming was far from uncertain. He came hurtling down the long-range spaceslip with tubes screaming; when still a couple of light-years from Smorn he cut the motors, to fall the remaining distance along the galactic causeway with transcendental velocity. Then, applying … Read more
Book Preview The Pale Blue Eye Louis Bayard For A. J. The sorrow for the dead is the only sorrow from which we refuse to be divorced. Washington Irving “Rural Funerals” “Mid the groves of Circassian splendor, In a brook darkly dappled with sky, In a moonshattered brook raked with sky, Athene’s lissome maidens did … Read more
Book Preview For Sandra, with all my love Henry Meacher, geologist, NASA Geena Bourne, Space Station astronaut Jane Dundas, shopkeeper Arkady Berezovoy, Space Station astronaut Jack Dundas, son of Jane Mike Dundas, technician Ted Dundas, retired police officer Ruth Clark, neighbour of Ted Dundas Hamish Macrae, aka Bran, cult leader Billy Macrae, brother of Hamish … Read more
Book Preview (Stories of the Xeelee Sequence) Ironically, you’ll probably appreciate Vacuum Diagrams most after you’ve put it down. The prolific and acclaimed Stephen Baxter has always been praised for his imaginative and conscientious use of science, and Vacuum Diagrams is no exception. This collection of short stories will leave you ruminating for days over … Read more
Book Preview Even at the moment she was born she knew something was wrong. A face loomed over her: wide, smooth, smiling. The cheeks were damp, the glistening eyes huge. “Lieserl. Oh, Lieserl…” Lieserl. My name, then. She explored the face before her, studying the lines around the eyes, the humorous upturn of the mouth, … Read more
Book Preview Dura woke with a start. There was something wrong. The photons didn’t smell right. Her hand floated before her face, dimly visible, and she flexed her fingers. Disturbed electron gas, spiraling dizzily around the Magfield lines, sparkled purple-white around the fingertips. The Air in her eyes was warm, stale, and she could make … Read more
Book Preview The flitter rose from Occupied Earth like a stone thrown from a blue bowl. The little cylindrical craft tumbled slowly as it climbed, sparkling. Jasoft Parz had been summoned to a meeting, in orbit, with the Qax Governor of Earth. Parz scoured a mind worn into grooves of habit by his years in … Read more
Book Preview “HIGHLY ORIGINAL AND SATISFYING . . . CLEVER SCIENCE, BIZARRE SETTINGS, LOTS OF PACE AND ACTION IN A TRULY —Charles Sheffield author of Proteus Unbound Five hundred years after a handful of human starship travelers got lost in a hostile universe, their descendants are still struggling for survival. As hard as life is … Read more
Book Preview One of the unexpected pleasures of editing In Dreams is getting a story which is totally at right angles to your expectations. For instance, from his career to date, you wouldn’t expect Stephen Baxter to write a story about Glenn Miller – one of the first superstars of modern popular culture to exploit … Read more
Book Preview No Longer Touch the Earth Journey to the King Planet Something for Nothing In the Manner of Trees By the time we reached the comet, Dillard and I had spent fifteen months together inside the two-man GUTship; and, although we’d respected each other’s privacy as far as possible, I’d come to know him … Read more
Book Preview Having examined the space program that might have been in Voyage, Stephen Baxter now turns his attention to the future and the space program which might still be. Timed to (roughly) correspond to the launch of the Cassini space probe, Titan looks at the possibility of a manned expedition to Saturn’s largest moon. … Read more
Book Preview Also by Stephen Baxter from Gollancz: NON-FICTION Deep Future FICTION Mammoth Longtusk Icebones Behemoth Reality Dust Evolution The Web Gulliverzone Webcrash Destiny’s Children Coalescent Exultant Transcendent Resplendent A Time Odyssey (with Arthur C. Clarke) Time’s Eye Sunstorm Firstborn Time’s Tapestry Emperor Conqueror Navigator In Weidenfeld & Nicolson NON-FICTION Revolutions in the Earth Read … Read more
Book Preview Also by Stephen Baxter from Gollancz: Non-fiction Deep Future Fiction Mammoth Longtusk Icebones Behemoth Reality Dust Evolution The Web Gulliverzone Webcrash Destiny’s Children Coalescent Exultant Transcendent Resplendent A Time Odyssey (with Arthur C. Clarke) Time’s Eye Sunstorm Time’s Tapestry Emperor Conqueror In Weidenfeld & Nicolson Non-fiction Revolutions in the Earth Read the full … Read more
Book Preview Also by Stephen Baxter from Gollancz FICTION Mammoth Longtusk Icebones Behemoth Reality Dust Evolution Coalescent: Destiny’s Children Book One Exultant: Destiny’s Children Book Two Transcendent: Destiny’s Children Book Three Resplendent: Destiny’s Children Book Four Time’s Eye, A Time Odyssey: Book One (with Arthur C. Clarke) Sunstorm, A Time Odyssey: Book Two (with Arthur … Read more
Book Preview Banna, Birdoswald Caledonia, Scotland Camulodunum, Colchester Durovernum, Canterbury Eburacum, York Dolaucothi Londinium, London Mona, Anglesey Rutupiae, Richborough Tamesis, R Thames Sabrina, R Severn Tinea, R Tyne Ituna, R Solway Cantiaci River, R Medway Gesoriacum, Boulogne Massilia, Marseilles Principal British Nations: Atrebates Brigantia Catuvellauni Cantiaci Durotriges Iceni Ordovices Silures 1 Roman foot = 0.96 … Read more
Book Preview Bisesa Dutt gasped, and staggered. She was standing. She didn’t know where she was. She stared at a wall, which showed the magnified image of an impossibly beautiful young man crooning into an old-fashioned microphone. Impossible, yes; he was a synth-star, a distillation of the inchoate longings of subteen girls. “My God, he … Read more
Book Preview For thirty million years the planet had cooled and dried, until, in the north, ice sheets gouged at the continents. The belt of forest that had once stretched across Africa and Eurasia, nearly continuous from the Atlantic coast to the Far East, had broken into dwindling pockets. The creatures who had once inhabited … Read more