Alastair Reynolds

[O Lucky Stevie!]

Almost completed Alastair Reynold's latest, Blue remembered Earth. He's really dialled up the Clarke on this one. Great stuff.

[Judo]

Almost completed Alastair Reynold's latest, Blue remembered Earth. He's really dialled up the Clarke on this one. Great stuff.

I'm reading my way through him just now! Any I should dodge or particularly go for?

I was tricked into reading him so badly by a friend. Before I get into any series I like to know how long they are ie 'how much of my life must I devote' to this'. But one of my friends, knowing this said 'ooh there's this really cool short hard science horror maths story you'll just lurvve' ~ diamond dogs. Then after I read it they pointed to an en entire shelf and said 'yeah he's great ain't he'. Damn you people knowing me too well!!! X

[Mikey]

Almost completed Alastair Reynold's latest, Blue remembered Earth. He's really dialled up the Clarke on this one. Great stuff.

I've only ever read his short fiction, which is all types of aces. In fact I just read one last night night in the Solaris Rising anthology. It made my head wobble with wonder just like a good SF short should!

I'll really have to pick up his novels...

M.

[Emperor]

Almost completed Alastair Reynold's latest, Blue remembered Earth. He's really dialled up the Clarke on this one. Great stuff.

Good to hear. I'm usually running one or two behind but have finished Terminal World (which I enjoyed) so will be getting around to this at some point.

I'm reading my way through him just now! Any I should dodge or particularly go for?

Nope, they are all good (IMHO, of course). You could read them in order of publication like I did but it isn't necessary. If I was coming to his books now I'd probably read the Revelation Space ones together and then pick up the standalone books:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alastair_Reynolds#Novels

Almost completed Alastair Reynold's latest, Blue remembered Earth. He's really dialled up the Clarke on this one. Great stuff.

I've only ever read his short fiction, which is all types of aces. In fact I just read one last night night in the Solaris Rising anthology. It made my head wobble with wonder just like a good SF short should!

I'll really have to pick up his novels...

Yes you do.

In fact any 2000AD reader who likes epic-scale hard sci-fi shouldn't hesitate to get stuck in to his books.

[SmallBlueThing]

Reynolds' 'pushing tin' was one of the most enjoyable books i read last year- deft charcterisation, a compelling story and a world that entirely convinces while at the same time blowing my tiny mind. I tried 'revelation space', but didnt get on with it, but 'galactic north' is a sensational collection.

SBT

[Judo]

thats what i feared emperor!!! Im not reading them in order due to only having the ones that i could fine cheap first eds of in my local book/charity shops. Im reading century rain just now (with breaks for comics and hugo/nebula winning short stories). Reynolds is a proper modern scifi legend and im defo space opera-ing my way through them all. I have pushing ice sitting on my bookshelf but ill get to that waaaay later. Not enough people know him which is a shame cos all scifi geeks end up reading the same books - dune, enders game, left hand of darkness etc etc. His GENUINE knowledge of science, technology and space definitely comes through - Its his scottish PHD that makes him so Hawsum obviously x

[TordelBack]

Not enough people know him which is a shame cos all scifi geeks end up reading the same books - dune, enders game, left hand of darkness etc etc.

Funny, I would have thought Reynolds was currently far more popular than Card, LeGuin, or even Herbert on this side of the Pond at least.  He practically has a shelf to himself in my regular bookshop, while my beloved LeGuin would be lucky to have three titles in stock at any one time (although she's better represented in the kids' section, naturally), and most of the Herberts seem to be the later 'co-authored' ones. 

But I do agree, he's bloody good, either in series, standalone or short.  Be interested to hear what you make of Century Rain.

[Judo]

hmm well I'm not sure. I know he signed a book deal 10 books for a million which is big but not *huge* by todays standards and he hasn't won the nebula or hugo *yet* (I'm hopeful). I guess maybe just I know a lot of people that have read the 'classics' or read warhammery stuff and I only know a few who know who reynolds is... and they have all already read the 'classics'. The book shop thing I dunno cos I don't buy in normal book shops. In fact the shop I got centuary rain in has a cat sleeping on piles of books and you can barely move for the stacks of random stuff. I cannot speak for the popularity of 600+ page hard science space operas as a whole, but I will say that its not a high as I'd hope x 

[Emperor]

I done went and split off this new thread. Worth it as I imagine there is quite a bit of crossover with 2000AD readers.

[Judo]

oh thank fripp I was startin to think I'd imagined this conversation.

So far century rain thoughts minus spoilers...
I don't think this is the revelation space universe. the tech seems, maybe, more advanced. can't put a finger on what's different exactly. Maybe the socio-political stuff, dunno, just *feels* different. But anyways also the first time that I've seen a sort of 'modern day' character - not modern at all maybe 1940s but modern for reynolds. 2 totally seperate story lines set in different times with different characters which I'm sure (I hope) will intertwine into one glorius mess of awesome - as reynolds does so well x

[Emperor]

I don't think this is the revelation space universe.

That's because it isn't.

Here are the Revelation Space books:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revelation_Space_universe

And the standalone ones:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alastair_Reynolds#Other

[Rog69]

I started reading him by accident when my Mother got confused with my Amazon wish list and the "people also bought" section and ordered me a copy of Zima Blue, which turned out to be a fantastic collection of shorts.

I moved on to Revelation Space which was OK, it felt a bit messy and over long but all came together nicely in the end. I probably would have left the series there but someone convinced me that it was worth carrying on with and I'm now about a third of the way through Redemption Ark and loving it.

[I, Cosh]

I find his short stories very enjoyable but his novels (at least, the couple of Revelation Space ones I've read) around fifty percent too long.

Something I keep meaning to start a proper topic about is my annoyance at the tendency of sci-fi writers to churn out a series of overlong, wristbusting tomes set in a single fictional universe rather than the short, sharp shocks of novelty which characterise the best of the genre. This is a particular problem with Reynolds. In fact, it took Tordelback to point out that a couple of stories in the Galactic North collection provide some fairly indispensable background to the entire Universe of Revelation Space.

His GENUINE knowledge of science, technology and space definitely comes through - Its his scottish PHD that makes him so Hawsum obviously

Not sure about this. It just reads like Iain Banksian space opera hokum to me. If you want real hard science and math in your sci-fi you need to try some Greg Egan. Of course, if you want any plot or character to go with that you wont bother. Short stories are magic though.

[Judo]

'paper doesn't last, especially not the wood-pulp paper they were using in that era. Ironically, the cotton-pulp paper from much earlier lasts a lot better. Not as easy to bleach, but the alum they used un the wood-pulp process undergoes hydrolysis and produces sulphuric acid. That's not all. There are are metal tannins in the inks that also lead to deterioration. Not to mention airborne contaminants. Then the glues dry up. Labels come off and the sleeve begins to come apart at the seams. The dyes fade. Laquer on the card turns brown and cracks off'

That is why your bob dylan albums wrecked. Science bitches!

<3 x

[Judo]

right back to reality was just lovin that paragraph so much. I'm only on chapter 6 but I'm glad you told me that now emperor as I might have got confused otherwise. But then maybe not as I generally like to think that all scifi is in the same universe in different dimensions or parts of the glaxy and what not - it helps that I mainly like hard scifi and cyberpunk/dark future city stuff.

Oh well you would say that since *obviously* if you read comcis you aint gots the attention span for like proper books and things so like more than 100 pages is too long innit. But SRSLY I do get what your saying that revelation was a bit too long and I'd have cut some whole bits out. Like some of the dark tunnels stuff was a bit naff. Century rain is going strong though so maybe its just cos it was as early full novel and he had a lazy editor.

I think there's lots of great hard science without reading dry like some authors. I wasn't at all surprised when I heard he has fantastic credentials as an academic. I feel his hard science flows with the story and doesn't feel forced while as far as possible (obv its sciFI) being technically accurate but YMMV x