I’ve been a fan of Alastair Reynolds’s work for years. Reynolds writes intelligent Space Opera with compelling characters and inventive plots. Subterranean Press, one of my favorite small press publishers, has just published Beyond the Aquila Rift: The Best of Alastair Reynolds in a mammoth, 768-page tome. If you haven’t read any of Alastair Reynolds 14 novels of Galactic adventure, you’re missing out on a lot of fun. If you want to sample some of Reynolds’s work, this is a great place to start. I highly recommend this wonderful collection!
Table of Contents:
◦ Great Wall of Mars
◦ Weather
◦ Beyond the Aquila Rift
◦ Minla’s Flowers
◦ Zima Blue
◦ Fury
◦ The Star Surgeon’s Apprentice
◦ The Sledge-Maker’s Daughter
◦ Diamond Dogs
◦ Thousandth Night
◦ Troika
◦ Sleepover
◦ Vainglory
◦ Trauma Pod
◦ The Last Log of the Lachrymosa
◦ The Water Thief
◦ The Old Man and the Martian Sea
◦ In Babelsberg
◦ Story Notes
He is definitely on my list. I know I’ve read some short stories but I’m not home to check my list. This looks like a good choice to try.
Jeff, BEYOND THE AQUILA RIFT is a great retrospective of Alastair Reynolds’s 20 year career. Great stories!
Jackie is stimulating the economy, sort of. We had a concert on the Island last night so she decided we should use some of her hundreds of thousands of Marriott points and stay the night out here for free, with dinner and breakfast.
Jeff, now I’m sure the stock market will go up today thanks to Jackie!
George, are these short stories, novellas, or what?
OK, I looked it up and it appears to be a short story collection. My math says they average 42 pages per story. Making the assumption that many are quite a bit longer, this one seems like it would take a long time to get through. Think I’ll hold off.
Rick, a couple stories like “Troika” are close to 100 pages long.
Rick, the stories in BEYOND THE AQUILA RIFT are a mix of short stories and novellas.
Just got my copy in the mail today. Rather large book. Don’t see myself reading this one in the bath.
I buy a lot of Subterranean Press books. Most of which I buy at half price when they have their pre-order sales.
Steve, I pre-order from Subterranean Press, too. And, occasionally, they run half-price sales.
I’ve not read a ton of Reynolds, but everything I have read, I’ve liked. Collections like this both excite and annoy me. I’m a big fan of short stories, and an equally big advocate of the less-is-more idea when it comes to the size of books. Massive tomes simply turn me off. Even when I end up loving them, I don’t find it pleasurable to try to heft some unwieldy volume around, and my preferred method remains print over digital. Although almost without fail I end up reading massive books like this on my Kindle.
Despite my grousing, this is one I’m interested in picking up. Better start working on my upper arm strength again.
Carl, I’m with you on these massive tomes. They are hard to lug around, and not comfortable to hold while reading. But, on the plus side, books like BEYOND THE AQUILA RIFT collect a lot of great stories. I highly recommend it.