Amazon.com Product Description (ISBN 057507910X, Hardcover)

Set in the Revelation Space universe-the first short story collection by "one of SF's best and most ambitious novelists." (SFX) With eight short stories and novellas- including three original to this collection- Galactic North imparts the centuries-spanning events that have produced the dark and turbulent world of Revelation Space. Centuries from now, the basic right to expand human intelligence-beyond its natural limits-has become a war-worthy cause for the Demarchists and Conjoiners. Only vast lighthugger starships bind these squabbling colonies together, manned by the panicky and paranoid Ultras. And the hyperpigs just try to keep their heads down. The rich get richer. And everyone tries not to think about the worrying number of extinct alien civilizations turning up on the outer reaches of settled space...because who's to say that humanity won't be next?