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Zima Blue and Other Stories [Night Shade Books]

by Alastair Reynolds

Other authors: See the other authors section.

MembersReviewsPopularityAverage ratingMentions
3371276,385 (3.91)12
The stories in Zima Blue represent a more optimistic take on humanity's future, a view that says there may be wars, there may be catastrophes and cosmic errors, but something human will still survive. Skyhorse Publishing, under our Night Shade and Talos imprints, is proud to publish a broad range of titles for readers interested in science fiction (space opera, time travel, hard SF, alien invasion, near-future dystopia), fantasy (grimdark, sword and sorcery, contemporary urban fantasy, steampunk, alternative history), and horror (zombies, vampires, and the occult and supernatural), and much more. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller, a national bestseller, or a Hugo or Nebula award-winner, we are committed to publishing quality books from a diverse group of authors.… (more)
  1. 20
    Earth Is Room Enough by Isaac Asimov (mackviking)
    mackviking: these book explore little imagined conrers of human interactions while cracking the nutshell of our basic collective thinking to expose meaty substrate of our beliefs
  2. 11
    Wireless by Charles Stross (AlanPoulter)
    AlanPoulter: Both are strong collections of hard SF stories, with some especially enjoyable short stories with a 'cosmic' perspective.
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» See also 12 mentions

Showing 1-5 of 12 (next | show all)
If there is a single unifying theme to the stories collected here it is that nothing (and no one) is just as it appears. Whether it's a matter of individual identity (conflicted as in "The Real Story" or transcendent as in the title story), illusion, misinformation, or multiverse cross-over, Reynolds nests misdirection and incomplete understanding at the core of each tale; "Zima Blue and Other Stories" is as much an anthology of mysteries and whodunnits as it is traditional SF (and these stories are most certainly that).

Not that each story is equally rewarding, mind you. While "Beyond the Aquila Rift," "Enola," and "Zima Blue" are truly brilliant and "Spirey and the Queen" is as giddy a space-opera hoot as any a Golden Age periodical produced, "Hideaway" and "Angels of Ashes" were merely adequate and felt forced and gloomy. "Understanding Space and Time" is comparatively a piece _sui generis_ here, as if Reynolds mixed a Cosmic Cocktail using Douglas Adams' Whiskey and cosmology infodump soda; the musical selections that accompany it are well-chosen, though.

Via Spirey, Reynolds also provides me with a phrase I know I'll be using now and again when she worries about "suffering from acute existence failure." Nice; thanks, Al! ( )
  MLShaw | Aug 7, 2023 |
296
  freixas | Mar 31, 2023 |
Beyond the aquila rift was so good. The rest of the stories are quite good too. Recomended. ( )
  NachoSeco | Oct 10, 2022 |
I’ve recently read many science fiction works by Alastair Reynolds, but this was the first collection of his short stories I’ve seen. It is a pretty broad assortment of stories, some more science fiction than others, and a few that are rock “hard”. What I mean by that is that the astrophysics is meticulously explained, far above my ability to comprehend. In fact, he could just be spouting absolute nonsense and not one in a million could call him on it.

If you like space opera, or Alastair Reynolds in particular, the majority of these stories will find your favor. I thought the title work, Zima Blue, was particularly poignant. ( )
  santhony | Nov 22, 2021 |
Another collection of short stories, but this time I am not very convinced by the quality. There are some slightly connected stories in the middle that are quite good, but the rest is really just mediocre. A bit of "can skip" book. ( )
  gullevek | Dec 15, 2020 |
Showing 1-5 of 12 (next | show all)
... noted for big novels that combine storylines strung out across aeons with mind-blowing cosmological theory, and he's just as successful at presenting these concepts in the more constraining form of the short story
added by andyl | editThe Guardian, Eric Brown (Apr 4, 2009)
 

» Add other authors (3 possible)

Author nameRoleType of authorWork?Status
Alastair Reynoldsprimary authorall editionscalculated
Halpern, MartyEditorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Mayernik, ChrisCover artistsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
McAuley, Paul J.Introductionsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Moore, ChrisCover artistsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
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Wikipedia in English (2)

The stories in Zima Blue represent a more optimistic take on humanity's future, a view that says there may be wars, there may be catastrophes and cosmic errors, but something human will still survive. Skyhorse Publishing, under our Night Shade and Talos imprints, is proud to publish a broad range of titles for readers interested in science fiction (space opera, time travel, hard SF, alien invasion, near-future dystopia), fantasy (grimdark, sword and sorcery, contemporary urban fantasy, steampunk, alternative history), and horror (zombies, vampires, and the occult and supernatural), and much more. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller, a national bestseller, or a Hugo or Nebula award-winner, we are committed to publishing quality books from a diverse group of authors.

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Book description
Collects ten stories (in the trade edition) with an introduction by Paul J. McAuley:

The Real Story

Beyond the Aquila Rift

Enola

Signal to Noise

Hideaway

Merlin's Gun

Angels of Ashes

Spirey and the Queen

Understanding Space and Time

Zima Blue

The Limited Edition and subsequent editions also include:

Cardiff Afterlife

Minlas's Flowers

Digital to Analogue

Everlasting
Haiku summary

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