Spectrum SF 1: February 2000

Keith Roberts - Drek Yarman

Part one of three. It is set in the same post-holocaust world as his classic Kiteworld. Drek Yarman is from the wrong part of town in a dirt poor fishing port called Fishgard. Part of this work is his memoir, recounted while he hides from what looks like a riot/revolution outside. He is partly educated, so his story is rich and earthy, but perceptive. It is contrasted against official reports written by one Argent Helman, Grandmaster of the Church Variant. The Church exists both to protect against 'Demons' left over from the Bad Time and to ensure that it never happens again. Man-carrying Kites, flown from buildings and ships, keep watch for 'Demons'. Helman's reports mention growing antagonism from the show more Ultras, a extreme Church faction. Both threads dovetail into the end of this part, which has Drek fleeing Fishgard after a vicious fight involving his sister Stel.

Charles Stross - Bear trap

An early effort set in his Eschaton/Festival universe. A 'stock' (i.e ideas) trader escapes a bear market collapse to take up an investment advisor position on a backwater planet. The journey there is fraught as someone is after him and his only ally is a woman he does not know but she insists that he does. There is a neat resolution.

Alastair Reynolds - Great Wall of Mars

The first story in his 'Revelation Space', it focuses on Nevel Clavain as a peacemaker, trying to stop a war between his Coalition (unaugmented humans) and the Conjoiners (those linked in a hive mind). His mission sends him from Phobos to a Conjoiner 'Nest' on Mars, accompanied by a neutral Demarchist (people augmented but not joined). Things quickly go wrong, treachery abounds and the Conjoiners reveal a secret weapon, a young girl. Classic hard-sf.

Keith Brooke and Eric Brown - Mind's eye

A young girl from the wrong side of the tracks - or in this grim future world, from the lowest level of all - buys a ticket for a visit to the uppermost level. There she bumps into a kind woman who takes her in, in return for her help in finding someone down below. All is not what it seems though.

Garry Kilworth - Bonsai tiger

A man rejected in love takes his ex's advice and buys a pet, a gene-engineered miniature tiger. Like anything an ex would recommend, this turns out bad... show less