Scan barcode
yates9's review against another edition
4.0
This collection is not “the best” of the author’s work but there are some amazing pieces and it is representative of his work though most of these are shorter sinpler world construction than in some of his novels.
I really enjoyed some, not at all others..
I really enjoyed some, not at all others..
oleksandr's review against another edition
4.0
This is a collection of shorter works (from short stories to novellas) by [a:Bruce Sterling|34429|Bruce Sterling|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1379306689p2/34429.jpg], with several works – nominees of prestigious SF awards. The works are quite different in scope, execution and kind, from hard SF to pastiches. Their quality (for me) also differs from 1 to 5 stars. Overall, it is a nice overview of author’s works.
The book is split into several sections, some due to the common universe, other on the basis of period of writing or style. Here is the breakdown:
Introduction by Karen Joy Fowler a note about how erudite the author is, and I fully agree
Foreword by Bruce Sterling how this book came to being, the fact that due to some error its title appeared in Sterling’s bibliography in the 1990s, so he used the name of his fake book to title the real one
Part I: The Shaper/Mechanist Stories possibly the most SF part, stories about mankind split into Shapers, who change genes, trying to make gods out of men and Mechanists, who try to built a symbiotic relation with machines.
Swarm the best story. I’ve read it in Russian translation in the 90s and was awestruck by the idea, tried to find it but without a success. The Shaper is sent to a species that are a kind of bees/ants in space, to get their genes to form our own biorobots to mine asteroids and the like. 5*
Spider Rose a Mechanist that calls herself Spider Rose, lives alone in a space station. Once, she found a great rare treasure and she proposes it to Investors – an alien race that has faster than light travel and who are a kind of space merchants. They suggest to barter it for their pet… 4*
Cicada Queen a man lives in a station that united exiles from both Shaper and Mechanist factions, owned by one of the Investors. He works with lichens, trying to create one to colomnize Mars. 3*, but I’ve read it earlier in [b:The Year's Best Science Fiction: First Annual Collection|410144|The Year's Best Science Fiction First Annual Collection|Gardner Dozois|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1509543607l/410144._SY75_.jpg|399429] and then it was 2* because without earlier stories it is hard to get into.
Sunken Gardens Mars terraforming is in full swing and there are oases, where ice was dropped on the surface. In one of such there is a competition, who will create the fastest spreading and fit life form. 3*
Twenty Evocations a collection of memories of one Shaper, given as short paragraphs connected to pivotal moments of his life. 2.5*
Part II: Early Science Fiction and Fantasy while called ‘early’, it is from the 1980s
Green Days in Brunei a guy comes to Brunei, which is disconnected from global network. He sees both bright and dark sides, fells in love. As for 1985 story the description of internet everywhere is quite prescient, but the story itself is meh. 3*
Dinner in Audoghast a historic pastiche – Audoghast was a large city in Western Africa (modern Morocco) in X-XI centuries. A group of men gathered for a dinner and wise chat. They hear that a prophet is nearby and ask him to join them. 3.5* for informing me of the city
The Compassionate, the Digital a collection of speeches from the Islamic Republic of Iran, praising their (and world’s) first successful voyage of an intelligent being (Muslim AI) into the fabric of space-time. 4* for originality
Flowers of Edo late XIX Japan, a group of Japanese discuss changes brought by opening to the West, including brick buildings – flowers in the title refer to constant fires in wooden cities, breaking of the hierarchy and demons of electricity. 4.5* for showing it in terms of magic realism
The Little Magic Shop the USA, mid-1840s, a guy comes to a shop where Oberon sells magic items. Buys a youth-returning elixir. A great quote:
“We can restore youth,” said Mr. O’Beronne in sudden desperation.
“Do tell,” said James, straightening.
“We have a shipment of Dr. Heidegger’s Patent Youthing Waters,” said Mr. O’Beronne. He tugged a quagga hide from a nearby brassbound chest and dug out a square glass bottle. He uncorked it. The waters fizzed lightly, and the smell of May filled the room. “One bottle imbibed,” said Mr. O’Beronne, “restores a condition of blushing youth to man or beast.”
“Is that a fact,” said James, his brows knitting in thought. “How many teaspoons per bottle?”
“I’ve no idea,” Mr. O’Beronne admitted. “Never measured it by the spoon. Mind you, this is an old folks’ item. Fellows of your age usually go for the love-potions.”
“How much for a bottle?” said James.
“It is a bit steep,” said Mr. O’Beronne grudgingly. “The price is everything you possess.”
“Seems reasonable,” said James. “How much for two bottles?”
The guy returns each 20 years for a new bottle, living thru XIX and XX centuries, as the world changes. 4*
Our Neural Chernobyl a review of a fictional non-fic book from the mid-2050s, written by a gene hacker: Such Pioneering Hotton papers as “The Locus Coeruleus Efferent Network: What in Heck Is It There For?” and “My Grand Fun Tracing Neural Connections With Tetramethylbenzidine” established this new, relaxed, and triumphantly subjective school of scientific exploration. The gene-hacking led to boosting a number of dendrites of neurons, which spread virus-like and not only among humans. 5*
We See Things Differently a narration by Iranian journalist, who visits America. The Great Satan, the Arsenal of Imperialism, the Bankroller of Zionism, the Bastion of Neo-Colonialism. The home of Hollywood and blonde sluts in black nylon to see how a hegemon turns into third-rate country. 4*
Dori Bangs starts with a short bio of two persons – a music critic and comics writer, both died young from a flu. Then the true story starts, ‘what if’ they lived on. 3*
Part III: The Leggy Starlitz Stories stories about a mystery man, who doesn’t show on video, maybe a CIA spy, maybe just a smuggler. In present/near future, more a thriller than SF
Hollywood Kremlin the protagonist helps smuggling consumer goods to Azerbaijan SSR in the late 1980s, sees corruption, merging of party and underground economy, as well as the conflict for Nagorny Karabakh. 3*
Are You for 86? in the US the hero helps activists to deliver drugs for abortion, who are hunted down by pro-life groups. 3*
The Littlest Jackal in Finland the hero with Russian mafia and Arab terrorists, helps to brew a revolution in Aland island to make there a place for a shadow bank. Once again, I had to Google Aland… “Much work remains to be done in the way of raising revolutionary consciousness in the Ålands. But we in the Suomi Anti-Imperialist Cells will have the resources to do that political work. Victory will be ours, because the Finnish liberal-fascist state does not have the capacity to restrain a captive nation against its will. Or if they do—” She smiled bitterly. “That will demonstrate the tenuousness of the current Finnish regime and its basic failure as a European state.” 3.5*
Part IV: The Chattanooga Stories a strange mix of stories of different people from squat community of Chattanooga
Deep Eddy a guy hires a European woman bodyguard during his visit to Düsseldorf to see a Wende – a kind of creative destruction by a mob and falls in love with her. 2*
Bicycle Repairman the guy from the previous story sent a set-top box to his friend in Chattanooga. The friend repairs and paints bicycles, and it seems someone in power want to get that box. 2*
Taklamakan an old man, who was a young ‘spider’ (skyscraper climber for fun) in the previous story is to meet a spy in Taklamakan desert. The spy is dead and he with his partner discover an underground installation made by robots. 3*
Part V: Later Science Fiction and Fantasy
The Sword of Damocles a babbling narration of a Greek story, where the narrator changes styles and jumps from one story to another and back, with pieces like Take this “Once upon a time” business I just used, for instance. It starts the story all right, but it doesn’t sound very Greek, when you come right down to it. It’s more of a Grimm Brothers fairy-tale riff, kind of a kunstmarchen thing. Using it with a Greek myth is like putting a peaked Gothic spire on a Greek temple. Some people—Modernist critics—might say it’s a bad move aesthetically, and kind of bastardizes the whole artistic effort!
Of course, real hifalutin Modernist critics must have a pretty hard time of it lately. They must find life a trial. I bet they don’t watch much MTV. 3*
Maneki Neko a strange story set in Japan, where people get tasks from an AI and follow them to help (?) others. It was referenced and then replayed (I guess much better) in Nebula nominated and Hugo winning 2015 story [b:Cat Pictures Please|57978314|Cat Pictures Please|Naomi Kritzer|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/book/50x75-a91bf249278a81aabab721ef782c4a74.png|90848124] by [a:Naomi Kritzer|345914|Naomi Kritzer|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1471943486p2/345914.jpg]. 3*
In Paradise a boy from the US accidently meets a girl from a Islamic country, fells in love with her. They talk with the help of phone translator. They are hunted down by both her family and CIA. 2*
The Blemmye’s Strategem a fantasy set in the Middle East shortly after the early crusades. A man (Sinan, the Old Man of the Mountain and the Ayatollah of Assassins) and a woman (Hildegart, the founder of the Hospitaller Order.), who got long lives in return for services to a mysterious Blemmye (whom Pliny the Elder describes as headless beings with their faces on their chests). 3*
Kiosk in some post-Soviet country a man has a kiosk with fabricator that makes thing people want, but which soon turn into goo. He gets a proposal of a more stable version, building unbreakable stuff from graphene. 4*
The book is split into several sections, some due to the common universe, other on the basis of period of writing or style. Here is the breakdown:
Introduction by Karen Joy Fowler a note about how erudite the author is, and I fully agree
Foreword by Bruce Sterling how this book came to being, the fact that due to some error its title appeared in Sterling’s bibliography in the 1990s, so he used the name of his fake book to title the real one
Part I: The Shaper/Mechanist Stories possibly the most SF part, stories about mankind split into Shapers, who change genes, trying to make gods out of men and Mechanists, who try to built a symbiotic relation with machines.
Swarm the best story. I’ve read it in Russian translation in the 90s and was awestruck by the idea, tried to find it but without a success. The Shaper is sent to a species that are a kind of bees/ants in space, to get their genes to form our own biorobots to mine asteroids and the like. 5*
Spider Rose a Mechanist that calls herself Spider Rose, lives alone in a space station. Once, she found a great rare treasure and she proposes it to Investors – an alien race that has faster than light travel and who are a kind of space merchants. They suggest to barter it for their pet… 4*
Cicada Queen a man lives in a station that united exiles from both Shaper and Mechanist factions, owned by one of the Investors. He works with lichens, trying to create one to colomnize Mars. 3*, but I’ve read it earlier in [b:The Year's Best Science Fiction: First Annual Collection|410144|The Year's Best Science Fiction First Annual Collection|Gardner Dozois|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1509543607l/410144._SY75_.jpg|399429] and then it was 2* because without earlier stories it is hard to get into.
Sunken Gardens Mars terraforming is in full swing and there are oases, where ice was dropped on the surface. In one of such there is a competition, who will create the fastest spreading and fit life form. 3*
Twenty Evocations a collection of memories of one Shaper, given as short paragraphs connected to pivotal moments of his life. 2.5*
Part II: Early Science Fiction and Fantasy while called ‘early’, it is from the 1980s
Green Days in Brunei a guy comes to Brunei, which is disconnected from global network. He sees both bright and dark sides, fells in love. As for 1985 story the description of internet everywhere is quite prescient, but the story itself is meh. 3*
Dinner in Audoghast a historic pastiche – Audoghast was a large city in Western Africa (modern Morocco) in X-XI centuries. A group of men gathered for a dinner and wise chat. They hear that a prophet is nearby and ask him to join them. 3.5* for informing me of the city
The Compassionate, the Digital a collection of speeches from the Islamic Republic of Iran, praising their (and world’s) first successful voyage of an intelligent being (Muslim AI) into the fabric of space-time. 4* for originality
Flowers of Edo late XIX Japan, a group of Japanese discuss changes brought by opening to the West, including brick buildings – flowers in the title refer to constant fires in wooden cities, breaking of the hierarchy and demons of electricity. 4.5* for showing it in terms of magic realism
The Little Magic Shop the USA, mid-1840s, a guy comes to a shop where Oberon sells magic items. Buys a youth-returning elixir. A great quote:
“We can restore youth,” said Mr. O’Beronne in sudden desperation.
“Do tell,” said James, straightening.
“We have a shipment of Dr. Heidegger’s Patent Youthing Waters,” said Mr. O’Beronne. He tugged a quagga hide from a nearby brassbound chest and dug out a square glass bottle. He uncorked it. The waters fizzed lightly, and the smell of May filled the room. “One bottle imbibed,” said Mr. O’Beronne, “restores a condition of blushing youth to man or beast.”
“Is that a fact,” said James, his brows knitting in thought. “How many teaspoons per bottle?”
“I’ve no idea,” Mr. O’Beronne admitted. “Never measured it by the spoon. Mind you, this is an old folks’ item. Fellows of your age usually go for the love-potions.”
“How much for a bottle?” said James.
“It is a bit steep,” said Mr. O’Beronne grudgingly. “The price is everything you possess.”
“Seems reasonable,” said James. “How much for two bottles?”
The guy returns each 20 years for a new bottle, living thru XIX and XX centuries, as the world changes. 4*
Our Neural Chernobyl a review of a fictional non-fic book from the mid-2050s, written by a gene hacker: Such Pioneering Hotton papers as “The Locus Coeruleus Efferent Network: What in Heck Is It There For?” and “My Grand Fun Tracing Neural Connections With Tetramethylbenzidine” established this new, relaxed, and triumphantly subjective school of scientific exploration. The gene-hacking led to boosting a number of dendrites of neurons, which spread virus-like and not only among humans. 5*
We See Things Differently a narration by Iranian journalist, who visits America. The Great Satan, the Arsenal of Imperialism, the Bankroller of Zionism, the Bastion of Neo-Colonialism. The home of Hollywood and blonde sluts in black nylon to see how a hegemon turns into third-rate country. 4*
Dori Bangs starts with a short bio of two persons – a music critic and comics writer, both died young from a flu. Then the true story starts, ‘what if’ they lived on. 3*
Part III: The Leggy Starlitz Stories stories about a mystery man, who doesn’t show on video, maybe a CIA spy, maybe just a smuggler. In present/near future, more a thriller than SF
Hollywood Kremlin the protagonist helps smuggling consumer goods to Azerbaijan SSR in the late 1980s, sees corruption, merging of party and underground economy, as well as the conflict for Nagorny Karabakh. 3*
Are You for 86? in the US the hero helps activists to deliver drugs for abortion, who are hunted down by pro-life groups. 3*
The Littlest Jackal in Finland the hero with Russian mafia and Arab terrorists, helps to brew a revolution in Aland island to make there a place for a shadow bank. Once again, I had to Google Aland… “Much work remains to be done in the way of raising revolutionary consciousness in the Ålands. But we in the Suomi Anti-Imperialist Cells will have the resources to do that political work. Victory will be ours, because the Finnish liberal-fascist state does not have the capacity to restrain a captive nation against its will. Or if they do—” She smiled bitterly. “That will demonstrate the tenuousness of the current Finnish regime and its basic failure as a European state.” 3.5*
Part IV: The Chattanooga Stories a strange mix of stories of different people from squat community of Chattanooga
Deep Eddy a guy hires a European woman bodyguard during his visit to Düsseldorf to see a Wende – a kind of creative destruction by a mob and falls in love with her. 2*
Bicycle Repairman the guy from the previous story sent a set-top box to his friend in Chattanooga. The friend repairs and paints bicycles, and it seems someone in power want to get that box. 2*
Taklamakan an old man, who was a young ‘spider’ (skyscraper climber for fun) in the previous story is to meet a spy in Taklamakan desert. The spy is dead and he with his partner discover an underground installation made by robots. 3*
Part V: Later Science Fiction and Fantasy
The Sword of Damocles a babbling narration of a Greek story, where the narrator changes styles and jumps from one story to another and back, with pieces like Take this “Once upon a time” business I just used, for instance. It starts the story all right, but it doesn’t sound very Greek, when you come right down to it. It’s more of a Grimm Brothers fairy-tale riff, kind of a kunstmarchen thing. Using it with a Greek myth is like putting a peaked Gothic spire on a Greek temple. Some people—Modernist critics—might say it’s a bad move aesthetically, and kind of bastardizes the whole artistic effort!
Of course, real hifalutin Modernist critics must have a pretty hard time of it lately. They must find life a trial. I bet they don’t watch much MTV. 3*
Maneki Neko a strange story set in Japan, where people get tasks from an AI and follow them to help (?) others. It was referenced and then replayed (I guess much better) in Nebula nominated and Hugo winning 2015 story [b:Cat Pictures Please|57978314|Cat Pictures Please|Naomi Kritzer|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/book/50x75-a91bf249278a81aabab721ef782c4a74.png|90848124] by [a:Naomi Kritzer|345914|Naomi Kritzer|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1471943486p2/345914.jpg]. 3*
In Paradise a boy from the US accidently meets a girl from a Islamic country, fells in love with her. They talk with the help of phone translator. They are hunted down by both her family and CIA. 2*
The Blemmye’s Strategem a fantasy set in the Middle East shortly after the early crusades. A man (Sinan, the Old Man of the Mountain and the Ayatollah of Assassins) and a woman (Hildegart, the founder of the Hospitaller Order.), who got long lives in return for services to a mysterious Blemmye (whom Pliny the Elder describes as headless beings with their faces on their chests). 3*
Kiosk in some post-Soviet country a man has a kiosk with fabricator that makes thing people want, but which soon turn into goo. He gets a proposal of a more stable version, building unbreakable stuff from graphene. 4*
More...