The fourth in this series of anthologies has just been delivered. The previous installments were Reach for Infinity, Edge of Infinity and Engineering Infinity.
The only issue for me with this fourth volume, is that the cover image on the Amazon website is clearly from another universe/brane where different authors had stories in the volume. As a collector of series, I really do need to have the version of this book with stories in it by Alastair Reynolds and Greg Egan. There would have been another issue with this volume, in that it’s trade paperback size, unlike the first three volumes, so it won’t sit nicely next to them, all neat and tidy in whatever the anal/spectrum book collector equivalent of feng shui is. However, whilst the book is larger in all 3x physical dimensions, the type face inside is on the large size, which suits by age-weakened eyes quite perfectly. I can almost read the words without my reading glasses. (Although some with perfect vision my find the text a bit too large!) And a word of praise for whoever laid out the inside of the book, as there are some neat touches, and to whoever persuaded the Solaris bean-counters that is was not economic silliness to have a full two page spread with just the page number and title to precede each story.
Anyhoo, I’ll start reading the book now and will post story reviews individually, and incorporate those into this page once I’ve finished. For the moment, I’ll let you know that the book contains stories by James A. Corey, Benjanun Sriduangkaew, Simon Ings, Kameron Hurley Nancy Kress, Gwyneth Jones Yoon Ha Lee, Bruce Sterling, Gregory Benford, Madeline Ashby, Sean Williams, Aliette de Bodard, Ramez Naam, John Barnes, An Owomoyela, and Ian McDonald. And that’s a pretty stellar list of authors.
You may wish to buy the book from your local independent bookstore. I shall pass a resolution that as I have slightly more time on my hands now that I am no longer a FTE employee, that I will decrease my use of a certain organisation who avoids paying taxes in the UK, and whose links I use now to make life easier for those for whom online buying is their preference or a necessity.
amazon.com print | amazon.com kindle |amazon.co.uk print | amazon.co.uk kindle
