Stephen Baxter, "Traces" and "Time"

I tend not to read short stories but I recommend Stephen Baxter’s collection Traces.  It covers a wide range: some excellent steampunk, some conventional space exploration stories; stories set so far in the future that the Earth and humanity have both changed beyond recognition, and even a tribute to Glenn Miller.

 

By contrast, I was rather disappointed by his novel Time.  It does have some interesting plot lines.  The Midwich Cuckoo-style superchildren are interesting and the space squid are excellent if not terribly believable.  However, other plot lines seemed like an excuse to present theories of universe creation and demise.  There is a reason for this, linked in a bizarre way to children as fulfilment of life’s purpose, but it left me rather cold.

Charles Stross, "Accelerando" and "The Family Trade"

I used to know Charlie Stross when he was a perl programmer.  Now he is a successful SF author, with more than 12 books published.  The ones I’ve read have been like talking to the man: lots of ideas bouncing around constantly.  I’ve just finished Accelerando, which is a brave attempt to write a storyline from the near future through the “singularity” and beyond.   

 

[An aside, for those who haven’t heard of the singularity.  It’s the idea that the pace of technological change is increasing exponentially and will shortly lead to (a) the creation of sentient AIs and (b) the ability to upload people’s consciousness and memories into superpowerful computers, after which the rate of change will be so fast that those of us left behind won’t be able to follow or understand the uploaded intelligences.  The similarity between this language and the “rapture” expected by loony American Christians has led Ken MacLeod to call the singularity “The rapture of the nerds”.]

 

As befits this topic, the novel is full of ideas.  Even by Charlie’s standards the book is overflowing, and I reckon you’ll have to have some familiarity with tech-speak to follow it at all (so this is “the rapture of the nerds” for nerds).  The story follows three generations of a family.  This period sees the development of AI and of uploading consciousness, simple space travel, the demolition of asteroids and larger objects to make self-sustaining computer processes powered by solar energy, and the out-evolution of uploaded human minds by that superior evolutionary creation – the limited liability company.  The pace is frenetic, which is the one aspect of the story that is likely to be accurate; we tend to expect change to match what has come before but in the actual rate of change seems to be consistently exponential.  The rest is fun, but I wouldn’t take it seriously.  

 

By comparison, The Family Trade & The Hidden Family are positively sedate.  (They are basically one novel split into two books by the publisher).  They deal with another common SF/Fantasy trope: the ability for certain people to move between our world and a parallel medieval world.  Being a Stross novel, they answer questions about what might happen if this were really possible.  What might these people be able to trade, if they can only take what they can carry individually when they cross between the worlds?  What would happen if someone from our world tried to modernise the medieval world?  I found the result to be intellectually diverting and the narrative competent enough to keep the pages turning, but the characters don’t stand out and the story doesn’t make me want to read the next four books in the series.

Around Edinburgh by bike

This youtube video really is quite impressive.