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'Alastair Reynolds' (born in 1966 in Barry, South Wales) is a Welsh science fiction author. He specialises in dark hard science fiction and space opera. He spent his early years in Cornwall, moved back to Wales before going to Newcastle, where he read Physics and Astronomy. Afterwards, he earned a PhD from St Andrews, Scotland. In 1991, he moved to Noordwijk in the Netherlands where he met his wife Josette (who is from France). There, he worked for the European Space Research and Technology Centre, part of the European Space Agency, until 2004 when he left to pursue writing full time.

Contents

Works

Bibliography

Books in the Revelation Space series

Other books

Short stories

See also

References

External links

Interviews

Works

Reynolds wrote his first four published science fiction short stories while still a graduate student, in 1989-1991; they appeared in 1990-1992. In 1991 Reynolds graduated and moved from Scotland to the Netherlands to work at ESA. He then started spending much of his writing time on a first novel, which eventually turned into ''Revelation Space'', while the few short stories he submitted from 1991-1995 were rejected. This ended in 1995 when his story "Byrd Land Six" was published, which he says marked the beginning of a more serious phase of writing. As of 2007 he has published over thirty shorter works and seven novels. His works are hard science fiction veiled behind space opera and noir toned stories, and reflect his professional expertise with physics and astronomy, included by extrapolating future technologies in terms that are consistent with current science. His first four novels and several of his previous short stories take place within one consistent future universe, usually now called the Revelation Space universe after the first novel published in it, although it was originally developed in short stories for several years before the first novel. However, the works set within this future timeline rarely have the same protagonists twice. Often the protagonists from one work belong to a group that is regarded with suspicion or enmity by the protagonists of another work. While a great deal of science fiction reflects either very optimistic or dystopian visions of the human future, Reynolds's future worlds are notable in that human societies have not departed to either positive or negative extremes, but instead are similar to those of today in terms of moral ambiguity and a mixture of cruelty and decency, corruption and opportunity, despite their technology being dramatically advanced.

''Revelation Space''	''Chasm City''
''Redemption Ark''	''Absolution Gap''
''Diamond Dogs, Turquoise Days'' collection	''Century Rain''
''Pushing Ice''	''Zima Blue'' collection
''Galactic North'' collection	''The Prefect''

The ''Revelation Space'' series includes five novels, two novellas, and eight short stories set over a span of several centuries, spanning approximately 2150 to 2727. In this universe, extraterrestrial sentience exists but is elusive, and interstellar travel is primarily undertaken by a rare class of vessel called a lighthugger which only approaches the speed of light. Reynolds has said he prefers to keep the science in his books to what he personally believes will be possible, and he does not believe faster-than-light travel will ever be possible, but that he adopts science he believes will be impossible when it is necessary for the story. ^[2]
''Century Rain'' takes place in a future universe independent of the ''Revelation Space'' universe and has different rules, such as faster-than-light travel being possible through a system of wormholes or star-gates. ''Century Rain'' also departs substantially from Reynolds's previous works, both in having a protagonist who is much closer to the perspective of our real world, serving as a proxy for the reader in confronting the unfamiliarity of the advanced science fiction aspects and in having a much more linear storytelling process. Reynolds's previous protagonists started out fully absorbed in the exoticisms of the future setting and his previous ''Revelation Space'' works have several interlinked story threads, not necessarily contemporaneously.
''Pushing Ice'' is also a standalone story, with characters from much less distant in the future than in any of his other novels.
''The Prefect'', marked a return to the ''Revelation Space'' universe. Like ''Chasm City'', it is a stand-alone novel within the Revelation Space universe. It is set prior to any of the other Relevation Space novels, though still 200 years after the original human settlement of the Epsilon Eridani system. It was published in the United Kingdom on 2 April 2007.
On June 7, 2007, Reynolds announced that his next novel will be entitled ''House of Suns'', and that it will be set in the same universe as his novella "Thousandth Night" from the ''One Million AD'' anthology.

Bibliography

Books in the Revelation Space series

★ ''Revelation Space''. London: Gollancz, 2000. ISBN 0-575-06875-2

★ ''Chasm City''. London: Gollancz, 2001. ISBN 0-575-06877-9

★ ''Redemption Ark''. London: Gollancz, 2002. ISBN 0-575-06879-5

★ ''Diamond Dogs, Turquoise Days''. London: Gollancz, 2003. ISBN 0-575-07526-0

★ ''Absolution Gap''. London: Gollancz, 2003. ISBN 0-575-07434-5

★ ''Galactic North''. London: Gollancz, 2006. ISBN 0-575-07910-X

★ ''The Prefect''. London: Gollancz, 2007, ISBN 0-575-07716-6

Other books

★ ''Century Rain''. London: Gollancz, 2004. ISBN 0-575-07436-1

★ ''Pushing Ice''. London: Gollancz, 2005. ISBN 0-575-07438-8

★ ''Zima Blue and Other Stories''. San Francisco, CA: Night Shade Books, 2006. ISBN 1-59780-058-9 (Also as a limited edition with an extra story, "Digital to Analogue")

★ ''House of Suns''. London: Gollancz, 2008, ISBN 0-575-07717-4 (forthcoming)

Short stories

★ "Nunivak Snowflakes" - Originally published in ''Interzone'' #36 (June 1990)

★ "Dilation Sleep" - Originally published in ''Interzone'' #39 (September 1990); reprinted in ''Galactic North''

★ "Enola" - Originally published in ''Interzone'' #54 (December 1991); reprinted in ''Zima Blue and Other Stories''

★ "Digital to Analogue" - Originally published in ''In Dreams'' (1992), Paul McAuley and Kim Newman, eds.; reprinted in ''Zima Blue and Other Stories'', Limited Edition

★ "Byrd Land Six" - Originally published in ''Interzone'' #96 (June 1995); reprinted in ''The Ant Men of Tibet and Other Stories'' (2001, ISBN 1-903468-02-7), David Pringle, ed.

★ "Spirey and the Queen" - Originally published in ''Interzone'' #108 (June 1996); reprinted in ''Future War'' (1999, ISBN 0-441-00639-6), Gardner Dozois and Jack Dann, eds.; and in ''Zima Blue and Other Stories''; and posted free online at Infinity Plus [1]

★ "A Spy in Europa" - Originally published in ''Interzone'' #120 (June 1997); reprinted in the '' (1998, ISBN 0-312-19033-6), Gardner Dozois, ed.; and in ''Galactic North''; and posted free online at Infinity Plus [2]

★ "On the Oodnadatta" - Originally published in ''Interzone'' #128 (February 1998)

★ "Stroboscopic" - Originally published in ''Interzone'' #134 (August 1998); reprinted in ''Dangerous Games'' (2007, ISBN 978-0441014903), Gardner Dozois and Jack Dann, eds.

★ "Galactic North" - Originally published in ''Interzone'' #145 (July 1999); reprinted in ''Space Soldiers'' (2001, ISBN 978-0441008247), Jack Dann and Gardner Dozois, eds.; and in the '' (2000, ISBN 0-312-26417-8), Gardner Dozois, ed.; and in ''Hayakawa's SF'' magazine; and in ''Galactic North''

★ "Angels of Ashes" - Originally published in ''Asimov's Science Fiction'' (July 1999); reprinted in ''Zima Blue and Other Stories''

★ "Viper" - Originally published in ''Asimov's Science Fiction'' (December 1999)

★ "Great Wall of Mars" - Originally published in ''Spectrum SF'' #1 (February 2000); reprinted in '' (2001, ISBN 0-312-27465-3), Gardner Dozois, ed.; and in ''Galactic North''

★ "Merlin's Gun" - Originally published in ''Asimov's Science Fiction'' (May 2000); reprinted in ''Zima Blue and Other Stories''

★ "Hideaway" - Originally published in ''Interzone'' #157 (July 2000); reprinted in ''Zima Blue and Other Stories''

★ "Glacial" - Originally published in ''Spectrum SF'' #5 (March 2001); reprinted in '' (2002, ISBN 0-312-28879-4), Gardner Dozois, ed.; and in ''Galactic North''

★ "Fresco" - Originally published in the ''UNESCO Courier'' (May 2001); posted free online at UNESCO website [3]

★ "The Big Hello" - Originally published in German translation in a convention program; also posted free online at Alastair Reynolds's website [4]

★ "Diamond Dogs" - Originally published as a chapbook from PS Publishing (2001, ISBN 1-902880-27-7); reprinted in ''Infinities'' (2002), Peter Crowther, ed.; and in ''Diamond Dogs, Turquoise Days''

★ "The Real Story" - Originally published in ''Mars Probes'' (2002), Peter Crowther, ed.; reprinted in ''Zima Blue and Other Stories''

★ "Turquoise Days" - Originally published as a chapbook from Golden Gryphon (2002, no ISBN); reprinted in the '' (2003, ISBN 0-312-30860-4), Gardner Dozois, ed.; and in '' (2007, ISBN-10: 0312363427), Gardner Dozois, ed.; and in ''Diamond Dogs, Turquoise Days''

★ "Everlasting" - Originally published in ''Interzone'' #193 (Spring 2004)

★ "Beyond the Aquila Rift" - Originally published in ''Constellations'' (2005), Peter Crowther, ed.; reprinted in '' (2006, ISBN 0-312-35334-0), Gardner Dozois, ed.; and in ''Year's Best SF 11'' (2006, ISBN 978-0060873417), David G. Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer, eds.; and in ''Zima Blue and Other Stories''

★ "Zima Blue" - Originally published in ''Postscripts'' # 4; reprinted in '' (2006, ISBN 0-312-35334-0), Gardner Dozois, ed.; and in ''Zima Blue and Other Stories''

★ "Feeling Rejected" - Originally published in the journal ''Nature'' (2005)

★ "Thousandth Night" - Originally published in ''One Million AD'' (2005), Gardner Dozois, ed.

★ "Tiger, Burning" - Originally published in ''Forbidden Planets'' (2006, ISBN 0-7564-0330-8), Peter Crowther, ed.; reprinted in ''Year's Best SF 12'' (2007, ISBN 978-0061252082), David G. Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer, eds.

★ "Signal to Noise" - Originally published in ''Zima Blue and Other Stories'', (2006); reprinted in '' (2006, ISBN 978-0312363352), Gardner Dozois, ed.

★ "Understanding Space and Time" - Originally published in a limited edition of 400 copies for the Novacon 35 Sci Fi convention; reprinted in '' (2006, ISBN 978-0809556496), Rich Horton, ed.; and in ''Zima Blue and Other Stories''

★ "Weather" - Originally published in ''Galactic North'' (2006)

★ "Grafenwaler's Bestiary" - Originally published in ''Galactic North'' (2006)

★ "Nightingale" - Originally published in ''Galactic North'' (2006); reprinted in '' (2006, ISBN 978-0312363352), Gardner Dozois, ed.

★ "Minla's Flowers" - Originally published in ''The New Space Opera'' (2007, ISBN 978-0060846756), Gardner Dozois and Jonathan Strahan, eds.

★ "The Sledge-Maker's Daughter" - Originally published in ''Interzone'' No. 209 (Apr. 2007)

★ "The Star-Surgeon's Apprentice" - Originally published in ''The Starry Rift'' (2007), Jonathan Strahan, ed. (forthcoming)

★ "The Manastodon Broadcasts" - Originally published in '' (2007), Joe Dickerson, Ernest G. Saylor and Lonny Harper, eds. (forthcoming)

★ "The Six Directions of Space" - Originally published in ''Galactic Empires'' (2007), Gardner Dozois, ed. (forthcoming)

See also

★ Transhumanism in fiction, which contains plot detail for some of Reynolds' works.

★ Characters in Revelation Space

★ Factions in Revelation Space

★ Locations in Revelation Space

★ Races in Revelation Space

★ Technology in Revelation Space

References

1. Main influences discussed extensively in Alastair Reynolds, Essay: "Future Histories", ''Locus'', Vol. 57, No. 5, Issue 550, November 2006, p. 39; also included as afterword to ''Galactic North''
2. Science fiction 'thrives in hi-tech world' BBC News Monday, 30 April 2007

External links

★ Personal homepage

★

★ Alastair Reynolds' online fiction at ''Free Speculative Fiction Online''

★ Golden Gryphon Press official site - About chapbook ''Turquoise Days''

★ Map of Revelation Space systems by Winchell Chung and described as "excellent" by Reynolds

★ Revelation Space The Alastair Reynolds Forum. Alastair Reynolds chat forum.

★ Night Shade Books publisher of ''Zima Blue and Other Stories''

Interviews

★ Interview conducted by Roger Deforest at HardSF.net (2006)

★ Science fiction 'thrives in hi-tech world', interview by the BBC (2007)