Book description
Reynolds' pursuit of truth is not limited to wide-angle star smashing -
not that stars don't get pulverised when one character is gifted (or
cursed) with an awful weapon by the legendary Merlin. Reynolds'
protagonists find themselves in situations of betrayal, whether by a
loved one's accidental death, as in 'Signal to Noise', or by a trusted
wartime authority, in 'Spirey and the Queen'. His fertile imagination
can resurrect Elton John on Mars in 'Understanding Space and Time' or
make prophets of the human condition out of pool-cleaning robots in the
title story. But overall, the stories in ZIMA BLUE represent a more
optimistic take on humanity's future, a view that says there may be
wars, there may be catastrophes and cosmic errors, but something human
will still survive. Alastair Reynolds was born in Barry, South Wales,
in 1966. He studied at Newcastle and St Andrews Universities and has a
Ph. D. in astronomy. Since 1991 he has lived in the Netherlands, near
Leiden. He gave up working as an astrophysicist for the European Space
Agency to become a full-time writer. Revelation Space and Pushing Ice
were shortlisted for the Arthur C. Clarke Award; Revelation Space,
Absolution Gap and Century Rain were shortlisted for the British Science
Fiction Award, and Chasm City won the BSFA, and Diamond Dogs was
shortlisted for the British Fantasy Award.
