Alastair Reynolds's Blog, page 38

On The Steel Breeze

So I delivered On the Steel Breeze, the follow-up to Blue Remembered Earth. I think I'm going to try to say a bit less about this book, generally, than I did of BRE, for no other reason than that I don't want to talk it to death before it appears. But I can say a few things.

It's a sequel, obviously. But like BRE I hope it also functions as a standalone novel, which just happens to be set in the same universe and revolves around members of the Akinya family. The central character, Chiku, is to...

Work World Years Yes Zanzibar

Map of the Revelation Space universe

Reader Richard Terrett sent me this rather excellent map of the Revelation Space universe (click to embiggen, of course). Thanks, Richard! Reminds me, too - about time I did another RS story. This year, maybe?

National Space Centre - Leicester - Feb 13

I intend to blog about my excellent time in Detroit at Immortal Confusion, but in the meantime just a quick note that I'll be doing a few things at the National Space Centre on the 13th of Feb:

http://www.spacecentre.co.uk/space-opera-with-alastair-reynolds

The schedule is still to be nailed down but it's likely that I'll be doing a reading and a couple of talks (probably the same one, at different time slots), as well as a Q&A session, probably throughout the afternoon. I'll also be happy...

Here are my eligible works

So it's that time of year again - the SF award season is upon us, and writers are scrambling to get their eligible works before the right pairs of eyes, in the hopes of being nominated. Actually, it would be more accurate to say that the SF season has returned after a short lull, since it seems to be an almost year-round conversation piece these days. First we have the opening of the nomination process for each award (of which there are many), then the announcements of the long and short list...

Magic Bone Woman

 
Magic Bone Woman
A short story by Alastair Reynolds



They put her down in the only open ground in the area. She had a plastic-wrapped map, night-vision goggles and a military-spec GPS receiver that was meant to function even with deep tree cover. More than that, she had knowledge. She had spent years of her life living with the indigenous societies in this part of the Amazon basin, studying language and culture.
The Tapurucuara people, the Urucara, the Cucui.
Now the organisat...<![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]>

A snowflake, rejected.

I started submitting fiction to SF mags - primarily Interzone - in 1986. I often hear of people submitting hundreds of stories to various markets, but it was nothing like that for me. With access to a typewriter confined to short breaks at home between university terms, my writing only took place in concentrated bursts. I would finish a typewritten story, obtain a photocopy, submit it, then get back to my studies. IZ seldom took less than three to four months to reject my pieces, and I saw no...

Gerry Anderson 1929-2012

Year's end

Best wishes for the holiday season and coming year - may it bring good health, general pleasantness and lots of excellent reading. Do you like the card? It's a joint effort by my wife and I. I did the background, my wife did the camels, based on a photo from a camel trekking tour she did recently. The Father Christmas hats were cut out of paper, positioned in place, and then the whole lot was photographed, very carefully, before either of us sneezed and sent the hats into oblivion.

2012 has be...

Patrick Moore (1923 - 2012)

At least in the British Isles, it's hard to overstate the influence of Patrick Moore in shaping the popular perception of astronomy. Over his long broadcasting career, he stimulated the imaginations of millions and directly inspired the career choice of several generations of space scientist. Never a professional astronomer, and with no formal education in that direction, Moore nonetheless commanded the utmost respect of his peers - not just professional astronomers, but the astronauts who ca...