Alastair Reynolds's Blog, page 38

Nuthatch eggs

Title says it all really. There are at least six eggs in this nestbox. If all goes to plan they should start hatching somewhere around May 14th.

Excession Man

It took me a little while to get what Iain M Banks was up to. I had been only distantly aware of his books before the publication of his first SF title, Consider Phlebas, in 1987. On the strength of an interview in Interzone, and a short story set in the same universe, I bought the hardcover of Phlebas when it came out. No small thing, that, since I was still an undergraduate student and hardcover purchases were not something to be taken lightly. However, Phlebas seemed likely to be the kind...

Redpolls

The continued cold weather may be sapping our spirits but there's always the possible consolation of unusual winter visitors to the garden. This morning we had fifteen redpolls in, drawn by niger seeds spilled onto the ground by the messy-eating goldfinches. My wife noticed that there was a collection of ground feeding birds that were something out of the ordinary, so we reached for the binoculars and camera. Redpolls are enchanting little birds, beautifully coloured, and this is certainly th...

Harvest of Time update

PDF proofs of Harvest of Time have arrived, meaning that the book is now all but nailed down. UK publication is June, so only a few months away. Here's the back cover copy, to give you a hint of the story:

After billions of years of imprisonment, the vicious Sild have broken out of confinement. From a ruined world at the end of time, they make preparations to conquer the past, with the ultimate goal of rewriting history. But to achieve their aims they will need to enslave an intellect greater...

A Map of Mercury

I've written a story entitled "A Map of Mercury", which will appear in Pandemonium: The Lowest Heaven, an original anthology of stories to be published in June in partnership with the Royal Observatory Greenwich and related to celestial bodies in the solar system. You can read a bit more about the book here:

http://www.pandemonium-fiction.com/lowest-heaven.html

And here is the table of contents:

Introduction by Dr. Marek Kukula (Royal Observatory Greenwich) "Golden Apple" by Sophia McDougall (Th...

Three Vignettes

These three unpublished vignettes - flashbacks in the life of the character Quillon - were written for my novel Terminal World but omitted in final edits as they did not fit neatly into the structure of the book, as well as adding 8000 words to what was already a bulky text. Nonetheless, I've always been quite fond of them and hope they are of some interest to those who have read the novel. Feel free to pick up on any typos or errors in the comments - they have not been proofed,...<![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]>

Dracula

Dracula - coloured pencil and wax crayon, March 1st 2013 - after a photo of Christopher Lee.

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?