Threshold Shift

by Eric Brown

This unique collection of science fiction stories focuses on the human emotions that have no place in a world made unrecognizable by science and technology. Three stories that deal with the Kethani aliens—a group that has come to present-day Earth offering life after death via technological resurrection—are included, as is “The Children of Winter,” a lucid tale of doomed love between alien species on a far-off world in the distant future. As characters are pushed to their moral thresholds, they attempt to deal with the unforseen consequences contained in fascinating new technologies.  

Genres: Science Fiction

265 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2006

About the author

Eric Brown was a British science fiction author and Guardian critic.

Reviews

[Tony · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wonderful set of stories all were just different enough to make them a good read

[Janet · Rating 2 out of 5]

Two of Eric Brown's stories included in Threshold Shift won British Science Fiction awards: "Children of Winter" (2001) and "Hunting the Slarque" (1999). I can see why, as each has a creative setting, interesting themes, plot twists, and are dark in a way that seems to garner the automatic stamp of 'serious'. Others of his stories address what feels like a classic 'what-if' SF questions: what would happen if an alien race offered humans immortality in exchange for service? However, I don't think the stories are particularly well served by being gathered in this collection. The similarity in themes between stories creates a sameness that gets a bit boring, even with themes like suicide. Brown's characters felt like actors placed to embody certain ideas and to do certain actions, rather than like real, relate-able people. I'm forgiving of this in say, a intergalactic war story, but less so for stories as interested in psychology as these.