Ten Sigmas & Other Unlikelihoods

by Paul Melko

Paul Melko's first story collection pulls together the best of his science fiction, including the title story, "Ten Sigmas" and "Singletons in Love," both of which were reprinted in The Year's Best Science Fiction, edited by Gardner Dozois. Also in the collection is "Walls of the Universe," a short list finalist for the Nebula, Hugo and Sturgeon Awards in 2007. Several stories are set in the universe of his first novel, Singularity's Ring, from TOR Books in February 2008.

Genres: Short Stories, Science Fiction

254 pages, Paperback

First published March 14, 2008

About the author

Paul lives in Ohio with his beautiful wife and four fairly wonderful children. He is an active member of the Science Fiction Writers of America, where he sits on the board of directors as the South-Central Regional Director and is chair of the Grievance Committee.

Paul’s fiction has appeared in Asimov’s Science Fiction, Realms of Fantasy, Spider Magazine, The Year’s Best Science Fiction, and other magazines and anthologies. His work has been translated into Spanish, Hungarian, Czech, and Russian. A collection of his science fiction stories, TEN SIGMAS AND OTHER UNLIKELIHOODS, is scheduled for release in 2008. Paul’s work has been nominated for the Sturgeon, Nebula, and Hugo Awards.

SINGULARITY’S RING (Tor Book, Feb 08) is his first novel, the protagonist of which is actually five humans who can chemically share thoughts, allowing them to act as one entity. Strom’s story, “Strength Alone,” (part of SINGULARITY’S RING) made the Nebula preliminary ballot. Paul’s novella “The Walls of the Universe” was nominated for the Hugo in 2007. It is the basis for his next novel.

Reviews

[Alan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This slim but solid collection from Paul Melko gathers together a dozen or so of his early stories, including the novella version of "Walls of the Universe," later to become a novel that I enjoyed quite a bit. The other stories range from a quantum-theory based many-worlds story worthy of Greg Egan to a cycle of stories about a post-Singularity Earth where multiply-linked human clusters called "pods" are the norm and "singletons" are marginalized; there's also a diverting little story called "Doctor Mighty and the Case of Ennui" which is exactly what its title promises. Through it all, though, Melko manages to produce strong, warm characters on which to try out his unique situations. So far, I don't think Melko has quite attracted the attention he deserves... I doubt this book will have changed that on its own, but it's definitely worth a look.

[Anticlea · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ten Sigmas is good.

Walls of the Universe is good but followup novels sour it. I strongly recommend against reading them.

If you like Strength Alone, continue with Summer of Seven and Singletons in Love. Unless you are really hungry for more even after reading all three, I do not recommend the entirety of Singularity's Ring.

[Alle Bücher müssen gelesen werden · Rating 4 out of 5]

Viel schönes dabei.

Melko war ein talentierter Autor, schade das er nicht mehr schreibt.

[Pete Young · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good collection of twelve SF stories. I'm pondering the question, is Paul Melko more identifiably a YA writer? Certainly most of his stories' protagonists are on the verge of adulthood and they probably resonate with younger readers more readily than adults, but then beyond the subject matter we have the elegance of the 'Ring' stories which seem to carry an extra layer of more 'adult' observation (two stories here were self-contained chapters to his first novel Singularity's Ring, and another was also a chapter that didn't make the novel). Particularly good is 'Walls of the Universe' which was nominated for the Nebula, Sturgeon and Hugo Awards and won the Asimov's Readers' Award, but the one that rang my bells most is 'Dysfunctional Family Cat', a story that exhibits some serious off-beat confidence.

[Richard Magahiz · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fine collection of short stories and novelettes including several using the idea of parallel universes. The author does a better job than most of meshing the hard SF ideas with interesting characters in more or less plausible situations. He also pays attention to the emotional impact the story has to deliver. A few of the stories seemed to be just the kind which were tossed off, but the best of the collection pose intriguing ideas in a stylish fashion.

[Jeff · Rating 4 out of 5]

Melko is a right wing loon, but I enjoy his fiction. And his politics only peek out occasionally.

If you've read his novels, you've read most of this book. The various short stories are mostly the seeds from which they grew.

[Robert · Rating 4 out of 5]

A solid collection of short fiction that showcases the growth of his short fiction into longer works.