Phase Space

Manifold #4

by Stephen Baxter

Phase Space: Stories from the Manifold and Elsewhere. A collection of 25 SF stories by Stephen Baxter, many thematically linked to his "Manifold" trilogy (Time, Space and Origin) and other novels of cosmic scope. "The phase space of a system is the set of all conceivable states of that system", says the first page. As with "Manifold" these stories explore possible (and significantly linked) states of Earth and the universe, alternate timelines offering different solutions to Baxter's favourite cosmological question--the Fermi Paradox. It's a simple idea.
According to our best scientific theories there's nothing special about Earth or the Solar System. Intelligent life has evolved here, ourselves. It's likely to evolve elsewhere. The skies should be full of other intelligences. Where are they? Perhaps our theories are wrong and we're in a galactic quarantine. Perhaps what we see through our telescopes is a clever fake, but supposing we overload the capabilities of the fakers? Maybe intelligence always destroys itself before crossing interstellar space, or something kindly takes emerging life away to a safer place. Perhaps there's teeming intelligence out there, but we're not listening on the right wavelength. Perhaps they're hiding...?
Contents:
* Prologue (Phase Space) / short story by Stephen Baxter
* Moon-Calf (1998) / short story by Stephen Baxter
* Open Loops (2000) / novelette by Stephen Baxter
* Glass Earth, Inc. (1997) / novelette by Stephen Baxter
* Poyekhali 3201 (1997) / short story by Stephen Baxter
* Dante Dreams (1998) / short story by Stephen Baxter
* War Birds (1997) / short story by Stephen Baxter
* Sun-Drenched (1998) / short story by Stephen Baxter
* Martian Autumn (2002) / short story by Stephen Baxter
* Sun God (1997) / novelette by Stephen Baxter
* Sun-Cloud (2001) / short story by Stephen Baxter
* Sheena 5 [Manifold] (2000) / short story by Stephen Baxter
* The Fubar Suit [Manifold] (1997) / short story by Stephen Baxter
* Grey Earth [Manifold] (2001) / short story by Stephen Baxter
* Huddle [Manifold] (1999) / novelette by Stephen Baxter
* Refugium (2002) / short story by Stephen Baxter
* Lost Continent (2001) / short story by Stephen Baxter
* Tracks (2001) / short story by Stephen Baxter
* Lines of Longitude (1997) / short story by Stephen Baxter
* Barrier (1998) / novelette by Stephen Baxter (variant of The Barrier)
* Marginalia (1999) / short story by Stephen Baxter
* The We Who Sing (2002) / short story by Stephen Baxter
* The Gravity Mine (2000) / short story by Stephen Baxter
* Spindrift (1999) / short story by Stephen Baxter
* Touching Centauri (2002) / novelette by Stephen Baxter
* The Twelfth Album (1998) / short story by Stephen Baxter
* Afterword (Phase Space) • essay by Stephen Baxter
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Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Short Stories, Hard Science Fiction, Collections, Science Fiction Fantasy, Short Story Collection

496 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1999

About the author

Stephen Baxter is a trained engineer with degrees from Cambridge (mathematics) and Southampton Universities (doctorate in aeroengineering research). Baxter is the winner of the British Science Fiction Award and the Locus Award, as well as being a nominee for an Arthur C. Clarke Award, most recently for Manifold: Time. His novel Voyage won the Sidewise Award for Best Alternate History Novel of the Year; he also won the John W. Campbell Award and the Philip K. Dick Award for his novel The Time Ships. He is currently working on his next novel, a collaboration with Sir Arthur C. Clarke. Mr. Baxter lives in Prestwood, England.

Reviews

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the sort of fourth book in the Manifold series and is a collection of short stories, many of which connect to the series.

Moon-Calf: A retired astronaut comes to England and finds hints of an ancient space voyage. A lovely idea which was really well executed.

Open Loops: A human expansion story as one man witnesses humans expand across the solar system by living on asteroids. I loved the whole idea of the story but it had an odd ending that was unnecessary. It just didn't need to be about more than the living on asteroids idea.

Glass Earth, Inc: In a future world a policeman looks through the memories of a murder to find out who the victim is. This is really about the advancement of technology and technology being sentient, almost in a HAL 9000 way (but not quite).

Poyekhali 3201: At first this seems to simply re-tell the story of Yuri Gagarin’s flight into space but it seems there is much more going on than we realise. I liked the use of real events but I’m not sure the weird sci-fi stuff worked in the context.

Dante Dreams: A Jesuit priest is created as a hologram after her suicide in the Vatican and a police woman goes to investigate. This then leads into the priest giving a bonkers and difficult to understand idea of the universe. I really didn't get it, though I suspect readers of The Divine Comedy might make more sense of it.

War Birds: The story of what could have happened if the Apollo 11 mission had gone disastrously wrong. I always like an alternate history story and the ideas here are great but the story is too long and Baxter isn’t subtle about what has happened, he shoves it right in front of our faces. It was one of those stories that I thought would be amazing if it was re-written a little.

Sun-Drenched: Two astronauts are stranded on the Moon. That’s it. An uninteresting story, especially given how many of the other stories here contain moon landings.

Martian Autumn: A story about how Earth might undergo and evolutionary reboot, like what may have happened on Mars. I really liked the Earth side of things here, it had a Midwich Cuckoos kind of feeling. The Mars didn’t really add a whole lot to the story though.

Sun God: An alien being investigates an extinct Earth, trying to find out what the residents were like and speculating if these primitive beings could really travel into space. I really liked this story, it was clever and like nothing I’ve read before.

Sheena 5: The sentient squid storyline from Manifold: Time with an alternate ending. Whilst it was one of my favourite bits of the Manifold books there’s so little new here I’m not sure it is needed.

The Fubar Suit: A brilliant story in which an astronaut is stranded in space with a prototype spacesuit which has living things within it.

Grey Earth: The end of Manifold: Origin, from the point of view of Neanderthal Mary. It was an enjoyable enough read but added nothing to the original story.

Huddle: One hundred thousand years on from Manifold: Space, Madeline Meacher returns to Earth. Actually though this has little to do with the original story and is a story about a potential future evolution of humans. Another story which had a good idea but a weak plot.

Refugium: Reid Malenfant’s grandson is sent to investigate where all the aliens are, to answer the Fermi Paradox. It contains one possible answer and I thought it worked well as a sort-of sequel story to the Manifold series and as a story in its own right.

Lost Continent: Two old friends discuss the idea that aliens may have taken a continent from Earth to preserve it. It’s more of an argument down the pub rather than a story.

Tracks: A creepy story about what two astronauts find on the Moon. It has an almost supernatural feel about it and gives another possible solution to the Fermi Paradox. The style meant it felt different from the rest of the stories in the collection.

Lines of Longitude: An adult education teacher receives strange letters from one of her students who has a theory about the nature of the universe. But surely there’s nothing in it, is there? Another possible Fermi Paradox solution, although if you understand this I’ll be impressed. Complicated and confusing.

The Barrier: Two aging astronauts are headed to our nearest star, Proxima when they make a discovery about the universe. This story deals with the zoo hypothesis solution. I actually really liked this story, less for the sci-fi stuff more for the idea of a future dystopian world where the young turn against their elders.

Marginalia: A conspiracy story through letters and notes which says that humans went to Mars in the 1970s. Lots of good ideas and the perfect way to tell such a story.

The We Who Sing: A story feature an alien lifeform at the beginning of the universe. It is not very successful, another good idea that doesn't form a story. Telling the whole story from a strange aliens point of view makes for a story which is hard to follow.

The Gravity Mine: A very similar story to the previous one, although these "aliens" are the future evolution of humans.

Spindrift: An exploration in what could happen to the universe when humanity ends. Bleak but has some interesting ideas for how life can exist.

Touching Centauri: Linked between the other stories, this is effectively the fourth Manifold book. It sees Reid Malenfant send a laser to Centauri and expecting it to bounce back. When it doesn't, a huge discovery about the universe is made. As good as the Manifold books but has a weak ending.

The Twelfth Album: Two friends find a strange Beatles album when mourning their departed shipmate and come to realise their friend's drunken ravings may actually have been true. A neat idea and a great story for Beatles fans.

It's a strong collection but I feel it could have done with a better editing. Having so many stories, with many similar to each other, I was a little tired of the book by the end. I would have got rid of some of the weaker stories and halved the number of stories here and I think that would lead to a really strong collection.

[ash | songsforafuturepoet · Rating 5 out of 5]

Easily my favourite short story series. Also, this is the first series I gave 5 stars to.

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

Stephen Baxter is a master of contemporary science fiction, as well as the rightful heir to the legacy left behind by Arthur C. Clarke, but based on the evidence of this collection, his forte is the long form, not the short story. It could also be reasonably argued that this volume is simply too long, that it would have been a strong collection had its 400-plus pages been pared down to 300, and might have been a masterpiece at around the 200-page mark. There's no lack of five-star stories here, but there are just as many that fall into the three- and four-star camp. And although there are no abject failures to be found, this turns into a tedious read at about the halfway mark, which seems to support my assertion that while the contents of the refrigerator are tasty, the kitchen sink should probably have been excluded from the recipe.

Many of these stories are related to Baxter's "Manifold" series of novels. Others are directly or tangentially related to other novels of his. And others more or less stand on their own. In more than one instance, the reader is left with the sense that a given story might have been a sketch or outline for a potential novel which was then abandoned in its shorter form, and this can be particularly frustrating.

It doesn't help that things get off to a slow start. It's not until the sixth of the nearly two dozen stories here that Baxter really hits his stride, with "War Birds," an alternate timeline tale in which the Cold War has turned hot and the U.S. dominates a dystopian future. This is followed by "Sun-Drenched," describing a disastrous Moon mission, and especially notable for its normalization of same-sex attraction. "Sun God" is tangentially related to "Sun-Drenched," focusing on the same protagonist, and effectively blurring the line between multiverse theory and virtual reality simulations. The similarly-titled "Sun-Cloud" is unrelated, and tells the tale of a composite being who, challenged by her maverick sister, is plagued by doubts about the nature of her world. In "Sheena 5," a genetically-modified squid becomes the unlikely protagonist in a cautionary tale about Darwinism taken to its extreme. "The Fubar Suit" is one of the most original stories in this collection, and describes a woman's unorthodox efforts to preserve her life when disaster strikes during her exploration of a Trojan asteroid. "Refugium" is one of the many stories here -- and perhaps the most successful -- which attempt to offer possible solutions to the long-standing Fermi Paradox. "The We Who Sing" shares some similarities with "Sun-Cloud," describing the quest of an alien protagonist to try to understand the nature of the world in which she lives. The penultimate story in this volume, "Touching Centauri," helps to tie some of the previous stories together into a more cohesive whole, and is directly related to the author's "Manifold" series; a bit longer than most of the other pieces found here, it is arguably the single most satisfying.

These triumphs, unfortunately, are equally balanced by the low points, which include "Open Loops," which comes off as meandering and incongruous; "Poyekhali 3201," which is equally all over the map and lacking in impetus; "Dante Dreams," which rambles as well; "Huddle," which is based on a fascinating premise, but ends with a fizzle; the anti-climactic shaggy dog stories of "Lost Continent" and "Tracks"; "Barrier," which also limps to the finish line, as does the disappointing "Marginalia"; and "Spindrift," which comes off as inconsequential and perfunctory, lacking in the detail and development which might have turned it into a more compelling tale.

The rest of these stories fall somewhere in the middle. Honorable mention should, perhaps, go to the last piece in this collection, "The Twelfth Album," which describes an alternate timeline in which The Beatles stuck together long enough to complete one final studio album. Although this tale seems to have been shoehorned into the frame of this volume, it's an interesting enough piece to earn some praise by those who sit at the intersection of sci-fi and Beatles nerds.

In conclusion, hardcore fans of Baxter will, no doubt, want to read this sometimes trying collection despite its flaws. More casual readers and newbies may be better off starting with his "Manifold" series, or with one of his stronger stand-alone novels, such as "The Time Ships" or "Evolution.

[Noémie J. Crowley · Rating 3 out of 5]

… Je suis en perdition avec cette série. Le premier livre (Time) était sympathique et intéressant. Le deuxième (Space) un chef d’œuvre de la SF et un 2001 : A Space Odyssey moderne. Le troisième (Origin) est un livre difficile à lire, gore pour rien mais avec une fin grandiose. Et le quatrième … Pour rappel, cette série décline à chaque livre les questionnements sur l’origine de l’humanité / de la vie en règle générale / de l’univers de manière générale ++, sans se suivre, mais en offrant chaque fois une variation sur son propos, avec des personnages vivant dans des timelines différentes. Et Phase Space, le petit dernier, casse complètement cette idée, en étant un recueil de nouvelles, qui reviennent parfois sur des évènements du premier livre qu’on a déjà vu, ou des histoires qui n’ont pas grand-chose à voir avec le schmilblick. Alors certaines sont très intéressantes … Mais beaucoup trop courtes pour avoir un réel propos, et donc frustrantes – mon avis en règle générale sur le format nouvelles (surtout quand elles font entre 20 et 30 pages comme ici).

Et au final … Je suis si déçue. Cette série promettait pour moi d’être une des grandes saga de la SF, et je me retrouve avec un livre qui me marque encore aujourd’hui comme étant un des gros facteurs WOW de l’année / de ma vie (je suis dans le drama comme ça tavu), et du bof, de ma frustration.

J’ai rarement vécu autant d’émotions différentes dans une même saga. Ca relève du talent, mine de rien. A vos risques et périls, donc.

[Stuart Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Manifold series was my introduction to Baxter, and both Space and Time were incredible in the vastness of scope explored. Encapsulating similar themes into short story form is a much harder task and a few interesting stories aside, this was slightly disappointing and didn't hand together as well as his other Xeelee collections.

[Florin Constantinescu · Rating 3 out of 5]

This review covers the entire 4-book Manifold series:

Your garden variety 4-book trilogies usually start the plot off in the first book, then leave you with 2 or 3 cliff-hangers before maybe resolving everything in the 4th book.
Even SB had previously subscribed to this concept.

Today, let's try something new: why don't we make books 2 and 3 be not sequels or prequels to book 1, but rather sidels, if you wish. A sort of rewrites featuring the same characters, only the premises completely different (alternate or side worlds). For example instead of a universe teeming with life, why don't we make life scarce in the universe in the next book?

So the idea is very original here. How about the plots?
There are 3 different plots obviously, among the 3 books, and while not on stellar levels, they don't disappoint in any fashion.

How about the characters? Well, the interesting device with the setting being re-written applies to the characters as well. Some are identical between books, some are slightly different, some completely different. At the end you can even choose your favorite type of each.

The weakest chain in the link here is the 4th book, the collection Phase Space. Not that the stories were necessarily weak in themselves, but some are not related to the Manifold universe. The ones who do follow the same recipe from the first three books.

[Malcolm Cox · Rating 3 out of 5]

Usually I would review each individual short story in a collection such as this. However, I started this book before I had begun doing such things.
The stories in this book follow on from the three primary books in this series: Time, Space and Origin as well as exploring further Manifold ideas. Characters such as Malenfant, Cornelius and even Sheena-5 crop up from time to time in some stories.
Even though they are short stories, they are science heavy and it's recommended that the reader should have more than a passing interest in science. There are very interesting explorations into the Fermi Paradox, Occam's Razor, the big bang, life and the heat death.
Thinking back, I must confess that most of the stories have merged into an amorphous blob, but I do keenly recall The Fubar Suit and would recommend that story particularly. It follows two parallel story lines: An astronaut coming to terms with crash-landing on an asteroid with no hope of rescue; and a member of a group of beings who seeks to find some answers about their world.
This is certainly not a book that falls into the 'light reading' category. Prepare to do much thinking and, if you're lucky, talking, about the ideas in here.

[Bon Skinner · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well I liked it because I liked the previous books in this series, however it is very much more of the same in terms of style, content and even turns of phrase. If you pick it up to read on its own, the stories will begin to all sound the same as you progress through the book. If you are a Stephen Baxter fan then I recommend it but a newcomer may find it a bit repetitive and a chore to finish.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

A series of short stories with a vague over arching theme, but not enough of one to make it feel much more than you're reading a series of good stories in a row.
There's a theme of quarantine, and another of many-moons, and another of the space race, but it's all too disjointed to ever make you feel like it's one book. Neither a novel nor a collection of short stories, it's all good, but neither one thing or another

[Jonah · Rating 3 out of 5]

This collection of short stories set in the Manifold multiverse wasn't bad, but Baxter can still be a bit of a depressing read with his take on the far future and the Big Freeze theory of the end of the universe. It might be an inconceivably long way down the track but man, that is one grim theory of how all things eventually end. Let's hope some young whipper snapper physicist comes up with something a little more uplifting for us all eh?

[Janneke · Rating 5 out of 5]

These are the best Sci-Fi stories I have ever read! They can all become true, one day. Which makes them more believable and I was committed to all of them.
Exactly like Terry Pratchett says: 'The best hard-core SF leader we have in the UK'

[TeaDrinker · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 stars.

[Jay Van der Zant · Rating 4 out of 5]

Unexpected

Wonderfully depressing, yet shocking and thought provoking. It seems to have stood the test of time and is most certainly still worthy of a read.

[Bill Jones · Rating 4 out of 5]

Various short tales mostly set in the Manifold. Some relate to Reid Malenfant, and some are less linked, but all were interesting and well written. Enjoyed it.

[Paul Walsh · Rating 3 out of 5]

A collection of short stories by Baxter, this book can be taken as a seperate entity from the Manifold books, or can be seen as the 'fourth' in the series. A few of the stories are set in the Manifold multiverse, with our familiar characters popping up every now and again. Some of the stories work well as short pieces instead of part of the Manifold.
I'll just mention some of the stories that I felt worked, and liked over some of the lesser ones:

Sheena 5:One of the connected stories is an expansion of what happens to the squid that is sent to space in Manifold: Time. I liked this, while a lot of the story is already covered in that book, this offers a little alternative ending to what happens to the space-squid race. Also, c'mon, a story about intelligent squid being sent to space, what's not to like!

Sun-Drenched: Two astronauts stuck on the moon must face the only options they have left. Very good, very touching.

Tracks: Another moon story, this time about the two astronauts see things that cannot be there, and come up with a scary theory as to what actually happened.

Touching Centauri: Our main character Reid Malenfant sends a laser beam to the neighbouring star system, and instead of recieving a bounce-back, the fabric of the universe begins to unravel. This is the over-arching story that Phase Space is formed on, and much of this story is already told throughout the book, in snippets in between different sections. It works nicely, and gives the impression of many different realities that each of the stories could exist on.

Several of the stories touch upon the Zoo Hypothesis. We may actually be blocked off from the rest of the universe until we reach a certain level of advancement, or maybe we are literally an experiment on some cosmic lab-table. The stories that touch on this are great, each one reaching further into the anticipation of what this will become. Yet there's not a payoff on this front, as we never get to see what this could mean. I forgive Baxter for this, as at the end of the day, this is a collection of short stories, but I wish he could have given just one story where we see the consequences of this idea.

Several of the stories seem very out of place in this book, but even so, they are interesting, and even one or two of them are sweet. Give it a try if you've read the previous three, or if you just want to get a sniff of some of the ideas that are floating around in Baxter's head.

[Riju Ganguly · Rating 3 out of 5]

In these post-modern days, trying to read a book full of hard sf stories printed in font-size 8 was a very bad idea. I have learnt my lesson. Henceforth, I shall mind my own reading, and would be indulging myself with suitably entertaining (probably vacuous as well) stuff only. The rating is there only because otherwise Goodreads would not let me go.

[Matt Heavner · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great collection of short pieces -- many fit within the Time/Space/Origin set. I highly recommend reading this, but only after those first three books (which were all good reads as well).

[Nicholas · Rating 1 out of 5]

Didn't really like it when I started reading it (long time ago), so I gave up. I might like it today if I give it a new shot, but it will have to wait.

[Bobby Morris · Rating 3 out of 5]

I especially liked: Glass Earth, Inc., Martian Autumn, Sun God, The Fubar Suit, Tracks, Touching Centauri.

[Alex Whitehouse · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the cleverest books I've read, with a narrative that spans between the short stories and infers (I coudl however be seeing things here) some answers. Definitely one of my top ten books.

[Charl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent collection expanding on Baxter's "Manifold Space" universe.

[Jonas Linde · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nice appendage to the original trilogy.