Spring Tide

by Chris Beckett

A thought-provoking collection of contemporary short stories from the winner of the Arthur C. Clarke award 2013.

Chris Beckett's thought-provoking and wide-ranging collection of contemporary short stories is a joy to read, rich in detail and texture. From stories about first love, to a man who discovers a labyrinth beneath his house, to an angel left alone at the end of the universe, Beckett displays both incredible range and extraordinary subtlety as a writer. Every story is a world unto itself - each one beautifully realized and brilliantly imagined.

Genres: Short Stories, Science Fiction

302 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 4, 2018

About the author

Chris Beckett is a British social worker, university lecturer, and science fiction author.

Beckett was educated at the Dragon School in Oxford and Bryanston School in Dorset, England. He holds a BSc (Honours) in Psychology from the University of Bristol (1977), a CQSW from the University of Wales (1981), a Diploma in Advanced Social Work from Goldsmiths College, University of London (1977), and an MA in English Studies from Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge (2005).

He has been a senior lecturer in social work at APU since 2000. He was a social worker for eight years and the manager of a children and families social work team for ten years. Beckett has authored or co-authored several textbooks and scholarly articles on social work.

Beckett began writing SF short stories in 2005. His first SF novel, The Holy Machine, was published in 2007. He published his second novel in 2009, Marcher, based on a short story of the same name.

Paul Di Filippo reviewed The Holy Machine for Asimov's, calling it "One of the most accomplished novel debuts to attract my attention in some time..." Michael Levy of Strange Horizons called it "a beautifully written and deeply thoughtful tale about a would-be scientific utopia that has been bent sadly out of shape by both external and internal pressures." Tony Ballantyne wrote in Interzone: "Let’s waste no time: this book is incredible."

His latest novel, Dark Eden, was hailed by Stuart Kelly of The Guardian as "a superior piece of the theologically nuanced science fiction".

Dark Eden was shortlisted for the 2012 BSFA Award for Best Novel.

On 27 March 2013 it was announced that Julian Pavia at Broadway Books, part of the Crown Publishing Group, had acquired the US rights to Dark Eden and Gela's Ring from Michael Carlisle at Inkwell Management and Vanessa Kerr, Rights Director at Grove Atlantic in London, for a high five-figure sum (in US dollars).

Beckett comments on his official website: "Although I always wanted to be a writer, I did not deliberately set out to be a science fiction writer in particular. My stories are usually about my own life, things I see happening around me and things I struggle to make sense of. But, for some reason, they always end up being science fiction. I like the freedom it gives me to invent things and play with ideas. (If you going to make up the characters, why not make up the world as well?) It’s what works for me."

Reviews

[Blodeuedd Finland · Rating 3 out of 5]

I do not know how to review this one. There are 21 one short stories spanned over 280 pages. Do the math. Maybe just review one here and there then. I that I will do.

Cellar
What was up with this cellar? I need more info! How can there be a bottomless cellar?

The end of time
WOW. This one made me feel really really alone. Was it really worth it man?

Lake
Weird....he is really good at these short ones.

The Kite
How we miss things when they are gone. Is this a collection about loneliness? No happy ones so far.

The Steps
This one was good and about something horrible. That poor child...

Rage
Good point at the end, good point. And a sad one

Ooze
A creepy sea creature...

The man who swallowed himself
What the h? These are weird and good

Sky
Nice finish, though not a conclusion to that story, I think this one needs an entire book. I really want to know what's going on

So this was just a few of them. There are others dealing with people growing apart, lost chances and just taking a look at a moment in your life. Some are not a good, some are sad, some are weird, all in all making it one interesting collection of short stories. They all work perfectly just as they are, it's like walking by a window, looking in and moving on. You do not need to know what happened before you walked by, you are there now.

A good and interesting collection

[Nathaniel · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is a book of short stories from a science fiction author so I thought it would be quite good.  There's 21 stories in total and generally quite short although there's one that is about double the usual length.  I found the vast majority of the stories to be depressing, and several of them were quite creepy too.  Most of them just stopped without a proper ending which was very annoying.  I wouldn't really have classed any of them as science fiction which was disappointing.  The extra long one was about terrorists and started with a character just missing being involved in the 7th July bombing in London which seemed a little distasteful, especially when it went on to have that character sort of sympathise with terrorists.  Another story was a descriptive retelling of the water cycle which seemed to have been included just to make up the numbers because I couldn't think of any other reason for it to have been written.  The only interesting aspect was when I realised that the final story was a continuation of the first story but told from a different view point.  But even that didn't have an actual ending!  I didn't enjoy the book at all, the only good aspect was that it was short. 

[Anthony Moreau · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some very personal storytelling from Mr Beckett, that is vey touching in moments.

Most stories however , while short, do not have much in term of structure or a clear point, and end very suddenly. They seem to be rather more about capturing certain emotions in moments of time. When this works, it works very well, particularly in the titular story. But it left me wanting a bit more, and I was surprised at how far this was from his usual sci-fi writing.

I did enjoy it overall, but it wont be for everyone.

[ashleigh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful little snapshots; each perfect lit, textured and framed. I had to take my time with this read it slowly, treat it like a box of rich Belgian chocolates and not scoff them all at once and make myself sick. The greenhouse!! This collection also has a perfect ending.

[Sophie Paulissen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Just like music or a movie, a book needs variation. And while you might think that a book filled with shortstories about different topics will have variation, this book has not. The sphere, emotions and feelings while reading the book are exactly the same throughout this book. A missed opportunity in my eyes.