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Fermi's Progress #1-4
Fermi's Progress
“The Fermi is the Earth’s first and last faster-than-light-spaceship. The last, because it turns out its engine vaporises entire star systems in its wake. And nobody knows how to turn it off.”
Four planets. Four adventures. Four apocalypses.
A Dyson sphere, a philosophical zombie apocalypse, a giant airborne beehive and a galactic telesales scam. Each world brings new wonders, new dangers, and a planetary scale genocide. The Fermi crew must survive by what little wits they have as they bounce a trail of destruction across the galaxy.
For the first time all four parts of Fermi’s Progress are together in one volume.
"Simultaneously hilarious and tragic, a unique and fast-paced ride into new science fiction territory." Adrian Tchaikovsky
"Fermi's Progress is fresh, fun SF with a dark conceit, dangerous thought experiments, thrilling action adventures, and lots of wit and warmth." Ken MacLeod
"A mindbending meditation on human (and inhuman) nature, Fermi's Progress both dances around answering the woefully 21st century question of 'Are we alone in the universe', while ruminating on whether we should be." - Aaron J. Waltke, Co-Executive Producer, Star Trek: Prodigy
"Simultaneously a tribute to the classic TV SF 'planet of the week' format and a very literal demolition job of the same - and so smart that it's never afraid to be silly. Brilliant stuff." Nate Crowley Author of Notes from Small Planets
"Clever and strange, genre-bending and darkly funny, it’ll take you on a ride between myriad times and places, Fermi’s Paradox observed through the lens of interstellar call-centres like it was the grim spawn of The Dark Forest and Hitchhiker’s Guide, or the fleshy junction of Alien, Embassytown, and Office Space." Andrew Skinner, author of Steel Frame
Four planets. Four adventures. Four apocalypses.
A Dyson sphere, a philosophical zombie apocalypse, a giant airborne beehive and a galactic telesales scam. Each world brings new wonders, new dangers, and a planetary scale genocide. The Fermi crew must survive by what little wits they have as they bounce a trail of destruction across the galaxy.
For the first time all four parts of Fermi’s Progress are together in one volume.
"Simultaneously hilarious and tragic, a unique and fast-paced ride into new science fiction territory." Adrian Tchaikovsky
"Fermi's Progress is fresh, fun SF with a dark conceit, dangerous thought experiments, thrilling action adventures, and lots of wit and warmth." Ken MacLeod
"A mindbending meditation on human (and inhuman) nature, Fermi's Progress both dances around answering the woefully 21st century question of 'Are we alone in the universe', while ruminating on whether we should be." - Aaron J. Waltke, Co-Executive Producer, Star Trek: Prodigy
"Simultaneously a tribute to the classic TV SF 'planet of the week' format and a very literal demolition job of the same - and so smart that it's never afraid to be silly. Brilliant stuff." Nate Crowley Author of Notes from Small Planets
"Clever and strange, genre-bending and darkly funny, it’ll take you on a ride between myriad times and places, Fermi’s Paradox observed through the lens of interstellar call-centres like it was the grim spawn of The Dark Forest and Hitchhiker’s Guide, or the fleshy junction of Alien, Embassytown, and Office Space." Andrew Skinner, author of Steel Frame
574 pages, Paperback
First published July 7, 2022
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
March 1, 2023
Love the imaginative worlds in these collected stories! The base premise of a starship that accidentally destroys every world it encounters is basically the most dramatic of MacGuffins. While this sounds like a criticism, it is not. It's a genius idea as it forces the real story to be about the people on the ship — how they deal with the culture shock of the alien worlds they encounter and how they carry the tragic burden of the wreckage they leave behind.
This framework also allows the author to fully dive into some really creative world building with every alien world they encounter. Every world they encounter is both uniquely different and yet also strangely familiar in how it illuminates some aspect of what it is to be a person. There are some definite nods here and there to philosophy of consciousness and also critiques of capitalism, both of which I'm here for.
Very much worth reading!
This framework also allows the author to fully dive into some really creative world building with every alien world they encounter. Every world they encounter is both uniquely different and yet also strangely familiar in how it illuminates some aspect of what it is to be a person. There are some definite nods here and there to philosophy of consciousness and also critiques of capitalism, both of which I'm here for.
Very much worth reading!
November 4, 2024
Really good set of linked stories. Cohesive, original, interesting - some ideas here that I've genuinely not read before. Well worth a punt even for the most jaded scifi nerd.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews