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Flight From the Ages And Other Stories
From the Author of The Quantum Magician and The House of Styx From the clouds of Venus to the origins of the time gates, this collection of novellas and short fiction visits many favourite worlds of the Quantum Evolution universe, as well as some new to the series. With two 20,000-plus-word novellas and four long short stories, this collection is a stunning showcase of talent. “Persephone Descending”, “Schools of Clay”, “Beneath Sunlit Shallows”, “Flight From the Ages”, Pollen From a Future Harvest and Tool Use By Humans of Danzhai County , this is a must for all fans of forward-thinking science fiction.
343 pages, Kindle Edition
Published December 6, 2022
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December 15, 2022
As I’ve said in the past, I am very selective about the anthologies I read. Novels are my jam when it comes to fiction, short stories and novelettes and novellas much less so. Nevertheless, when Derek Künsken’s collection Flight from the Ages And Other Stories came up on NetGalley, I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to request an eARC for review. Künsken might fast become one of my favourite living science-fiction authors. Ever since I read
The Quantum Magician
, I’ve enjoyed his ability to balance the novum of science fiction with the need to tell human stories. This collection is no exception—if anything, it showcases that ability even more prominently.
I know it’s customary to review the individual stories in a collection, especially one this small, but I don’t want to, and this is my book review, so you can’t make me! Instead, I want to talk about how all of these stories form a unified view of science fiction and why that works for me.
Each story takes place within the shared universe of Künsken’s imagination, the same one that his Quantum Evolution and Venus Ascendant series are set in (though most of these stories, it should be noted, were written and published prior to those novels being written). So if you have read Künsken’s novels, you will recognize many of the settings, species, and even a few of the characters. I do love when an author returns to the same universe over and over, and it’s clear Künsken has put a lot of thought into developing this one.
Künsken cites Alastair Reynolds and Stephen Baxter as among his influences and even drops Galactic North by the former as an inspiration and recommendation in the preface to this collection. Now, I read a lot of Baxter when I was a teenager, just before I started reviewing every book, so I don’t have many reviews up for his works. But his writing always left me cold. Kind of like Greg Egan, his attitude towards humanity in his science fiction was so unbearably distant and utilitarian—he had zoomed the camera so far out (or so far in, to the quantum level) that as impressive as his ideas might have been, I couldn’t get behind his characters. Reynolds, on the other hand, is definitely up there on my list of great living SF authors—and I would happily compare Künsken to him.
There was a time when we might have said that these authors write what we call hard science fiction, though I think that term has blissfully outlived its usefulness in this day and age. Suffice it to say, Künsken and Reynolds both come from scientific backgrounds, and their SF is indeed quite embedded within a scientific framework, albeit one that relies on an artistic interpretation of quantum mechanical theory that is far more forgiving and flexible than our current understanding of the universe. Sometimes authors push that flexibility too far, verging into Clarkian “sufficiently advanced science” science-fantasy territory—and indeed, it can be really difficult to see where we draw the line.
I think what allows authors like Künsken and Reynolds to avoid that pitfall, however, is their need to focus on the humanity of their storytelling. This isn’t always obvious at first glance—“Schools of Clay” has no human beings in it, and “Beneath Sunlit Shallows” is about a protagonist who is literally condemning his ancestors for tinkering with his genome to the point where he is no longer recognizably human. Yet each of these stories is poignantly, perhaps even painfully, about very human traits: desiring, yearning, needing to belong and be a part of something bigger. The ensoulled skates, Homo eridanus, a Venusian Quebecoise engineer, a grieving military auditor, a traumatized artificial intelligence, a group of near-future Miao people in provincial China … through all of these characters, Künsken reflects on what it is that makes us human. And that is the ultimate goal of science fiction. If an author manages to do that, they usually have me hooked.
But there’s more to it still. See, a lot of our science fiction at the moment is quite dystopian. This doesn’t surprise me, given the state of our world. These trends tend to move in cycles, reflecting the optimism or pessimism of an era. And some dystopian or post-apocalyptic fiction can be painfully good—but it’s still all so depressing, and I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but we are going into like the third year of a pandemic that most of the governments of the world seem to have decided to pretend is over, and it’s … it’s all rather a lot right now, and I want to read happy things. Or, you know, if not happy, then at least not terminally sad.
Take artificial intelligence, for example. Present in most of these stories to one degree or another, it is in Tool Use By Humans of Danzhai County that we come to its most salient usage vis-à-vis contemporary AI. I was half-expecting, as I read the story, for the AIs being developed by the main characters to go rogue and, you know, take us over in a sinister and dystopian way. And they kind of do—go rogue, that is, and perhaps even take over, but in a much more utopian way. And I needed that.
Here I am, doomscrolling on a Musk-infested Twitter far more often than I care to admit, watching people discuss the pros and cons of GPT-fuelled text-generating AIs and Stable Diffusion image-generating AIs and thinking about whether we’re entering the post-truth era, an era of chaotic pornographic deepfakes and undetectably plagiarized student essays and everything in between. For all that the hawkers of modern AI services proclaim them to be revolutionary, they certainly seem underwhelming at best and dangerous at worst—and so much of our modern science fiction seems determined to emphasize the dangers.
Along comes Derek Künsken, who has the sheer, unmitigated gall not only to write stories where AIs are helpful and benevolent but to explore how humans can develop them to be that way.
Seriously, the nerve of this man.
See, that’s the kicker: we have to choose this future. Künsken has hit on the crux of the matter when it comes to AI—or really any technology—a truth that many science-fiction authors explore but few truly succeed at examining so cleanly. We build our future through the choices we make. AI is not the end of the world any more than fossil fuel use or nuclear weapons have to be. It isn’t our tools but our tool use (oh there’s that title of the novella now) that defines us.
This theme, so elegantly presented in the final story of this collection, reverberates backwards through the earlier stories much like Künsken’s protagonists so often seem to be involved in anachronistic, atemporal shenanigans. That is the value of reading these stories collected rather than in isolation across various magazines: once you finish this collection, you could easily go back to the start and read it again, and you’ll come away changed once more, iteratively so, because these stories form of a feedback loop of a kind. They pose tough questions about what it means to be human, about the choices we should make as individuals and as a species, asking us what we want our future to be. The stories also go further, reminding us that although there is indeed something quite special about humanity, ours is not the sole inheritor of this universe; the stories challenge the Eurocentric, colonial arrogance that we are the most superior form of life there could ever be. Maybe humans don’t make it to the end of the universe—and beyond—but life will go on.
And Künsken dares to dream of a future where, sure, there is still conflict and war and betrayal and sadness … but there is also a hell of a lot of compassion and empathy and love and hope, and that is a message I feel a lot of contemporary science fiction has buried. Again, I’m not yucking your yum if the dark, gritty stories are your cup of tea. But Künsken is steeping my tea the way I like it: big and bold, brash even, with some very Canadian humour and some difficult ideas and just a dash of quantum weirdness.
Originally posted on Kara.Reviews, where you can easily browse all my reviews and subscribe to my newsletter.
I know it’s customary to review the individual stories in a collection, especially one this small, but I don’t want to, and this is my book review, so you can’t make me! Instead, I want to talk about how all of these stories form a unified view of science fiction and why that works for me.
Each story takes place within the shared universe of Künsken’s imagination, the same one that his Quantum Evolution and Venus Ascendant series are set in (though most of these stories, it should be noted, were written and published prior to those novels being written). So if you have read Künsken’s novels, you will recognize many of the settings, species, and even a few of the characters. I do love when an author returns to the same universe over and over, and it’s clear Künsken has put a lot of thought into developing this one.
Künsken cites Alastair Reynolds and Stephen Baxter as among his influences and even drops Galactic North by the former as an inspiration and recommendation in the preface to this collection. Now, I read a lot of Baxter when I was a teenager, just before I started reviewing every book, so I don’t have many reviews up for his works. But his writing always left me cold. Kind of like Greg Egan, his attitude towards humanity in his science fiction was so unbearably distant and utilitarian—he had zoomed the camera so far out (or so far in, to the quantum level) that as impressive as his ideas might have been, I couldn’t get behind his characters. Reynolds, on the other hand, is definitely up there on my list of great living SF authors—and I would happily compare Künsken to him.
There was a time when we might have said that these authors write what we call hard science fiction, though I think that term has blissfully outlived its usefulness in this day and age. Suffice it to say, Künsken and Reynolds both come from scientific backgrounds, and their SF is indeed quite embedded within a scientific framework, albeit one that relies on an artistic interpretation of quantum mechanical theory that is far more forgiving and flexible than our current understanding of the universe. Sometimes authors push that flexibility too far, verging into Clarkian “sufficiently advanced science” science-fantasy territory—and indeed, it can be really difficult to see where we draw the line.
I think what allows authors like Künsken and Reynolds to avoid that pitfall, however, is their need to focus on the humanity of their storytelling. This isn’t always obvious at first glance—“Schools of Clay” has no human beings in it, and “Beneath Sunlit Shallows” is about a protagonist who is literally condemning his ancestors for tinkering with his genome to the point where he is no longer recognizably human. Yet each of these stories is poignantly, perhaps even painfully, about very human traits: desiring, yearning, needing to belong and be a part of something bigger. The ensoulled skates, Homo eridanus, a Venusian Quebecoise engineer, a grieving military auditor, a traumatized artificial intelligence, a group of near-future Miao people in provincial China … through all of these characters, Künsken reflects on what it is that makes us human. And that is the ultimate goal of science fiction. If an author manages to do that, they usually have me hooked.
But there’s more to it still. See, a lot of our science fiction at the moment is quite dystopian. This doesn’t surprise me, given the state of our world. These trends tend to move in cycles, reflecting the optimism or pessimism of an era. And some dystopian or post-apocalyptic fiction can be painfully good—but it’s still all so depressing, and I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but we are going into like the third year of a pandemic that most of the governments of the world seem to have decided to pretend is over, and it’s … it’s all rather a lot right now, and I want to read happy things. Or, you know, if not happy, then at least not terminally sad.
Take artificial intelligence, for example. Present in most of these stories to one degree or another, it is in Tool Use By Humans of Danzhai County that we come to its most salient usage vis-à-vis contemporary AI. I was half-expecting, as I read the story, for the AIs being developed by the main characters to go rogue and, you know, take us over in a sinister and dystopian way. And they kind of do—go rogue, that is, and perhaps even take over, but in a much more utopian way. And I needed that.
Here I am, doomscrolling on a Musk-infested Twitter far more often than I care to admit, watching people discuss the pros and cons of GPT-fuelled text-generating AIs and Stable Diffusion image-generating AIs and thinking about whether we’re entering the post-truth era, an era of chaotic pornographic deepfakes and undetectably plagiarized student essays and everything in between. For all that the hawkers of modern AI services proclaim them to be revolutionary, they certainly seem underwhelming at best and dangerous at worst—and so much of our modern science fiction seems determined to emphasize the dangers.
Along comes Derek Künsken, who has the sheer, unmitigated gall not only to write stories where AIs are helpful and benevolent but to explore how humans can develop them to be that way.
Seriously, the nerve of this man.
See, that’s the kicker: we have to choose this future. Künsken has hit on the crux of the matter when it comes to AI—or really any technology—a truth that many science-fiction authors explore but few truly succeed at examining so cleanly. We build our future through the choices we make. AI is not the end of the world any more than fossil fuel use or nuclear weapons have to be. It isn’t our tools but our tool use (oh there’s that title of the novella now) that defines us.
This theme, so elegantly presented in the final story of this collection, reverberates backwards through the earlier stories much like Künsken’s protagonists so often seem to be involved in anachronistic, atemporal shenanigans. That is the value of reading these stories collected rather than in isolation across various magazines: once you finish this collection, you could easily go back to the start and read it again, and you’ll come away changed once more, iteratively so, because these stories form of a feedback loop of a kind. They pose tough questions about what it means to be human, about the choices we should make as individuals and as a species, asking us what we want our future to be. The stories also go further, reminding us that although there is indeed something quite special about humanity, ours is not the sole inheritor of this universe; the stories challenge the Eurocentric, colonial arrogance that we are the most superior form of life there could ever be. Maybe humans don’t make it to the end of the universe—and beyond—but life will go on.
And Künsken dares to dream of a future where, sure, there is still conflict and war and betrayal and sadness … but there is also a hell of a lot of compassion and empathy and love and hope, and that is a message I feel a lot of contemporary science fiction has buried. Again, I’m not yucking your yum if the dark, gritty stories are your cup of tea. But Künsken is steeping my tea the way I like it: big and bold, brash even, with some very Canadian humour and some difficult ideas and just a dash of quantum weirdness.
Originally posted on Kara.Reviews, where you can easily browse all my reviews and subscribe to my newsletter.
March 31, 2024
Two spectacular stories carry the collection: the title story: “Flight from the Ages” (2016 novelette). Two sentient AI reps of the Bank of the Plutocracy race to save the universe! “The blistering sheets of x-rays. The thrumming of space-time shuddering with gravitational waves.” Marvelous fun, 4.5 stars. I've highlighted some particularly evocative quotes at my Kindle page. The author notes that he was inspired by Alastair Reynold's classic relativistic chase story, "Galactic North" (1999). I think Künsken's story is even better!
And "Tool Use by the Humans of Danzhai County" (2020, novella) is another great story, a classic AI-made-good tale with an interesting backstory: Künsken was invited to visit Danzhai County, home of the Miao minority group, in Guizhou province, one of the poorest provinces of China, by a Chinese SF magazine. What might work to help these folks out? Why, the Golden Harvest of the mature AIs of the Miao Punk Princess! Clever, fun and optimistic. OK, it gets a little gushy. First-rate stuff: 4.5 stars. Don't miss! A couple of excerpts at my Kindle page.
The rest of the collection ranges from good to one I almost hated. "Persephone Descending," a 2014 novelette, is a neat origin story for his later Venus novels: 3+ stars. I liked the rest less. But you should read Wole Talabi's full review at Locus for a more positive view, and judge for yourself:
https://locusmag.com/2023/02/wole-tal...
I easily got my $7 worth from those two great stories.
Full ToC and story details for the collection: https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pl.cgi?...
My Kindle highlights and notes:
https://www.goodreads.com/notes/63041...
And "Tool Use by the Humans of Danzhai County" (2020, novella) is another great story, a classic AI-made-good tale with an interesting backstory: Künsken was invited to visit Danzhai County, home of the Miao minority group, in Guizhou province, one of the poorest provinces of China, by a Chinese SF magazine. What might work to help these folks out? Why, the Golden Harvest of the mature AIs of the Miao Punk Princess! Clever, fun and optimistic. OK, it gets a little gushy. First-rate stuff: 4.5 stars. Don't miss! A couple of excerpts at my Kindle page.
The rest of the collection ranges from good to one I almost hated. "Persephone Descending," a 2014 novelette, is a neat origin story for his later Venus novels: 3+ stars. I liked the rest less. But you should read Wole Talabi's full review at Locus for a more positive view, and judge for yourself:
https://locusmag.com/2023/02/wole-tal...
I easily got my $7 worth from those two great stories.
Full ToC and story details for the collection: https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pl.cgi?...
My Kindle highlights and notes:
https://www.goodreads.com/notes/63041...
January 20, 2023
This is for fans of hard science fiction: the kind of galaxy-spanning, exotic planet exploring, mind-bending stuff that evoked what used to be called 'sensawunda'. The author admits as much in a preface.
Each story examines a different astonishing world:
“Beneath Sunlit Shallows” describes an alien world so hostile to human life that the few remaining humans have genetically modified themselves to live in the deep ocean, but even that may not be enough to save them. And, an asteroid is on the way!
“Schools of Clay” describes a hive colony of cyborged creatures built for mining asteroids, and what happens when the hive has to do its periodical fleeing towards a black hole in order to avoid the rapacious predators pursuing it. Oh, and the workers start a labor revolt in the middle of it.
“Persephone Descending” is my favorite. In the colonized clouds of Venus, a political assassination attempt sends an engineer plunging towards Venus. The story is a master class of using world-building to serve the story, as we learn about the ecology of the Venusian atmosphere and the strange creatures which inhabit it as the engineer plunges lower, using her mad engineering skills to stay alive by finding oxygen and more electricity to power the battery pack keeping her suit cool enough so she doesn't fry. Fans of Andy Weir's “The Martian” will like this story.
“Flight From the Ages” is the galaxy-spanning story, where the explosion of a space mine triggers an expanding cloud of nothingness that eats all worlds and a greater part of the galaxy. Our plucky AI robots Ulixes and Poluphemos (yes, that's an Odyssey reference – Poluphemos is blinded at one point) race ahead of the expanding threat, trying to stay alive and find answers.
“Pollen from a Future Harvest” is even stranger, believe it or not. A double wormhole provides a connection not in space but through time, eleven years in difference. There are intelligent vegetable creatures that circulate around the gates, sending pollen through one gate and receiving it eleven years later from the other. Meanwhile, the military of the Sub-Saharan Union is trying to prevent their rivals the Venusian Congregate from finding the gates, but the cat's out of the bag – there's a traitor in their midst. This is simultaneously a murder mystery, a political thriller, and a mind-bending physics adventure reminiscent of one of Greg Egan's stories.
OK, I lied. “Tool Use by the Humans of Danzhai County” might be my favorite. A woman from the Miao ethnicity in China uses her mad programming skills to create AIs to benefit people, not corporations, enriching herself while reinvigorating Miao culture. The characters in this story are the most sympathetic of all of them, and the story of female empowerment in China through technological development reminded me of Geoff Ryman's excellent novel of by-your-bootstraps uplift, “Air”.
Kunsken's hard science fiction is second to none. He's a big fan of Alastair Reynolds, citing “Galactic North” as a big influence on writing “Flight from the Ages”. Anyone who like Reynolds, Stephen Baxter, or Iain M. Banks should enjoy these stories.
Each story examines a different astonishing world:
“Beneath Sunlit Shallows” describes an alien world so hostile to human life that the few remaining humans have genetically modified themselves to live in the deep ocean, but even that may not be enough to save them. And, an asteroid is on the way!
“Schools of Clay” describes a hive colony of cyborged creatures built for mining asteroids, and what happens when the hive has to do its periodical fleeing towards a black hole in order to avoid the rapacious predators pursuing it. Oh, and the workers start a labor revolt in the middle of it.
“Persephone Descending” is my favorite. In the colonized clouds of Venus, a political assassination attempt sends an engineer plunging towards Venus. The story is a master class of using world-building to serve the story, as we learn about the ecology of the Venusian atmosphere and the strange creatures which inhabit it as the engineer plunges lower, using her mad engineering skills to stay alive by finding oxygen and more electricity to power the battery pack keeping her suit cool enough so she doesn't fry. Fans of Andy Weir's “The Martian” will like this story.
“Flight From the Ages” is the galaxy-spanning story, where the explosion of a space mine triggers an expanding cloud of nothingness that eats all worlds and a greater part of the galaxy. Our plucky AI robots Ulixes and Poluphemos (yes, that's an Odyssey reference – Poluphemos is blinded at one point) race ahead of the expanding threat, trying to stay alive and find answers.
“Pollen from a Future Harvest” is even stranger, believe it or not. A double wormhole provides a connection not in space but through time, eleven years in difference. There are intelligent vegetable creatures that circulate around the gates, sending pollen through one gate and receiving it eleven years later from the other. Meanwhile, the military of the Sub-Saharan Union is trying to prevent their rivals the Venusian Congregate from finding the gates, but the cat's out of the bag – there's a traitor in their midst. This is simultaneously a murder mystery, a political thriller, and a mind-bending physics adventure reminiscent of one of Greg Egan's stories.
OK, I lied. “Tool Use by the Humans of Danzhai County” might be my favorite. A woman from the Miao ethnicity in China uses her mad programming skills to create AIs to benefit people, not corporations, enriching herself while reinvigorating Miao culture. The characters in this story are the most sympathetic of all of them, and the story of female empowerment in China through technological development reminded me of Geoff Ryman's excellent novel of by-your-bootstraps uplift, “Air”.
Kunsken's hard science fiction is second to none. He's a big fan of Alastair Reynolds, citing “Galactic North” as a big influence on writing “Flight from the Ages”. Anyone who like Reynolds, Stephen Baxter, or Iain M. Banks should enjoy these stories.
October 6, 2023
In the preface, Derek Künsken says: ‘‘I’m a sense of wonder junkie. I always have been.’’ I’m one too, and if you recognize that feeling then you are liable to thoroughly enjoy this collection. While they have all previously appeared in other venues (most in Asimov’s), putting them together really allows their themes to shine.
Künsken’s work largely explores the relationship between time, technology, and personhood using the best tools of hard SF. There are interesting and sometimes profound connections to these themes in each story. The writing style in every story is consistent, if unvarying, but it is also confident, clear, and sometimes deeply moving.
Philosophical, clever, and emotional while featuring a diverse range of characters and intelligences, Künsken’s collection is very moving.
Full review in Locus magazine:
https://locusmag.com/2023/02/wole-tal...
Künsken’s work largely explores the relationship between time, technology, and personhood using the best tools of hard SF. There are interesting and sometimes profound connections to these themes in each story. The writing style in every story is consistent, if unvarying, but it is also confident, clear, and sometimes deeply moving.
Philosophical, clever, and emotional while featuring a diverse range of characters and intelligences, Künsken’s collection is very moving.
Full review in Locus magazine:
https://locusmag.com/2023/02/wole-tal...
February 2, 2024
Mixed bag - some stories were 4 star, others less. And some suffered by how tightly interwoven they were with the events of his Quantum Magician series.
May 31, 2025
Solo leí;
En las aguas oscuras (Beneath Sunlit Shallows), una historia de supervivencia de la especie ya no tan humana en un mundo inhóspito asediado por la brutalidad de un universo indiferente. Muy bueno. (De nuevo, gracias a cuentosparaalgernon por la traducción).
Flight From the Ages, una historia sobre una IA bancaria que presencia el final de todas las cosas. ¡Una maravilla de relato de cinco estrellas! (Hay una traducción el español no-tan-oficial por ahí de este relato...).
En las aguas oscuras (Beneath Sunlit Shallows), una historia de supervivencia de la especie ya no tan humana en un mundo inhóspito asediado por la brutalidad de un universo indiferente. Muy bueno. (De nuevo, gracias a cuentosparaalgernon por la traducción).
Flight From the Ages, una historia sobre una IA bancaria que presencia el final de todas las cosas. ¡Una maravilla de relato de cinco estrellas! (Hay una traducción el español no-tan-oficial por ahí de este relato...).
March 10, 2023
A collection of short stories, all set in the universe of the author's Quantum Evolution series.
Honestly, this is one of my favorite styles of anthologies... assuming it's a universe I already enjoy, I love dipping into little side corners and learning more about it, or exploring in-depth some element that was present in the books but that still had room for expansion. And the Quantum Evolution series' universe is probably one of my favorite discoveries in recent years. So I think it was safe to say going in that I was going to enjoy this, unless somehow the stories themselves turned out to be terrible.
Well............ they're not. There's no surprising turnaround in the review. I thought I'd really like it, and I did. You don't really need to read any of the novels to understand the collection, as they're often set in the past or future of the 'present' portrayed in the novels (one story might potentially be a bit spoilery for elements in the second book, but I don't think it's necessarily a dealbreaker so much as something that might whet your appetite). It also seems likely many were written before the series, sort of prototypes for some of the ideas, and that's why they're set at a much earlier point (which is interesting from the standpoint of following the creative process, the development of a universe). I wouldn't be surprised if some had to be slightly 'adapted' from their original format to fit better into one cohesive universe without contradiction with stuff later stories established... if not, it's even more impressive, because I didn't notice any major problems.
It's hard to choose the story I liked most. Possibly "Schools of Clay" just because I love delving deep into the unusual biology situation, even though it was hard to wrap my brain around. Possibly "Tool use by the Humans of Danzhai County" for a more human-centric story.
I don't think there's a bad story in the lot for my tastes. If I had to choose one I liked the least, maybe the title story, but only because I don't want such a galaxy spanning threat to happen in this universe, and in going for an epic timescale it loses a little something of what I liked. But I still liked the story as a whole, just not as much as others. And, I'm slightly disappointed that we didn't get anything directly involving the engineered human suspecies known as the Puppets... granted, it was explored a fair bit in the main series of novels, but I was hoping to see something interesting involving that aspect, and instead it felt like something of a blank spot.
But, on the whole, I really liked it. Easily a 4 star anthology for me, and I tend to be lenient on anthology standards since I expect stories I outright dislike in most that I'd score a 3. To be this good, I'd almost even considering it giving it a rare (for me) 5 star rating... and I thought a lot about it, but it just wasn't quite there for me.
Honestly, this is one of my favorite styles of anthologies... assuming it's a universe I already enjoy, I love dipping into little side corners and learning more about it, or exploring in-depth some element that was present in the books but that still had room for expansion. And the Quantum Evolution series' universe is probably one of my favorite discoveries in recent years. So I think it was safe to say going in that I was going to enjoy this, unless somehow the stories themselves turned out to be terrible.
Well............ they're not. There's no surprising turnaround in the review. I thought I'd really like it, and I did. You don't really need to read any of the novels to understand the collection, as they're often set in the past or future of the 'present' portrayed in the novels (one story might potentially be a bit spoilery for elements in the second book, but I don't think it's necessarily a dealbreaker so much as something that might whet your appetite). It also seems likely many were written before the series, sort of prototypes for some of the ideas, and that's why they're set at a much earlier point (which is interesting from the standpoint of following the creative process, the development of a universe). I wouldn't be surprised if some had to be slightly 'adapted' from their original format to fit better into one cohesive universe without contradiction with stuff later stories established... if not, it's even more impressive, because I didn't notice any major problems.
It's hard to choose the story I liked most. Possibly "Schools of Clay" just because I love delving deep into the unusual biology situation, even though it was hard to wrap my brain around. Possibly "Tool use by the Humans of Danzhai County" for a more human-centric story.
I don't think there's a bad story in the lot for my tastes. If I had to choose one I liked the least, maybe the title story, but only because I don't want such a galaxy spanning threat to happen in this universe, and in going for an epic timescale it loses a little something of what I liked. But I still liked the story as a whole, just not as much as others. And, I'm slightly disappointed that we didn't get anything directly involving the engineered human suspecies known as the Puppets... granted, it was explored a fair bit in the main series of novels, but I was hoping to see something interesting involving that aspect, and instead it felt like something of a blank spot.
But, on the whole, I really liked it. Easily a 4 star anthology for me, and I tend to be lenient on anthology standards since I expect stories I outright dislike in most that I'd score a 3. To be this good, I'd almost even considering it giving it a rare (for me) 5 star rating... and I thought a lot about it, but it just wasn't quite there for me.
December 19, 2022
Derek Künsken burst onto the science fiction scene with his mind bending science fiction heist novel The Quantum Magician. That turned out to be the first novel in a quartet (it was followed by The Quantum Garden and The Quantum War with a fourth to come) which has significantly broadened out his universe. More backstory to this universe came with 2020’s House of Styx, set on Venus hundreds of years before the Quantum Evolution series and awaiting a follow up concluding novel. Given the breadth of his vision and the connectedness of his novels it is no surprise that Flight From the Ages and Other Stories, a collection of short stories and novellas mainly serves to fill in gaps and detail of these sprawling, connected sagas.
The book opens with Beneath Sunlit Shallows, a dark look at the circumstances that gave rise to one of the prominent newly evolved species of mankind in the Quantum Evolution series. Other stories that fill in different niches in these tales include Persephone Descending, which acts as a prequel of sorts to House of Styx. And Pollen from a Future Harvest which explores more fully the strange plant species that has evolved to take advantage of time travel first encountered in The Quantum Garden. The three other stories could also exist in the Künsken future universe, particularly Tool Use By Humans of Danzhai County which explores the creation of Artificial Intelligences in the twenty first and second centuries, but do not connect as closely to the existing novels.
Through all of these stories, Künsken continues to explore some similar themes to his novels. The issue of humans living in extreme conditions in the clouds of Venus and what they might do to survive, moving to the even more extreme situation that the colonists of Epsilon Indi find themselves in and what lengths they go to breed new generations of survivors. A different form of survival is considered in Schools of Clay. And artificial intelligences get stories of their own.
The thematic connection helps the stories stand together as a coherent collection rather than just a group of backstories and explainers for other materials. But that said, the stories work much better with knowledge of the broader universe. Those who know the characters and their lives and struggles and attitudes from those longer forms will find this collection adds depth to these stories and vice versa. So for those who have not read any other of Kunsken’s works this will stand as a taster for the much broader and deeper universe that he has created.
The book opens with Beneath Sunlit Shallows, a dark look at the circumstances that gave rise to one of the prominent newly evolved species of mankind in the Quantum Evolution series. Other stories that fill in different niches in these tales include Persephone Descending, which acts as a prequel of sorts to House of Styx. And Pollen from a Future Harvest which explores more fully the strange plant species that has evolved to take advantage of time travel first encountered in The Quantum Garden. The three other stories could also exist in the Künsken future universe, particularly Tool Use By Humans of Danzhai County which explores the creation of Artificial Intelligences in the twenty first and second centuries, but do not connect as closely to the existing novels.
Through all of these stories, Künsken continues to explore some similar themes to his novels. The issue of humans living in extreme conditions in the clouds of Venus and what they might do to survive, moving to the even more extreme situation that the colonists of Epsilon Indi find themselves in and what lengths they go to breed new generations of survivors. A different form of survival is considered in Schools of Clay. And artificial intelligences get stories of their own.
The thematic connection helps the stories stand together as a coherent collection rather than just a group of backstories and explainers for other materials. But that said, the stories work much better with knowledge of the broader universe. Those who know the characters and their lives and struggles and attitudes from those longer forms will find this collection adds depth to these stories and vice versa. So for those who have not read any other of Kunsken’s works this will stand as a taster for the much broader and deeper universe that he has created.
December 15, 2022
I should have taken this book slower and given myself more time between each novella, but I was wanting to get it reviewed so I rushed a bit! This is heavy, hard sci fi that really gets your brain working. The prose and the language is carefully crafted to fit each story, and you can really lose yourself in each rich, fascinating world. Venus is hands down my favorite, but it's also probably the least mind-bending location visited in these stories. You get wormholes with a one-way path to eleven years in the past, underwater worlds, mines and black holes, and so much more. I will absolutely be picking up a copy of this to browse more thoroughly in the future.
November 26, 2022
Fine collection of Kûnslen’s short fiction. The author writes in complex worlds and is comfortable crafting wild futures extrapolated from theoretical physics or really alien viewpoints shaped by different evolutionary paths and different environments. His stories largely tie into a larger “future history” which includes House of Styx and his three Quantum novels; it reminded me why I am looking forward to the concluding volumes in the two respective series. One of my favorite current authors.
October 13, 2024
Very good overall, but a bit of a mixed bag. "Tool Use by the Humans of Danzhai County" is both the longest and strongest of the bunch and it alone is worth the purchase of the collection. I enjoyed "Pollen from a Future Harvest" as well, but I'm not sure I'd appreciate it as much if I hadn't read Künsken's Quantum Evolution books first.
September 27, 2025
"Tool Use by the Workers of Danzhai County" and "Beneath Sunlit Shadows" are just oustanding, truly memorable stories. The other 4 stories in this collection are good, very good and very very good. Looking forward to Kunksen's next book, I've enjoyed everything he's published so far.
May 6, 2023
Book of shorts from the Quantum War universe, quite good.
September 14, 2023
I absolutely loved the last story in this anthology, titled: “Tool Use by the Humans of Danzhai County”. It’s going on my top recommendation list.
September 23, 2023
Absolutely stunning work
January 3, 2024
Like any collection, a mixed bag.. some “back story” / earlier ideas for Quantum Magician series. I really like “Tool Use..” and “Flight from the Ages.” Good scifi- good, cutting edge science.
May 20, 2025
5 stars for “Flight From the Ages” and “Beneath Sunlit Shallows”
July 29, 2025
It was great to read the stories that inspired the books I read. It was a good collection. I enjoyed reading it.
November 23, 2023
really enjoyed this story collection - and vey much so the last one which reminded me of Geoff Ryman who is putting out a new book in 2024!
Great work Derek : )
Great work Derek : )
May 25, 2023
So happy to have found this when I did. The first story gave some seriously intense insight into the deep aquatic origins of homo eriadnus, and made the book overfill its worth with that short story alone.
January 2, 2023
What a way to end one year and start a new one. Derek Künsken is one of the authors for me that is an auto purchase when a new book comes out. This is a collection of short stories and includes Pollen from a Future Harvest that came out in 2021 so I had already read that part but I enjoyed re-reading it so that is ok. I love the world of the Quantum Evolution. It is the most well thought out deeply layered, complex, compelling science fiction world out there IMO.
This book starts with a story centered on one of the most loved characters in the Quantum Evolution universe. If you do not love Vincent there is something wrong with you! On a side note to the author, I think I can speak for all of your fans when I say we would absolutely take an entire novel with Vincent as the protagonist. There is so much to mine there, think of hoe many stories there would be with them as fighter pilots, dealing with more about their society and evolution as you did here just more of it.
It was fascinating to learn more about Vincent and his "people" I never give spoilers in reviews so I will just say that the finale of this is almost gut wrenching and to have that layer of complexity along withe science and everything else in these books was really amazing. Cant wait for the next book!
#quantumevolution
This book starts with a story centered on one of the most loved characters in the Quantum Evolution universe. If you do not love Vincent there is something wrong with you! On a side note to the author, I think I can speak for all of your fans when I say we would absolutely take an entire novel with Vincent as the protagonist. There is so much to mine there, think of hoe many stories there would be with them as fighter pilots, dealing with more about their society and evolution as you did here just more of it.
It was fascinating to learn more about Vincent and his "people" I never give spoilers in reviews so I will just say that the finale of this is almost gut wrenching and to have that layer of complexity along withe science and everything else in these books was really amazing. Cant wait for the next book!
#quantumevolution
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