Zima Blue and Other Stories

by Alastair Reynolds, Paul J. McAuley (Introduction)

Short story collection by the critically acclaimed author of Revelation Space and Diamond Dogs, Turquoise Days.

Genres: Science Fiction, Short Stories, Fiction, Space Opera, Collections, Anthologies, Short Story Collection

304 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 2006

About the author

I'm Al, I used to be a space scientist, and now I'm a writer, although for a time the two careers ran in parallel. I started off publishing short stories in the British SF magazine Interzone in the early 90s, then eventually branched into novels. I write about a novel a year and try to write a few short stories as well. Some of my books and stories are set in a consistent future named after Revelation Space, the first novel, but I've done a lot of other things as well and I like to keep things fresh between books.

I was born in Wales, but raised in Cornwall, and then spent time in the north of England and Scotland. I moved to the Netherlands to continue my science career and stayed there for a very long time, before eventually returning to Wales.

In my spare time I am a very keen runner, and I also enjoying hill-walking, birdwatching, horse-riding, guitar and model-making. I also dabble with paints now and then. I met my wife in the Netherlands through a mutual interest in climbing and we married back in Wales. We live surrounded by hills, woods and wildlife, and not too much excitement.

Reviews

[William · Rating 4 out of 5]

When Reynolds opens his heart, his mind obeys and he produces lovely mini-masterpieces: Enola (here), Turquoise Days, Zima Blue (here) and Weather. Surely his finest works.


Mostly solid collection of stories here, with some true gems.

*** The Real Story
Good solid sci-fi. Familiar but nicely constructed. A good twist or two.

**** Beyond the Aquila Rift
Lovely story with a somewhat predictable but beautifully-realised plot.
Note: The animated version is very good in "Love, Death and Robots" from Netflix.

***** Enola *****
Exquisite, poignant, wonderful. When Reynolds opens his heart, his mind obeys and he produces lovely mini-masterpieces: Enola, Turquoise Days, Zima Blue and Weather. Surely his finest works.

*** Signal to Noise / Cardiff Afterlife - some clever tech, and a plot with echoes of Flowers for Algernon. Pretty good.

*** Hideaway / Minla's Flowers / Merlin's Gun - Merlin is not actually very sympathetic for most of this mini-trilogy. Very clever "gun" tech. But Minla is an all-too-modern tale of motives and means and actions that is truly sad. I did enjoy this series.

*** Angels of Ashes - Very clever and solid

*** Spirey and the Queen
Nice mini-space opera.

**** Understanding Space and Time
A story-based exposition 0f the deep quantum nature of reality, pretty good, but Superb first chapter makes it human and very good. I just heard "Rocket Man" by Elton John, made me smile and appreciate Reynold's serendipity!

** Digital to Analogue
Strained "super hip club scene" - Did not really work for me.

*** Everlasting
Another exposition on the multiverse (which is my view of reality as well), but a bit predictable with oversaturated dialogue.

***** Zima Blue *****
Wonderful, full of heart and introspection. Nicely presented and structured. A personal journey into the mystery of self. Reminds me a bit of "Flowers for Algernon" in many ways. A mini-masterpiece. I cried.

Note: Sadly, the animated version is very POOR in "Love, Death and Robots" from Netflix.

From Zima Blue

Yves Klein said it was the essence of colour itself: the colour that stood for all other colours. A man once spent his entire life searching for a particular shade of blue that he remembered encountering in childhood. He began to despair of ever finding it, thinking he must have imagined that precise shade, that it could not possibly exist in nature. Then one day he chanced upon it. It was the colour of a beetle in a museum of natural history. He wept for joy.’


NOTE: Please, please also read Turquoise Days, a novella, and short stories Enloa, Weather, and Zima Blue. Surely his finest works, along with House of Suns.

[H · Rating 5 out of 5]

INDIVIDUAL STORY THOUGHTS BELOW (so you can skip my review if you want)

A while back I was toying with the silly notion that an author's short story collection is a bit like an album, and that the stories within are individual songs: varying in length, style and quality. While reading the collection Zima Blue by my favourite SF author Alastair Reynolds, I started to think about a concept album based on the collection, with songs having the same titles and coming in the same order as they are in the book, with each song reflecting somewhat the tone and content of each story. Yeah I know, what a wank. I couldn't shake the idea though.

So I was thinking about what kind of album Zima Blue would sound like, and — maybe because they're my favourite band, and their otherworldly lyrics and production have earned them the label "space-rock" — I thought it might end up a bit like a Muse album: bombastic, spacey, dark, catchy. And British. As I read each story I tried to think what kind of song it would be.

Stories like "Beyond the Aquila Rift", "Angels of Ashes" and "Spirey and the Queen" would be the punchy, tight songs with slick production that stick in your head and get a lot of radio play, while "Signal to Noise" would be a slower, stripped-down affair with more emotional lyrics (and "Cardiff Afterlife" would be its outro, or refrain, repeating the same theme but with a darker feel). "Understanding Space and Time" would be a kind of cheesy ballad that Muse often does (eg: the song "Invincible" from Black Holes and Revelations), that inevitably becomes bigger and rockier as the song goes on.

The album's centrepiece would be the three-track rock epic made up of "Hideaway", "Minla's Flowers" and "Merlin's Gun", with a symphonic structure, layers of strings and orchestration, and a choir or two. Basically the album's version of "Exogenesis Symphony" from the album The Resistance. "Everlasting" however would be the short, kind of bland song that really should have been a b-side. And "Zima Blue" would end the album on a rather introspective note. You know the kind of song that a lot of bands save for last on their albums.

If you're not rolling your eyes by now, you can apply this idea to Reynolds' other collections. Galactic North is obviously a concept album, as all the stories are set in the same universe. The limited edition Deep Navigation fills in the gaps by collecting the stories that were left out of the other two for whatever reason; so it's a bit like a b-side collection. But the metaphor kind of breaks down when you think too hard on it. Wouldn't a short story collection be more of a greatest-hits compilation, due to the period of time it covers? And what does that make individual novels? Really long songs?

Yeah it's kind of dumb. Rather than continue, I'm just going to talk about the stories as stories from now on. Below are my thoughts on each story, which I wrote as I read them, which is why they start brief and get longer as I progressed. I've put an asterisk next to the ones which I thought were the best of the book. Last thoughts: an excellent collection, reminding me more and more why I love Reynolds as an author. Pity about that one bad story, though.

-----

* = favourites

The Real Story - Off to a good start with an interesting story about identity and a colonized Mars. I can see elements in the worldbuilding that were reused in/from Chasm City (not sure which came first).

*Beyond the Aquila Rift - Starts out like a fresh take on Pohl's Gateway, turns bittersweet, then turns again into something disturbing. Space opera of the highest quality in only 35 pages!

Enola - A short but sweet story about AI, compassion, and post-apocalyptic Sydney!

Signal to Noise - A rather sad story involving the death of a spouse, the quantum-dialling of parallel universes, and the sending of sensory data between them. Greg Egan does this kind of story better, I think.

Cardiff Afterlife - A tiny little vignette looking at the darker side of the technology from the previous story. Also very Greg Egan-esque, also okay.

*Hideaway - The first of three stories featuring the character Merlin. A gripping astrophysical mystery of the kind that Reynolds does best, with a fantastic universe for a backdrop and a killer action centerpiece set in the stormy atmosphere of a gas giant. It's everything that makes Reynolds' books brilliant distilled into a 45 page novella.

Minla's Flowers - A lot to like about this novella. The character Merlin is great, he reminds me of the benevolent travelers of the novel House Of Suns, in his adventures helping lesser civilizations. I also loved the mystery of the whetstone, and the multiple meanings of the novella's title. It's a story format I've seen before (main character observes the evolution of a culture while traveling through time, in a sense) but done so well by Reynolds.

*Merlin's Gun - A really cool final chapter of the Merlin saga, with great action and revelations. And I recognised the star system that they arrive in for the story's climax! Sneaky Alastair Reynolds! I agree with Reynolds (in his post-story notes) that this saga is like Revelation Space turned up to 11. I hope he writes more and more stories in this setting.

*Angels of Ashes - The anthropic principle as applied to asymmetrical supernovae; robots; aliens; quantum probability; holy wars on Mars... WHY IS THIS NOT A FULL LENGTH NOVEL? (PS: I can definitely see parallels between the religions/founders in this story and the novel Absolution Gap)

*Spirey and the Queen - A space opera story of rather a different flavour to Reynolds' usual fare, thanks to a bucketload of inventive jargon like "neurodisney" and "quackdrive". Feels a bit Miéville-ish in that way. The future history of this story is fascinating (humanity divided into corporate factions with logos et al), and I enjoyed the themes of surprisingly benevolent AI evolving beyond the petty wars of humans.

Understanding Space and Time - A story that starts off about the last human alive having cosmological conversations with an either holographic or hallucinated Elton John; then moves exponentially through both time and increasing alien weirdness. The story has a certain cheekiness about it that feels like Douglas Adams or Red Dwarf, although slightly more sombre in its subject material. I have to wonder though, why Elton John?

Digital to Analogue - A disappointingly weak (but short) story involving viral dance music, mainly made up of a lot of musical/audio engineering jargon. Kind of similar to a few stories I've seen China Miéville do. But it's from very early on in Reynolds' career so I can forgive how silly/underdeveloped it is. I don't know whether it speaks more to my tastes or to Reynolds' strong areas, but none of this collection's stories set on Earth are anywhere near as good as the off-world ones.

Everlasting - Groan. Yet another story about quantum probabilities and many worlds theory. Hardly interesting at all, in ideas, setting or characters. This is probably the worst story in an otherwise brilliant collection.

*Zima Blue - A damn clever idea for a story, and I'm happy to see the return of future reporter superstar Carrie Clay. The idea of an artist capturing the attention of humanity with his bigger and (ridiculously) bigger artworks, only for the meaning behind them to be something so humble and touching, was top-notch. A great final story in this fantastic collection.

[Karl · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Zima Blue And Other Stories" is a nice collection of stories

Contents:

Introduction by Paul J. McAuley
"Angels of Ashes" (Originally published in Asimov's SF, July 1999)
"Beyond the Aquila Rift" (Originally published in Constellations, edited by Peter Crowther)
"Enola" (Originally published in Interzone 54, December 1991)
"Hideaway" (Originally published in Interzone 157, July 2000)
"Merlin's Gun" (Originally published in Asimov's SF, May 2000)
"The Real Story" (Originally published in Mars Probes, edited by Peter Crowther, 2002)
"Spirey and the Queen" (Originally published in Interzone 108, June 1996)
"Understanding Space and Time" (Originally published in a limited edition of 400 copies for Novacon 35)
"Zima Blue" (Originally published in Postscripts magazine, issue 4, edited by Peter Crowther)

[Jamie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beyond the Aquila Rift (5.0) - Reynolds at his best. Reminds me a bit of Pohl Frederik's Gateway, but a hell of a lot darker! A story that I won't soon forget, if ever.

Enola (5.0) - Mind blowing, somber yet endearing post apocalyptic tale of the emergence of AI and its confluence with humanity. Not to be missed!

Hideaway (4.0) - Brilliant start to Reynolds' Merlin sequence of stories. This feels like a galactic mystery - bizarre spatial and planetary anomalies, ancient civilizations long vanished, a shadow universe (?!) - all in a fascinating world with a fragmented and pursued humanity, hunted across the galaxy by a relentless enemy.

Minla's Flowers (3.0) - This second installment in Reynolds' Merlin sequence of stories feels overly sentimental, as Merlin intervenes in the natural development of a world in dire trouble only to result in some unintended and troubling consequences. This is a dark view of humanity's capacity, or lack thereof, to overcome differences to work together for mutual achievement. Even when that achievement is as basic as overcoming total annihilation.

Merlin's Gun (4.0) - This third installment in Reynolds' Merlin sequence of stories is a wonderful conclusion of sorts to this mini trilogy. The stories essentially follow one man, i.e. Merlin, but encompass an enormous span of time and space, giving them an epic space opera feel. As always, Reynolds not only delivers great stories, but packs in some mind blowing hard science, astronomy and astrophysics in particular, to give them the grit of stories that feel as if they *could be* real, despite how over the top much of it really is.

[♡ Martina ♡ · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 ⭐

Un racconto che mi ha lasciata piena di dubbi!
Zima Blue è, tecnicamente, il secondo racconto della serie Carrie Clay, quindi inizialmente mi sono trovata stranita dal personaggio di Carrie.
La trama è molto semplice: il grande e molto discusso artista di fama intergalattica Zima, che solitamente non concede interviste, ha deciso di ritirarsi dalla vita pubblica con la sua ultima grande opera ma prima di farlo decide di raccontare la sua storia alla giornalista e biografa Carrie Clay.
Da lì ha inizio una discussione sull'affabilità della memoria, l'importanza dei ricordi (anche se fallaci) e la riscoperta delle proprie origine (motivo del ritiro di Zima).
La storia inizia dal presente, procendendo poi con un salto temporale a due mesi prima (periodo dell'intervista) e si conclude tornando al presente, il tutto costellato da spendide e complesse illustrazioni.
Ho trovato questa lettura molto diversa da quelle a cui sono abituata e, se devo essere onesta, sono rimasta abbastanza confusa (ma in senso positivo)!

[Claudia · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Overhead, the bulk carriers slid in one after the other. You heard them long before you saw them. Mournful, cetacean moans cut down through the piss-yellow clouds over the port. […] There were furious blue-white stars embedded in what looked like sheets of velvet. There were hard gold gems and soft red tinges, like finger smears in pastel. There were streams and currents of fainter stars, like a myriad neon fish caught in a snapshot of frozen motion. There were vast billowing backdrops of red and green cloud, veined and flawed by filaments of cool black. There were bluffs and promontories of ochre dust, so rich in three-dimensional structure that they resembled an exuberant impasto of oil colours; contours light-years thick laid on with a trowel. Red or pick stars burned through the dust like lanterns. Orphaned worlds were caught erupting from the towers, little sperm-like shapes trailing viscera of dust. Here and there I saw the tiny eyelike knots of birthing solar systems. There were pulsars, flashing on and off like navigation beacons, their differing rhythms seeming to set a stately tempo for the entire scene, like a deathly slow waltz.”

Hypnotic words - nobody can describe such scenes better than Reynolds.

Beside the stories set up in huge frames of time and space, there are a few staged on Earth, which is kind of unusual but a welcome surprise nonetheless. Another thing which I found to be out of the ordinary was how he intertwined in his stories some elements of UK musical culture. Moreover, at the end of each one, there is an afterword in which Reynolds tells us how that story was born – loved this part also.

> The Real Story – Carrie Clay, a well renowned reporter, goes back to Mars to finally write the story of the first man who landed it there. But nothing goes as expected. 5/5

> Beyond the Aquila Rift – my favorite. The most sensitive, shattering, devastating and blow-minding story ever read. I don’t have enough words to describe it. If all the others are rare gems, this one is the most exquisite and rarest of them all. Rateless/5

> Enola – a lost civilization finds a way to leave their legacy for future. 5/5

> Signal to Noise / Cardiff Afterlife - these two are somewhat related. In a near future Cardiff, Joe invented a system called cold-calling machines or correlators, which linked together two quantum realities: present one and another version of it, in which, after the two of them locked together, they begin to differ; only the persons remain the same.
In the first story, Signal to Noise , Joe helps his friend, Mick, to venture on a journey in one of the realities to gain some closure, after a tragic event. Could it be achieved or the effect will be worse? 4/5
In the second one, Cardiff Afterlife , after a nuclear explosion that destroyed Cardiff in one of the quantum realities, Joe finds himself dead, which wasn’t so shocking but made him having afterthoughts about the machine he created. 4/5

> Hideaway / Minla's Flowers / Merlin's Gun - All three stories feature Merlin in his quest to discover the mythical weapon which will help the Cohort to end the war with the Huskers.
> Hideaway - Cohort’s runaway from the Huskers and their struggle to find a way to survive and also Merlin’s attempts to find out how the Waynet worked.
> Minla's Flowers - Merlin discovers how to use the Waynet (unfortunately, how he does that is not revealed which is very frustrating) and during one of his journeys, his ship, the Tyrant, is damaged and ends up on a planet, whose inhabitants face total annihilation because of the malfunction of one of the Waynet’s lines. So, he decides to remain and help…
> Merlin's Gun - last story of Merlin’s quest in search of that legendary weapon.
Loved all the stories, even if so many questions remained unanswered. Reynolds said that he will most definitely return to write more in this universe. Looking forward to it. 5/5

> Angels of Ashes - religion can be deceiving and manipulating no matter what species are involved. 4/5

> Spirey and the Queen - another war between two factions but in which nothing is what appears to be. 3/5

> Understanding Space and Time - the last human survivor’s quest in understanding the universe. Another brilliant piece with a surprise character. 5/5

> Digital to Analogue - an ode (I presume) to music and how it is embedded in us. Not on my taste, but I do acknowledge it has a very interesting approach. 2/5

> Everlasting - Schrodinger’s cat experiment in other circumstances. 5/5

> Zima Blue - Bicentennial Man in a different approach. 4/5

A must read for all Reynolds’ fans.

[Althea Ann]

Notes only on the title story...

Famous galaxy-wide, an artist is known for his use of one particular shade of blue. Now, he's announced that he'll be retiring - but he has one last work to unveil. Journalists and media have flocked to the location, but he's denied interviews to everyone... except one.

But when she meets the artist, it seems that rather than his work, he wants to talk to her about the gadget she uses to record her memories.

Where the story goes from there is profoundly disquieting - and very interesting.

[Neal Asher · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you read and enjoy Alastair Reynolds writing then go buy this. It’s all wonderful engaging stuff. Oddly my impression was that all these were earlier short stories – written in the 90s or before – but on checking the afterword to each I see that quite a few of them were written post 2000 (or appeared then). Maybe my original impression came from a vague recollection of having read a couple of them and one of them definitely being set in the 90s. I particularly liked the trio of ‘Merlin’ stories because that vastness of time and space I look for in Alastair Reynolds stuff was all there. These were only slightly marred when, in Minla’s Flowers, a world leader who is somewhat war-mongering and murderous comes out with the line, ‘There’s no such thing as society’ – big clumsy clue there – and in the afterword we’re told that the inspiration for her comes from ‘a certain grocer’s daughter with ambitions to high office’. Ho-hum. But that aside this collection is still worth buying, reading and keeping.

[Matthew Gatheringwater · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are two things that made these stories a real pleasure to read: wonder and optimism. Reynolds writes as if he understands that science fiction authors have a duty to make their readers say "Wow!" He doesn't preach his favorite social theory or explain away anything interesting in the story. Instead, readers must often puzzle out how something works or follow a narrator as she uncovers a mystery or a truth. (I particularly liked the first and last stories in the book, featuring Carrie Clay, 700-year-old investigative journalist.)

Many of these stories span far futures. I'm always encouraged when someone who thinks a lot about the future can picture humans being there. So much science fiction (especially what ends up on film and television) is really anti-science and technology. I prefer folks like Reynolds, who portray humans at their best when they are figuring things out, finding ways to survive, and meeting challenges through adaptation and evolution. Even his story in which the last human dies has a happy ending.

The optimistic tone of the book may not be ultimately justified, especially considering how technology always seems to get a head-start on wisdom in human communities. I came away from the book, however, with the feeling of "Wouldn't it be nice..." and thinking that I wouldn't mind living in one of Reynolds' far futures. That might be important. After all, maybe one way to get to a possible good future is to start by imagining one.

[trestitia ⵊⵊⵊ deamorski · Rating 4 out of 5]

Buraya Love Death and Robots’tan geldim.
Okuduğum ilk bilim kurgu kitabı.
İlk defa bilim kurguyla haşır neşir oluyor değilim.

Felaket iyi bir giriş yaptığımı düşünüyorum. Derlemenin ikinci kitabını da okuyup bi daha sci-fi okumam içinde felsefi bişi'ler yoksa 😏

Gidip gelip aynı karın ağrısına yakalanıyor olabilirim, fakat benim bu öyküleri bu kadar sevmem, ki zaten aslen Zima Mavisi’nden de bu kadar etkilenmem ve kitabı okumama da sebep tüm o fizik kuramları, uzay operası ve yaratıcı dünyalardan ziyade, neredeyse tamamında bulunan felsefik bir tavır var. Aslında aynı soruları / sorunları, alışık olmadığımız fizik kurallarıyla, imkansız düzlemlerde, başka evrenlerde soruyoruz.

Zaten kuantumu ve onunla ilişkili kuramları da bu yüzden bayılıyorum; fizik sevdiğim ya da ilginç geldiği için değil. Kuantum bildiğim bütün gerçekliği sorgulatıyor, tanrıya yaklaştırıyor, varoluşun sancısını kamçılıyor {daha neler}; sanki fizikten ziyade felsefe dalı gibi. Konu asla sadece ne kadar uzağa gidebileceğimiz, ne kadar zeki makinalar üretebileceğimiz ya da düşlediğimiz gelecek değil.

Mr. Nobody, Matrix Serisi, Her,,, 3 tane saydım ama nicelerini hâlâ atlatamamış olmamın sebebi budur. Başkaları ‘üf tm anladık’ diyebilir ama hakikat nedir, bilinç nedir, varlık nedir, amaç nedir, niye yaşıyoruz, yaşıyor muyuz, emin miyiz, sandığımızdan bambaşka bir şey olabilir miyiz, zaman zahiri midir, yalnızlığımız her ölçekte mi yoksa… gibi şeyleri sordurtsun alsın yerden yere vursun beni.

İçdöküntüm bittiği için {şimdilik} kısa yorum yazacağım öykülere. İçerisinde yanlış kullandığım terimler olabilir, bağışamadan önce söyleyin düzeltelim.


Kül Melekleri (4)
Gibi’de dediğine benzer; “Benim gerçekliğim sizin kuatumunuzla aynı pozisyona oturmak zorunda değil.”

Yani atomaltı gerçekliği ile teoloji beni de büyülüyor, buna çoklu evrenler ve olasılıklar ağacını dahil ederek bu olasılıklardan yalnızca birinin gerçekleşme ihtimalinin, uzaylıların getirdiği din ile bağdaştırılması. Dinleri belki ama insanın inanma biçimlerini sorgulayan iki öyküden biri.


Spirey ve Kraliçe (3)
Tam bir space opera.

“Bildiğim tek şey altı saat içinde akut bir varoluş yetmezliğinden muzdarip olabileceğim.”

Uzay ve Zamanı Anlamak (+5)
Ya buna öykü diyemezsiniz. Bu öyle bişi’ değil.
İnanma biçimlerini sorgulayan diğer öykü ama konu salt bu da değil. Çok yönlü bir anlatım var. İrfan arayışı mı, deliliğin eşiğini aşmak mı, asla kesinliği yok. Post-apokaliptik ‘mars’ta kalan son insanın, uzaylıların (lütufkarların) yardımıyla sonsuz bilgi ve gerçeği arama yolculuğu, öğrenimi sırasında dönüştüğü ‘şeyler’, neredeyse kara komedi mistik bir nihai durak,,, ve tüm bunlar olurken melankolik ve fizikal [şu an uydurdum bu kelimeyi] bir şölen sunuyor: kimin neyi yarattığı biçimsizleşiyor.

«…aydınlığa ulaşmak için tekrar değişmek zorunda kalacağını, daha da yoğunlaşacağını, kendi vahşi yerçekimine karşı yalnızca kendisinin destekleyebileceği bir düşünce çekirdeğine sıkışacağını bildirdiler.
“Kararsız hale geleceksin.” dediler. “Düşüne süreçlerin, seni kendi kritik alanına itme eğilimde olacak.”
Bunun ne anlama geldiğini biliyordu ama bir de onlardan duymak istedi. “Peki bu yaşandığında ne olacak?”
“Bir kara delik olacaksın. Evrendeki hiçbir güç çöküşünü engelleyemeyecek. İşte bunlar, sana daha önceden sözünü ettiğimiz azgın sular.”»

Al nerden içselleştirirsen içselleştir.


Dijitalden Analoga (3)
Müzik yoluyla yayılan ya da kendisi müzik parçası olan bir virüs. Çok zayıf bir öyküydü. Çıkışı ve varışı anladım, konunun elementleri da çok güzel ama yetersizdi. Döktürülebilirdi. Keşke yeniden yazsa.
Bunu izlemek çok zevkli olurdu. Tabii ki Nolan veya Aronofsky'den.

“Çektiğim acı yalnızca gelecekten gelen bir sinyaldi.”

Ebedi (4)
Çoklu evrenler, ihtimaller ağacı ve limit. Kül Melekleri’yle alt metinin bir yönüyle de benziyor. Hikayenin en güzel yönü, ebediyetin lütuf olmadığını, katıksız korkuçluğunu çabasız yüzünüze vurması.
Tabii daha neşeli okuyucular bu öyküden ‘bunca zayıf ihtimalin arasında gerçekleşiyor olmanın mucizesi’ olarak çıkabilir.


Enola (4)
Buna geçmeden önce şöyle bir şey düşündüm; hiç röportajını okumadım yazarın ama sanki ‘yaratılan yaratıldığı gibi kalır’ gibi bir gizli önermesi var. Bu hikayede de sonuçlar ‘doğal olarak’ buna varıyor.

Post-apokaliptik, insanlar, gökten gelenler ki yine bir dini sataşma var, ama uzaylılar aslında; makinalar, savaş; bize bunlardan çıkmış Talihli’yi, onun sürekli gördüğü bir rüyayı anlatıyor. O rüya da yine başka bir Talihli, modifike oldukça yalnızlaşan, donandıkça yorulan, kusursuzlaştıkça kurtarıcı olan...


Gerçek Bir Hikaye (3)
Güzel twist. Bence zayıftı. Daha doğrusu çok güzel bir hikayenin özeti gibiydi.

“Beni en çok ne endişelendiriyor biliyor musun? Geçmişini gereğinden fazla ciddiye alan bir gezegen.”

Zima Mavisi (+5)
Zima,,, genel okumadan farklı benim fikrim.
Kendini ne kadar geliştirdiğin, değiştirdiğin, mükemmelleştirdiğinin hiçbir öneminin olmaması: Zima’nın aradığının, onu ilk yaratanın yarattığı amaç olması, Zima’nın bundan kaçamaması... Hüngür hüngür ağladığımı hatırlıyorum izlerken, okuyunca da ağladım; genetik kodlarıma yerleşmiş, ruhuma üflenmiş ve zihnime bahşedilmiş olandan kaçamamanın yüzüme vurulması mahvetti beni.

Bir nevi Sisifos yani {hello Camus}.




uzun zamandır ertelediğim pek şık kuantum terimleri sözlüğünü aldım
;;;
deamorski

[Vetle Mangrud Refsnes · Rating 3 out of 5]

Novellesamlinger er litt tricky å anmelde. Noen av fortellingene skulle jeg ønske varte i 200 sider til, og noen er helt greit at slutter der de gjør.

[Rob · Rating 4 out of 5]

.... The first edition of this Zima Blue and Other Stories was published in 2006 by Night Shade Books. In 2009 an expanded British edition appeared from Gollancz. I have read the Gollancz version of the collection which includes four additional stories. The stories in this collection are all set outside his Revelation Space universe. Most of the short fiction in that universe can be found in the collections Galactic North (2006) and Diamond Dogs, Turquoise Days (2003). Several of the stories are linked though. The collection contains the three Merlin stories for instance, as well as two stories featuring the character Carrie Clay and two stories set in a many worlds interpretation of Cardiff....

Full Random Comments

[Liam Proven · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an excellent collection by Al Reynolds.

It brilliantly shows off how wide and versatile his range is. A lot of the stories do carry his pervasive sense of bleakness, the brevity and futility of the human condition in a vast and uncaring universe, but for all that they are full of life and élan. He is far more than the creator of the "Revelation Space" universe and this compilation made me wish that he wrote more widely outside of his future history, much as I enjoy it.

If you like Reynolds' stuff, this is essential. If you are on the fence, this might well convert you. If you are unsure or don't know him, well, read it anyway, but it will give you a somewhat uneven impression - his novels do not contain anything like the breadth of these shorts.

[Bianca · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sull'importanza dei ricordi e della memoria, sulla sua fallibilità, e su come la sua fallibilità ci permette di essere noi stessi.

[Federica · Rating 5 out of 5]

Una riflessione profonda e commovente sulla fallibilità della memoria, le infinite connessioni tra umano e tecnologico, il valore dell’arte e la ricerca che ognuno di noi intraprende, fuori e dentro noi stess3, di uno scopo, una destinazione. In pochissime pagine Alastair Reynolds riesce a sondare le profondità dello spazio e quelle delle natura umana e riconfermare, ancora una volta, quando la fantascienza non sia territorio alieno (o almeno, non solo), ma un modo di raccontare ciò che siamo, siamo stat3 e saremo.

[Jason · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 Stars


These are fun thought provoking short stories from one of my favorite authors. These are lighter than his Revelation Space series, more similar to his latest works.

[MAGRÌTTE · Rating 4 out of 5]

”Era la strana celebrità cyborg che costruiva enormi strutture blu; l’uomo che non rilasciava interviste né alludeva mai al significato intimo della sua arte.”

Zima Blue è un racconto fantascientifico che si interroga in merito alla matrice umana che compone l’arte.
La biografa Carrie Clay incontra l’artista interplanetario Zima, che le racconta quanto ha elaborato nei secoli sulla parabola della propria vita, prima di dire addio alle scene.
La mia personale interpretazione è che questo testo veicoli una riflessione profonda sull’utilizzo delle Intelligenze Artificiali, specie in campo artistico: nell’universo di Reynolds, le persone hanno delegato gran parte delle proprie funzioni e scelte alle macchine, preferendo la comodità all’essenza; ma un’esperienza può risultare tanto ininfluente a una mente artificiale, quanto emotivamente rivoluzionaria per una umana. Ed è così che si fa arte: amplificando quel dettaglio. Sia la scelta di Carrie di rinunciare all’am, sia quella di Zima di ritirarsi portano a chiedersi cosa ci renda umani; cosa davvero le macchine non potranno sostituire. Be’, nel racconto qualche risposta concreta c’è.

Questa stimolante lettura si compie in mezz’ora, ma apre interrogativi attuali. Unica pecca: ho trovato il finale troppo didascalico e parlo dell’esposizione, delle scelte. Il “Per quanto riguarda me…” e il relativo chiudere tutte le storie in maniera esplicita e lineare ha indebolito l’impatto della suggestione di Zima.
In ogni caso, già soltanto per godere delle illustrazioni a colori, acquistare il cartaceo è consigliato!

Ps. Ho passato l’intera mezz’ora di lettura a domandarmi dove avessi già sentito/visto questa storia; nella biografia finale si svela l’arcano, ma io lo scrivo già perché avrei voluto saperlo prima: nella prima stagione della serie Love, Death & Robots di Netflix c’è un adattamento del racconto su Zima.

[Michael Finocchiaro · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reynolds' collection moved me in ways I wasn't expecting. The range here is impressive - from intimate character studies to cosmic-scale pessimism - but it's all undeniably beautiful.

The bookend stories with Carrie the journalist frame the collection perfectly. "Zima Blue" itself is extraordinary. Reynolds explicitly references Yves Klein's blue paintings, and reading it mashed up my sense of wonder at Klein's work with memories of seeing Christo's flamingo pink wrapping of Miami's islands as a kid, tooling around Biscayne Bay on my dad's boat. That same artistic audacity and existential scale.

The Merlin cycle deserves its own novel - Reynolds builds such a compelling world there. "Aquila Rift," "Understanding Space and Time," and "Spirey and the Queen" also stood out as particularly pessimistic but achingly beautiful. Reynolds doesn't flinch from darkness, but he makes it matter.
Now I need to track down the Love, Death and Robots episode of "Zima Blue"!

Thanks to Bonnie on Goodreads for her insights via DM - they enriched my reading.

Essential collection for anyone who wants SF that makes you feel as much as it makes you think.

[Ajam · Rating 5 out of 5]

5★
A Belated Appreciation:
Zima Blue and Other Stories alongside Beyond the Aquila Rift: The Best of Alastair Reynolds(currently on hold) were among the first few Sci-Fi books I ever read. So in a way, Alastair Reynolds through the stories collected in these books has not only shaped my taste/preference in the genre but has also ruined most mainstream books for me. For that I am eternally and wholeheartedly grateful to him.

Read ~ Apr-Jul 2020
•Zima Blue - 5★
•The Real Story - 4.5★
•Beyond the Aquila Rift - 5★
•Enola - 4.5★
•Signal to Noise - 4★
•Cardiff Afterlife - 3.5★
•Hideaway (Merlin #1) - 4.5★
•Minla's Flowers(Merlin #2) - 5★
•Angels Of Ahses - 4★
•Spirey And The Queen - 3.5★
•Understanding Space And Time - 4.5★

Read ~ 09/01/2021
•Digital To Analogue 1992 - 4★ (Enter The Void ⨉ Climax , Gaspar Noe)

Look at the changes in popular music between 1976 and 1991, which is the gap between the Sex Pistols and Nirvana, and then compare 1991 with 2006 which is the gap between Nirvana and . . . Coldplay

Ouch

Joy Division were icons of cool in 1991; they're still icons of cool now.

•Everlasting 2006 - 4★ (I'm thinking of Ending Things, Charlie Kaufman)

[Lars Dradrach · Rating 3 out of 5]

A collection of very early Reynolds short stories, not all up to the standard we know him for at present.

The two best stories "Beyond the Aquila Rift" and "Minla's flowers" which are both fantastic, i read recently in another collection, so i skipped them this time.

Of the remaining, the other Merlin stories ( set in the same universe as Minla's flowers), Hideaway and Merlin's Gun was the highlights, easily 4 stars material.

This collection made me realise there were more merlin stories, so i just purchased the final one, the Iron Tactician, review to follow shortly.

[Mudita Sisodia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Absolutely loved the Merlin stories and Zima Blue. I'd been mulling over my definition of art for a while and Zima Blue gave me some delicious food for thought.

[O'Totò Romeo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Che colore è lo Zima Blue? Nella codifica di colore Pantone è il 298C. Semplice, colore uguale codice. Ma nella nostra lettura lo Zima Blue è una tonalità precisa che corrisponde all'ossessione.

L'ossessione di un artista verso un colore preciso, che nasce da un puntino e cresce fino a sommergere con la sua tonalità ogni punto visibile dallo sguardo. È la ricerca ossessionata di un artista verso la sua origine.

Zima Blue è la storia di un artista, Zima, che sconvolge l'umanità con la sua arte, mettendo una tonalità precisa di blu (che prende il suo nome) in ogni sua opera fino a creare, nel futuro in cui è ambientato, opere grandi come pianeti solo di quel colore. È la sua ossessione, è la sua ricerca personale delle proprie origini. Perché quel colore era presente nella sua vita prima che ne avesse memoria, e tutta la sua opera è un ritorno a quelle origini sconosciute.

La storia ci viene raccontata da un punto di vista esterno al personaggio di Zima, Carrie Clay, che ricostruisce le sue parole collegandole agli eventi vissuti e alle opere create. Una narrazione che parte dalla fine dell'artista, con la sua opera più grande, fino ad arrivare al principio della sua arte. Nella sua forma più semplice e felice.

Di Zima Blue hanno tratto un episodio della serie LOVE, DEATH & ROBOTS, che è uno tra i miei preferiti (secondo dopo Il Vantaggio di Sonnie) ed è un'ottima trasposizione della storia, sia a livello grafico che a livello narrativo.
Ma il racconto è insuperabile nelle sue atmosfere e riesce, in poche pagine, ad approfondire la storia e la ricerca di Zima molto più del corto animato.

Moscabianca ci porta la storia di Alastair Reynolds nelle sue piccole e bellissime Cuspidi, un formato tascabile impreziosito da numerose illustrazioni di Giulia Ratti.
Assolutamente consigliato.

[Geoff · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've read several Alastair Reynolds books. Some I've really enjoyed (House of Suns), some that were underwhelming (Blue Remembered Earth), and a couple in the middle (Pushing Ice, Revelation Space). So I was hopeful when checking out this collection of his short fiction.

It was a good collection of stories. They are all very much in Reynolds' wheelhouse of the far future, space opera genre. There wasn't as much range in this collection when compared to some of the other collections I've read (Asimov, and Le Guin most recently).

Favourites:
Spirey and the Queen
Hideaway
Understanding Space and Time

[Mert Avcı · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hikayeleri genel anlamda sevdim. Hatta kimisine hayran oldum diyebilirim. Öncelikle şunu söylemeliyim; Gene Wolfe okurken nasıl edebiyat ve tarih alanında bilgi ile okunması gerekiyorsa, Reynolds’ın da bilim çerçevesinde kalburüstü bir bilgiyle okunması daha faydalı olacaktır. Kitapta hikayeler çok güzel konular üzerine eğilmiş. Olay ve karakterlerden bağımsız olarak hikayelerin ana fikri işlemesi daha ön planda. Bu yüzden herkesin seveceğini düşünmüyorum ama ben tek kelimeyle her hikayeye bayıldım. Farkı bir yazarın bilim dozu yüksek hikayelerine dalmak istiyorsanız tavsiye ederim. Öne çıkan konuları ve imgeleri araştırın, sorgulayın. Çok faydası olacaktır.

[Robert · Rating 3 out of 5]

This collection of short stories NOT set in the Revelation Space world shows greater range than all of Reynolds' other books combined! Space Opera and identity confusion are mixed with near-future, earth-bound stories and even a completely non-SF story. Some of the characters/backgrounds have multiple stoires and I could happily read more about most of them.

Each story or sequence has an afterword by the author - some of these are interesting.

[Lee · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a mixed bag for me. There were some of the short stories that I enjoyed and some that just seemed to drone on. I am 'a little bit' into Quantum mechanics and do enjoy the whole an infinite number of other 'me's' experiencing every conceivable outcome.

[Tim Hicks · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thoughtful, interesting, hard-SF-but-not-too-complex stories.
Most explore quantum physics and the meaning of humanity/intelligence,
but Reynolds never forgets that rule 1 is to tell us a story.
Good.

[Sincia · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Zima Blue", a science fiction short story written by Alastair Reynolds. The story started with a reporter who got invited to meet the famous artist, Zima Blue, who was known as the most famous artist in the galaxy. In my opinion, it was boring in the beginning: the conversation, and everything was not fascinating or amusing. Nevertheless, the story later became interesting. When the story reveals that Zima is a robot cleaner that evolved into a human, I was shocked. I think this part makes the story interesting, as it was surprising to know that a robot cleaner had become the most famous artist in the galaxy. And the fact that people are going crazy with a robot cleaner’s artwork is just crazy.
In addition, this story explores the meaning of life. Zima wanted to find the answer to his existence, and as he was finding the answer, he made many fascinating artworks. As a result, he found himself working as a robot cleaner. After he knew the answer to his existence, he then jumped into the pool, which is his final artwork, representing where he truly belongs. This demonstrates the meaning of life, as sometimes we don't need complicated things to be able to live a happy life. In this case, Zima's happiness is just him being a pool cleaner robot. I will give this book a rating of 4.5 stars. The story gives a meaningful meaning of life, but the beginning is a bit boring and confusing.

[Matt Shaw · Rating 4 out of 5]

If there is a single unifying theme to the stories collected here it is that nothing (and no one) is just as it appears. Whether it's a matter of individual identity (conflicted as in "The Real Story" or transcendent as in the title story), illusion, misinformation, or multiverse cross-over, Reynolds nests misdirection and incomplete understanding at the core of each tale; Zima Blue and Other Stories is as much an anthology of mysteries and whodunnits as it is traditional SF (and these stories are most certainly that).

Not that each story is equally rewarding, mind you. While "Beyond the Aquila Rift," "Enola," and "Zima Blue" are truly brilliant and "Spirey and the Queen" is as giddy a space-opera hoot as any a Golden Age periodical produced, "Hideaway" and "Angels of Ashes" were merely adequate and felt forced and gloomy. "Understanding Space and Time" is comparatively a piece sui generis here, as if Reynolds mixed a Cosmic Cocktail using Douglas Adams' Whiskey and cosmology infodump soda; the musical selections that accompany it are well-chosen, though.

Via Spirey, Reynolds also provides me with a phrase I know I'll be using now and again when she worries about "suffering from acute existence failure." Nice; thanks, Al!

[Candy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed the story, the format of the writing itself was a little confusing for me but that could be because I'm used to a certain type of story writing style. Many hidden meanings behind the story about the purpose of slide and how chasing material things and success won't h=give us happiness but it will lead us back to dissatisfaction. I love how the swimming pool represents Zima coming back home to where it truly belongs. Like its eyes have been opened. While reading this I thought of how it's similar to famous people saying that fame and wealth didn't bring them happiness but there families or the 'small things in life" did.