My new story is up on Tor, and I couldn't be happier about the wonderful artwork by Ben Zweifel. Rather than spoil the surprise by posting the image here, I'll just recommend that you head on over to Tor.
https://www.tor.com/2023/07/12/detonation-boulevard-alastair-reynolds/
I really am very fortunate to have been blessed with so many gorgeous illustrations in my career.
Thank you to Ben for the picture, and to Jonathan and all at Tor for taking the story. Oh, and also The Sisters of Mercy, for the title.
I have read it and it impacted me on some levels I cannot describe (mayb because I am currently struggling in my life). I am thinking, what if my "race to success" in life is also manipulated like in this story by some unknown things in our soul? If I let it go, what will I get? What will I lose? But anyway, I love it! Thanks!
ReplyDeleteGood luck in finding the right balance in your life.
DeleteIncredible story. I really enjoyed it. And I know (we all know) what´s going to happen after that race, sadly... :(
ReplyDeleteThat's my favourite Sisters Of Mercy album. I hope the soundtrack will suit. We are the same age, and I can tell when reading your books lol.
ReplyDeleteBookmarked this a long time ago, forgot about it and just read it today. I really enjoy these "smaller" scale stories you write, in terms of viewing our system as a playground for humanity. Don't get me wrong, I love the exploration, mystery and BDOs of true space opera, but these stories set in our system feel like they could be our reality in a few centuries. Plus, I think play is an essential element of being alive, not just for humans but for animals too, whether it's baby macaques splashing around in a shallow pond or kittens chasing bugs.
ReplyDeleteIt could be that play is something unique to evolution on our planet, the same way music -- organized, deliberate sound meant to evoke emotion -- might be uniquely ours.
There's also the question of where humanity ends and machines begin, much like your Spirit of the Air/Abraham Valmik from House of Suns. Your description of Valmik replacing neurons with machine equivalents one by one stuck with me all these years because it's such a terrifying but fascinating idea. Brannigan too, but his transformation into machine was so haphazard and chaotic that there doesn't seem to be any identifiable threshold between human and machine. And of course, he went insane.
Zimmer's statement about the machinery changing human psychology mirrors Richard Swift's worries after Dr. Trintignant pumped neuromachines into the heads of the Golgotha expedition crew members: Would those characters ever have accepted such radical changes if they weren't already changed by the machines?
Worthy questions, I think, as we speed ahead toward wearables and further integration with technology.
Thanks, Nik, much appreciated!
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