Product Description
Centuries after the catastrophic Deliverance, humanity is again reaching into space. And Clovis, a young scholar working in the spaceship-construction yard, could make the difference between success and failure. For his mysterious new lover, Merrial, has seduced him into the idea of extrapolating the ship's future from the dark archives of the past.

A past in which, centuries before, Myra Godwin faced the end of a different space age--her rockets redundant, her people rebellious, and her borders defenseless against the Sino-Soviet Union. As Myra appealed to the crumbling West for help, she found history turning on her own strange past--and on the terrible decisions she faces now.

THE SKY ROAD is a fireworks display, a bravura performance, and the most amazing novel yet by one of the powerful new voices in science fiction.Amazon.com Review
In the series that started with The Star Fraction, Ken MacLeod has created a future history whose genesis was an argument about anarchism between a group of left-wing students in the '70s. The destruction and renaissance of civilization, here and elsewhere in the human galaxy, turns on this argument. In the fourth book, MacLeod productively fills in some of the gaps. This is the story of Myra, Trot-turned-entrepreneur, whose nuclear deterrence-for-hire is central to the event known by some as the Fall and others as the Deliverance. It is also the story of young Clovis, part-time worker in the yard where the first space-ship in centuries is being built, part-time scholar trying to find out what Myra the Deliverer was really like.

MacLeod's readers are used to his quirky and intelligent take on the world of power politics and his charmingly cynical gift for engaging and engaged protagonists. What this book also has is a profound sense of the beauty of a simpler and stiller world; MacLeod's real gift is his capacity to see all sides of a question, even when he is sure of the answer. --Roz Kaveney, Amazon.co.uk ... Read more

Customer Reviews (15)

Not Free SF Reader
This is a solid book, but a pretty quick read.One nice highlight is that one of the two main threads is centered around Kazakhstan.That certainly doesn't happen very often.Some funny computer jokes at the expense of the characters in the other section, and something that we, of course see coming, but the protagonist, does not.
Then he throws in one sneaky, very political AI, and it is not a bad story, along with being hopeful, even with a bit of the good old nuclear destruction.

This is my favorite novel, and i read a *&!%-load.
This is the most mind-opening book I've ever read. I frequently impose MacLeods questions on other people because the book poses questions of philosophy on such a level that forming an opinion on some sends the reader into the most interesting paths of cognition.

For instance: (the responses to this always very) Let's say I can plug my head into this computer, and download every memory, every single feeling and second UP UNTIL this very second. Let's say I do that, and then I open the window of my 7th story apartment and take a running leap onto a taxi below. When I die, and the computer brings the three-minuite-old me back, is it really still me? More importantly, When I'm flying to my death, am I thinking "Well, I'm sure glad I made that backup". Personally, I think i'd just be thinking "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!", but then what's the point of making a backup?

I mean, exploring principles of high-technology and how it can completely smash political barriers in ways that we're so used to not thinking of that we completely don't see them; this is what the book does. It's a study of political-techno-biological relations in different stages of a world. Ironically, the 'past' section of the story less resembles the present than the 'centuries-in-the-future' sections.

Truly, the characters are merely vessels for carrying a greater message and simply acting out the functions of the story, they don't seem to have personal depth - but that isn't a fault of macleod; failing to delve into expressing a character's personality traits through action and dialogues. There's fair amounts of that, although the reader fails to connect at times because the fact is simply this: Macleod's characters are representations of external circumstance. The book's main message is that we really are products of our circumstance, and we do and think what's in front of us.

That's why it ends like it does, and clovis never does understand maya's story. It's outside of his societally-conformant way of thinking: history only makes sense in it's own context BECAUSE we only understand ourselves in our own history's context. The entrancement of the book comes from truly questioning how much we really can understand as we're stuck in the frame of mind that we've grown into. The true genius of the book is the mind-popping questions of new political-technological systems that are actually believable when considering the possibilities of the futures that the book presents. What effect would immortality have on a society? What effects would nano-technology instant fabrication have on a capatalist society? If the cost of production was zero, would anarcho-communism come into effect? Would the very greed principle guiding humanity dissolve if we were immortal? If we truly had all the time we needed to live out whichever life we choosed 800 times, The world changes inevitably.

Ultimately, it is usually those who ask such questions whom see a bigger picture in every aspect of any situation. As legs will grow musclar if forced to run, a mind will be more receptive and open to unfamiliar ideas if a mind is used to fathoming the completely unfamiliar.

I read the cassini division too, and found it equally (maybe a bit less) thought-provoking and generally 'neat'. I haven't read any others in the series, and i tried to read 'Dark Light' from the 'Engines of Light' series but couldn't dig it..

Reading Fiction, Lesson One: Start at the begging of the series.
I couldn't help but to leave this small piece of advice for those complaining about obscure references and an overwhelmed feeling due to plot points they failed to grasp (or indeed, viewed as inconsequential rambling on Mr Mcleods part).

If the fourth book in a series is the first you read, then OF COURSE you're not going to have a clue with regards to obscure references and knowing-winks-and-nods to past events and characters.

For the love of god, read the series and put the book into some form of context before slapping a 2 star rating on it. You're putting off more patient prospective-readers who may well take the time and effort to become properly versed in the back story before leaping in for the final lap and then moaning that they don't know what's going on...

An excellent book and a wonderful series, the more positive elements of the other reviews here are all spot on... Not to be missed if you are a fan of Hamilton or Reynolds... Or like myself, have strong leftist/socialist tendencies and a love of sci-fi.

Would Have Been Better off as a Fantasy
www.angelfire.com/zine2/fictiononline/myworks.html

The story is set in a far future - so far in fact that it could be a story about another planet and another culture or it could even be a fantasy. The story has two parts. The protagonists of the first part are Clovis colha Gree (male) and Merrial (female).

The story starts with the meeting of the two protagonists at a festival. Merrial seems to be out to get Clovis. It may not all be love or even sexual attraction. She may have a hidden agenda.

The society depicted is quite confusing. Way, way back in the past, humankind, led by Myra Godwin, had reached for stars. It had ended in a catastrophic destruction at the hands of the Sino-Soviet Union. In spite of this catastrophic end, the western world remembers Myra as the Deliverer. If this is not confusing enough, get a bite into this: the world is once again reaching out for the stars. Space ships are being built, but computer programmers are called tinkers and are shunned by the society.

Clovis colha Gree is also a student of history and his topic is the life of the Deliverer. Merrial coaxes him into finding the secret files of Myra Godwin and looking into them, hoping that the new space age would benefit from her experiences.

Clovis delves into these secret files, and the story jumps from the present (of the narrative) to the past -- to the time of Myra Godwin. And then Myra Godwin's story starts to unfold.

It is a story within story. The story of Clovis and Merrial is told in first person, Clovis being the narrator. The story of Myra Godwin is in third person. The times are not very well realized. The characters are not very interesting. The story has overtones of myths when talking about the Deliverer, and this is well handled. This and the fact that computers and computer technology is referred in magical terms like "demons" and "invoking", prompted me to the earlier comment that the setting could as well be a fantasy.

Just OK
This book was ok.It was interesting to read, but there was nothing particularly special about it.

I never really felt much concern over what was going to happen with the characters or the story.I wanted to find out what happened, but I didn't have any strong feelings about the characters or what I thought should happen.

I've seen other reviews here that seem to indicate that this is part of a series. If that is the case, then perhaps I missed something in an earlier book that would have made this more enjoyable.I will probably investigate this and try to read any earlier books because I do think MacLeod writes well.Hopefully, in one of his other books I will find the spark that I think was lacking in this one. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (28)

Intentionally bad? or Accidently bad?
Usually when an author crams so many ideas into a novel, it reflects the author's bubbling imagination and scarcity of outlets. Not all these ideas have to be worked out in full, only just enough so that the reader understands the basic concepts to the ideas and their inclusion in the greater scheme of things. MacLeod has included many concepts into his novel Newton's Wake but fails in connecting the reader to his thoughts.

MacLeod has had two relatively mediocre sci-fi series and a handful of equally-as-mediocre stand-alone novels. The wide premise of Newton's Wake would lead one to believe that the book is part of a series but is actually only a stand-alone novel which feels very much like it was condensed from 740 pages to the current 370 pages. Even if the novel were to be expanded I doubt that it would be any more interesting than reading about breeding techniques of pygmy goats. I seriously have no idea how MacLeod could have produced a novel of such boredom even though it's chalked full of good ideas.

Where did MacLeod go wrong? Well, right from the start. There are too many human factions which are all equally as vague in goal and creed, including the Japanese-esque Knights of Enlightenment, the farming sect of America Offline [god-awful pun] and some other schlepping sects which hardly require more than a sentence to describe. Atop this lame cocktail of humanity is the sour cherry which is the hardest bit of it all to swallow- Winter and Calder, the reincarnated musical duo and their benefactor the dramatist Ben-Ami. Maybe MacLeod didn't know that the sci-fi sub-genre of `space opera' doesn't need to have an actual opera in it! Nor does it need incomprehensible song lyrics about the raise and fall of whatever-the-hell-the-plot-was-about.

Newton's Wake: how does the title apply to the novel? Search engine me! It gets one extra star simply because I like all of MacLeod's ideas taken by themselves. Post-Rapture humanity and the separate sects and exploration of the skein could have been taken in a better direction. How did it all go so wrong?

I had hoped for more than silly accents and an uninspiring plot
Having recently stumbled upon space operas I did a little research and Macleod's name popped up, so when I saw Newton's Wake used I snatched it up.It was shortly in that I realized this is certainly not that great of a sci fi book.

The plot was very forced, a square peg trying to fit into a circle.Nothing really flowed.We see war machines and wait and wait to see why they are even in the plot (with the exception of adding a background story) only to see them glanced upon, almost as a side note.The characters are forced into roles and stereotypes in order to add flavor to the story and show the different human colonies all over the galaxy.

The Carlyles, for example, have this horrid accent that Macleod persists in writing by spelling everything wrong.Lucinda only speaks with an accent half the time, if that, and how is this explained?Oh, the accent kicks in when she is under stress.Yet she would be stressed and have the accent, be relaxed, it didn't matter.All it ultimately did was break the flow of the narrative and dialogue so that it distracted the reader as they had to stop and try and see what was being said.Macleod also used ah, and like, and you know throughout the dialogue that was intended to give the dialogue a more natural feel, and ultimately did the same thing as the forced scottish accents.

I certainly am not going to judge Macleod on this one and will find one of his more well known books, but Newton's Wake didn't really sit too well for me.In the end I found that I didn't care what happened to Lucinda or the other characters.I wouldn't recommend the book, not sure about the author yet.

2.5 stars.

Thoroughly disappointing
A thoroughly disappointing read. This novel should be used in creative writing classes as an example of how NOT to write a book.

The basic theme is how different groups struggle in a post-man vs. machine future, both against themselves and the remaining machines. A major subplot deals with two major factions of humans that have been kicked off Earth, those that want to remain off-Earth ("Runners") and those who wish to return ("Returners"). Irritatingly, this subplot fizzles out midway through the book, only to resurface in an incoherent ending.

The author has the Scottish protagonists speak in a thick Scottish brogue half the time, and perfect American English the other half of the time. There's a throwaway line to explain this in the book, saying Scottish people revert to their native brogue under pressure, which appears to be an editing cop-out.

The plot develops in fits and starts, with huge jumps in action. Eric Flint can manage these sort of transitions, Ken Macleod sadly cannot.

Cutesy names are another Macleod distraction. There is a faction called "America Offline" (obviously a play on AOL) and powerful weapons called....wait for it...search engines.

About two-thirds of the way through the book there is a lengthy and confusing major battle. You're not sure who to root for because there are four separate factions, none of them especially well defined (or likeable, for that matter). It ends abruptly with the appearance of a spaceship with the name of a Chinese restaurant (the "Happy Dragon").

The main battle is so confusing that the major characters spend the entire next chapter discussing What Just Happened Here. You almost get the feeling an editor insisted that the author write a summary and explanation so his readers won't be thoroughly lost.

The ending is rather anticlimatic, I suspect most readers will have lost interest in the majority of the characters buy this time.

Macleod made a name for himself writing epic science fiction sagas spanning multiple volumes. This attempt to tell a condensed story in a single volume ultimately fails.

Disjointed story
I went into this book looking for an engaging Science Fiction story with multiple interesting story lines which touch on one-another and comprise a whole story.

I ended up with a somewhat disjointed story that never seemed to find closure.there were a lot of different characters that I found unmemorable and, consequently, hard to differentiate between.There also seemed to be clear visualizations in the authors mind which I couldn't capture in my own.

Most frustrating was the final description of humanity.I had a hard time understanding exactly what had happened, even after a re-read of certain sections, and the closing seemed to be quickly composed.A final coda is included to describe the lives of each of the main characters and explain the current state of humanity, but this still remained elusive to me and I've come away not really understanding, or even wanting to understand, the authors premise.

If the story had been more engaging I could have overlooked the confused closing.I'm also sure there are many other people who would find the story interesting, it simply didn't hold my attention and seemed to push too much against hard science without explaining how things have happened nor how events will end.

New world meets old problems
Like the subtitle indicates - this novel carries grand ambitions of bringing you into a wast and incredible setting, with driven characters and fantastic sets making up the back drop.

A few memorable bit pieces, some over the top political swipes - and a well put togheter setting for musing on the trancendence of time, space and life.The book is well enough written to just skim like an airport novel, but still has some of the touchstones of great SF: current concepts taken to their logical extreme, wast new worlds only hinted at in their complexity, and concepts that can keep you up at night pondering their implications - and how you would react, should they come to pass. ... Read more

Product Description
Purchase includes free access to book updates online and a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Chapters: Iain Banks, Ken Macleod, Steven Moffat, Arthur Conan Doyle, Alasdair Gray, Charles Stross, F. Gwynplaine Macintyre, Duncan Lunan, Richard Gordon, David Lindsay, Emma Maree Urquhart, David I. Masson, Angus Macvicar, Dan Morgan, Donald Malcolm, Matthew Fitt, Michael Cobley, Alan W. Lear, Michael Scott Rohan, J. T. Mcintosh, Chris Boyce, Hal Duncan, Gary Gibson. Excerpt:Alan William Lear (October 1953 December 26 2008) was a Scottish writer of science fiction and horror , whose credits included the 1984 BBC Radio 4 play Why Not Take All of Me? Lear wrote four plays for the Audio Visuals series of amateur-produced Doctor Who stories in the 1980s entitled Enclave Irrelative (which featured Michael Wisher as "Maul"), Minuet in Hell (again featuring Wisher, this time as Lord Sandwich ), Cloud Of Fear and Planet Of Lies (developed from an original scenario by Jim Mortimore ). The latter saw the destruction of Gallifrey and the Time Lords by the Daleks many years before the 2005 revival of Doctor Who did something similar. He was also the writer behind Audio Visuals' first foray into video production with the little seen drama Scarecrow City , starring Nicholas Briggs as Arthur Mowbray and Liz Knight as Penny dealing with unusual behaviour in the city of Pastonmouth. After being struck down with glandular fever in 1976, Lear suffered from chronic fatigue syndrome for the remainder of his life, which severely affected his opportunities to advance his writing. When asked in 2001 to contribute a new version of Minuet in Hell for Big Finish Productions ' range of audio dramas featuring Paul McGann as the Eighth Doctor , Lear extensively rewrote the play but due to the demands of the recording schedule producer Gary Russell completed the final episodes of the script and took a co-writer's c... ... Read more

Product Description
Science Fiction is the genre that looks at the implications of technology on society, which in this age of exponential technological growth makes it the most relevant branch of literature going. This is only the start, and the close of the 21st century will look absolutely nothing like its inception.

It has been said that science fiction is an ongoing dialogue about the future, and the front line of that dialogue is the short story. The field has a long history of producing famous anthologies to showcase its distinguished short fiction, but it has been several years since there has been a prestigious all-original science fiction anthology series.

Fast Forward is offered in the tradition of Damon Knight’s prestigious and influential anthology series, Orbit, and Frederik Pohl’s landmark Star SF. Fast Forward marks the start of a new hard science fiction anthology series, dedicated to presenting the vanguard of the genre and charting the undiscovered country that is the future.

Contributors scheduled for the first volume include: Paolo Bacigalupi, Kage Baker, Tony Ballantyne, Stephen Baxter, Elizabeth Bear (Sarah B.E. Kindred), A.M. Dellamonica, Paul Di Filippo, Robyn Hitchcock, Louise Marley, Ken MacLeod, Ian McDonald, John Meaney, Larry Niven & Brenda Cooper, Mike Resnick & Nancy Kress, Justina Robson, Pamela Sargent, Mary A. Turzillo, Robert Charles Wilson, Gene Wolfe, George Zebrowski. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Not Free SF Reader
It is pretty cool to new a good old fashioned )in series terms at least, not in contest) sf anthology series.

The book starts well with a good introduction by Anders as to why he wants to do it, and some of his inspirations, including a quote from Pohl.

There are also a couple of poems included for those that like them.

The stories are good, the average rating being 3.53, which is a bit over what you hope for from a book, and is rather well done in a new original project as opposed to some sort of reprint.

The standout is Di Filippo's Wikiworld, but Pride and Kage Baker's Plotters and Shooters were also excellent.

In fact, only called three of these '3' or average, so it is a book that is well worth looking at.

The one quibble I would have is the format, being the considerably more expensive trade paperback compared to the recently seen competitor the Solaris Book of New Science Fiction, being the good old paperback.I wonder if this will affect the success of either.

Wouldn't mind seeing an electronic version for easier obtainability, either.

Otherwise, I definitely recommend having a look.In fact, at the moment I would suggest that anything Pyr puts out is worth a look at, presuming you like fantasy as well, of course.

A fine opening effort, I was pleasantly surprised.


Fast Forward 1 : YFL-500 - Robert Charles Wilson
Fast Forward 1 : The Girl Hero's Mirror Says He's Not the One - Justina Robson
Fast Forward 1 : Small Offerings - Paolo Bacigalupi
Fast Forward 1 : They Came From the Future - Robyn Hitchcock
Fast Forward 1 : Plotters and Shooters - Kage Baker
Fast Forward 1 : Aristotle OS - Tony Ballantyne
Fast Forward 1 : The Something-Dreaming Game [SS] - Elizabeth Bear
Fast Forward 1 : No More Stories - Stephen Baxter
Fast Forward 1 : Time of the Snake - A.M. Dellamonica
Fast Forward 1 : The Terror Bard - Larry Niven and Brenda Cooper
Fast Forward 1 : p dolce - Louise Marley
Fast Forward 1 : Jesus Christ Reanimator - Ken MacLeod
Fast Forward 1 : Solomon's Choice - Mike Resnick and Nancy Kress
Fast Forward 1 : Sanjeev and Robotwallah - Ian McDonald
Fast Forward 1 : A Smaller Government - Pamela Sargent
Fast Forward 1 : Pride - Mary A. Turzillo
Fast Forward 1 : I Caught Intelligence - Robyn Hitchcock
Fast Forward 1 : Settlements - George Zebrowski
Fast Forward 1 : The Hour of the Sheep - Gene Wolfe
Fast Forward 1 : Sideways from Now - John Meaney
Fast Forward 1 : Wikiworld - Paul Di Filippo



Dream deal.

3.5 out of 5


Wild for not to hold.

3.5 out of 5


Prenatal drug dose.

4 out of 5


Deathlok defense defeat predicted, Avenger!

4.5 out of 5


Philosophy of upgrades is of arguable effectiveness.

3 out of 5


Autoasphyxiation communicates alien information preservation.

4 out of 5


Interbreeding expansion remnant conversation.

3.5 out of 5


Tinker, tailor, soldier, squid.

4 out of 5


Planet pool is tough on the artificial eight ball.

3 out of 5


Past master possession discovery preemption.

3.5 out of 5


Second coming, blogging, shooting.

3 out of 5


Matriarchal memory madness or many mutant men? Stealing space shuttle solution at least requires no sea severing.

3.5 out of 5


Battletech comes and goes, but pizza always popular.

4 out of 5


Peewee politics could be smooshed.

3.5 out of 5


Sabretoothed green-eyed monster.

4.5 out of 5


Future or past, advice not taken well by greedy power mongers.

3.5 out of 5


Trust the lightsabre Luke, not the woman.

3.5 out of 5


A quantum of solace.

3.5 out of 5


Dickieworld, with groups the Coodabeens could definitely love. Trade cybernetwarstylin'.

4.5 out of 5

Pretty good collection, with two standout stories. 3.4 stars
This is the first volume of a projected annual series of original SF stories. It has a couple of standout stories, and is pretty good overall (though not as good as the hype).

The standout story is Ken MacLeod's amazing "Jesus Christ, Reanimator". It takes place in
present-day Israel (in part at Meggido) and opens: "The Second Coming was something of a washout, if you remember."Truly a KILLER story, MacLeod's best short to date, I'd say.Enthusiastically recommended. Look for it on the awards ballots.

My second-favorite story is Paul Di Filippo's very amusing (if slight) "Wikiworld," conveniently available online at pyrsf[dot]com . It's pretty much what you'd expect, but *very* nicely done. Recommended.

Past this we get into good, pretty-good, and "eh" stories. Here's the TOC, with comments:

"YFL-500", Robert Charles Wilson. Eh. Can't remember a thing, two weeks later.
"The Girl Hero's Mirror Says He's Not the One", Justina Robson. Pretty good, if very slight.
"Small Offerings", Paolo Bacigalupi. Unpleasantly gory, but a decent story.
"They Came From the Future", Robyn Hitchcock. Poem, sorta kinda. Eh.
"Plotters and Shooters", Kage Baker. Gamers in Spaaaace! Pretty good, really, if slight.
"Aristotle OS," Tony Ballantyne. OK but very slight.
"The Something-Dreaming Game", Elizabeth Bear. Pediatric autoerotic asphyxiation. Well-written but icky.
"No More Stories," Stephen Baxter.Forgotten already.
"Time of the Snake", A.M. Dellamonica. Violent, nihilistic and slight.
"The Terror Bard", Larry Niven & Brenda Cooper. Sequel to "Kath & Quicksilver"; pretty good.
"p dolce", Louise Marley. Channeling into Brahms; good.
"Jesus Christ, Reanimator," Ken MacLeod. KILLER story, best by far.
"Solomon's Choice", Mike Resnick & Nancy Kress. Weird aliens, except they're not. Good.
"Sanjeev and Robotwallah", Ian McDonald. Exotic violence & fashion in a future India. Good.
"A Smaller Government," Pamela Sargent. Literally so, and very amusing
"Pride", Mary A. Turzillo. Bringing up a sabertooth kitten. Very good.
"I Caught Intelligence", Robyn Hitchcock. Poem. Eh.
"Settlements", George Zebrowski. "Helpful" aliens; a downer (what a surprise!). Eh.
"The Hour of the Sheep", Gene Wolfe. I just don't get Wolfe.
"Sideways from Now", John Meaney. Interesting novella from the Nulapeiron guy.
"Wikiworld, Paul Di Filippo". Second-best, and available online, too.

Bottom line: worth checking out for the standouts, but not really worth your $15, in my opinion. Too many "read once & forget" stories. YMMV.

Happy reading--
Peter D. Tillman

fine collection forecasting technology vs people
In his introduction to what he plans as being a continual science fiction anthology containing all new stories, Lou Anders explains the premise is "making sense of a changing world" as "the implications of technology on society ... makes it (SF) the most relevant branch of literature".Bias aside, the contributions of nineteen original shorts and two poems (by Robyn Hitchcock) live up to Mr. Anders' prime objective.The tales focus on people struggling with an exponentially changing world that leaves many behind.The contributors are a who's who of Sci Fi or fantasy to include Larry Niven (with Brenda Cooper), Justina Robson, Stephen Baxter and Louise Marley.All the entries are strong with the best being those concentrating on everyday people dealing with commonplace technology like Paul Di Filippo's Wikiworld" and Justina Robson' The Girl Hero's Mirror Says He's Not the One" (in Mappa Mundi world) and those bringing the past into the future such as Tony Ballantyne's "Aristotle OS and Ken McLeod's "Jesus Christ, Reanimator".This is a fun collection that forecasts where technology will take humans including those left behind struggling with yesterday's artifacts.

Harriet Klausner

...from the Cutting Edge
Fast Forward 1 once again demonstrates Lou Anders' editing prowess (his Live Without a Net and Futureshocks are also excellent).The tagline identifies the collection as "future fiction from the cutting edge," and almost every story offers up an intriguing view of the future from some of the field's best writers.

Robert Charles Wilson's "YFL 500" opens the anthology with a gripping character tale regarding intellectual property, art, and theft in a post-scarcity world.Paolo Bacigalupi's "Small Offerings" is a chilling tale of sacrifice on an ecologically damned Earth."Plotters and Shooters," by Kage Baker, is a lighthearted "Lord of the Flies"-esque chronicle of the rise of hackers and geeks as the defenders of mankind in a new age.

Indeed, in a collection of 19 short stories and 2 poems (the latter a refreshing addition courtesy of Robyn Hitchcock), only 4 stories don't seem to belong.Elizabeth Bear's "The Something-Dreaming Game" and Louise Marley's "p dolce," while well-written, deal in concepts already well-traversed throughout the genre.Pamela Sargent's "A Smaller Government," while an entertaining satire, is more of a political fantasy than a work of science fiction.And George Zebrowski's "Settlements" is too trite and rife with tropes to be considered "cutting edge" - a story of mysterious aliens with advanced technology imposing peace on a violent, adolescent humanity.

Where the collection truly shines, though, are in the off-kilter stories.Tony Ballantyne's "Aristotle OS" is a comedic, philosophical view of the world through one of the most pervasive, defining facets of oursociety: the computer operating system."Jesus Christ, Reanimator" is Ken MacLeod's rational look at the possible second coming of the Christ - charming in its grounded outlook amidst a momentous religious event.Mary A. Turzillo's "Pride" is the endearing tale of a boy and his sabretooth kitten.Finally, the perfect capstone to the anthology is Paul Di Filippo's "Wikiworld" - one of the most brilliant short stories I've read - an adventure through a foreign but realistic near-future, where political lines are drawn between usergroups and power, prestige, and popularity ebb and flow organically between the real world and the virtual.

While the writing and stories are excellent, it is the variety of worlds and tales that makes the anthology truly compelling.Having enjoyed the majority of the book, I can safely say that Fast Forward holds something for everyone.One can only hope that Fast Forward 2 is future fact.

Great Anthology...a must for SF readers and writers...
I was able to read the ARC of this book prior to its release, and I was very, very pleased with the selections. I enjoyed 14/21 stories in this, with Robert Charles Wilson's,Paolo Bacigalupi's,Elizabeth Bear's, Louise Marley's, and the Mike Resnick/Nancy Kress piece being my personal faves for their "wow" factor. I recognized some of the stories in this anthology were not to my particular SF taste (and some stories I wished were written a bit differently, but that's me), but most of these pieces had good/fun premises, and it was nice to see a variety of stories in this anthology.

I'd definitely recommend this anthology to anyone reading (or writing) science fiction, and I'm not just saying that because I got the ARC: I think I'll pick up the actual copy myself, when I get the chance. Some of these stories really blew me away, and while I would've bought the anthology solely for Bacigalupi's work, I wouldn't have minded paying for the rest of it either, if that makes sense. In other words, there's something in here for everyone, and there's some really, really good stories here.

Also, an interesting stat that some people won't care about: 9/21 stories are penned by women (though two of those nine are co-written by men). The reason this stat jumps out at me is the fact that I've heard several women complain about how when you pick up an anthology of SF stories, there are few to no women featured. It's something I've noticed myself, so a big shout-out to Lou Anders for both sampling a variety of SF and not limiting anthology slots to the male population of the SF community.

Great anthology. Check it out. ... Read more

Product Description
This digital document is an article from Utopian Studies, published by Society for Utopian Studies on January 1, 2005. The length of the article is 439 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Andrew Butler and Farah Mendlesohn, ed. The True Knowledge of Ken MacLeod.(Book Review)
Author: Michael Jackson
Publication: Utopian Studies (Refereed)
Date: January 1, 2005
Publisher: Society for Utopian Studies
Volume: 16Issue: 1Page: 117(2)

Article Type: Book Review

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Dave and Louise are arch rivals in Crisis Crater, the new combat game on the Web but when they fall foul of the shadowy conspirators and paranoid webcops who are all drawn to the Cydonia conspiracy on the Web, they soon find that the only way to survive is to trust someone else and join forces. Arrested by the Webcops, threatened by Scots Nationalists and American Militiamen, things apparently couldn't get worse. But they can. Why are some of the phases in the web acting so strangely? What has got into them? The answer is out of this world. And by comparison any of the mysteries in Cydonia are just kids stuff. ... Read more

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Chapters: Scottish Bloggers, Scottish Websites, David Byrne, Ken Macleod, Janey Godley, Robert Black, Momus, Tom Harris, Kevin Williamson, Traffic Scotland, Net News Daily, Tom Morton, Emma Maree Urquhart, Stv.tv, Osama Saeed, Richard Thomson, Stv Player, Records of the Parliaments of Scotland, Gazetteer for Scotland, Scottish Theatre Forum, Alex Massie, Talentscotland. Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 82. Not illustrated. Free updates online. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: David Byrne (born May 14, 1952) is a Scottish-born musician and artist arguably most associated with his role as a founding member and principal songwriter of the American new wave band Talking Heads, which was active between 1975 and 1991. Since then, Byrne has released his own solo recordings, and worked with various media including film, photography, opera, and non-fiction. He has received Grammy, Oscar, and Golden Globe awards and been inducted to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Although a resident of the United States since childhood, Byrne is a British citizen. Byrne was born in Dumbarton, Scotland to Tom and Emma Byrne, the older of two children. Two years later, his parents moved to Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, and then to Arbutus, Maryland, when he was 8 or 9 years old. His father worked as an electronics engineer. Before high school, David Byrne already knew how to play the guitar, accordion, and violin. He was rejected from his middle schools choir because they claimed he was "off-key and too withdrawn". From a young age, Byrne had a strong interest in music. His parents say that he would constantly play his phonograph from age three and he learned how to play the harmonica at age five. In his journals he says, "I was a peculiar young man borderline Asperger's, I would guess." He graduated from Lansdowne High School in southwest Baltimore ...More: http://booksllc.net/?id=81795 ... Read more

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Chapters: Ken Macleod, Angus Calder, Bill Shankly, Robert Bontine Cunninghame Graham, John Maclean, Naomi Mitchison, James Maxton, Alasdair Gray, Tom Johnston, Alistair Hulett, George Macleod, John Mcgovern, James Maley, William Crawford Anderson, John Wheatley, Hamish Henderson, William Mcilvanney, Albert Mcelroy, Edward Hunter, Haldane Burgess, Harry Mcshane, Sandie Lindsay, 1st Baron Lindsay of Birker, Campbell Stephen, David Mckay, David Gibson, John Bruce Glasier, John William Muir, George Buchanan, Scottish Militant Labour, George Yates, Annie Maxton, Scottish Socialist Party, Freddie Anderson, Scottish Socialist Federation. Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 145. Not illustrated. Free updates online. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: William "Bill" Shankly, OBE (2 September 1913 29 September 1981) was one of Britain's most successful and respected football managers. Shankly was also a fine player, whose career was interrupted by the Second World War. He played nearly 300 times in The Football League for Preston North End and represented Scotland seven times, as well as playing for Partick Thistle and Carlisle United. He is most remembered, however, for his achievements as a manager, particularly with Liverpool. Shankly established Liverpool, which had been a Second Division club when he arrived, as one of the major forces in the English game. During his 15 years at the club they won three league championships, two FA Cups and the UEFA Cup, before his surprise retirement after the 1974 FA Cup Final. Shankly was born in the Ayrshire mining village of Glenbuck, He was one of 5 brothers who went on to play professional football. His brother Bob (19101982) was also a successful manager, guiding Dundee to victory in the Scottish championship in 1962. His tough upbringing was the basis for his own brand of humanitarian ba...More: http://booksllc.net/?id=318569 ... Read more

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Chapters: Leon Trotsky, Lionel Jospin, Ken Macleod, Murray Bookchin, Paul Georgescu, Christopher Hitchens, Peter Hitchens, Alistair Darling, Stephen Byers, Andrew Marr, Stephen Schwartz, Irving Kristol, Tariq Ali, Irving Howe, Leung Kwok-Hung, Alan Milburn, Sidney Hook, Kate Hoey, Jim Fitzpatrick, Tom Paulin, Kanan Makiya, Polikarp Mdivani, Laurie Taylor, Derek Hatton, Frank Furedi, Llazar Fundo, Hilary Wainwright, Peter Gowan, Georgy Pyatakov, Matthew Kelly, Benjamin Stora, Ivan Nikitich Smirnov, Hugo Oehler, Robin Blackburn, Willmoore Kendall, Ken Coates, Earle Birney, Norman Geras, Charlotte Raven, Roger Protz, Ante Ciliga, Kuroda Kan'ichi, Nigel Harris. Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 288. Not illustrated. Free updates online. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: Leon Trotsky (Russian: ·), Ukrainian: (Lev Davidovich Trotsky, also transliterated Lyev, Trotski, Trotskij, Trockij and Trotzky) 7 November 1879 21 August 1940), born Lev Davidovich Bronstein (Russian: ), was a Bolshevik revolutionary and Marxist theorist. He was one of the leaders of the Russian October Revolution, second only to Vladimir Lenin. During the early days of the Soviet Union, he served first as People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs and later as the founder and commander of the Red Army and People's Commissar of War. He was also among the first members of the Politburo. After leading a failed struggle of the Left Opposition against the policies and rise of Joseph Stalin in the 1920s and the increasing role of bureaucracy in the Soviet Union, Trotsky was expelled from the Communist Party and deported from the Soviet Union. An early advocate of Red Army intervention against European fascism, Trotsky also opposed Stalin's peace agreements with Adolf Hitler in the 1930s. As the head of the Fourth International, Trotsky continued in exile to oppose the...More: http://booksllc.net/?id=17888 ... Read more

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Purchase includes free access to book updates online and a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Chapters: David Byrne, Ken Macleod, Janey Godley, Robert Black, Momus, Tom Harris, Kevin Williamson, Net News Daily, Tom Morton, Emma Maree Urquhart, Osama Saeed, Richard Thomson, Alex Massie. Excerpt:Alex Massie (born 1974) is a Scottish journalist . A former Washington correspondent for The Scotsman , he has also written for The Daily Telegraph , The New Republic , The Daily Beast , The Los Angeles Times , Foreign Policy , National Review Online , The Sunday Telegraph , Scotland on Sunday , The American Conservative , and The Sunday Business Post . He currently writes and blogs for The Spectator . Education He was educated at Glenalmond College in Perthshire and at Trinity College, Dublin , where he won the John Smith Memorial Mace debating competition in 1997. Private life Alex Massie supports scottish football side Heart of Midlothian . See also (online edition) References (URLs online) A hyperlinked version of this chapter is at David Byrne David Byrne (born May 14, 1952) is a Scottish -born musician and artist best known as a founding member and principal songwriter of the American new wave band Talking Heads , which was active between 1975 and 1991. Since then, Byrne has released his own solo projects on record, and worked in a variety of media, including film , photography , opera , and Internet -based projects. He has received Grammy , Oscar , and Golden Globe awards for his achievements. As a member of Talking Heads, Byrne is a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame . Although a resident of the United States since childhood, Byrne is a British citizen . Early years Byrne was born in Dumbarton , Scotland to Tom and Emma Byrne, the older of two children. Two years later, his parents moved to Hamilton, Ontario , Canada , and then to Arbutus, Maryland , when he was 8 or 9 years ... ... Read more

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Purchase includes free access to book updates online and a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Chapters: Ken Macleod, Alexander Mackenzie, Donald Macleod, Anne Mackenzie, Agnes Mure Mackenzie, Hans Matheson, Calum Macdonald, James Morrison, Alice Starmore, Donald Stewart, Lewis Macdonald, Colin Mackenzie, Alasdair Morrison, Rhoda Grant, Sheilagh M. Kesting, Niall Iain Mcdonald, Alexander Matheson, Æneas Mackenzie, Donny Macleod. Excerpt:Agnes Mure Mackenzie (9 April 1891 26 February 1955) was a Scottish historian and writer. Her middle name is frequently misspelled Muir. Daughter of physician and surgeon Dr Murdoch Mackenzie and Sarah Agnes Mackenzie (née Drake), Agnes was born in Stornoway on Lewis , then a busy fishing port. In childhood she was taken seriously ill with scarlet fever , the after-effects of which left her with poor hearing and eyesight. Educated at home until the age of fourteen, she then attended the Nicolson Institute until the age of seventeen. She then left Lewis for Aberdeen . As an undergraduate at the University of Aberdeen she studied English literature and edited the university magazine. During the First World War she was an assistant lecturer at the University and an instructor at the local teacher training centre. After the war she worked as an assistant lecturer at Birkbeck College but was dismissed after five years. She described herself as having "no money, no sort of influence, and no professional training of any kind, except a completely useless Arts degree". This crisis led to her career as a novelist. Her first novel Without Conditions was published in 1923 The Quiet Lady , a semi-sequel, appeared in 1926 and her dissertation for the degree of Doctor of Letters , The women in Shakespeare's plays , was published in 1924. Seen as a "new and distinctly feminist approach to the topic" (Noble, quoting Lenz, Greene ... Read more

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Chapters: People From Stornoway, Ken Macleod, Flora Macdonald, Alexander Mackenzie, Douglas Murray, Charles Muir Campbell, Donald Macleod, Angus Macaskill, Julie Fowlis, Alasdair Mac Colla, Anne Mackenzie, Derick Thomson, Agnes Mure Mackenzie, Iain Crichton Smith, Hans Matheson, Calum Macdonald, James Morrison, Dòmhnall Ruadh Chorùna, Alice Starmore, Alasdair White, John Morrison, 2nd Viscount Dunrossil, Donald Stewart, Angus Macneil, Catherine-Ann Macphee, Alasdair Smith, Alyth, Lewis Macdonald, Colin Mackenzie, Angus Peter Campbell, Alasdair Morrison, Alastair Mcintosh, Colin Campbell, Rhoda Grant, Sheilagh M. Kesting, Murdo Macfarlane, Calum Kennedy, Niall Iain Mcdonald, Alexander Matheson, Cathy Macdonald, Æneas Mackenzie, Callum Macdonald, John Fergusson, James Shaw Grant, Donny Macleod. Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 156. Not illustrated. Free updates online. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt:Agnes Mure Mackenzie (9 April 1891 26 February 1955) was a Scottish historian and writer. Her middle name is frequently misspelled Muir.Daughter of physician and surgeon Dr Murdoch Mackenzie and Sarah Agnes Mackenzie (née Drake), Agnes was born in Stornoway on Lewis , then a busy fishing port. In childhood she was taken seriously ill with scarlet fever , the after-effects of which left her with poor hearing and eyesight. Educated at home until the age of fourteen, she then attended the Nicolson Institute until the age of seventeen. She then left Lewis for Aberdeen . As an undergraduate at the University of Aberdeen she studied English literature and edited the university magazine.During the First World War she was an assistant lecturer at the University and an instructor at the local teacher training centre. After the war she worked as an assistant lecturer at Birkbeck College but was dismissed after five years. She described herself as having "no money, no ... ... Read more

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This digital document is an article from Extrapolation, published by Extrapolation on December 22, 2003. The length of the article is 3747 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: The True Knowledge of Ken MacLeod.(Book Review)
Author: Michael Levy
Publication: Extrapolation (Refereed)
Date: December 22, 2003
Publisher: Extrapolation
Volume: 44Issue: 4Page: 468(8)

Article Type: Book Review

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Giant Lizards from Another Star is an anthology containing poems, short stories, convention reports, and essays, as well as the novellas "The Human Front" and "Cydonia". ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A 'must' for any MacLeod fan or hard science fiction fan
Ken MacLeod's a powerful hard science fiction writer who applied the techniques of Hal Clement to cyperpunk ideas: GIANT LIZARDS FROM ANOTHER STAR gathers his well known novellas 'Cyndonia' and 'The Human Front' under one cover and adds four short stories, poems convention reports, essays and more shorter pieces to round out the presentation. While many of these have been published in smaller magazines, most will be new even to MacLeod fans, and provide a comprehensive representation of his many talented works under one cover. A 'must' for any MacLeod fan or hard science fiction fan.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch
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The Web is the internet of the future; a vast network of virtual reality sites that have become the playground for the children of the world and the stage for mankind’s first contact.A contact that will be made with our children. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Visions of an exciting hi-tech future WOW!
In here are 5 different stories from 5 different authors. But somehow they all are connected by the same themes and characters. I managed to read this book within a week. I found it to be well written and easy to understand. It contains short sentences that are easy to absorb. I suspect it may have been written for teenagers. I'm bewildered as to why no one has reviewed this classic book. It's an honour and privilege for me to review it. While it may have been aimed for a younger market the themes in it are ageless and timeless. Mature readers will appreciate it too. What I loved about it was how my current net experience, while relatively plain, simple and uneventful, is correlated to this future vision of spectacular marvel. In one word, it's fascinating how it views the future of virtual reality and the (hopefully) future eventuating of how the Internet will prosper and develop to encompass our daily lives. I just loved how it projects people into simulated worlds like a cat with nine lives. From history to future space everything and anything is imagined within the Web 2028 and with vivid, exciting detail that humans can only dream of happening in their wildest fantasies...Overall I recommend this book. While I'm normally a sci-fi fan who liked Star Wars, X Files etc. this book appealed to me. I recommend it for all ages especially the young. I dare say it's better than Harry Potter as it's relevant to the current Zeigiest way of life and modern pop culture. Who wants to read about witches and magic when you can summon visions of a promising and idealized utopian high tech future. [Forget} Potter and Lord Of The Rings, read this book NOW!!! ... Read more