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A collection of original hard science fiction works includes the writings of such authors as Ursula K. Le Guin, Gregory Benford, Poul Anderson, Robert Silverberg, George Alec Effinger, Mary Rosenblum, and Greg Egan. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

The SF of science-related fields
This collection of SF explores many fields of science like a collection of short stories has never done before. Each story sheds like onto some science related topic, some newly written about and some reworked. What follows is the story title, science explored and synopsis

Elegy
Neurology
Squid neurons in human brains

Desperate Calculus
Epidemiology
Superflu infects 97% of humans

Future Marriage
Psychology
Couple argue after losing game show

Coming of Age in Karhide
Xenosociology
Nostalgic coming-of-age for alien

High Abyss
Xenometerology
Victorious king takes scientific flight

Recording Angel
"Chrono-sociology"
Ancient human disrupts future society

When Strangers Meet
"Xenomonarchology"
The One commontates on New Year ritual

The Day the Aliens Came
"Interxenosexology"
Alien neighborhood orgies on Earth

Gnota
Transgenetics
Soldier struggles with inplant and donor

Rorvik's War
Military technology
Drafted soldier fights Russians

Radiance
Experimental physics
Team struggles to build weapon for government

Red Blaze is the Morning
Archeology
Telepathis alien talks to man at dig site

One
Explorative astronomy
Isolated couple explore solar systems

Scarecrow
Theology
Couple stranded on Saturn moon

Wang's Carpet
Xenobiology
Post-human faction explores new planet

Not Free SF Reader
A fine anthology that Bear put together here. There is also a reminiscence he wrote about a group of right wing sf writers being asked to talk to the government about space weapons etc. meeting Arthur C. Clarke while discussing this and telling him off for having the temerity to actually disagree with them, because he was not American, with Heinlein the ringleader. Friendly bunch. Bit insecure too, by the sound of it.


New Legends : Elegy - Mary Rosenblum
New Legends : A Desperate Calculus - Sterling Blake
New Legends : Scenes from a Future Marriage - James Stevens-Arce
New Legends : Coming of Age in Karhide by Sov Thade Tage em Ereb of Rer in Karhide on Gethen - Ursula K. LeGuin
New Legends : High Abyss - Gregory Benford
New Legends : Recording Angel - Paul J. McAuley
New Legends : When Strangers Meet - Sonia Orin Lyris
New Legends : The Day the Aliens Came - Robert Sheckley
New Legends : Gnota - Greg Abraham
New Legends : Rorvik's War - Geoffrey A. Landis
New Legends : Radiance - Carter Scholz
New Legends : The Red Blaze is the Morning - Robert Silverberg
New Legends : One - George Alec Effinger
New Legends : Scarecrow - Poul Anderson
New Legends : Wang's Carpets - Greg Egan


Scientist use squid neurons against Alzheimer's, may have found a surprising relationship as a consequence.

4 out of 5


Population control by epidemic.

3.5 out of 5


Taking gameshows way too seriously.

2.5 out of 5


Puberty gender blues cured by dedicated fracking and food, even if the flavor can be a crapshoot.

4 out of 5


Large scale type war.

3 out of 5


Personality variations don't quite cut it, universal aims are worth a shot though.

4 out of 5


Better understand the local entertainment customs.

3 out of 5


Trading with the long way out of towners is quite odd.

4 out of 5


Hard, life or death choices, with pigs like us.

4.5 out of 5


Drafted into simulation.

4.5 out of 5


Space missile defense politics, physics and prevarication.

3.5 out of 5


Archaeologist time swap.

4 out of 5


Astronomically improbable flop gets robots religion, and they are guided to the irrational light.

3.5 out of 5


A conservative transhuman polis sets out to search for alien life on other planets. The planet they find surprises them in a bit way, as the carpetlike inhabitants seem to grow by a pattern described by an obscure mathematician. Their nature allows them to perform as a Turing machine, and they are running one pretty impressive simulation.

A story you might just have to read a bit of twice.

5 out of 5

More literary than fun
An interesting and somewhat ambitious collection of stories. Most of them are not, in fact, "hard" SF in any meaningful way.

In general, the stories are more interesting than truly entertaining, with a couple of exceptions; the authors and editor seem more interested in impressing critics than in old-fashioned sense of wonder. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but it does suggest that those of us who lack highbrow tastes should approach the book with some caution. (Also, most of the stories are on the downbeat side, which is typical of the literary approach.)

If you liked "Child of the River" or "Diaspora" try it.
This contained "Wang's Carpet" which I believe became part of "Diaspora" & "Recording Angel" which is set in the world of "Child of the River". It also contains other goodstories enjoy! ... Read more

Product Description
See how it all began! In Before They Were Giants, editor James L. Sutter collects the first published stories of 15 of science fiction and fantasy's most important authors, including winners of the prestigious Hugo and Nebula awards, New York Times bestsellers, and members of the Science Fiction Hall of Fame. Along with these often rare or never-before-anthologized stories, all 15 authors provide brand-new retrospective critiques and interviews discussing the stories' geneses, how publication affected their lives, and what they know now about writing that they wish they'd known then. Contributors include Ben Bova, Charles Stross, China Mieville, Cory Doctorow, David Brin, Greg Bear, Joe Haldeman, Kim Stanley Robinson, Larry Niven, Michael Swanwick, Nicola Griffith, Piers Anthony, R. A. Salvatore, Spider Robinson, and William Gibson. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Great introduction to some talented authors
While the quality of writing this working isn't always spectacular - this is, after all, the very first works of most of these authors - this collection is remarkable for three reasons.First, the choice of authors - Greg Bear, Ben Bova, William Gibson, Joe Haldeman, China Mieville, Charles Stross, etc - is a hit list of Sci Fi Authors That You Simply Must Read, and their first works are indicative of their huge talent.Second, each story is followed by an interview with its author, who wax nostalgic on their first published story, their experience in print publication, advise to new authors, etc.Finally, this book is published by the remarkable Paizo Publishing, a group of terrifically talented people working out of Washington State who have set the bar in terms of quality role playing game publishing.

Mostly pointless
Before They were Giants is an anthology without a theme, a collection of the "first published" works of a wide range of living SF writers.There are 15 short stories in about 200 pages, which includes a brief questionnaire with answers by each author (itself generally two or three pages long).As a result, there is a real grab-bag of things here, with "sci-fi" being pretty widely interpreted and the authors involved ranging from Piers Anthony to China Mieville.

As a result, by operation of the simple law of averages, there are bound to be a few things here you like.The bad news is, its probable there will be quite a bit more you either dislike or are indifferent to.Its also billed as a primer for aspiring writers - which it may very be of some use as, I have no idea - but as a result it also straddles into teachiness in places at the expense of fun.Throw in the fact that this is, by definition, the rawest works of the authors involved, and the book becomes of more use as a curiosity striving for "importance" than a book trying to be "fun".

Two and half stars might be fairer than two, but I cant rate in half stars, and can't give it three stars just for meaning well and trying hard. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Great Stories
If you like your fiction to contain more math than science then you should scoop this up immediately. Not every story delivers, but its worth the read for the big winners. Larry Niven's contribution in particular delivers a satisfying geek payday along with a few other gems. Enjoy. ... Read more

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This is nonfiction commentary. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Chapters: The Forge of God, Blood Music, the Way, Eternity, Eon, Darwin's Radio, Anvil of Stars, Queen of Angels, Foundation and Chaos, Vitals, Moving Mars, Darwin's Children, Hegira, Corona, Psychlone, Quantico, Serpent Mage. Source: Wikipedia. Free updates online. Not illustrated. Excerpt: The Way fictional universe is a trilogy of science fiction novels and one short story by Greg Bear. The first novel was Eon (1985), followed by a sequel, Eternity and a prequel, Legacy. It also includes The Way of All Ghosts, a short story that falls between Legacy and Eon. The Thistledown, an asteroid starship built by hollowing out Juno and fitting with mass-driver (rail gun) engines and thermonuclear drives, 500 years in the future as told in Bear's novel, Eon, is engaged on a multi-generational journey to Tau Ceti, around which a habitable planet is known to be circling. The journey is meant to take 60 years, as the ship can only maintain a velocity of 0.2c. Such velocities were rendered meaningless after the technology of the Thistledown was improved to include inertial dampeners, allowing higher accelerations. Inhabiting the Thistledown are the best and brightest of Earth, who are quite diverse both culturally and politically. The Thistledown's society includes one transcendent genius - Konrad Korzenowski, whose preference for living in the Thistledown as compared with an outer universe, causes him to experiment with closed-geodesic space time in the Seventh Chamber, 20 years into the Thistledown's voyage. The results of his experiments are shattering in the extreme - he creates a unique pocket universe: The Way The Way is a mathematically in-geodesic universe, finite, but unbounded - which means that it is contained within the body of the Thistledown, but does not ...More: http://booksllc.net/?id=301618 ... Read more

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Chapters: Neal Stephenson, Frank Herbert, David Eddings, Greg Bear, Terry Brooks, Julia Quinn, Tom Robbins, Brian Herbert, Glenn Beck, Ed Brubaker, Octavia E. Butler, Raymond Carver, C. J. Cherryh, David L. Hough, Rick Steves, Harriet A. Hall, Jonathan Raban, Bryan Alvarez, Vonda N. Mcintyre, Charlene Teters, Robin Hobb, Eilis Flynn, Edward Lachapelle, Ann Pancake, Bill Speidel, Deb Caletti, Denne Bart Petitclerc, Donald W. Meinig, Brent Hartinger, Bill Ransom, Matt Briggs, Jonathan Galassi, Philip Heldrich, Gerri Russell, Marvin Bell, Kurt R. A. Giambastiani, Frank Ching, Harvey Manning, Victor Steinbrueck, Tom Bodett, Jeff Burlingame, Elizabeth Ann Scarborough, Michael Gruber, John Straley, Clare Johnson, David Guterson, Laurel Rose Willson, Ernst Skarstedt, Stacey Levine, Elna Baker, Pete Dexter, Matt Ruff, William Dietrich, Robert Michael Pyle, Jeffrey Karl Ochsner, Jean-Paul Pecqueur, Oliver de La Paz, Jack Prelutsky, Eileen Gunn, Kristin Hannah, Rebecca Brown, Madeline Defrees, Gloria Kempton, Hans Zeiger, Tess Gallagher, Robert Cantwell, Walt Morey, Audrey Wurdemann, Jess Walter, Buck Peterson, Don Roff, Earl Emerson, Nathan Jendrick, Stephen L. Nelson, Steve Martini, Kathleen Flinn, Mistress Matisse, Noah Ashenhurst, Meredith Clausen, Ira Spring, David R. Montgomery, Kevin Sampsell, Michael Breckenridge, Kirby Larson, Timothy Egan, Royal Brougham, Julie Phillips, David Dun, Jack Nisbet, Samuel Green. Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 380. 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: Glenn Lee Beck (born February 10, 1964) is an American conservative radio and television host, political commentator, author, and entrepreneur. He is the host of The Glenn Beck Program, a nationally-syndicated talk-radio show that airs throughout the United States on Premiere Radio Networks. Beck is also the...More: http://booksllc.net/?id=418944 ... Read more

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Word count: 4982. ... Read more

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Les achats comprennent une adhésion à l'essai gratuite au club de livres de l'éditeur, dans lequel vous pouvez choisir parmi plus d'un million d'ouvrages, sans frais. Le livre consiste d'articles Wikipedia sur : Greg Bear, Gilbert Hottois, Richard Bandler, Kim Eric Drexler, Fm-2030, Raymond Kurzweil, Peter Thiel, David Brin, Hans Moravec, Nick Bostrom, Riccardo Campa. Non illustré. Mises à jour gratuites en ligne. Extrait : Gilbert Hottois (né à Bruxelles le 29 mars 1946), est un universitaire et philosophe belge spécialiste des questions d'éthique de la techno-science. Professeur à l'Université libre de Bruxelles, membre de plusieurs comités d'éthique, il est l'auteur ou le directeur d'une trentaines d'ouvrages, dont un roman de science-fiction atypique, Species Technica. Ce livre, écrit en 1981, n'a été publié que 20 ans plus tard. Au terme d'Humanités gréco-latines (1963), il entreprend une licence en philologie romane à l'Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB), puis une licence en philosophie qui débouche sur un premier livre consacré à Ludwig Wittgenstein et préfacé par Jacques Bouveresse : La philosophie du langage de Ludwig Wittgenstein. Chercheur au Fonds National de la Recherche Scientifique de 1973 à 1979, il devient docteur en 1977 avec une thèse publiée deux ans plus tard : L'inflation du langage dans la philosophie contemporaine (préface de Jean Ladrière). Nommé professeur titulaire en 1979 à l'ULB, il y enseigne depuis lors la philosophie. Au cours des années 1980, il est professeur invité aux universités Laval et de Montréal. En 1986, il fonde, en compagnie de Ch. Susanne, le Centre de Recherches Interdisciplinaires de Bioéthique de l'ULB. Régulièrement appelé comme expert auprès de la Commission Européenne (Programmes-Cadres de R ... Read more

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COPYRIGHT 1985 BOOK CLUB HARDBACK EDITION. WEAR AND CREASES AND TEARS ON DUST JACKET. TORN STICKER ON INSIDE OF FRONT COVER. SMALL FOLD AND CREASE ON SOME PAGES.OVER ALL ACCEPTABLE READING COPY. WE SHIP DAILY.. ... Read more

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Chapters: Arthur Jensen, Lanford Wilson, J. Michael Straczynski, Greg Bear, Julie Kavner, Gregory Peck, Anwar Al-Awlaki, Aleksandra Wozniak, Marshall Faulk, Tony Gwynn, Norman E. Brinker, Brent R. Wilkes, Ken Calvert, Paul R. Cheesman, Carl Weathers, Bernard Rimland, David Carson, Constance Reid, Mika Tan, Duncan D. Hunter, Kathleen Kennedy, Kyle Foggo, John Baldessari, Alurista, Cleavon Little, Stephen Strasburg, Eugene P. Wilkinson, Jerry Sanders, J. Michael Scott, Bennie Edens, Art Linkletter, Armen Keteyian, Garland Wright, Aaron Harang, Joe Coto, Steven T. Kuykendall, Rene Ortiz, Jacques Gauthier, Salvador Torres, Marion Ross, Sophia A. Nelson, Bob Goen, Joan D. Vinge, Don Walsh, Charlie Jackson, Maureen Furniss, Sid Laverents, Robert Titzer, Sherod Santos, Tammie Souza, Bob Wilson, Shawn Ginwright, Cris Kobryn, K. D. Aubert, Laura Liswood, Mary Salas, Lon Hinkle, James Sinegal, Chuck Courtney, Darren Kavinoky, Stephen Akina, Susanna Thompson, Bill Lowery, Brinke Stevens, Lisa Dergan Podsednik, John Clifford Wallace, Sol Price, Marco Collins, Robin Robinson, Jay Easton, Laurance Doyle, Courtney Friel, Chris Marlowe, Jesse Billauer, Brandon Heath, Donnie Hume, Sid Fleischman, Chris Holden, Cupcake Brown, Ryan Meagher, Jim Bates, Alison Waite, Jamie Langius, Hans Stolfus, John D. Butler, Ken Kuhlken, Jamel Wallace, James King, Gayla Peevey, Richard Robbins, Diana Garcia, George Lewis, Russell Weiner, Rodney Melville, Lance Kramer, James E. Mcpherson, Russell Allen, Ranae Bair, Diane Chamberlain, Jean Westwood, Linda A. Lang, Mason Cooley. Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 440. 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: Anwar al-Awlaki (also spelled Aulaqi; Arabic: Anwar al-Awlaq; born April 22, 1971 ) in Las Cruces, New Mexico) is an Islamic lecturer who is a dual citizen of the U.S. and ...More: http://booksllc.net/?id=6339494 ... Read more

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This is nonfiction commentary. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Chapters: Novels by Greg Bear, Short Story Collections by Greg Bear, the Forge of God, Blood Music, the Way, Eternity, Eon, Darwin's Radio, Anvil of Stars, Queen of Angels, Foundation and Chaos, the Wind From a Burning Woman, Vitals, Moving Mars, Darwin's Children, Hegira, Corona, Psychlone, Tangents, Quantico, Serpent Mage. Source: Wikipedia. Free updates online. Not illustrated. Excerpt:Anvil of Stars Anvil of Stars (1992) is a book by Greg Bear and a sequel to The Forge of God . In the novel, volunteers from among the children saved from the recently destroyed Earth are sent on a quest by a galactic faction called "The Benefactors" to find and destroy "The Killers", the civilisation who sent the killer probes in the first place. The Law that the Benefactors subscribe to requires the "Destruction of all intelligences responsible for or associated with the manufacture of self-replicating and destructive devices." The book is written entirely from the point of view of a central character, Martin Gordon, who is the son of a central character in The Forge of God , Arthur Gordon.Plot There are two interwoven themes in the novel. The first is the cost of justice. Destroying the race that attempted to destroy humanity (and, it is later revealed, other races) appears to be a simple matter of retaliation. The Killers, when they are discovered, have formidable philosophical defenses in addition to their vast technological resources. They have created hundreds of sentient races, interlocked in a culture of breathtaking complexity and beauty. The representatives of this cooperative of races claim to not be aware of the Killers' true nature. The combined population of these races number into the trillions, all quite possibly innocents who must be murdered if the Law is to be carried out and the Killers ... ... Read more

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Features the stories "Webster," "The White Horse Child," "Sleepside Story," "Dead Run," "Through Road No Whither," and "Petra." Also includes a new introduction by the author: "On Losing the Taint of Being a Cannibal." ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

An additional serving of Greg Bear
Recently, I read "The Collected Stories of Greg Bear." Afterward, I went looking for more of his stories, and found this book: "The Collected Fantasies of Great Bear." While this collection isn't as good as the other collection, it does focus on my favorite genre of reading: fantasy. There are some really terrific stories in the mix (along with a few I could give or take). Recommend for Greg Bear readers. ... Read more