Diamond Dogs, Turquoise Days : Tales from the Revelation Space Universe (Gollancz)

From Publishers Weekly Starred Review. Astronomer Reynolds's two far-future space exploration novellas, set in his Revelation Space universe (_Chasm City_, etc.), confirm his mastery of noir SF. Antihero Richard Swift of "Diamond Dogs" joins Mephistophelian Roland Childe's expedition to scale the Blood Spire on the planet Golgotha. As they climb, they must solve increasingly intricate mathematical puzzles, replacing limbs and mental processes with cybernetic constructs as the Spire changes the rules of its lethal game. Naqi Okpik of "Turquoise Days" loses her sister Mina to the sentient ocean of the planet Turquoise. Naqi abandons her humanity, uniting with the ocean to find Mina and save their world from destruction. Spire and ocean are both artifacts of Revelation Space's alien Pattern Jugglers, who form a living gestaltinterstellar entity that in these brilliantly executed parables represents the vehicle for humanity's choice between self-immolation and evolution and the author's postulated solution to the riddle of Faustian man. Reynolds's allegory: if humans embrace science and technology so fervently that body and soul sacrifice themselves to overweening greed, humans will eventually perish in bitter suicide; instead, abandon selfish individuality, immerse the soul in the warm sea of homecoming where minds meet and meld into oneness, and survive, changed forever. Copyright Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. Review A tale of blood and brainpower...nonstop thrills. -- _ Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine_ Enter Series Index : 05 of 07 Record Notes : Found Part of Series Calc Series Group : Revelation Space Test Search : Diamond Dogs_Turquoise Days / Alastair Reynolds Test Compare Series to Entered: eq Formats : EPUB Calc ESI Combined : 05 of 190 Quick Search : Alastair Reynolds Revelation Space Number of Words in Auth: 2 Has Cover : Yes All Identifiers : isbn:9780575075160 Test Text Series Index: 5 Single Author : Alastair Reynolds Raw Title : Diamond Dogs_Turquoise Days Calc ESI Part 2 : of Sorted Author by LN, FN: Reynolds, Alastair EBook : Have ES Group : Serified_E Title Length : 27 Num of Aut : 1 ES Cover Quality : ICBF Record ID : 1448 Enter New Series (Calced): Serified_E.Revelation Space.Scifan.05 of 07..ICBF ES Name : Revelation Space Custom Series : SIPY.Revelation Space.Scifan.5 of 7..ICBF Uncomma Author : Alastair Reynolds ES Genre : Scifan Calc New Series : Revelation Space.... Calc ESI Part 3 : 07 Compare Author : eq Calc ESI Part 1 : 05 ABook : E_Only Title Parm A : Diamond Dogs_Turquoise Days Alastair Reynolds returns to his bestselling Revelation Space universe with two novellas of interstellar explorationDiamond DogsThe planet Golgotha—supposedly lifeless—resides in a remote star system, far from those inhabited by human colonists. It is home to an enigmatic machinelike structure called the Blood Spire, which has already brutally and systematically claimed the lives of one starship crew that attempted to uncover its secrets. But nothing will deter Richard Swift from exploring this object of alien origin...Turquoise DaysIn the seas of Turquoise live the Pattern Jugglers, the amorphous, aquatic organisms capable of preserving the memories of any human swimmer who joins their collective consciousness. Naqi Okpik devoted her life to studying these creatures—and paid a high price for swimming among them. Now, she may be the only hope for the survival of the species—and of every person living on Turquoise... Just when you thought it was safe to go back into interstellar space ...Alastair Reynolds burst onto the SF scene with the Arthur C. Clarke Award-shortlisted REVELATION SPACE, British Science Fiction Award-winning CHASM CITY, and REDEMPTION ARK. Now experience the phenomenal imagination and breathtaking vision of 'The most exciting space opera writer working today' (Locus) in these two tales of high adventure set in the same universe as his novels. The title story, 'Diamond Dogs', tells of a group of mercenaries trying to unravel the mystery of a particularly inhospitable alien tower on a distant world; 'Turquoise Days' is about Naqi, who has devoted her life to studying the alien Pattern Jugglers.