Description:
In his preface to this collection of 17 stories and novellas, all published between 1950 and 1998, Gardner Dozois points out that the notion of the far future could not exist without the concept of deep time; that is, this planet's history stretches back billions of years. His groundwork prepares the reader for the vast scale of the fiction that follows. The best stories combine unabashedly science-fictional wonders with intimate characterization and clear story lines. Cordwainer Smith's "Alpha Ralpha Boulevard"--set on an Earth ruled by the mysterious Lords of the Instrumentality and populated by true men, hominids, and homunculi--is the story of two people who climb a ruined causeway to the clouds where the Abba-dingo, an ancient computer, will foretell their future. It reads like a lucid dream: strange, compelling, and beautiful. Unfortunately, it's followed in short order by "Bumberboom," nominally far-future SF but really a comic fantasy unlikely to be enjoyed by the same readers who appreciate Smith's piece. Michael Moorcock, in "Pale Roses," shows how it should be done, combining fantasy motifs with science-fictional sensibilities in a wickedly playful, psychologically dark, and cliché-mocking story of terminal ennui set in his Dancers at the End of Time milieu. Several of the later stories, particularly those written in the '90s by Robert Reed, Alexander Jablokov, and Paul McAuley, strive for transcendence but miss by a whisker. The anthology closes with a satisfyingly circular time-and-universe-spanning epic, Ian McDonald's "In the Days of Solomon Gursky," which manages brilliantly to give the reader a wonder-filled roller-coaster ride, yet end on a human note. --Luc Duplessis
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