Synopses & Reviews
Something exciting has been happening in modern SF. After decades of confusion, many of the field's best writers have been returning to the subgenre called, roughly, "hard SF"-science fiction focused on science and technology, often with strong adventure plots. Now, World Fantasy Award-winning editors David G. Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer present an immense, authoritative anthology that maps the development and modern-day resurgence of this form, argues for its special virtues and present preeminence-and entertains us with some spectacular storytelling along the way.
Included are major stories by contemporary and classic names such as Poul Anderson, Stephen Baxter, Gregory Benford, Ben Bova, David Brin, Arthur C. Clarke, Hal Clement, Greg Egan, Joe Haldeman, Nancy Kress, Paul McAuley, Frederik Pohl, Alastair Reynolds, Kim Stanley Robinson, Robert J. Sawyer, Karl Schroeder, Charles Sheffield, Brian Stableford, Allen Steele, Bruce Sterling, Michael Swanwick, and Vernor Vinge.
The Hard SF Renaissance will be an anthology that SF readers return to for years to come.
David G. Hartwell, called "an editor extraordinaire" by Publishers Weekly, is one of science fiction's most experienced and influential editors. He is also the author of Age of Wonders, a nonfiction study of the science fiction field. Among his many anthologies are the bestselling World Treasury of Science Fiction and the World Fantasy Award-winner The Dark Descent.
Kathryn Cramer coedited the World Fantasy Award-winning anthology The Architecture of Fear and was the editor of its widely praised sequel Walls of Fear. She has edited and coedited several other anthologies.
Something exciting has been happening in modern SF. After decades of confusion, many of the field's best writers have been returning to the subgenre called, roughly, "hard SF"science fiction focused on science and technology, often with strong adventure plots. Now, World Fantasy Award-winning editors David G. Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer present an immense, authoritative anthology that maps the development of this form, argues for its special virtues and present preeminenceand entertains us with some spectacular storytelling along the way.
Included are major stories by contemporary and classic names like Poul Anderson, Stephen Baxter, Gregory Benford, Ben Bova, David Brin, Arthur C. Clarke, Hal Clement, Greg Egan, Joe Haldeman, Nancy Kress, Paul McAuley, Frederik Pohl, Alastair Reynolds, Kim Stanley Robinson, Robert J. Sawyer, Karl Schroeder, Charles Sheffield, Brian Stableford, Allen Steele, Bruce Sterling, Michael Swanwick, and Vernor Vinge.
Included are major stories by contemporary and classic names like Poul Anderson, Stephen Baxter, Gregory Benford, Ben Bova, David Brin, Arthur C. Clarke, Hal Clement, Greg Egan, Joe Haldeman, Nancy Kress, Paul McAuley, Frederik Pohl, Alastair Reynolds, Kim Stanley Robinson, Robert J. Sawyer, Karl Schroeder, Charles Sheffield, Brian Stableford, Allen Steele, Bruce Sterling, Michael Swanwick, and Vernor Vinge.
"From Paul McAuley's tale of runaway technology ("Gene Wars") to Gregory Benford's story of evolution and murder ("Immersion"), the 41 stories in this annotated anthology provide a strong argument for the revival of hard sf as a major force in the genre in the 1990s. Showcasing short fiction by veteran sf authors like Kim Stanley Robinson, Joe Haldeman, Bruce Sterling, Nancy Kress, Ben Bova, and Arthur C. Clarke, the collection charts the emergence of trends in the genre. Primary among them are the movement away from a conservative, pro-military route and toward a more liberal-minded science, as well as the rising prominence of British and Australian authors. Each story is prefaced by brief commentaries that continue the arguments posited in the general introduction. For libraries wanting a definitive collection of hard sf written since 1990, this is a priority purchase. Highly recommended."Library Journal
"This colossal anthology covers the return of sf to themes based in the hard sciences. The contents demonstrate that biology now rivals physics as an inspiration, and that the farther shores of inspirational physics extend farther out than ever before. Of course, some writers draw on a complex compound of the sciences to realize the worlds they conjure; for instance, Kim Stanley Robinson, whose two stories here share the setting of his Mars trilogy. Among the venerable titans who have contributed to the new hard sf and whose work is represented are the late Poul Anderson, Arthur C. Clarke, Gregory Benford, Hal Clement, and Frederick Pohl. One very fruitful entry is "Beggars in Spain," the seed of Nancy Kress' award-winning Beggars trilogy. Other diverse offerings come from Stephen Baxter; David Brin; Joan Slonczewski, showing her usual dab hand with biology; and Robert J. Sawyer, quietly intelligent as ever. A very satisfactory overview of a major portion of contemporary sf and a sterling achievement by Tor and the Hartwell-Cramer team."Roland Green, Booklist
"A hefty story anthology edited by . . . talents . . . who have returned to SF's roots in emphasizing science and technology.Publishers Weekly
Synopsis
Something exciting has been happening in modern SF. After decades of confusion, many of the field's best writers have been returning to the subgenre called, roughly, "hard SF"-science fiction focused on science and technology, often with strong adventure plots. Now, World Fantasy Award-winning editors David G. Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer present an immense, authoritative anthology that maps the development and modern-day resurgence of this form, argues for its special virtues and present preeminence-and entertains us with some spectacular storytelling along the way.
Included are major stories by contemporary and classic names such as Poul Anderson, Stephen Baxter, Gregory Benford, Ben Bova, David Brin, Arthur C. Clarke, Hal Clement, Greg Egan, Joe Haldeman, Nancy Kress, Paul McAuley, Frederik Pohl, Alastair Reynolds, Kim Stanley Robinson, Robert J. Sawyer, Karl Schroeder, Charles Sheffield, Brian Stableford, Allen Steele, Bruce Sterling, Michael Swanwick, and Vernor Vinge.
The Hard SF Renaissance will be an anthology that SF readers return to for years to come.
About the Author
David G. Hartwell, called "an editor extraordinaire" by
Publishers Weekly, is one of science fiction's most experienced and influential editors. As an editor with Berkley Books, Pocket Books, William Morrow, and Tor Books, he has worked with many of the field's best authors and edited many award-winning works. He is the author of
Age of Wonders, a nonfiction study of the science fiction field. Among his many anthologies are the bestselling
World Treasury of Science Fiction and the World Fantasy Award winner
The Dark Descent. He is the holder of a Ph.D. in comparative literature from Columbia University, a winner of the Eaton Award, and has been nominated for the Hugo Award twenty-four times.
Kathryn Cramer coedited the World Fantasy Award-winning anthology The Architecture of Fear and was the editor of its widely praised sequel Walls of Fear. She has edited and coedited several other anthologies. With David G. Hartwell, she edited The Ascent of Wonder, a major anthology covering the earlier history and development of "hard SF," to which this volume is a companion. Hartwell and Cramer also coedit the annual Year's Best Fantasy and Year's Best SF series. They live in Pleasantville, NY, with their son, Peter.
Table of Contents
Introduction:
New People, New Places, New PoliticsPaul McAuley: Gene Wars
Greg Egan: Wang's Carpets
Poul Anderson: Genesis
Kim Stanley Robinson: Arthur Sternbach Brings the Curveball to Mars
Stephen Baxter: On the Orion Line
Nancy Kress: Beggars in Spain
Gregory Benford: Matter's End
Arthur C. Clarke: The Hammer of God
James Patrick Kelly: Think Like a Dinosaur
Ben Bova: Mount Olympus
Robert Reed: Marrow
Joan Slonczewski: Microbe
Charles Sheffield: The Lady Vanishes
Bruce Sterling: Bicycle Repairman
David Brin: An Ever-Reddening Glow
Kim Stanley Robinson: Sexual Dimorphism
G. David Nordley: Into the Miranda Rift
Robert J. Sawyer: The Shoulders of Giants
Geoffrey A. Landis: A Walk in the Sun
Joe Haldeman: For White Hilll
Brian Stableford: A Career in Sexual Chemistry
Paul McAuley: Reef
Hal Clement: Exchange Rate
Greg Egan: Reasons to Be Cheerful
Michael Swanwick: Griffin's Egg
Alastair Reynolds: Great Wall of Mars
Peter Watts: A Niche
Stephen Baxter: Gossamer
James P. Hogan: Madam Butterfly
Ted Chiang: Understand
Karl Schroeder: 0Halo
David Langford: Different Kinds of Darkness
Vernor Vinge: Fast Times at Fairmont High
David Brin: Reality Check
Paul Levinson: The Mendelian Lamp Case
Sarah Zettel: Kinds of Strangers
Allan Steele: The Good Rat
Michael Flynn: Built Upon the Sands of Time
Bruce Sterling: Taklamakan
Frederick Pohl: Hatching the Phoenix
Gregory Benford: Immersion