In the award-winning The Spacetime Pit, spacer Katerina Wake crash-lands on a primitive alien world and faces certain death unless she can harness her ingenuity, and technical know-how, to bend the destiny of an entire race to her will...
Green-Eyed Monster follows Richard as he wakes up after a night on the tiles to find himself inhabiting the body of a toad – and that's just the start of his troubles...
In Sunfly, Onara and her people live on a world very different from our own – a vast ribbon encircling a sun. But a change is coming to the land, a mysterious narrowing that threatens not only the stability of her world, but the very order of everything she has taken for granted.
***** *** *******
What a gem of a collection this is! Mind you, I shouldn’t be surprised given that the three stories contained in this book are a collaboration between two of Britain's best sci-fi authors. They are quick reads which flow very well, testament to the skill of their creators. Both Baxter and Brown will need no introduction to readers familiar with contemporary sci-fi literature, and anybody new to or exploring the genre should really have a look at this as a fine sample of their work. Apparently, according to Brown in the Introduction, The Spacetime Pit began when he and Baxter met to work on some ideas back in 1995 after which it won the 1996 Interzone magazine readers’ poll for best story. This success obviously encouraged them to continue working together on stories whenever time would permit and I'm exceedingly glad that they did because it's a really good piece of work. In summary, this is an excellent little collection that is a quick yet superbly enjoyable read. I can think of no better way than to spend a couple of hours on a lazy afternoon. Anyway, I shall wax lyrical no more, so here is a quick rundown of the stories:
NOTE: I always try not to, but there's the possibly of some minor spoilers ahead (but no plot giveaways) so don't read on if you’re sensitive to such things.
The Spacetime Pit
Eric Brown himself describes this as "a grim tale that spans billions of years, but has the dilemma of a human being at its very core" which is a perfect description. An explorer of a world one hundred light-years from Earth becomes marooned and has to think creatively to try and get herself off the planet and back up to the orbiting station in which she is based. She has a survival pod which enables her to enter extended periods of total stasis and she uses this ability in her attempt to create a situation in which she can recover from her predicament. The world-building in here is excellent and the style used is slick and easy to follow.
My rating: 4.5/5
Green-Eyed Monster
A more humorous story here, largely told from the point of view of a toad (yes, an actual toad). In a nutshell, a chap experiences through a bit of alien intervention, "bodily transmogrification" and sees his life and surroundings from a series of new perspectives. I enjoyed this one mostly due to the sheer unusual nature of it and also for how human the story was - even from the point of view if a toad. The ending is great. A nice lighthearted story that will make you chuckle occasionally.
My rating: 4/5
Sunfly
I rate this as the real jewel of the collection, absolutely wonderful as a quick absorbing read with a great "sense of wonder" element that drew me in deeply right from the first words. Set on a huge ring-world type structure which is facing impending and catastrophic change, it's a journey of discovery for the main character as she discovers truths about the amazing world on which she lives. This one felt like classic Eric Brown and this is no doubt the main reason why I connected with it and enjoyed it so much. Brown has a real knack with this type of story and those of you familiar with his work will have an idea of what I'm talking about. If you like Brown's work, you will enjoy this. Heck, you'll enjoy it even if you've never heard of either Brown or Baxter, it's a fine sci-fi adventure with a good conclusion. An excellent story.
My rating: 5/5
Total Rating:
= 4.5 out of 5
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