Zima Blue
A fabulous collection spanning the galaxies and career of SF superstar Alastair Reynolds Reynolds' pursuit of truth is not limited to wide-angle star smashing - not that stars don't get pulverised when one character is gifted (or cursed) with an awful weapon by the legendary Merlin. Reynolds' protagonists find themselves in situations of betrayal, whether by a loved one's accidental death, as in 'Signal to Noise', or by a trusted wartime authority, in 'Spirey and the Queen'. His fertile imagination can resurrect Elton John on Mars in 'Understanding Space and Time' or make prophets of the human condition out of pool-cleaning robots in the title story. But overall, the stories in ZIMA BLUE represent a more optimistic take on humanity's future, a view that says there may be wars, there may be catastrophes and cosmic errors, but something human will still survive.
Stats for nerds
6recommend
9mentions
8people
2017–2026years
78% recommend22% neutral
Mentions per year
What Hacker News says
- I also recommend the written story for Zima Blue (the Love Death and Robots version was much more focused on the artistic aspect) and the question of wine.
- Andy Weir's stuff isn't utopian but is obviously very science-positive. I have slightly mixed feelings about Alastair Reynolds' work (I thought Revelation Space petered out a bit, but that Zima Blue is profoundly beautiful etc) but his Blue Remembered Earth trilogy is a very deliberate (dare I say heavy handed) attempt at a more optimistic universe. Going back a little, obviously there's the Culture series which definitely does examine some of the complexity behind a powerful, galaxy-spanning utopian civilisation and its AI attendants, and some of the books are tragic, but I'd definitely live there. More generally, just google solarpunk and you'll find lots of recommendations. I don't know which authors specifically identify with that genre going forward, I've heard good things about Becky Chambers but haven't read any of her books yet.
- You might like Alastair Reynolds’ earlier works too. His short story collections are a good place to start (Zima Blue, Diamond Dogs).
- I'm not sure if this is in the Love Death and Robots version of Zima Blue - but it was part of the written story. The clips from people reviewing the LD&R version of it always concentrate on Zima and its pursuit of the color. There's an entire second story about the reporter that is intertwined with Zima.
> ‘But there isn’t anything natural about being alive a thousand years after I was born,’ I said. ‘My organic memory reached saturation point about seven hundred years ago. My head’s like a house with too much furniture. Move something in, you have to move something out.’
> ‘Let’s go back to the wine for a moment,’ Zima said. ‘Normally, you’d have relied on the advice of the AM, wouldn’t you?’
> I shrugged. ‘Yes.’
> ‘Would the AM always suggest one of the two possibilities? Always red wine, or always white wine, for instance?’
> ‘It’s not that simplistic,’ I said. ‘If I had a strong preference for one over the other, then yes, the AM would always recommend one wine over the other. But I don’t. I like red wine sometimes and white wine other times. Sometimes I don’t want any kind of wine.’ I hoped my frustration wasn’t obvious. But after the elaborate charade with the blue card, the robot and the conveyor, the last thing I wanted to be discussing with Zima was my own imperfect recall.
There's another page of the story that starts out with "As for me . . ." and happens several couple of decades later as the reporter reflects.
- Great anecdote!
Reminded me of the short story Zima Blue by Alastair Reynolds (which was adapted into an animation short on Netlifx's "Love, Death and Robots").
- There’s a really great short story by Alistair Reynolds about an artist that’s obsessed with a certain Zima blue (name of the story) which is essentially an extended meditation on the above, I think you might like it. :)
