Axiomatic: Short Stories of Science Fiction

by Greg Egan

Book Overview

"Wonderful, mind-expanding stuff, and well written too."--The Guardian

Axiomatic is a wonderful collection of eighteen short stories by Hugo Award-winning author Greg Egan. The stories in this collection have appeared in such science fiction magazines as Interzone and Asimov's between 1989 and 1992.

From junkies who drink at the time-stream to love affairs in time-reversed galaxies; from gene-altered...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1597805408
• ISBN13: 9781597805407
• Release Date: November 2014
• Publisher: Night Shade Books
• Length: 384 Pages
• Weight: 0.85 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 6.1" x 9.1"

Customer Reviews

A collection of gems

I'm writing this review not having read the book for a long time, but it grows in my estimation with time, and I often think about the stories. They are classic examples of "Hard SF," but have the perfection of logical puzzles or chess problems. They seem to spring from abstract speculations about physics, biology, or philosphy, but are turned into affecting and involving vignettes and characters that often leave you stunned and moved. I can't recommend it highly enough.

The Most Original SciFi Author Now Writing

What John Varley was to the 1970s and early 1980s, Greg Egan is to the 1990s and 2000s: An author who thinks about what it will be like for the human mind and soul to encounter the technological advances that can change the nature of consciousness itself. After reading a story like one of these you are too stunned to think, because the concepts themselves are so mind-blowing. This book, by the way, is only the beginning: Egan's later stories (many of which can be found in Gardner Dozois's annual collections of science fiction) and Egan's novels (especially Diaspora) show more of the same.

Amazing collection of great stories!

If you love sci-fi books you have to think to fully understand - this book is for you! Actually, I'd say, most of Greg Egan's books are for you. This is a collection of short stories, unlike any I have ever read (and I love reading these collections! ). Almost every single one of them is extraordinary. At times I had to slow down, and try to grasp what he means in order to continue, but once I got it, it just made the story more enjoyable. If you're a hard core sci-fi reader - buy this book! You won't regret this desicion. :)

Great ideas, great stories, a bit much to take in one lump

Utterly fascinating and mind-blowing. So much so, that halfway through it, I felt in danger of being overwhelmed by the sheer force of new ideas and had to stop to let what I'd already read sink in. If you read a story in this collection and it *doesn't* blow your mind, you are experiencing cognitive saturation and should take a short break to allow your mind to return to something resembling its normal size and shape before continuing -- that is, if you want the full effect. It's quite interesting picking out the themes and tropes Egan is most fond of exploring -- even more fun if you've read his longer work, since some of the ideas in his novels can be found here in their distilled essence. The only thing I found somewhat wearying is his constant use of first-person narration, which isn't a problem in small doses (and is actually quite engaging much of the time), but which by repeated use gives the unintentional impression that most of Egan's protagonists have very similar personalities, or are even, impossibly and insupportably, in some way the same person, a vaguely disorienting effect that causes the stories to blur together in the reader's memory. This is unfortunate because the stories are well worth recalling as distinct entities.