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Synopsis
…When he came closer still, she saw the fine, radial scars around his eyes. A Void Dancer. A shudder passed through her. A Void Dancer. She’d never met one, but everyone knew what they did. Take a one-person jumpship and dive into the Wyrm at a velocity and angle of incidence nobody had ever tried before. Mapping the Universe by throwing darts, blindfolded, in an empty room… In these twenty stories Daniel Marcus maps out possible futures and theoretical pasts, crisscrossing reality with fantasy, and weaving intricate storylines in the process. His characters are frightened and fragile, facing brave new worlds whilst retaining their humanity. If you want to know what the future really looks like, then look here. ‘Loved these stories, every one. Dan Marcus knows the shape and sound of tomorrow. Indeed, like Stross and Doctorow, he is one of its most literate creators. Seeing his edgy stories together, we discover that he's been working ancient ground with modern tools. This remarkable first collection from a veteran author is a treasure for readers.’ – Terry Bisson, winner of the Hugo, Nebula, and Theodore Sturgeon Awards
Marcus's first collection brings together 19 stories that range from subtle, atmospheric vignettes of the fantastic, through contemporary horror, to full-blown visions of the future. What links them is deft characterisation and an ability to delineate psychological states in sparse prose. The most remarkable thing about the collection is that Marcus is as comfortable writing horror ("An Orange for Lucita" portrays a mother who fears the death of her son against the backdrop of the Mexican Day of the Dead) as he is hard SF (such as "Heart of Molten Stone", about a mining project gone wrong on Altair V). Perhaps the finest story is "Blue Period", a delightfully rendered drama set in the same world as HG Wells's The War of the Worlds and featuring a young Pablo Picasso whose ego is more than a match for the invading Martians. Stirring stuff.
Eric Brown
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