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Synopsis
In that moment Lemmy suddenly understood. The house had no physical roof. It had no physical ceilings, no physical upstairs floor, nothing to keep out the physical rain that fell from the physical sky. In the physical world there was no TV here, no fire, no lights, no fluffy rug, no comfy chairs, no Mouser or Dorothy or Lemmy or John, just an empty shell of brick, open to the sky, a ruin among many others, in the midst of an abandoned city. These fourteen stories, among other things; contain robots, alien planets, genetic manipulation and virtual reality, but their centre focuses on individuals rather than technology, and how they deal with love and loneliness, authenticity, reality and what it really means to be human. ‘Simply put, this is the best time travel story I’ve ever read,’ — Lynda Moorhouse, Tangent Online Chris Beckett’s first story was published in Interzone in 1990, several of his stories have since appeared among the top three favorites in their annual reader’s polls. His short stories have appeared in Britain, the US, Russia and elsewhere, many published in Interzone and Asmiov’s magazines, Year’s Best anthologies and others. His novel The Holy Machine was published in 2004 to strong reviews. Tony Ballantyne (SF author) declared “Let’s waste no time; this book is incredible.” Chris lives with his wife and family in Cambridge.
Beckett's second book, following the well-received novel The Holy Machine , is a collection of 14 stories first published between 1991 and 2006. Aficionados of the genre will know Beckett for his intellectually rigorous and entertaining short fiction, and this outstanding collection should bring him to the attention of a wider audience. His preoccupation is with identity and self-perception: in more than one story, characters question notions of themselves and their place in reality. He's good at delineating the psychology of the outsider, and brilliant at depicting artificial intelligence and humanity's relation to it. The title story has gallery owner Jessica Ferne contrasting the "humanity" of her slobbish boyfriend with that of her computer's PA program. The collection's high point is the breathtaking "Karel's Prayer", a Dickian spin on self-perception, the notion of reality and religious belief. As Alastair Reynolds states in his introduction, Beckett should "be on the radar of anyone who professes concern for science fiction as a literary form".
Eric Brown
The Turning Test, a collection of fourteen stories by Chris Beckett, provides entertaining journeys into interstellar space and the distant past, excursions into the nature of AI, VR, and human identity, and even musings on alien art and theology. These stories were all originally published in Interzone and Asimov’s, and though there are no direct sequels, several feature the same characters and backdrops; this type of conceptual amplification is a strength of the collection, revealing new perspectives to complex problems and situations, often in delightfully complementary ways...
Alvaro Zinos-Amaro
Have you read The Turing Test by Chris Beckett? - Add your own review
