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Paul J. McAuley



One of the prominent British hard science fiction writers, breathing new life into space fiction, "new space opera", competent and often quite entertaining fiction; more info.

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"The Airs Of Earth"
© Amazing, Jan 1986
The King of the Hill, 1991
--/ cool sf story

"Bone Orchards"
(Mr. Carlyle)
© The Time-Out Book of
London Stories, ed. N. Royle, 2000


"Karl And The Ogre"
© Interzone, Spr 1988
also in - Dragon, Jul 1988
The King of the Hill, 1991

"The Passenger"
© IASFM, Mar 2002
--novelette : 2003 Locus /25
--/ cool space sf story
--/ wonder award
--/ adventure award


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"Rats of the System"
©  Constellations, ed. by Peter Crowther, 2005
--/ cool sf story
--/ wonder award

"A two person ship - manned by its captain and a scientist - try to escape an alien ship of the Transcendent. Very good mini-space-opera with lots of action, narrow-escapes and grand ideas. The alien backdrop concerns the Transcendent (AIs that have achieved a higher state of being) and their plan to maneuver stars for some grander (yet unrevealed) scheme as well as the Fanatics who worship them. As per a mid-story analogy, the "rats" of the title are the humans who, like the rodents, have the propensity to survive." via

All that is good and well, but two years after reading this story I've totally forgotten what's it about, of even if I enjoyed it or not. That tells you something about this particular adventure's originality and depth. It is certainly a competent piece of work, though.
review: 22-Feb-09 (read in 2005)

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"Reef"
© SkyLife, ed. G. Benford, 2000
--shortlist : 2001 Sturgeon
--novelette : 2001 Locus /27

--/ fourth place space sf novella
--/ wonder award
--/ awesome scale


"Sea Change, With Monsters"
© IASFM, Sep 1998
--novella : 1999 Locus /15
--novella : 1999 Asimov's Reader Poll /3

--/ cool sf novella

"Second Skin"
© IASFM, Apr 1997
--novelette : 1998 Locus /14
--/ cool sf story

"The Two Dicks"
© F&SF, Aug 2001
--novelette : 2002 Locus /24

"Under Mars"
© Mars Probes, ed. P. Crowther, 2002
--/ cool sf story

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