Zima Blue

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.