Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

Galactic North
Galactic North
Galactic North
Audiobook12 hours

Galactic North

Written by Alastair Reynolds

Narrated by John Lee

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

4/5

()

About this audiobook

Centuries from now, the basic right to expand human intelligence beyond its natural limits has become a war-worthy cause for the Demarchists and Conjoiners. Only vast lighthugger starships bind these squabbling colonies together, manned by the panicky and paranoid Ultras. And the hyperpigs just try to keep their heads down.

The rich get richer. And everyone tries not to think about the worrying number of extinct alien civilizations turning up on the outer reaches of settled space...because who's to say that humanity won't be next?

Set in the Revelation Space universe, this is the first short story collection by the author who has been called "one of SF's best and most ambitious novelists." The eight stories included in Galactic North are "Great Wall of Mars," "Glacial," "A Spy in Europa," "Weather," "Dilation Sleep," "Grafenwalder's Bestiary," "Nightingale," and "Galactic North."
LanguageEnglish
Release dateSep 28, 2009
ISBN9781400180547
Galactic North
Author

Alastair Reynolds

Alastair Reynolds was born in Barry, South Wales, in 1966. He studied at Newcastle and St. Andrews Universities and has a PhD in astronomy. He stopped working as an astrophysicist for the European Space Agency to become a full-time writer. Reynolds is a bestselling author and has been awarded the British Science Fiction award, along with being shortlisted for the Hugo Award, the Arthur C. Clarke Award, the John W. Campbell Memorial Award, the Theodore Sturgeon Award, and the Locus Award.

More audiobooks from Alastair Reynolds

Related to Galactic North

Titles in the series (7)

View More

Related audiobooks

Science Fiction For You

View More

Related articles

Reviews for Galactic North

Rating: 4.025062694736842 out of 5 stars
4/5

399 ratings23 reviews

What did you think?

Tap to rate

Review must be at least 10 words

  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    "'We couldn't come all this way and just wipe out the first thinking thing we'd ever encountered in the universe, simply because it didn't fit into our neat little preconceived notions of what alien thought would actually be like.'"'But saving (them) meant killing everyone else.'"This volume contains eight stories set in the Revelation Space universe. Some characters familiar from the novels return -- Nevil Clavain and Felka in particular. Reynolds has always had a gift for the kind of technical writing that hard SF requires, and also for starkly drawn characters whom he can throw into tortuous situations. The shorter form suits these talents well. It also removes much of the need for pacing, which can sometimes be lacking in his longer works. On the other hand, it also removes much of the opportunity for vast scale, which is one of his trademarks. (Having said that, though, in the title story he does aim for a scope which is huge, and pretty much succeeds.)The volume contains an interesting afterword on the joys and difficulties of writing within the constraints of a coherent future history.Recommended for Reynolds' fans; newcomers should probably try some of the novels first.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    If you have read the rest of revelation space, these short stories are wonderful and fill gaps you may not even have thought of. Would recommend to complete your RS Universe.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I don't generally like short stories, but I enjoyed these. Particularly the ones about Clavain.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Reynolds is a distinctive writer in both style and content. This is a continuation of his invented universe.

    The scope of his vision stretches into the distant future with an advanced humanity splintered to technological diversity, sects and conflict.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Absolutely stellar! The best stories were Glacial, which could have been a novel in itself, A Spy In Europa, and Galactic North. Even the 6-page afterword was fascinating to read. I'm really enjoying the fleshing out of the Rev. Space universe in these side books (see also Diamond Dogs, Turquoise Days). I hope Reynolds writes more and more in this universe.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I have read two books of Reynolds and then at people's suggestions online I read these short stories next. They were enjoyable and filled out many details about his universe.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Read the book.

    John Lee is good for reading works of history and other non-fiction, but when it comes to voicing stories with characters I can’t say he does a good job.

    All his characters are typically assigned one tone maybe two tones of voice that he’ll use for everything.

    The book is good, story is amazing but only listen if you want the convenience of listening to the text read out to you.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    A collection of 8 stories set in Revelation Space. It’s interesting that several of the quoted reviewers on the cover of the book refer to the “gothic flavor” of the stories. My appreciation of “gothic” comes from reading Merritt, Lovecraft, Derleth, Hodgson and Poe. Gothic seems now to refer distorted minds and/or emotions and desperately bizarre endings. Not my style. As you’ll see, most of Renyolds’ stories are woven around the theme of revenge…only sometimes you don’t know it until the end.Forgive me, but I don’t like feeding on emotional illness anymore and will no longer spend my time reading Reynolds. His writing style can, indeed, be good—except where he’s forced to twist the plot to incorporate his seeming fixation on revenge: can he not conceive of any other theme for his stories?1.Great Wall of Mars: the Conjoiners are people who are “emotionally healthy” Borgs, trying to escape from the revilement of normal humans. A decent story with a good ending [4*]2.Glacial: the direct sequel to Great Wall of Mars, after they’ve migrated to another star system. Here they must solve a murder mystery before they move on. At this point—especially after Renyolds’ Revenger book—I think could now probably identify a book by Reynolds from the style. Now the “darkness” settles in. [4*]3.A Spy in Europa: makes the Conjoiners look normal as we explore real divergence from standard humanity. The story itself is entertaining…but the ending fails with an episode of bizarreness: if you need blood to complete your group’s evolution you extract it and disseminate it…you don’t splash it all over the ocean and hope that everyone gets a share. [3.5* because of the ending]4.Weather: a decent story, as far as it goes (dealing with more of the hybrid peoples in Revelation Space)—a ship, with its cargo of cryogenic passengers, is about to be hijacked by pirates but pulls off a last ditch turn-around and wipes out the pirates…but when they find and save a conjoiner it pushes the envelope of emotional reality. [3.5* as dark as his writing style is, the story ends on a potentially intriguing note. But, in one of the following stories the “intriguing” note turns out to have been another failing revenge (as a side note in history)]5.Dilation Sleep: again, the writing style is good—a crew member is awakened from his cryogenic sleep to save the ship, but, after some twisty eerie gyrations, the end is disconnected from the beginning and feels like an afterthought. [3.5*]6.Grafenwalder’s Bestiary: Reynolds displays a consistent flaw—for all his literary skills, he tries too hard for a surprise ending and winds up distorting the plot line such that the ending barely makes sense; but in this story it makes no sense at all. At least to me. If you like the story as is, I won’t try to spoil it for you merely because I don’t like it. The plot: amongst a select group of extremely rich people the protagonist must—at all costs—have the most unique animal in his private zoo…and it costs him more than he expects.7.Nightingale: a disappeared super-medical ship hosting a legendary villain is found by a group intent on bringing the villain back to justice; only to find that the ship has other ideas. Renyolds has an avid imagination…if only it weren’t so distorted. [3.5*]8.Galactic North: a sequel to some of the prior stories that continues the theme for revenge as the universe winds due to some prolific leftovers from the prior wars. [3.5*]
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I liked most of them but some of the horror ones struck me as a bit too corny... especially the Nightingale.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    These eight short stories are set in the Revelation Space universe and are presented chronologically. Many of the characters and events referenced in the Revelation Space novels are fleshed out in these stories. The first story, Great Wall of Mars, covers the early years of the Conjoiner “race” and the conflict between the Conjoiners and Coalition forces, set within the Martian Wall. It includes Galiana, Clavain and Felka, all major characters in the Revelation Space novels as well as the Demarchists. This short story is magnificent, a perfect ten.The second story, Glacial, follows the star hopping Conjoiners to a nearby system where they discover the remains of a century old human colony, wiped out with the exception of one survivor, in cryogenic suspension. What killed the other colonists? Who is the survivor and how did he survive. This story focuses on the investigatory skills of Clavain, an interstellar mystery. This is a solid story, but not the equal of its predecessor; eight out of ten. I found the third story, A Spy in Europa, to be something of a dud. Taking place on a colony on the Jovian moon, Europa, an agent for a colonial faction goes undercover to retrieve an artifact. I found the story to be pretty average, Six out of ten. The fourth story, Weather, was excellent. An Ultra lighthugger is accosted by space pirates. The pirates are carrying a Conjoiner hostage who ends up on the Ultra ship. But the ship has been damaged and the Conjoiner engines are in need of repair, beyond the capabilities of the Ultras. Luckily, they have a Conjoiner on board, but can she be trusted? A solid nine.Story number five, Dilation Sleep, is very short and involves a crew member wakened from reefer sleep in order to address a problem that has developed midway through a decades long journey. Reference is made to the Yellowstone system and the Melding Plague from Revelation Space. Good plot twist makes this an eight out of ten. The fifth story, Grafenwelder’s Bestiary, focuses on a group of collectors based in the Rust Belt of the post-plague Yellowstone system. The collections consist of alien and unusual life forms and the competition is cut-throat. There is reference made to a distinctive character from the Reynolds novella Diamond Dogs. This is a good short story, eight out of ten. Nightingale, story number six, is intriguing. The premise involves a prosecutor in Sky’s Edge, who is pursuing a war criminal. He assembles a team and they proceed to a point in space where a mysterious, sentient hospital ship (Nightingale) is thought to harboring the criminal. Good, not great, eight out of ten. Galactic North, the final short story and title work, is something of a mess. A colony ship sustains damage on the way to the Yellowstone system and must make significant repairs. In the process of doing so, pirates raid the ship. The ship’s Captain pursues the pirates over a period of thousands of years. I honestly could not follow where this story was going and ultimately lost interest. Thus, this volume ends with a whimper, after such a promising beginning. To me, Great Wall of Mars was by far the strongest story. Five of the others were very solid science fiction. Two were substandard, in my opinion.In the Afterward, the author gives background on the origin of the stories.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Good short story collection. Leans into horror a bit at times, so avoid if you mind that. My first time in this world and at times I was unclear about the events and their connections. The stories are entertaining and descriptions are vivid. Recommended.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    SF will not become SciFi: "Galactic North" by Alastair Reynolds

    Published 2007.

    Is SF becoming SciFi? I hope not.

    Dumbing down is the order of the day. Our marketing and publishing departments no longer want to see SF in SciFi, maybe because it couldn’t be labeled, but I think, like many others, because so long as they called it “SciFi” they had to give scifi. Now that they’re calling it “SyFy”, they can put on anything. The name isn’t a promise, it’s just a (TV) brand. Gynmastic shows, Wrestling, Ghost hunting, etc., with some science twists, like making ice cream with liquid nitrogen make it possible to brand something trivial as SyFy.

    You can read the rest of this review on my blog.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Reynolds' stories have yet to disappoint me and this good-size collection of eight novellas and longer short stories kept my impression intact. The collection includes an afterword by the author to add some perspective, inspirations, clues and tidbits to the stories. The stories were written at various times over the author's career, including new ones, and are part of his future history series generally referred to as "Revelation Space." The first story is set on Mars about 200 hundred years from now and the final one, the title story, covers a vast period of time into the far future. The topics are really varied and for science fiction fans who like challenging, interesting stuff, this is good. This is the kind of harder-edged modern "space opera" that I like. This type of story is not for a casual reader - this is not Ray Bradbury on Mars or elsewhere. The science is challenging. In a way these stories create an episodic novel that covers a vast amount of time and space. The impact of the stories is cumulative. There is also a dark streak that runs through most of these stories. The included stories are:1 Great Wall of Mars • (2000) • novelette52 Glacial • (2001) • novella104 A Spy in Europa • (1997) • shortstory128 Weather • (2006) • novella186 Dilation Sleep • (1990) • shortstory203 Grafenwelder's Bestiary • (2006) • novelette252 Nightingale • (2006) • novella326 Galactic North • (1999) • novelette368 Afterword • (2006) • essay by Alastair ReynoldsEvery story in this collection is interesting. "Great Wall of Mars" certainly starts this off very well and whet my appetite for more. The novella "Weather" probably had the strongest emotional effect on me, and I think I'll call it my favorite here. The one story I didn't much care for was "Grafenwelder's Bestiary" because it was too dark and macabre for my personal tastes. The longer length of most of the stories really allowed some nice world building and atmosphere. Although written at various times, the stories are related and presented in a chronological order. Reynolds "Afterword" explains much about the stories and setup and was really interesting to me. I've enjoyed just about everything I've read by Reynolds and I'm looking forward to reading much more from this author.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    The Revelation Space universe is an amazing place, and a large part of what gives it its charm is the sense of history with which Reynolds has imbued his books. This collection is a bit of an eye-opener in when you get to see just what the scope of his created fictional history is. Copious references to characters and events from his series make these stories mesh perfectly with those books, and perhaps the most impressive part is that main of them were written before the novels. Beyond that, though, this is still a solid collection of awesome sci-fi stories.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Eight stories set in Reynold's shared universe. In his Afterword, Reynolds writes about how the concept of future history story arcs seized his imagination as a teenager. It seems that many writers go through this stage, only to abandon the concept when either their ideas no longer fit into the established story arc, or they require too much bending of the facts and action to make that happen. (The solution, which Iain Banks seems to have worked out, is to leave the historical and factual basis of his universe pretty loose, enabling him to write a range of different stories set in and around the Culture... but that's another matter altogether.)Most of these stories set up features of Reynolds' future history, and reading them as an afterthought filled in a lot of details for me (although Reynolds himself acknowledges that some of the stories were written before his future universe was fully fleshed out; hence some of the details don't entirely gel with later stories.) Whether I would want to read them in advance of a re-read of the novel sequence is another question.Of the stories, "Great Wall of Mars" and "Glacial" held my interest the best for filling in the back story of Nevil Clavain; whilst "Weather" was probably the most affecting story. "Grafenwalder's Bestiary" was rather reminiscent of George R.R. Martin's 1970s stories about Havilland Tuf (especially "A Beast for Norn"). but draws on the events of "A spy on Europa".All in all, a strong collection that is essential reading for anyone already acquainted with Reynolds' 'Revelation Space' novels.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    A good set of short stories set in the Revelation Space universe.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Galactic North is a collection of eight very well written short stories that offer a unique glimpse into the Revelation Space universe that Alastair Reynolds has crafted. They are presented in chronological order and, in the case of its namesake novella, spans several millenia. For the sake of brevity, I'll only outline the first three short stories.In "Great Wall of Mars", the nature of the three main factions - the Coalition, the Demarchists, and the Conjoiners, are outlined, as well as the nature of the relationship between them. We also meet Nevil Clavain, a high-ranking member of the Coalition, as he sets foot on the surface of Mars, which houses the Great Wall, a facility built by the Demarchists but has since been used as a Conjoiner nest, with Galiana as the leader. However, once on the planet, Clavain and his parter Sandra Voi are attacked by gigantic worms, war machines developed during the last war between the Coalition and the Conjoiners. While Clavain survives, Voi is killed by one of the worms. Once inside the facility, Galiana gives Clavain a tour of the nest and he meets Felka, an experiment which, according to the Conjoiners, has gone horribly wrong, as she seems completely uninterested in the world beyond the game she seems to be playing. While negotiations are underway, Clavain's brother Warren attacks the nest, and the human diplomat is severely injured in the skirmish. He and Galiana, along with Felka and many more Conjoiners manage to escape with the help of decoys, but not without a price."Glacial" is set not too long after the events of "Great Wall of Mars", as Clavain, Galiana and Felka set foot on a planet called Diadem, once home to an American scientific colony, but is now deserted, as everyone has died. As Clavain and Galiana go out to investigate, they discover a corpse at the bottom of a crevasse, with the letters "IVF" written on one of the walls, which turn out to be the first letters of the name of a man known as Iverson, as Clavain issues the hypothesis that the person who wrote those letters died before completing his message. As the two partners investigate further, they find a man who in a state of reefersleep, and after much consideration, they decide to wake him up. The man in question claims to be Iverson, and take a special interest in Felka, but we knows nothing is ever what it seems to be, right?"A Spy in Europa" is set on the moon Europa, which is under Demarchist control. Economic power has shifted from Earth of the moons of Jupiter, and while the Europa Demarchy has control of Europa and Io, Gilgamesh Isis, yet another faction, controls Ganymede and Callisto, and both are vying for complete economical dominance. Marius Vargovic is a Gilgamesh agent sent to Europa to meet a sleeper agent known as Cholok, who has come into possession of something that could threaten the cities on that particular moon. As he arrives on Cadmus-Asterius, a city built in Europa's ocean, Cholok reveals that she possesses a piece of hyperdiamond, a substance so strong that a single molecule can span hundreds of meters, and many can be found in the ocean. If Gilgamesh could find a way to tamper with those molecules, they could cause the fall of Europa. Before he can be operated on so he breathe underwater, he asks about the "Denizens", an experimental cross-breed of fish and human to create the perfect underwater worker, and Cholok denies their existence. After the procedure is complete, Marius kills her and leaves the city and swims towards his extraction point, which he learns has been compromised. However, there is another one thirty kilometers south of him, but the Demarchy is on his trail. Let's hope he swims fast.All of the short stories and novellas are fascinating and depict a certain aspect of the Revelation Space universe. And while the Coalition, the Conjoiners and the Demarchists are the three main factions, Ultras, which are spacefaring human-robot hybrids, make for yet another interesting faction, with characteristics of their own. And I quite enjoyed his breed of science-fiction: dark and bloody, full of suspense, rivalry, and plots against one another. And it is evident throughout the book there is almost no trust between the different groups, especially towards the Conjoiners, who have embraced the joining of minds through brain implants as a way of life.This evidently isn't utopian science-fiction. This is raw, where people are depicted at their best and at their worst, where conflicts continue on and where humanity is as fractional as ever, even though it has spread throughout the solar system and beyond. Reynold's universe is dark, bloody and turbulent, and even though these stories are mere glimpses into that world, they give a good idea as to what it could really look like. Looking forward to reading his full-scale novels.4.5/5
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I would recommend this collection of stories to anyone familiar with Alastair Reynolds Revelation Space universe. The collection of stories shines some light on points mentioned in other books and further explores the universe with some familiar characters popping up.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    A collection of tales from the universe of Revelation Space. Reynolds shows us more of the world of the Conjoiner collective intelligence, sends some rather unpleasant people to meet their just desserts, and shows us just how the nasty threat revealed in the conclusion of Absolution Gap was unleashed upon the universe. The afterword graciously acknowledges influential writers that came before Reynolds and is a fine reading list.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Alastair Reynolds does a wonderful job of fitting stories into his jigsaw of a universe. In his novels you always wonder, “What does this have to do with anything,” then later down the line it fits perfectly into place. Some of the nine stories have interconnected details while others are independent adventures in themselves. These stories come from different times of the author’s career but all hold your attention to the end.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    "'We couldn't come all this way and just wipe out the first thinking thing we'd ever encountered in the universe, simply because it didn't fit into our neat little preconceived notions of what alien thought would actually be like.'"'But saving (them) meant killing everyone else.'"This volume contains eight stories set in the Revelation Space universe. Some characters familiar from the novels return -- Nevil Clavain and Felka in particular. Reynolds has always had a gift for the kind of technical writing that hard SF requires, and also for starkly drawn characters whom he can throw into tortuous situations. The shorter form suits these talents well. It also removes much of the need for pacing, which can sometimes be lacking in his longer works. On the other hand, it also removes much of the opportunity for vast scale, which is one of his trademarks. (Having said that, though, in the title story he does aim for a scope which is huge, and pretty much succeeds.)The volume contains an interesting afterword on the joys and difficulties of writing within the constraints of a coherent future history.Recommended for Reynolds' fans; newcomers should probably try some of the novels first.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    8 shortish stories all set chronologically in the future history of the Revelation Space universe. Definetly to be read after reading the novels, as the universe is not explained, and many concepts are only apparent from the novels. The stories fill in some of the gaps and back story from the longer novels. Many of the characters from teh novels are featured sometimes only in passing.Due to the complexity of the universe he describes, I feel these short stories don't quite work as well as the onger novels do, but they are still excellant reads. Thought provoking vinegrettes on a possible future history of humankind. The underlying theme is perhaps betrayal, something humans are very good at justifying afterwards. The technologies are detailed enough to make th eplo work but without the infodumps that slow the story down. Again some background is best gathered from the novels, and the stories may have been shorter and more punchy without it.A couple of the stories plunge into the macabre, that isn't a feature of Reynolds' longer works. A fascinating insight into Revelation space.After re-read:Little more to add. The POV switiches a bit from first to third which is a bit odd if your reading the stories through in one hit. But considering they were written over 14 years or so, some before he's even started Revelation Space, it isn't that surprising. The stories are set in a range starting 200years in our future and ending some 30k years later. Mostly concentrated at the near end. They do fill in a few backstories only alluded to in the novels and all interlink slightly - pay attention to the names you've seen most of them before.Great work a genuine addition to the Revelation Space future history opera.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I'd never heard of Alastair Reynolds until I read some of his Revelation Space novels and I was hooked. I was therefore keen to read some of his earlier short stories, some of which link into events in those novels, and some of which kind of do. I'm not generally a fan of short stories, but these are well worth reading if you have read those novels. If you haven't, then I wouldn't start here.