BIH Author Biography
Stephen Baxter is a trained engineer with degrees from Cambridge (mathematics) and Southampton Universities (doctorate in aeroengineering research). Baxter is the winner of both the British Science Fiction Award and the Locus Award, as well as being a nominee for an Arthur C. Clarke Award, most recently for Manifold: Time. His novel Voyage won the Sidewise Award for Best Alternate History Novel of the year; he also won the John W. Campbell Award and the Philip K. Dick Award for his novel The Time Ships.Back Cover Copy
In the year 2015, astronaut Reid Malenfant is flying over the African continent, intent on examining a mysterious glowing construct in Earth's orbit. But when the very fabric of the sky tears open, spilling living creatures to the ground and pulling others inside (including his wife, Emma), Malenfant's quest to uncover the unknown becomes personal. While desperately searching to discover what happened to the woman he loves, Malenfant embarks upon an adventure to the very fount of human development ... on Earth and beyond.Excerpt from Book
Emma Stoney Do you know me? Do you know where you are? Oh, Malenfant . . . I know you. And you’re just what you always were, an incorrigible space cadet. That’s how we both finished up stranded here, isn’t it? I remember how I loved to hear you talk when we were kids. When everybody else was snuggling at the drive-in, you used to lec- ture me on how space is a high frontier, a sky to be mined, a resource for humanity. But is that all there is? Is the sky really nothing more than an empty stage for mankind to strut and squabble? And what if we blew ourselves up before we ever got to the stars? Would the universe just evolve on, a huge piece of clockwork slowly running down, utterly devoid of life and mind? How—desolating. Surely it couldn’t be like that. All those suns and worlds spinning through the void, the grand complexity of creation unwinding all the way out of the Big Bang itself . . . You always said you just couldn’t believe that there was nobody out there looking back at you down here. But if so, where is everybody? This is the Fermi Paradox—right, Malenfant? If the aliens existed, they would be here. I heard you lecture on that so often I could recite it in my sleep. But I agree with you. It’s powerful strange. I’m sure Fermi is telling us something very profound about the nature of the universe we live in. It is as if we are all embedded in a vast graph of possibilities, a graph with an axis marked time, for our own future destiny, and an axis marked space, for the possibilities of the universe. Much of your life has been shaped by thinking about that cosmic graph. Your life and, as a consequence, mine. Well, on every graph there is a unique point, the place where the axes cross. It’s called the origin. Which is where we’ve finished up, isn’t it, Malenfant? And now we know why we were alone . . . But, you know, one thing you never considered was the subtext. Alone or not alone—why do we care so much? I always knew why. We care because we are lonely. I understood that because I was lonely. I was lonely before you stranded me here, in this terrible place, this Red Moon. I lost you to the sky long ago. Now you found me here—but you’re leaving me again, aren’t you, Malenfant? . . . Malenfant? Can you hear me? Do you know me? Do you know who you are?—Oh. Watch the Earth, Malenfant. Watch the Earth . . . Manekatopokanemahedo This is how it is, how it was, how it came to be. It began in the afterglow of the Big Bang, that brief age when stars still burned. Humans arose on an Earth. Emma, perhaps it was your Earth. Soon they were alone. Humans spread over their world. They spread in waves across the universe, sprawling and brawling and breeding and dying and evolving. There were wars, there was love, there was life and death. Minds flowed together in great rivers of consciousness, or shattered in sparkling droplets. There was immortality to be had, of a sort, a continuity of identity through copying and confluence across billions upon billions of years. Everywhere humans found life: crude replicators, of carbon or silicon or metal, churning meaninglessly in the dark. Nowhere did they find mind—save what they brought with them or created—no other against which human advancement could be tested. They came to understand that they would forever be alone. With time, the stars died like candles. But humans fed on bloated gravitational fat, and achieved a power undreamed of in earlier ages. It is impossible to understand what minds of that age were like, minds of times far downstream. They did not seek to acquire, to breed, or even to learn. They needed nothing. They had nothing in commMain Description
“ONE OF THE BEST SF WRITERS IN THE BUSINESS . . . [Manifold: Origin is] filled with marvelous scientific speculations, strange events, novel concepts, and an awe-inspiring sense of the wonders of the universe.” –Science Fiction Chronicle In the year 2015, astronaut Reid Malenfant is flying over the African continent, intent on examining a mysterious glowing construct in Earth’s orbit. But when the very fabric of the sky tears open, spilling living creatures to the ground and pulling others inside (including his wife, Emma), Malenfant’s quest to uncover the unknown becomes personal. While desperately searching to discover what happened to the woman he loves, Malenfant embarks upon an adventure to the very fount of human development . . . on earth and beyond.Review Quote
“A FUN AND FASCINATING READ . . . Armed with degrees in both mathematics and aeroengineering research, Baxter has the scientific and intellectual clout to present a compelling premise of evolution.” –The Flint Journal “BAXTER IS A DEEP THINKER AND A VISIONARY WRITER.” –DAVID BRIN
"ONE OF THE BEST SF WRITERS IN THE BUSINESS . . . ["Manifold: Origin is] filled with marvelous scientific speculations, strange events, novel concepts, and an awe-inspiring sense of the wonders of the universe."BR"-Science Fiction Chronicle BRIn the year 2015, astronaut Reid Malenfant is flying over the African continent, intent on examining a mysterious glowing construct in Earth's orbit. But when the very fabric of the sky tears open, spilling living creatures to the ground and pulling others inside (including his wife, Emma), Malenfant's quest to uncover the unknown becomes personal. While desperately searching to discover what happened to the woman he loves, Malenfant embarks upon an adventure to the very fount of human development . . . on earth and beyond.Excerpt from Book
Emma Stoney Do you know me? Do you know where you are? Oh, Malenfant . . . I know you. And you7;re just what you always were, an incorrigible space cadet. That7;s how we both finished up stranded here, isn7;t it? I remember how I loved to hear you talk when we were kids. When everybody else was snuggling at the drive-in, you used to lec- ture me on how space is a high frontier, a sky to be mined, a resource for humanity. But is that all there is? Is the sky really nothing more than an empty stage for mankind to strut and squabble? And what if we blew ourselves up before we ever got to the stars? Would the universe just evolve on, a huge piece of clockwork slowly running down, utterly devoid of life and mind? How-desolating. Surely it couldn7;t be like that. All those suns and worlds spinning through the void, the grand complexity of creation unwinding all the way out of the Big Bang itself . . . You always said you just couldn7;t believe that there was nobody out there looking back at you down here. But if so, where is everybody? This is the Fermi Paradox-right, Malenfant? If the aliens existed, they would be here. I heard you lecture on that so often I could recite it in my sleep. But I agree with you. It7;s powerful strange. I7;m sure Fermi is telling us something very profound about the nature of the universe we live in. It is as if we are all embedded in a vast graph of possibilities, a graph with an axis marked time, for our own future destiny, and an axis marked space, for the possibilities of the universe. Much of your life has been shaped by thinking about that cosmic graph. Your life and, as a consequence, mine. Well, on every graph there is a unique point, the place where the axes cross. It7;s called the origin. Which is where we7;ve finished up, isn7;t it, Malenfant? And now we know why we were alone . . . But, you know, one thing you never considered was the subtext. Alone or not alone-why do we care so much? I always knew why. We care because we are lonely. I understood that because I was lonely. I was lonely before you stranded me here, in this terrible place, this Red Moon. I lost you to the sky long ago. Now you found me here-but you7;re leaving me again, aren7;t you, Malenfant? . . . Malenfant? Can you hear me? Do you know me? Do you know who you are?-Oh. Watch the Earth, Malenfant. Watch the Earth . . . Manekatopokanemahedo This is how it is, how it was, how it came to be. It began in the afterglow of the Big Bang, that brief age when stars still burned. Humans arose on an Earth. Emma, perhaps it was your Earth. Soon they were alone. Humans spread over their world. They spread in waves across the universe, sprawling and brawling and breeding and dying and evolving. There were wars, there was love, there was life and death. Minds flowed together in great rivers of consciousness, or shattered in sparkling droplets. There was immortality to be had, of a sort, a continuity of identity through copying and confluence across billions upon billions of years. Everywhere humans found life: crude replicators, of carbon or silicon or metal, churning meaninglessly in the dark. Nowhere did they find mind-save what they brought with them or created-no other against which human advancement could be tested. They came to understand that they would forever be alone. With time, the stars died like candles. But humans fed on bloated gravitational fat, and achieved a power undreamed of in earlier ages. It is impossible to understand what minds of that age were like, minds of times far downstream. They did not seek to acquire, to breed, or even to learn. They needed nothing. They had nothing in commReview Quote
0;A FUN AND FASCINATING READ . . . Armed with degrees in both mathematics and aeroengineering research, Baxter has the scientific and intellectual clout to present a compelling premise of evolution.1; -The Flint Journal 0;BAXTER IS A DEEP THINKER AND A VISIONARY WRITER.1; -DAVID BRIN