AustLit
Latest Issues
AbstractHistoryArchive Description
Collected together for the first time are twelve stories by the incomparable Greg Egan, one of those most exciting writers of science fiction working today.
In these glimpses into the future Egan continues to explore the essence of what it is to be human, and the nature of what - and who - we are, in stories that range from parables of contemporary human conflict and ambition to far-future tales of our immortal descendants.
Return to the universe of the meta-civilisation known as the Amalgam, which Egan explored in his critically acclaimed novel Incandescence: 'Riding the Crocodile', which recounts an epic endeavour a million years from now to bridge the divide between the Amalgam and the reclusive Aloof; 'Glory', set in the same future, in which two archaeologists strive to decipher the artefacts of an ancient civilisation, and 'Hot Rock', where an obscure, sunless world conceals mind-spinning technological marvels, bitter fractional struggles, and a many-layered secret history.
This superb collection also includes the title story, the Hugo Award-winning 'Oceanic': a boy is inducted into a religion that becomes centre of his life, but as an adult he must face evidence that casts a new light on his faith.
Oceanic: travel into the worlds of the future in the hands of a master craftsman. (Publisher's blurb)
Notes
-
The French translation includes a distinctly different table of contents and thirteen stories.
Contents
-
Lost Continent,
single work
short story
science fiction
A young man from the war-torn Middle East escapes into an alternate future, in which he and hundreds of other asylum seekers are locked up by the inhabitants of the more 'enlightened' time in which they land.
- Dark Integers, single work short story science fiction (p. 32-78)
- Crystal Nights, single work short story science fiction (p. 79-109)
- Steve Fever, single work short story science fiction (p. 110-128)
- Induction, single work short story science fiction (p. 129-144)
- Singleton, single work short story science fiction (p. 145-205)
- Oracle, single work short story science fiction (p. 206-260)
- Border Guards, single work short story science fiction (p. 261-287)
- Riding the Crocodile, single work short story science fiction (p. 288-341)
- Glory, single work short story (p. 342-372)
-
Hot Rock,
single work
short story
science fiction
'Greg Egan gives us an alien technology only he could imagine–a wandering world that's inexplicably warm enough to support life.'
Source: Back cover, Godlike Machines.
- Oceanic, single work novella science fiction (p. 435-489)
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Works about this Work
-
Untitled
2009
single work
column
— Appears in: Antipodean SF , November no. 137 2009; -
Important Authors and Big Ideas in SF
2009
single work
review
— Appears in: The Canberra Times , 3 October 2009; (p. 14)
— Review of Oceanic 2009 selected work novella short story
-
Important Authors and Big Ideas in SF
2009
single work
review
— Appears in: The Canberra Times , 3 October 2009; (p. 14)
— Review of Oceanic 2009 selected work novella short story -
Untitled
2009
single work
column
— Appears in: Antipodean SF , November no. 137 2009;
Awards
- 2010 finalist Locus Awards — Collection
- 2009 winner Aurealis Awards for Excellence in Australian Speculative Fiction — Best Collection Egan declined to accept this award.