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Xeelee
The Xeelee Sequence (; ) is a series of hard science fiction space opera novels, novellas, and short stories written by British science fiction author Stephen Baxter. The series spans billions of years of fictional history, centering on humanity's future expansion into the universe, its intergalactic war with an enigmatic and supremely powerful Kardashev Type IV alien civilization called the Xeelee (eldritch symbiotes composed of spacetime defects, Bose-Einstein condensates, and baryonic matter), and the Xeelee's own cosmos-spanning war with dark matter entities called Photino Birds. The series features many other species and civilizations that play a prominent role, including the Squeem (a species of group-mind aquatics), the Qax (beings whose biology is based on the complex interactions of convection cells), and the Silver Ghosts (colonies of symbiotic organisms encased in reflective skins). Several stories in the Sequence also deal with humans and posthumans living in ex ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Starfall (novel)
The Xeelee Sequence (; ) is a series of hard science fiction space opera novels, novellas, and short stories written by British science fiction author Stephen Baxter. The series spans billions of years of fictional history, centering on humanity's future expansion into the universe, its intergalactic war with an enigmatic and supremely powerful Kardashev Type IV alien civilization called the Xeelee (eldritch symbiotes composed of spacetime defects, Bose-Einstein condensates, and baryonic matter), and the Xeelee's own cosmos-spanning war with dark matter entities called Photino Birds. The series features many other species and civilizations that play a prominent role, including the Squeem (a species of group-mind aquatics), the Qax (beings whose biology is based on the complex interactions of convection cells), and the Silver Ghosts (colonies of symbiotic organisms encased in reflective skins). Several stories in the Sequence also deal with humans and posthumans living in ex ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Timelike Infinity
''Timelike Infinity'' is a 1992 science fiction book by British author Stephen Baxter. The second book in the Xeelee Sequence, ''Timelike Infinity'' introduces a universe of powerful alien species and technologies that manages to maintain a realistic edge because of Baxter's physics background. It largely sets the stage for the ''magnum opus'' of the Xeelee Sequence, ''Ring'' (as opposed to ''Vacuum Diagrams'', ''Flux'', or ''Raft'', which concern themselves with side stories). Plot summary Set thousands of years in the future ( AD 5407), the human race has been conquered by the Qax, a truly alien turbulent-liquid form of life, who now rule over the few star systems of human space – adopting processes from human history to effectively oppress the resentful race. Humans have encountered a few other races, including the astoundingly advanced Xeelee, and been conquered once before – by the Squeem – but successfully recovered. A human-built device, the Interface project, ret ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Exultant (novel)
''Exultant'' is a science fiction novel by British author Stephen Baxter. It is part two of the ''Destiny's Children'' series. The book was published by Victor Gollancz Ltd in September 2004. Overview Much of the book is written as large sections of prose explaining theoretical exotic-matter physics. Baxter also sketches the evolution of the Xeelee and an imaginary history of the universe in which life is ubiquitous even under the most extreme conditions. Plot summary ''Exultant'' is set in Baxter's "Xeelee Sequence" twenty thousand years into the Third Expansion of Mankind, "a titanic project undertaken by a mankind united by the Doctrines forged by Hama Druz after mankind's near extinction." The human-supremacist Interim Coalition of Governance has conquered almost the whole Milky Way — all but the alien Xeelee concentrated at the galactic core around a supermassive black hole called Chandra. The mysterious Xeelee are far more advanced but less numerous than the humans, a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ring (Stephen Baxter Novel)
''Ring'' is a 1994 science fiction novel by British author Stephen Baxter. The novel tells the story of the end of the universe and the saving of mankind from its destruction. Two parallel plots are followed throughout the novel: that of Lieserl, an AI exploring the interior of the sun, and that of the ''Great Northern'', a generation ship on a five-million-year journey. Plot summary The AI Lieserl is abandoned for five million years, leaving her to observe the sun's interior. She discovers dark matter-based life, which she names "photino birds". These birds gradually drain the energy from the core of a star, ending fusion and causing premature aging into a stable white dwarf—the birds' preferred habitat, as it has no risk of going supernova and destroying them. A generation ship is sent with one end of a wormhole to explore the future and investigate the whereabouts of Michael Poole. It will be a round-trip journey, returning to the solar system after five million years, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Flux (novel)
''Flux'' is a 1993 science fiction novel by British author Stephen Baxter. It is the third book in Baxter's Xeelee Sequence. Plot introduction Dura and her fellow human beings live inside a neutron star, as they have for generations. As long as they can remember, "glitches" (instabilities of the magnetic field inside the star caused by changes in the star's rotation) have happened from time to time. As the novel starts, the worst glitch that anyone can remember threatens to destroy her home. To survive, Dura must travel to a far-off city, and eventually outside of the star itself. Explanation of the novel's title ''Flux'' is so called as the main race of the book, microscopic human-like beings who live within a neutron star, travel around using the magnetic field lines within that star. It also relates to a bigger element of the plot, dealing with instabilities in this field which affect many characters in different ways. Plot summary As the novel begins, a glitch—an instabil ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Reality Dust
''Resplendent'' is an English language science fiction collection by British writer Stephen Baxter, published in 2006. It is the fourth and final book in the ''Destiny's Children'' series. This book is a collection of short stories relating to the previous three books, comprising new works and previously published stories, including the novellas ''Reality Dust'', ''Riding the Rock'' and ''Mayflower II'', an 88-page novella taking place in the Xeelee Sequence that won the 2004 BSFA Award for the Best Short Fiction. The short stories have been arranged into an overall narrative with brief single page interludes by the character Luru Parz, from the first story in the book. When read in series they form a history as seen by her up until the final story of the book. Contents *“Cadre Siblings” (from '' Interzone'' 153, March 2000) *''Reality Dust'' (2000) * “Silver Ghost” ('' Asimov’s'', September 2000) * “On the Orion Line” (''Asimov’s'', October 2000) * “In th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Riding The Rock
''Resplendent'' is an English language science fiction collection by British writer Stephen Baxter (author), Stephen Baxter, published in 2006. It is the fourth and final book in the ''Destiny's Children'' series. This book is a collection of short stories relating to the previous three books, comprising new works and previously published stories, including the novellas ''Reality Dust'', ''Riding the Rock'' and ''Mayflower II'', an 88-page novella taking place in the Xeelee Sequence that won the 2004 BSFA Award for the Best Short Fiction. The short stories have been arranged into an overall narrative with brief single page interludes by the character Luru Parz, from the first story in the book. When read in series they form a history as seen by her up until the final story of the book. Contents *“Cadre Siblings” (from ''Interzone (magazine), Interzone'' 153, March 2000) *''Reality Dust'' (2000) * “Silver Ghost” (''Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine, Asimov’s'' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |