The ''Manifold Trilogy'' is a series of

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...

books by British author Stephen Baxter. The series was published from 1999 to 2003. It consists of three

novel A novel is a relatively long work of narrative fiction, typically written in prose and published as a book. The present English word for a long work of prose fiction derives from the for "new", "news", or "short story of something new", itsel ...

s and an anthology of

short stories A short story is a piece of prose fiction that typically can be read in one sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent of evoking a single effect or mood. The short story is one of the oldest t ...

relating to the three. The three novels in the trilogy are not ordered chronologically; instead, they are thematically linked novels that take place in alternate universes. The series consists of: *'' Manifold: Time'' -

Arthur C. Clarke Award The Arthur C. Clarke Award is a British award given for the best science fiction novel first published in the United Kingdom during the previous year. It is named after British author Arthur C. Clarke, who gave a grant to establish the award i ...

nominee, 2000 *'' Manifold: Space'' *'' Manifold: Origin'' *''

Phase Space In dynamical system theory, a phase space is a space in which all possible states of a system are represented, with each possible state corresponding to one unique point in the phase space. For mechanical systems, the phase space usually ...

'' (short stories)

Similarities

Each novel contains the same or mostly similar characters, though these characters find themselves in wildly different circumstances in each story. The

protagonist A protagonist () is the main character of a story. The protagonist makes key decisions that affect the plot, primarily influencing the story and propelling it forward, and is often the character who faces the most significant obstacles. If a st ...

in all three novels is a man named Reid Malenfant, a brash, ambitious entrepreneur and former astronaut who gets drawn up into the complexities of each novel's plot. Each novel starts off on Earth, in a relatively mundane near future, but eventually expands into the far future and deep space.

Fermi paradox

Each one of the main novels deals with a possible resolution to the

Fermi paradox The Fermi paradox is the discrepancy between the lack of conclusive evidence of advanced extraterrestrial life and the apparently high a priori likelihood of its existence, and by extension of obtaining such evidence. As a 2015 article put it, ...

. The first, ''Time'', is set in a universe that is completely devoid of intelligent life beyond that of mankind and its creations (i.e.

A.I. Artificial intelligence (AI) is intelligence—perceiving, synthesizing, and inferring information—demonstrated by machines, as opposed to intelligence displayed by animals and humans. Example tasks in which this is done include speech rec ...

and uplifted animals). The second in the series, ''Space'', proposes the opposite: that life is endemic to the universe, and there is intelligence in nearly all possible places of the cosmos. The solution to the Fermi Paradox in this novel is that intelligent life is continually wiped out by cosmic disasters before it has time to spread too far. The third novel, ''Origin'', is set in a multiverse that is a compromise between the ideals in the first two novels: that life is only on Earth, but at the same time is everywhere. This novel solves the Fermi Paradox by suggesting that intelligent life is segregated into separate parallel universes.

References

Book series introduced in 1999 Science fiction book series Stephen Baxter series Fermi paradox Science fiction novel trilogies Novels about extraterrestrial life {{2000s-sf-novel-stub