''Zima Blue and Other Stories'' (2006, , republished in 2009 as ''Zima Blue'', ) is the first collection of short works by

Alastair Reynolds Alastair Preston Reynolds (born 13 March 1966) is a Welsh science fiction author. He specialises in hard science fiction and space opera. He spent his early years in Cornwall, moved back to Wales before going to Newcastle University, where he s ...

. It was published in September 2006, by

Night Shade Books Night Shade Books is an American, San Francisco–based imprint, formerly an independent publishing company, that specializes in science fiction, fantasy, and horror. Among its publications have been the U.S. edition of Iain M. Banks' novel '' ...

. It includes ten stories, most of them long out of print. None of the stories in it are set in Reynolds's well-known ''Revelation Space'' universe, although ''

Galactic North The galactic coordinate system is a celestial coordinate system in spherical coordinates, with the Sun as its center, the primary direction aligned with the approximate center of the Milky Way Galaxy, and the fundamental plane parallel to an ap ...

'', a collection of most of Reynolds's Revelation Space short stories, was released soon after. There is a limited edition (2006, ) with an extra story, "Digital to Analogue", and with Reynolds's signature. "Digital to Analogue" was originally published in the 1992 anthology '' In Dreams''. A new version of the collection was published in April 2009 and contained all the stories listed below as well as ''Minla's Flowers'' (currently available in The New Space Opera), ''Cardiff Afterlife'' (a sequel of sorts to ''Signal to Noise'') and ''Everlasting'' (first published in Interzone, Summer 2005).

*Introduction by

Paul J. McAuley Paul J. McAuley (born 23 April 1955) is a British botanist and science fiction author. A biologist by training, McAuley writes mostly hard science fiction. His novels dealing with themes such as biotechnology, alternative history/alternative re ...

*"Angels of Ashes" (Originally published in '' Asimov's SF'', July 1999; unavailable since then) *"Beyond the Aquila Rift" (Originally published in ''

Constellations A constellation is an area on the celestial sphere in which a group of visible stars forms a perceived pattern or outline, typically representing an animal, mythological subject, or inanimate object. The origins of the earliest constellation ...

'', edited by

Peter Crowther Peter Crowther (born 4 July 1949) is a British journalist, short story writer, novelist, editor, publisher and anthologist. He is a founder (with Simon Conway) of PS Publishing. He edits a series of themed anthologies of science fiction shor ...

, 2005) *"Enola" (Originally published in '' Interzone'' 54, December 1991; unavailable since then in English) *"Hideaway" (Originally published in ''Interzone'' 157, July 2000; unavailable since then) *"Merlin's Gun" (Originally published in ''Asimov's SF'', May 2000; unavailable since then) *"The Real Story" (Originally published in ''Mars Probes'', edited by Peter Crowther, 2002) *"Spirey and the Queen" (Originally published in ''Interzone'' 108, June 1996) *"Understanding Space and Time" (Originally published in a limited edition of 400 copies for the

Novacon Novacon is an annual science fiction convention, usually held each November in the English Midlands. Launched in 1971, it has been hosted by the Birmingham Science Fiction Group since 1972. History The first Novacon was organised by the University ...

35 Sci Fi convention) *"Zima Blue" (Originally published in ''Postscripts'' magazine, issue 4, edited by Peter Crowther) There was also one brand new story included, "Signal to Noise", which Reynolds had recently finished and for which Reynolds was shortlisted for the 2006

British Science Fiction Association award The BSFA Awards are literary awards presented annually since 1970 by the British Science Fiction Association (BSFA) to honour works in the genre of science fiction. Nominees and winners are chosen based on a vote of BSFA members. More recently, m ...

for short ficti

For each story in the collection, Reynolds provides a personal afterword in which he discusses the story's genesis, influences, and such, which might be of interest to the reader.

Adaptations

On March 10, 2019, Alastair Reynolds announced that his short story "Zima Blue" was adapted as part of Netflix's animated anthology ''

Love, Death & Robots ''Love, Death & Robots'' (stylized as ''LOVE DEATH + R⬮BOTS'', and represented in emoji form as ❤️❌🤖) is an adult animated anthology streaming television series created by Tim Miller and streaming on Netflix. Produced by Blur Studio ...

''. This story, along with "Beyond the Aquila Rift" are the first Reynolds' works to be adapted for TV or film.

References

{{Alastair Reynolds 2006 short story collections Science fiction short story collections British short story collections Night Shade Books books

Contents

Adaptations

References