A Modest Construct | Charles Stross

Posts tagged `Charles Stross`

¶ Singularity Sky

Singularity Sky by Charles Stross: Publisher: Ace; Year: 2003; Pages: 320

Singularity Sky is one of Charlie Stross’ first and most famous works, and therefore predates the other books of his that I have read—namely Accelerando and Halting State. If the two, Singularity Sky more closely resembles the former, being something of a treatise on the economic, political, and cultural effects of a point when technology essentially makes humanity part of a post-scarcity economic; Halting State, by contrast, was a narrower work looking more immediately into our future.

Accelerando was, I think, technologically oriented, taking the reader to the further reaches of the technically possible and back again, with all the ramifications of said technology being simply assumed, alluded to, or—at best—covered briefly. Singularity Sky strikes me as more of a political or cultural commentary made possible in the context of fantastic futuristic technology, or in other words a more classical science fiction novel along the lines of Heinlein.

¶ Halting State

Halting State by Charles Stross: Publisher: Ace; Year: 2007; Pages: 368

I read Accelerando earlier this year; it was my first experience with Charles Stross, and it was a bit of a mindjob. While Stross is known for “hard” scifi, Accelerando quickly vaulted into a plausible-but-fantastic realm that probably wasn’t very indicative of the Stross that was recommended to me when I read Daemon.

¶ Accelerando

Accelerando by Charles Stross: Publisher: Ace; Year: 2006; Pages: 432

I was recommended Charlie Stross after my less-than-exemplary experience with Daniel Suarez’s Daemon. The commenter in question figured that Stross had better bona fides and wrote a better technical piece of fiction. I’m quite pleased to say that he was right.

Accelerando is actually free: you can download it in a variety of formats here. Because I stare at a computer screen long enough as it is, I opted for the paperback after about 15 pages of the PDF. The book is unlike anything I’ve read before; I see ghosts of other writers, but the end result is unique to me. Mostly, it’s like a bullet train barreling past; you reach tentatively out and get yanked out of your shoes and carried, screaming, for several hundred miles.