This is the sort of fourth book in the Manifold series and is a collection of short stories, many of which connect to the series.Moon-Calf: A retired astronaut comes to England and finds hints of an ancient space voyage. A lovely idea which was really well executed. Open Loops: A human expansion story as one man witnesses humans expand across the solar system by living on asteroids. I loved the whole idea of the story but it had an odd ending that was unnecessary. It just didn't need to be about more than the living on asteroids idea. Glass Earth, Inc: In a future world a policeman looks through the memories of a murder to find out who the victim is. This is really about the advancement of technology and technology being sentient, almost in a HAL 9000 way (but not quite). Poyekhali 3201: At first this seems to simply re-tell the story of Yuri Gagarin’s flight into space but it seems there is much more going on than we realise. I liked the use of real events but I’m not sure the weird sci-fi stuff worked in the context. Dante Dreams: A Jesuit priest is created as a hologram after her suicide in the Vatican and a police woman goes to investigate. This then leads into the priest giving a bonkers and difficult to understand idea of the universe. I really didn't get it, though I suspect readers of The Divine Comedy might make more sense of it.War Birds: The story of what could have happened if the Apollo 11 mission had gone disastrously wrong. I always like an alternate history story and the ideas here are great but the story is too long and Baxter isn’t subtle about what has happened, he shoves it right in front of our faces. It was one of those stories that I thought would be amazing if it was re-written a little. Sun-Drenched: Two astronauts are stranded on the Moon. That’s it. An uninteresting story, especially given how many of the other stories here contain moon landings. Martian Autumn: A story about how Earth might undergo and evolutionary reboot, like what may have happened on Mars. I really liked the Earth side of things here, it had a Midwich Cuckoos kind of feeling. The Mars didn’t really add a whole lot to the story though.Sun God: An alien being investigates an extinct Earth, trying to find out what the residents were like and speculating if these primitive beings could really travel into space. I really liked this story, it was clever and like nothing I’ve read before. Sheena 5: The sentient squid storyline from Manifold: Time with an alternate ending. Whilst it was one of my favourite bits of the Manifold books there’s so little new here I’m not sure it is needed. The Fubar Suit: A brilliant story in which an astronaut is stranded in space with a prototype spacesuit which has living things within it. Grey Earth: The end of Manifold: Origin, from the point of view of Neanderthal Mary. It was an enjoyable enough read but added nothing to the original story. Huddle: One hundred thousand years on from Manifold: Space, Madeline Meacher returns to Earth. Actually though this has little to do with the original story and is a story about a potential future evolution of humans. Another story which had a good idea but a weak plot.Refugium: Reid Malenfant’s grandson is sent to investigate where all the aliens are, to answer the Fermi Paradox. It contains one possible answer and I thought it worked well as a sort-of sequel story to the Manifold series and as a story in its own right. Lost Continent: Two old friends discuss the idea that aliens may have taken a continent from Earth to preserve it. It’s more of an argument down the pub rather than a story. Tracks: A creepy story about what two astronauts find on the Moon. It has an almost supernatural feel about it and gives another possible solution to the Fermi Paradox. The style meant it felt different from the rest of the stories in the collection. Lines of Longitude: An adult education teacher receives strange letters from one of her students who has a theory about the nature of the universe. But surely there’s nothing in it, is there? Another possible Fermi Paradox solution, although if you understand this I’ll be impressed. Complicated and confusing. The Barrier: Two aging astronauts are headed to our nearest star, Proxima when they make a discovery about the universe. This story deals with the zoo hypothesis solution. I actually really liked this story, less for the sci-fi stuff more for the idea of a future dystopian world where the young turn against their elders. Marginalia: A conspiracy story through letters and notes which says that humans went to Mars in the 1970s. Lots of good ideas and the perfect way to tell such a story. The We Who Sing: A story feature an alien lifeform at the beginning of the universe. It is not very successful, another good idea that doesn't form a story. Telling the whole story from a strange aliens point of view makes for a story which is hard to follow. The Gravity Mine: A very similar story to the previous one, although these "aliens" are the future evolution of humans. Spindrift: An exploration in what could happen to the universe when humanity ends. Bleak but has some interesting ideas for how life can exist. Touching Centauri: Linked between the other stories, this is effectively the fourth Manifold book. It sees Reid Malenfant send a laser to Centauri and expecting it to bounce back. When it doesn't, a huge discovery about the universe is made. As good as the Manifold books but has a weak ending. The Twelfth Album: Two friends find a strange Beatles album when mourning their departed shipmate and come to realise their friend's drunken ravings may actually have been true. A neat idea and a great story for Beatles fans.It's a strong collection but I feel it could have done with a better editing. Having so many stories, with many similar to each other, I was a little tired of the book by the end. I would have got rid of some of the weaker stories and halved the number of stories here and I think that would lead to a really strong collection.
