Following the exceptionally well received first collection, Solaris Rising 2 brings even more best-selling and cutting edge SF authors together for another extraodrinary volume of ground-breaking stories.Having re-affirmed Solaris’s proud reputation for producing high quality science fiction antologies in the first volume, Solaris Rising 2 is the next collection in this exciting series. Featuring stories by Allan Steele, Kristine Kathryn Rusch, Kim Lakin-Smith, Paul Cornell, Eugie Foster, Nick Harkaway, Nancy Kress, Kay Kenyon, James Lovegrove, Robert Reed, Mercurio D. Rivera, Norman Spinrad, Adrian Tchaikovsky, Liz Williams, Vandana Singh, Martin Sketchley, and more. These stories are guaranteed to surprise, thrill and delight, and maintain our mission to demonstrate why science fiction remains the most exiting, varied and inspiring of all fiction genres. In Solaris Rising we showed both the quality and variety that modern science fiction can produce. In Solaris Rising 2, we’ll be taking that much, much further.
Contents:
Extensions: an introduction / Ian Whates —
Tom / Paul Cornell —
More / Nancy Kress —
Shall inherit / James Lovegrove —
Feast and famine / Adrian Tchaikovsky —
Whatever skin you wear / Eugie Foster —
Pearl in the shell / Neil Williamson —
The time gun / Nick Harkaway —
When Thomas Jefferson dined alone / Kristine Kathryn Rausch —
Bonds / Robert Reed —
Ticking / Allen Steele —
Before hope / Kim Lakin-Smith —
The spires of Greme / Kay Kenyon —
Manmade / Mercurio D. Rivera —
The circle of least confusion / Martin Sketchley —
Far distant suns / Norman Spinrad —
Lighthouse / Liz Williams —
The first dance / Martin McGrath —
Still life with skull / Mike Allen —
With fate conspire / Vandana Singh.
Prase for “Manmade”
“While I remain unsure of the reality underpinning the story, Mercurio Rivera’s “Manmade” at least made me think, which is not something I can say about the majority of the stories in the anthology. The moral quandary hinges on an AI who has been converted into a human body who wants out—to return to his AI/robot state. While I personally don’t think you can have real AI without emotional input, Rivera portrays the teenage boy wanting to escape the emotional baggage of being human and get back to the pure rationality of being a machine. Though it goes Hollywood at the end, moving in directions not entirely cohesive with the opening, the overall story still leaves a mark.” –Speculiction