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The Days of Solomon Gursky
Ian McDonald’s new tale, which begins with a passionate love story and takes us to the end of the universe and beyond, is set against the same background as his 1995 novel (Bantam). The author’s latest SF novel, is just out from Gollancz (UK). It’s a sequel to a book that Bantam published in paperback early last year. Mr. McDonald is currently writing —his first mainstream novel.
148 pages, Digest
Published June 1, 1998
About the author
Ian McDonald
256 books1,223 followersIan Neil McDonald was born in 1960 in Manchester, England, to an Irish mother and a Scottish father. He moved with his family to Northern Ireland in 1965. He used to live in a house built in the back garden of C. S. Lewis’s childhood home but has since moved to central Belfast, where he now lives, exploring interests like cats, contemplative religion, bonsai, bicycles, and comic-book collecting. He debuted in 1982 with the short story “The Island of the Dead” in the short-lived British magazine Extro. His first novel, Desolation Road, was published in 1988. Other works include King of Morning, Queen of Day (winner of the Philip K. Dick Award), River of Gods, The Dervish House (both of which won British Science Fiction Association Awards), the graphic novel Kling Klang Klatch, and many more. His most recent publications are Planesrunner and Be My Enemy, books one and two of the Everness series for younger readers (though older readers will find them a ball of fun, as well). Ian worked in television development for sixteen years, but is glad to be back to writing fulltime.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
June 1, 2023
The dead shall inherit the Earth. Or not.
I have never read anything by this author before but have a novel of his already lined up because my buddy-reader keeps raving about him.
The Days of Solomon Gursky tells of a futuristic world where space travel is normal (to some degree) and scientists have found a way to bring back the dead. However, as with most such breakthroughs, there are people who are only interested in profits.
Solomon is not about the profit, he cares - but only realized his mistake when making resurrection a "normal" phenomenon and seeing that he had given this power to a single human being.
Now, he's living through ... a lot. *lol* Humans vs corporations. Or is it live vs dead ones? Rebellions have begun for less. However, there is also interstellar space travel and more for the reader to marvel at.
We are taken on a roadtrip through an interesting world - on Earth, in the wider Solar system. It was bleak and heartbreaking and downright terrifying but also quite fascinating. Because we get some exploration, too. After all, when age / time is no longer a defining or limiting factor, there are A LOT of possibilities for what you can see and experience. And then, it is also a love story.
So much in such a short story. Simply put: this was awesome!
I have never read anything by this author before but have a novel of his already lined up because my buddy-reader keeps raving about him.
The Days of Solomon Gursky tells of a futuristic world where space travel is normal (to some degree) and scientists have found a way to bring back the dead. However, as with most such breakthroughs, there are people who are only interested in profits.
Solomon is not about the profit, he cares - but only realized his mistake when making resurrection a "normal" phenomenon and seeing that he had given this power to a single human being.
Now, he's living through ... a lot. *lol* Humans vs corporations. Or is it live vs dead ones? Rebellions have begun for less. However, there is also interstellar space travel and more for the reader to marvel at.
We are taken on a roadtrip through an interesting world - on Earth, in the wider Solar system. It was bleak and heartbreaking and downright terrifying but also quite fascinating. Because we get some exploration, too. After all, when age / time is no longer a defining or limiting factor, there are A LOT of possibilities for what you can see and experience. And then, it is also a love story.
So much in such a short story. Simply put: this was awesome!
June 1, 2023
I first read this 25 years ago in an anthology I still have to this day. I had read a lot of short fiction by that time, as well as a mountain of SF novels.
I'm happy to say that this random little story from over two decades ago has done a better job of immortalizing itself to me than any other. Few have shone as brightly as this one. Indeed, I might say this one is my absolute favorite short SF of all time.
Sure, some older SF authors might have touched on the same overall theme and some later authors will have done the same, but this one has everything I love most.
Back in '98, nanotech was still shiny, but what never goes out of style is a good tale: all the love, immortality, sheer unrestrained originality, time, and memory.
It's a densely crafted tale that sets up the seven days of Solomon Grundy, only hard-SF -- and it's full of heart. It rejects the idea that immortality kills love. There's a lot more going on in it than is obvious in even two reads.
I'll be honest here: if I had any way to immortalize this story, make sure everyone in the universe reads it, gets it under their skin, then I would be a very happy man. If any story should not be forgotten, if it should have many, many reprints, then it ought to be this one.
I'm happy to say that this random little story from over two decades ago has done a better job of immortalizing itself to me than any other. Few have shone as brightly as this one. Indeed, I might say this one is my absolute favorite short SF of all time.
Sure, some older SF authors might have touched on the same overall theme and some later authors will have done the same, but this one has everything I love most.
Back in '98, nanotech was still shiny, but what never goes out of style is a good tale: all the love, immortality, sheer unrestrained originality, time, and memory.
It's a densely crafted tale that sets up the seven days of Solomon Grundy, only hard-SF -- and it's full of heart. It rejects the idea that immortality kills love. There's a lot more going on in it than is obvious in even two reads.
I'll be honest here: if I had any way to immortalize this story, make sure everyone in the universe reads it, gets it under their skin, then I would be a very happy man. If any story should not be forgotten, if it should have many, many reprints, then it ought to be this one.
August 4, 2022
Incidentally this story is Preceded by
“US” by Harold Waldrop
A sort of constantly mutating alternate histories of that famous kidnapping case. I think..A tad too weird even for me, but okay. 3 stars.
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Quite a long short story by the standards of this collection, perhaps too long. I found the first part pretty good (perhaps a bit too much erotica for my jaded British tastes). Then I felt the attempt to encompass a vast span of time and evolution - to god like powers and the end of the universe and back again no less was perhaps a step too far for me. It began to drag , despite the wondrous transformations and cosmic journeys …which inevitably attempted to return to the original human story. So 3 stars. From the Years best science fiction sixteen , edited by Gardner Dozois
“US” by Harold Waldrop
A sort of constantly mutating alternate histories of that famous kidnapping case. I think..A tad too weird even for me, but okay. 3 stars.
————————-
Quite a long short story by the standards of this collection, perhaps too long. I found the first part pretty good (perhaps a bit too much erotica for my jaded British tastes). Then I felt the attempt to encompass a vast span of time and evolution - to god like powers and the end of the universe and back again no less was perhaps a step too far for me. It began to drag , despite the wondrous transformations and cosmic journeys …which inevitably attempted to return to the original human story. So 3 stars. From the Years best science fiction sixteen , edited by Gardner Dozois
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews