Books: The Mammoth Book Of Extreme Science Fiction

 (Drivebycuriosity) - I love science fiction. Scifi authors ask "what if" and they try to give plausible answers. The best of them speculate about the future by appreciating scientific possibilities, using a lot of logic; and they mingle their tales with physics, evolution biology and other sciences (hard science fiction). Hard science fiction mixes entertainment with constructive and logical thinking.

The Mammoth Book of Extreme Science Fiction" edited by Mike Ashley is a collection of 25 short stories & novellas ( amazon). I enjoyed 6 of them:

Gregory Benford: "Anomalies". Benford belongs to my favorite science fiction authors because he writes hard science fiction in the tradition of Isaac Asimov & Arthur C. Clarke and mingles fascinating tales with sciences like physics, logic, evolution, biology, chemistry & information technology. The logical, analytical and scientific style of his novels & short stories shows that the author also has a career as astrophysicist on the faculty of the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of California, Irvine (wikipedia). In this story are mysterious things happening in the sky - a kind of cosmic puzzle.

Paul di Filippo: "..and the Dish ran away with the spoon". The author makes fun of the Internet of Things and AI. When almost everything is connected and has some kind of brain, what could get wrong?

Lawrence Person:  "Crucifixion Variations". A mixture of time travel and religious speculation based on alternate worlds theory.

Alastair Reynolds:  "Merlin`s Gun". Reynolds is another favorite of mine. His novels and short stories show what contemporary scifi is capable of. Reynolds has a PhD in physics and started his career as research astronomer for the European Space Research and Technology Centre (part of the European Space Agency) until 2004 when he left to pursue writing full-time ( wikipedia). But he also has a lot of fantasy and excellent writing skills. Here is a gem of space opera.

Stephen L Gillettn & Jerry Oltion: "Waterworld". Team works are rare in literature, but this piece is a powerful adventure story based on cosmology & chemistry. The reason why I like science fiction.

Jerry Oltion: "Stuffed". Oltion also can write good stories alone. This funny piece is set in a dystopian future where people have given up eating and receive their energy from sunlight. A couple has the idea to have a kind of thanksgiving dinner, based on ancient recipes and created by robots, shared with friends. How will this go?

The rest of the stories might cater different tastes.  

Stay tuned