"Merlin's Gun" by Alastair Reynolds

First Publication:  Asimov's Science Fiction, May 2000

Cover Artist:  Mark Garlick

After I read this story, I discovered that two other stories take place before it.  "Merlin's Gun" is the last (to date) story in the short fiction series "Merlin".

I previously read one novel ("Revelation Space") and two short stories ("Scales" and "Great Wall of Mars") by Reynolds.  All three provided me with an enjoyable reading experience.

1. In this story, Reynolds revisits the classic "weapon that can destroy the universe" theme that has appeared in numerous science fiction stories.  He develops some interesting twists on the idea.  Reynolds does a good job with the two main characters but the story fell short for me.  This is a case where I wish he had fleshed it out into a novella.  I was disappointed not to find out more at the end.

A decent story but not up to the level of his other work.

Storm Front Group Read, Part 1

It's time for Carl's R.I.P. Challenge VI.  One of the novels he is doing a group read for is Jim Butcher's "Storm Front".  It is a novel I have read, and enjoyed, before.  I liked it enough that I wanted to participate so I am re-reading it.


Following the page break are my answers to the first set of questions.

Revelation Space by Alastair Reynolds

New Space Opera has been an exciting development for me.  Although many quality science fiction books have appeared in recent years, the field went through a time where the stories were internally focused.  Philip K. Dick was one of the pioneers of this type of science fiction.  Read his “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?”.  The story is very tightly focused.  It is one of my favorite novels.  But, like most things in life, a steady diet of that type of fiction tends to overload my senses.  I like to switch between the Philip K. Dick novels and the galactic adventures that dominated the field for many years.  Some of my favorite early reading fiction experiences was the Lensman series by E. E. “Doc” Smith.  Another was the classic multi-author serial “Cosmos”.  Many of the old school space operas were not exactly high quality literature.  But they did generate a level of excitement that George Lucas tapped in to when he filmed “Star Wars”.  In response to the lack of epic stories, a new British invasion arrived.  The New Space Opera movement was born. 

I consider this the centerpiece of the new space opera sub-genre.  Alastair Reynolds created a memorable novel with his first book.  Reynolds included more ideas in this book than many authors put in a whole series.  If I had to compare “Revelation Space” to existing fiction works I would say it is a mix of the grand epic of “Dune” with the wild imagination of H. P. Lovecraft.  My only complaint is with the length.  Being a fan of the shorter novels (practically novellas) of the past, I sometimes need to take a break when reading the massive novels of modern science fiction and fantasy.  “Revelation Space” held my interest when I was reading but I tended to drift to other novels once I put it down.  “Dune” was one of the rare novels that kept pulling me back in despite the amount of pages I still had to read.  “Revelation Space” is a well written first novel that I would recommend to fans of new space opera.  I can’t wait to read the future books in this series. 

I am taking a break from this series to read one of his standalone novels (“House of Suns”).  After that I plan on returning to this universe to check out “Chasm City”.  If you want to sample this universe at a shorter length, try his “Great Wall of Mars”. 

"Great Wall of Mars"

This year, I plan on reading many of the authors I have not tried yet. First on my list is Alastair Reynolds. Adam, at Visions of Paradise, recommended Galactic North. The first story I read was "Great Wall of Mars".


I was very impressed with Reynolds. It did not take me long to get into the story. The background is filled in and was easy to pick up. Humanity has divided into 3 groups. The humans, the Demarchists (who use implants to create an "instant" democracy) and the Conjoiners(similar to Star Trek's Borg). Neil Clavain is sent on a peace mission to the Conjoiners base within the Great Wall. The Great Wall is an interesting concept. It is the only thing that is protecting the Conjoiners on Mars. Neil's brother ambushes his brother's ship and makes it look like the Conjoiners did it. Neil makes it to the base and meets up with his former captor, the Conjoiner Galiana. Neil's interaction with Galiana and the young Felka is the backbone of this story.

An excellent story that definitely made me a fan of Reynolds. I will be looking for his other works.

Storm Front by Jim Butcher

My review of the first book in the excellent Dresden Files series can be found by clicking on The Bookshelf Reviews. I will be looking at getting caught up on the series during the next few months.