Stephen Baxter

[brian]

Any appraisals of his writing here?

Bought "Titan" a while back, and tried to start it the other day - but the first couple of pages appeared to be a full scale description of someone putting on a space suit. Yes - clever that he researched the names for the fittings - but it put myself quite off.

I figure it probably gets better - long info dumps a bad habit of his? Or just my attention span being short?

[Voice]

his descriptions are long and accurate--it is worth continuing the book

[brian]

Well, I've started it - descriptions don;t seem so long now.

It opens in 2004, with a pair of astronauts performing a spacewalk - from the space shuttle Columbia. :'(

[nemesis]

If I remember right the book opening is also extremely relevant to a certain major news item.

[I, Brian]

Yep - he has the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrate on re-entry.

[malfunkshun]

Titan is my favorite Baxter novel (not including Ring, Flux, Raft, or any of the books belonging to the Xeelee sequence, those stand alone). You really need to give it a chance, there are some awesome plot twists and he does a really good job of developing characters (a lot of people criticize Baxter for this because his sci fi is really 'hard' sci fi, focusing on the science). I can't emphasize enough what a great book this is. I've read it twice its so good... you'll be rewarded if you can get past the beginning. I found it easy to jump right into, but then again I'm a huge Baxter fan and maybe a little prejudiced, but not without reason, Baxter is a terrific writer.

[knivesout]

I've read a bit of Stephen Baxter's work, not a whole lot - his collection of short stories, Traces, Anti-Ice, an excellent alternate history romp, and the last volume of the Manifold series. I have a copy of Evolution lying around in my to-read stack. He combines the storytelling values of classic writers like Clarke (an avowed favourite and recently also a collaborator) with a firm grip on the science of his stories, from what I've read. He also seems reasonably prolific, going by this bibliography:

Series



Xeelee



1. Raft (1991)

2. Timelike Infinity (1992)

3. Flux (1993)

4. Ring (1994)

5. Vacuum Diagrams (1997)



Behemoth



1. Silverhair (1999)

2. Long Tusk (1999)

aka Mammoth

3. Icebones (2001)

Behemoth: Mammoth, Long Tusk, Icebones (omnibus) (2004)



Manifold



1. Time (1999)

2. Space (2000)

3. Origin (2001)



Destiny's Children



1. Coalescent (2003)

2. Exultant (2004)



Time Odyssey (with Arthur C Clarke)



1. Time's Eye (2003)

2. Sunstorm (2005)



Novels



Anti-Ice (1993)

The Time Ships (1995)

Voyage (1996)

Titan (1997)

Cilia-Of-Gold (1998)

Moonseed (1998)

The Web: Webcrash (1998)

The Light of Other Days (2000) (with Arthur C Clarke)

Reality Dust (2000)

Omegatropic (2001)

Evolution (2002)

Riding the Rock (2002)

Ages in Chaos (2004)

Transcendent (2005)



Chapbooks

Mayflower II (2004)



Collections

Traces (1998)

Phase Space (2002)

The Hunters of Pangaea (2004)





Non fiction

Deep Future (1985)

Revolutions in the Earth: James Hutton and the True Age of the Earth (2003)

[malfunkshun]

Thanks for the comprehensive list, there are a few there I didn't know about that I'll have to acquire as soon as possible

[Captain J]

Well, I read Titan as well and found it pretty good. The premise was interesting, but he spent a lot of the book on the prep for the flight. Then the trip took a while, with the surface of Titan being toward the end. The final end is somewhat unexpected and unique. I enjoyed the book, but it is not one fo the ones I would re-read again.