Sci Fi Geek Confessional: Alastair Reynolds

For anyone still in doubt that I'm a full fledged, certifiable, sci-fi nerd wonder no longer. I'm here to confess one of my geek secrets involving the fantastic British author Alastair Reynolds.

I got hooked on Reynolds about four or five years ago when he was in the middle of writing his Revelation Space trilogy. Since then I've bought every one of his books as soon as they've come out in hardcover. Two years ago when Pushing Ice came out I ordered it from Amazon only to find myself extremely disappointed. Not because Reynolds had written a bad book (Pushing Ice is one of his best) but because they'd changed the the cover for the US edition of his book and it was far inferior to its UK counterpart.

Now I was hoping this would be a one time deal, that the US publisher would come to its senses and start using the good cover designs again. No dice. When Galactic North was published that fall the UK cover was beautiful matching all the others he's written. And though the US one did match Pushing Ice in design, it also looked like a bad photoshop job completely butchering the UK cover design.

So what did I do? Simple. I did what any true geek would do. I paid extra to get the UK edition of Galactic North. I've done the same with the two books since and I'll keep doing so until the US covers stop looking like they were made in a high school graphic design class.

Ok, it's not quite as bad as it sounds. It's really only a few bucks more and since I started this practice they've only given me more cause by delaying the US releases of each book by over a year. The Prefect, which I read in April of 07 is just being released in the US (complete with ugly cover) this week. House of Suns doesn't even have a stateside release date yet.

I just finished Reynolds latest, House of Suns, last night and it only reinforced my decision. Not only was the book great but it also looks totally cool with all my other Alastair Reynolds books on my shelf.

As for the book itself, let me give a very brief review. This is the sort of book that reminds me why I read sci-fi. It's chock full of cool ideas like spaceships miles long, sentient robots, clones who've been travelling the galaxy for 6 million years. It's also his most philosophical novel dealing with issues like the nature of reality, bad actions done for good reasons, what defines existence, cloning and identity. It does slow down a little in the middle but the very cool ending more than makes up for that. Highly recommended.

And in case you don't believe me, check out my comparrison of the covers below. The UK ones match House of Suns above

Subtle and Stylish. The UK Prefect Cover:

Ugly and blunt. Especially the yellow/orange lettering. The US Prefect Cover:

Great colors and fits with the ship over planet design of Reynolds early books.
The UK Pushing Ice cover:

Not nearly as bad as the Prefect US cover but this one still comes off as uninspired and boring
The US Pushing Ice Cover