Clarke and Baxter are the two most important SF writers of their generations - this is SF's dream team. Clarke's 2001 A SPACE ODYSSEY is the key SF novel and film of the 20th century Clarke and Baxter's previous collaboration, THE LIGHT OF OTHER DAYS, sold 10,000 in HB and a further 15,000 in TPB Clarke's vision and Baxter's ability to encompass epic scales of time and space are bestselling ingredients for SF
Arthur C. Clarke is the visionary grandmaster of 20th and 21st century SF. In a writing career than spans seven decades he has both prophesied key, world-changing technologies and written SF that has become a benchmark for the genre.
Stephen Baxter is the most significant SF writer of his generation. His books are bestsellers and award-winners the world over.
A large, round artifact makes its way through space to Earth and transports an Australopithecan female and her child far into the future. In addition, men and women from the present find themselves suddenly transported into the past. SF Grandmaster Clarke (2001: A Space Odyssey) and Baxter (the "Manifold" series; Evolution) have collaborated on a time-traveling companion series to the various "Space Odyssey" novels, this one concerned with the dimensions of time and space. Baxter's panoramic visions and Clark's lucid and precise storytelling combine to form a series opener that belongs in all sf collections. Highly recommended. [The finished book will include a bonus bound-in CD-ROM, featuring a conversation between the two authors, the complete text of Baxter's Manifold: Time, and more.-Ed.] Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.
Clarke, with Baxter (Coalescent), probably the most talented of the former's several collaborators, have cooked up an exciting tale full of high-tech physics, military tactics and larger-than-life characters in the first of two novels related to the bestselling senior author's Space Odyssey series. In an awesome and unexplained catastrophe, the earth has been literally diced and put back together again. Each of the segments of terrain (and you can actually see the dividing lines between them) comes from a different era, some of them millions of years apart. As the novel opens, a 19th-century British army company, stationed on the Afghan-Pakistani border, captures an Australopithecine mother and child, just as a team of 21st-century U.N. peacekeepers crash their helicopter nearby. Later they join forces with Alexander the Great. Simultaneously, a Soyuz descent vehicle, having just left the International Space Station, crash-lands in the middle of Genghis Khan's army. Eventually, the armies of Alexander and the Khan converge on Babylon, the last remaining large city in Eurasia and a titanic battle seems imminent. Fans of 2001: A Space Odyssey will have fun with the many references to that earlier novel. Although not flawless, this is probably the best book to appear with Clarke's name on it in a decade. (Jan. 13) Forecast: Each copy of the book will include a CD-ROM "featuring a conversation with Clarke and Baxter, a complete novel by Baxter, and more," according to the publisher. This, plus a radio satellite tour with Clarke and print advertising in major markets, should ensure at least a run up genre bestseller lists. Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.
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