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Description:
With
the publication of A Scattering of Jades, his award-winning debut
novel, Alex Irvine established himself as a gifted, potentially important
new voice in contemporary fantasy. Now, in his first collection of
shorter work, Irvine reinforces his position, offering readers a generous
collection of stories that are at once, witty, erudite, wonderfully
imagined, and unfailingly entertaining.
Unintended Consequences contains 13 diverse narratives, and is
bookended by a remarkable pair of novellas. "Jimmy Guang's
House of Gladmech" examines the life of an entrepreneur caught
up in a hauntingly familiar, near-future ethnic war from which no
one escapes untouched. "A Peaceable Man," an original
novella, takes a familiar subject -- a heist gone wrong -- and enriches
it with memorable characters and an unexpected infusion of magic.
In between, Irvine presents a gallery of tales ranging from the
god-haunted world of ancient Egypt ("Akhenaten") to an
entropic colonial outpost in a remote galaxy ("Elegy for a
Greenwiper.")
Among the collection's other highlights are "Rossetti
Song," a meditation on survival, loss, and the power of
the past; "Chichen Itza," in which an ancient Mayan site
becomes the focal point of a new chapter in human evolution; "Tato
Chip, Tato Chip, Sing Me a Song," a comic reflection on the
uses of technology and the ubiquitous appeal of junk food; and the
stunning "Agent Provocateur," which uncovers some startling
connections between baseball, the processes of history, and Heisenberg's
Uncertainty Principle.
Whatever his subject, Irvine remains in complete control of his
often astonishing material. Individually, these 13 stories show
us our world -- and its possible incarnations -- from a wholly unique
perspective. Together, they comprise one of the most varied, memorable,
and necessary collections of fiction published in recent years.
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