Collected Fiction is what Golden Age science fiction might look like if it were written today by someone who loves women and brown people. And is Finnish. And lives in Scotland. There's a common saying that the Golden Age of SF is 12 — that when you're 12, everything you read is mind-blowing, incredible, and it's only several years later that you return to it with a mind matured and see the ugly, clunking, uncomfortable parts. Rajaniemi's Collected Fiction made me feel 12 again. It flooded me with wonder and taught me to swim.

An interesting and imaginative collection of stories. Rajaniemi is a talented writer whose work offers something a little different to that of his peers. It doesn't always work for me, but it's intelligent SF that will make you think.

From Donald Barthelme's Post-Modern to Rajaniemi's Post-Human

In 1967 Donald Barthelme, known widely for his brilliant post-modern short stories, published "Snow White", a fractured, non-linear, inventive and satiric retelling of the fairy tale that offered a commentary on "the absurdities and complexities of modern life." As an impressionable young reader I was very much taken by this post-modern, post-postmodern school, and it is a passion that has continued to this day.

Well, imagine my delight when I got to Rajaniemi's inventive and stylish retelling of "Snow White" at the end of this collection. It puts in sharp relief the new wave of post-human, quantum, nano-fiction that is the latest iteration of "modern" fiction. And it's all good.

Rajaniemi is best known, of course, for "The Quantum Thief", which set a new standard for sci-fi and modern speculative fiction. But that's a novel - well-plotted, complex, and as character driven as possible in this new world of quantum reality. This collection of short works allows Rajaniemi to shine in a different way. Here, the emphasis is much more on the great idea or premise teased out at satisfying, but still brief, length. Some pieces work better than others. Some are easy to follow and some are more demanding, and border on fragmented and incomprehensible. (This is also exactly what the reaction was to Barthelme in the 60's.) The stories run the gamut, from amusing to melancholy to sad to disturbing. Again, it's all good.

So, if you're wondering what's new, and curious about where we go from here, this is an excellent, entertaining and deeply satisfying place to start.

(Please note that I received a free advance ecopy of this book without a review requirement, or any influence regarding review content should I choose to post a review. Apart from that I have no connection at all to either the author or the publisher of this book.)