Georgia on My Mind and Other Places is a brilliant collection of visionary short fiction by Charles Sheffield, author of The Ganymede Club and Godspeed. It includes the Hugo and Nebula Award-winning title story, as well as other widely praised works.
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Charles Sheffield has been publishing "hard SF" since 1977, and he has been widely touted for his impeccable scientific accuracy and foresight. But more importantly, Sheffield is a wonderful story teller who has the ability to make his characters and the worlds they live in resonate with readers. This literary one-two punch is the showcase of Sheffield's latest short story collection, which contains fourteen of his stories written between 1987-94. While the Nebula Award-winning title story "Georgia on My Mind" is clearly the centerpiece here, these are all first-rate tales by one of SF's finest writers.
From Publishers Weekly
Physicist Sheffield's (Godspeed) sixth collection of short stories, written in the late 1980s and early '90s, affirms his place as a central exponent of hard SF. "Georgia on My Mind," which won a Nebula Award, features a narrator who displays less personality than the letters and diaries of the mysterious "L.D.," the putative author of a 150-year-old manual for a mechanical computer. Sheffield proceeds on the understanding that hard SF is well suited to the form of the mystery, in which a narrator takes second seat behind the plot and its specific expression (as, for example, Doyle's Dr. Watson in the Sherlock Holmes mysteries). His spare prose serves as background lighting, revealing no more than needs to be shown. Tales such as "The Feynman Saltation" and the exemplary "Humanity Test" are effective for discoveries that do not depend on their main characters' intuition. Occasionally, as in "Trapalanda," the payoff is inadequate, but generally these 15 stories satisfy, presenting the readers with valuable ideas from a master craftsman.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Customer Reviews
Most helpful customer reviews
Format:Hardcover
Georgia On My Mind is a collection of fourteen SF stories published between 1987 and 1994. It also contains an introduction by the author and afterwords for most of the stories.
In The Feynman Saltation, an artist with a brain tumor starts having visions of the past. In the Bee's Kiss, a convicted voyeur uses his skills to spy on a pair of aliens. In Millennium, a Christian tries to postpone judgment day. In Fifteen-Love On the Dead Man's Chest, a tennis game and a funeral lead to confusion and distress. In Deep Safari, a spurned lover rushes to the rescue in a small way.
In Beyond the Golden Road, a Christian monk finds a soulmate in the Great Khan's court. In Health Care System, a medical researcher creates a bleeding edge support system. In Humanity Test, Godwin's The Cold Equations meet Heinlein's Jerry Was a Man, with a new twist. In That Strain Again, falling leaves repel aliens from Vegas IV. In Destroyer of Worlds, space fanatics attempt ecological engineering.
In the Fifteenth Station of the Cross, the dying ruler of the world decides to bring a miracle healer from the past. In Trapalanda, a Andean explorer guides a blind man to an extraordinary discovery. In Obsolete Skill, a science fiction writer waking in the future finds that old methods work better for him. In Georgia On My Mind, a pair of computer geeks discover evidence of a working analytical engine in New Zealand.
The author is better known for his high tech, world spanning novels, but these stories show that he can produce small gems of science fiction as well. Of course, these stories are mostly about people who use or encounter some facet of human technology or alien supertech. Some of these characters are unforgettable, especially the couple in Georgia On My Mind, even though they are known only through letters and journal entries.
Highly recommended for Sheffield fans and for anyone who enjoys short tales about humans struggling to live in a technological environment.
-Arthur W. Jordin
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
3.8 out of 5 stars
4 reviews
11 of 11 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
Coping with High Tech
May 30 2004
By Arthur W. Jordin
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Hardcover
Georgia On My Mind is a collection of fourteen SF stories published between 1987 and 1994. It also contains an introduction by the author and afterwords for most of the stories.
In The Feynman Saltation, an artist with a brain tumor starts having visions of the past. In the Bee's Kiss, a convicted voyeur uses his skills to spy on a pair of aliens. In Millennium, a Christian tries to postpone judgment day. In Fifteen-Love On the Dead Man's Chest, a tennis game and a funeral lead to confusion and distress. In Deep Safari, a spurned lover rushes to the rescue in a small way.
In Beyond the Golden Road, a Christian monk finds a soulmate in the Great Khan's court. In Health Care System, a medical researcher creates a bleeding edge support system. In Humanity Test, Godwin's The Cold Equations meet Heinlein's Jerry Was a Man, with a new twist. In That Strain Again, falling leaves repel aliens from Vegas IV. In Destroyer of Worlds, space fanatics attempt ecological engineering.
In the Fifteenth Station of the Cross, the dying ruler of the world decides to bring a miracle healer from the past. In Trapalanda, a Andean explorer guides a blind man to an extraordinary discovery. In Obsolete Skill, a science fiction writer waking in the future finds that old methods work better for him. In Georgia On My Mind, a pair of computer geeks discover evidence of a working analytical engine in New Zealand.
The author is better known for his high tech, world spanning novels, but these stories show that he can produce small gems of science fiction as well. Of course, these stories are mostly about people who use or encounter some facet of human technology or alien supertech. Some of these characters are unforgettable, especially the couple in Georgia On My Mind, even though they are known only through letters and journal entries.
Highly recommended for Sheffield fans and for anyone who enjoys short tales about humans struggling to live in a technological environment.
-Arthur W. Jordin
1 of 3 people found the following review helpful
3.0 out of 5 stars
A mixed bag
May 1 2003
By J. Philip Magnier
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Sheffield has probably gotten more acclaim than he deserves because he is a "real" scientist, I admit it influenced me. His dialog and characterisations are often poor and laboured. He has the ideas okay, but Georgia on my Mind is the only story that makes it as a piece of fiction.
2 of 5 people found the following review helpful
3.0 out of 5 stars
Mixed bag.
Sep 15 1998
By A Customer
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Hardcover
I don't think Sheffield is as well known as other hard sf authors like Baxter, Bear, Egan, Niven, etc. After reading some of his stuff I think that's justified. Although more human then Egan's work (but then again a dead mackerel is more human then Egan's average fair) & fairly eloquent there's nothing I couldn't get out of Clarke, Asimov, etc. (I mentioned them because he's sort of old school, but I'd like to add that I like the old school which is perhaps why I hate saying the things I'm saying.) The fact that I haven't mentioned any of the stories is kind of because they didn't strike me as that memorable. Science fiction authors (all authors really) tend to have bad marriages so it is nice to read stories about an apparently good marriage since the lost wife imagery is strong in some of his stories. (He recently remarried so it's pleasing to know he's moved on.)I've read too much hard sf I guess because if I'd started with Sheffield I'm sure I'd have a higher opinion of his stories. I'm being too harsh these are good stories there's just too much great science fiction being produced these days to make them stand out. Don't let my mood bias you & I am glad I bought it. To further defend him Asimov's my favorite author, but I've read better written stories then Asimov's. I'm sure some will have the same view of Sheffield. A good hard sf author worth reading, but his overshadowed status is understandable since hard sf is such a big field.
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3.8 out of 5 stars
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