Galactic North

"Centuries from now, humanity, as factional and fractious as ever, has spread throughout the solar system and beyond, to the worlds around the nearest stars. Technology means powerful new tools, but with those advances come lethal risks. The Demarchists and Conjoiners fight wars over the basic right to augment human intelligence beyond its natural limits. The nervous, paranoid Ultras crew the vast lighthugger starships that bind these squabbling colonies together. The hyperpigs try to keep their heads down. The rich get richer ... and everyone tries not to think about the worrying number of extinct alien civilisations that the explorers keep finding out beyond the margins of settled space - because who's to say that humanity won't be next?" "Galactic North, Alastair Reynolds' first collection: eight novellas and short stories, three brand-new for this volume; eight glimpses into the dark and turbulent universe of Revelation Space."--BOOK JACKET.