Fold Catastrophes

Science fiction award-winner, flesh-eating-bacteria survivor, and somewhat questionably convicted felon Peter Watts returns with his first short story collection since 2013. Including an unpublished work, Watts posits unlimited brain-computer interfaces, the possibility of life existing inside stars, the hacking of human behavior, and ecological collapse. (Also, the healing power of revenge.)


“Peter Watts: Never cheerful. Always brilliant.”

—John Scalzi, author of the Old Man’s War series


What if a weaponized water supply reprograms pattern recognition in the brain, provoking violent rage at the sight of the Google logo. Or an accidental hive mind creates a global agenda to resurrect itself in the scant seconds between its emergence and dissolution? A steroidal jump gate-building ship attempts to survive passage through a red-giant sun by hiding inside an ice-giant planet. When something is trying to colonize the sun, humans try to stop it. (Spoiler alert: Nobody comes off very well.)


In his newest short fiction, alongside an introduction by Richard K. Morgan, Watts (The Freeze-Frame Revolution) reserves whatever hope he has for whatever comes after humans.