Crystal Express

Crystal Express is a collection of science fiction and fantasy stories by American author Bruce Sterling. It was released in 1989 by Arkham House. It was initially published in an edition of 4,231 copies and was the author's first book published by Arkham House.

Crystal Express

Dust-jacket illustration by Rick Lieder for Crystal Express
Author	Bruce Sterling
Illustrator	Rick Lieder
Cover artist	Rick Lieder
Language	English
Genre	Science fiction, fantasy
Publisher	Arkham House
Publication date	1989
Publication place	United States
Media type	Print (hardback)
Pages	264
ISBN	0-87054-158-7
OCLC	19352012
Dewey Decimal	813/.0876 19
LC Class	PS3569.T3876 C79 1989

Many of the stories appeared in Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine and The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, and the first five stories are set in Sterling's Shaper/Mechanist universe.

Contents

Crystal Express contains the following stories:

• "Swarm" (1982; set in 2248) – Shaper Captain Simon Afriel joins a fellow researcher in an interstellar embassy: an asteroid belt inhabited by colonies of insect-like aliens. Afriel also briefly appears in "Twenty Evocations" and Schismatrix. This was also Sterling's first "officially" published short story.
• "Spider Rose" (1982; set in 2283) – An ancient Mechanist from the fringes of the solar system buys something new from the Investors: a pet. Spider Rose herself appears very briefly during happier times in Schismatrix.
• "Cicada Queen" (1983; set in 2354) – A Shaper named Landau comes of age politically inside Czarina-Kluster, a habitat independent of faction where backroom deals and social cliques dominate, and whose stability is becoming increasingly fragile. Wellspring, a visionary rogue Mechanist and leading proponent of the post-humanist philosophy, is Landau's mentor. Schismatrix later expands on the background of both Wellspring and C-K, which he helped found.
• "Sunken Gardens (1984; set in 2554) – Individuals from various factions compete in a test of terraforming skills in a crater on the Martian surface. This story expands on the influence and power of Terraform-Kluster and its leader, the enigmatic Lobster King (who first appears in "Cicada Queen").
• "Twenty Evocations" (1984; originally published as "Life in the Shaper/Mechanist Era: Twenty Evocations"; set around 2220–2400) – An experimental story; fragments from the life of a Shaper named Nikolai Leng.
• Schismatrix (1985 novel; set in 2215–2386). It chronicles the life of a renegade, Shaper-trained diplomat named Abelard Lindsay, as he struggles politically with his former ally Philip Constantine, and with the slow evolution of philosophies and ideologies that occurs in his long lifetime. This work also follows the development of Sterling's future history, making the setting itself nearly a character in the work.
• "Green Days in Brunei"
• "Spook"
• "The Beautiful and the Sublime"
• "Telliamed"
• "The Little Magic Shop"
• "Flowers of Edo"
• "Dinner in Audoghast"

Sources

• Chalker, Jack L.; Mark Owings (1998). The Science-Fantasy Publishers: A Bibliographic History, 1923-1998. Westminster, MD and Baltimore: Mirage Press, Ltd. p. 57.
• Joshi, S.T. (1999). Sixty Years of Arkham House: A History and Bibliography. Sauk City, WI: Arkham House. p. 159. ISBN 0-87054-176-5.
• Nielsen, Leon (2004). Arkham House Books: A Collector's Guide. Jefferson, NC and London: McFarland & Company, Inc. p. 135. ISBN 0-7864-1785-4.