Must have Books - Greg Bear

Bibliography

1979	Hegira
1979	Psychlone
1981	The Strength of Stones
1983	Wind from a Burning Woman
1984	Corona
1984	The Infinity Concerto
1985	Eon	Review
1985	Blood Music
1986	The Serpent Mage
1987	The Forge of God	Review
1988	Eternity	Review
1988	Sleepside Story
1988	Early Harvest
1989	Tangents
1989	Beyond Heaven's River
1990	Queen of Angels
1990	Heads
1992	Anvil of Stars	Review
1993	Moving Mars	Review
1994	Songs of Earth and Power
1995	Legacy	Review
1995	New Legends
1997	Slant
1998	Dinosaur Summer
1998	Foundation and Chaos	Review
1999	Darwin's Radio	Review
2000	Rogue Planet
2001	The Venging
2002	Collected Stories of Greg Bear
2002	Vitals	Review
2003	Darwin's Children
2003	W3: Women in Deep Time

Reviews

	Eon by Greg Bear Perhaps it wasn't from our time, perhaps it wasn't even from our universe, but the arrival of the 300 kilometre long stone was the answer to humanity's desperate plea to end the threat of nuclear war. Inside the deep recesses of the stone lies Thistledown: the remnants of a human society, versed in English, Russian and Chinese. The artifacts of this familiar people foretell a great Death caused by the ravages of war, but the government and scientists are unable to decide how to use this knowledge. Deeper still within the stone is the Way. For some the Way means salvation from death, for others it is a parallel world where loved ones live again. But, unlike Thistledown, the Way is not entirely dead, and the inhabitants hold the knowledge of a present war, over a million miles away, using weapons far more deadly than any that mankind has ever conceived.
	Eternity by Greg Bear Here is the powerful sequel to Eon. At the close of Eon, Patricia Vasquez settled on an alternate Earth, Garry Lanier retired, and the Jarts and Naderites were caught in the Corridor. Now the fate of the universe is up for grabs. Eternity is a sweeping vision defining the plot vein started with Stapleton's Starmaker and Zebrowski's Macroworld. Extending from the near future to the Universe's end, Greg Bear paints a vision of Humanity (extended to all intelligentlife forms)at it's best and worst, and does it with very sympathetic characters, extensive and involved plots, and ingenious predictions on technology and evolution. Plus, The Way - a constructed, self-contained universe made by man. Quite possibly the best Science Fiction I have read. If you read Eon, by Bear, this is a must-read sequal that far surpasses the original.
	Legacy by Greg Bear The Way is a tunnel through space and time. The entrance is through the hollow asteroid Thistledown and the space station Axis City that sits at the asteroid's center. From there the Flawships ride the center of the Way, traveling to other worlds and times. Now the rulers of Axis City have discovered that a huge group of colonists has secretly entered one of the interdicted worlds along the Way. In some ways Lamarkia is very Earth-like - but its biology is extraordinary. A single genetic entity can take many forms, and span a continent. There are only a few of these "ecos" on Lamarkia, and the effect of human interaction on them is unknown. Olmy Ap Sennon has been sent to secretly assess the extent of the damage. But he will find far more than an intriguing alien biology - for on their new world the secret colonissts have returned to the old ways of human history: war, famine, and ecological disaster. On this mission, Olmy will learn about the basics: love, responsibility, and even failure...
	The Forge of God by Greg Bear When Jupiter’s sixth moon Europa suddenly vanishes, the media plays the disappearing act for a few weeks, but as usual that fades from their blip screen as they believe the public is apathetic towards some obscure moon. Scientists come up with numerous theories, but each have gigantic holes as no one knows what really happened. Most astronomers remain astounded that a relatively large object is missing sort of like a cosmic David Copperfield making the Statue of Liberty disappear. In Death Valley, three Texas geologists find what seems as the first error of US Geological Survey charts they have ever come across. A very large unmarked mound not shown on the maps rises from the desert. The trio agrees that there is no way that this “mountain” could have been missed. Next they find an ailing alien who needs darkness to live who bears very bad news.. How will the human race react to what appears to be an encounter of a negative kind. Though THE FORGE OF GOD is well written with an engaging premise, the book falls short because talented Greg Bear never decides between a classic invasion tale and a psychological reaction plot. Instead, readers are left with pieces of both, but neither is complete. The story line is fast-paced and entertaining and fans of invasion earth novels will find overall enjoyment. However, this reviewer was left with the disappointment of feeling shorted. Exploring the different mindset of how earthlings and the aliens respond to the end days of human life would have been unique and captivatingly refreshing, something that the audience will keep expecting until the novel is finished....
	Anvil of Stars by Greg Bear Eighty-two mortal exiles ride through space in the Ship of the Law, a ship constructed from the fragments of Earth's corpse, determined to punish those responsible for their planet's destruction. I read two or three science novel a year and am usually disappointed. This book is one of the reasons I keep on looking. This book uses the setting of 80 odd juveniles without parental or moral guidance to explore both the morality of war and the contradictions inherent in any belief system founded on following another's command. It is to the science fiction interstellar war genre what Saving Private Ryan is to conventional war movies. There are no easy answers to the dilemmas posed, and Bear thankfully does not suggest that there are, he merely explores the depths of the problem. Along the way, Bear pushes to their limits two science fiction conventions: interstellar war by advanced civilization and alien intelligence. In this novel, war technology is so advanced that supernovas can be engineered by combatants. And the aliens are so alien that humans are able to communicate with them at all only with help. The implications of both concepts are daunting, but! Bear pushes them through to their natural conclusions.
	Moving Mars by Greg Bear In this 1995 Nebula Award-winning novel, a revolution is transforming the formerly passive Earth-colony of Mars. While opposing political factions on Mars battle for the support of colonists, scientists make a staggering scientific breakthrough that at once fuels the conflict and creates a united Mars front, as the technically superior Earth tries to take credit for it. Backed against a wall, colonial leaders are forced to make a monumental decision that changes the future of Mars forever.
	Foundation and Chaos by Greg Bear This is book number two in the new Second Foundation Trilogy being written by hard science fiction authors Gregory Benford, Greg Bear, and David Brin, otherwise known as the "Killer B's." In this book, Bear continues where Benford's Foundation's Fear left off, as the trial of legendary psychohistorian Hari Seldon is about to begin. Bear writes with a style uncannily similar to Foundation creator Isaac Asimov's, and he even manages to incorporate some of Asimov's own writing in the novel. Aside from the trial, Bear also focuses on the nearly immortal robots that serve the Foundation, including R. Daneel Olivaw, who is set to guide one of the Foundation's first great undertakings. But Olivaw runs into trouble from an unexpected quarter, his best operative, Lodovik Trema, whose positronic brain has been irrevocably altered in a strange accident that has given him freedom from the supposedly immutable laws of robotics.
	Darwin's Radio by Greg Bear All the best thrillers contain the solution to a mystery, and the mystery in this intellectually sparkling scientific thriller is more crucial and stranger than most. Why are people turning against their neighbors and their newborn children? And what is causing an epidemic of still births? A disgraced paleontologist and a genetic engineer both come across evidence of cover-ups in which the government is clearly up to no good. But no one knows what's really going on, and the government is covering up because that is what, in thrillers as in life, governments do. And what has any of this to do with the discovery of a Neanderthal family whose mummified faces show signs of a strange peeling?
	Vitals by Greg Bear Reading Vitals, Greg Bear's dark, suspenseful, paranoid thriller of high-tech bioterrorism, would be terrifying even without real-world anthrax attacks. But the news stories of late 2001 add layers of resonance to the book. You'd think the secret of eternal life would be an eagerly awaited boon to humanity. Yet when cutting-edge researcher Hal Cousins travels deep below the ocean's surface in a two-man submersible, seeking primitive lifeforms that may hold the key to immortality, his pilot attacks him. Barely surviving, Hal maneuvers the sub to the surface--and finds a fellow scientist has shot up his research ship. Then his lab is destroyed, his twin brother leaves a mysterious message saying they're both being pursued by an unknown force, and his sister-in-law calls to tell him his twin, who is also researching life extension, has been murdered. Someone or something has already discovered the secret of eternal life. It has immense power and influence, and it will stop at nothing to protect its secret.