The Hundred Light-Year Diary

Last updated

"The Hundred Light-Year Diary"
Short story by Greg Egan
Country Australia
Language English
Genre(s) Science fiction
Publication
Published in Interzone
Publication type Periodical
PublisherTTA Press
Media typePrint
Publication dateJanuary 1992

"The Hundred Light-Year Diary" is a science-fiction short story by Australian writer Greg Egan, first published in Interzone 55 in January 1992. It was later published in the short story collection Axiomatic . It was a finalist for the 2007 Premio Ignotus for Best Foreign Story. [1]

Contents

Plot

The discovery of Chen's galaxy moving backwards through time (due to time reversing with the upcoming contraction of the universe) allows the construction of a messaging system to send information into the own past (using mirrors and sending photons towards Chen's galaxy). Every human is granted a hundred words a day to get send back a hundred years after their death to have a diary of their entire life from birth. James, after already having met his future wife Alison just as described in his diary, starts an affair with a woman, who doesn't keep a diary at all, none of which was mentioned in his own. James instead begins to write lies about his relationship with Alison, hence the upcoming bitterness within is not being reflected in his cheerful messages at all. When war breaks out, he begins to wonder about large scale lies from the future and whether he can change anything at all. [2]

Reception

Karen Burnham, writing in the New York Review of Science Fiction , considers the short story to be among the "rather depressing' ones of Greg Egan because if anything can constrain our free will, it is the cold hand of physics in a closed universe". [2]

See also

Related Research Articles

An ansible is a category of fictional devices or technology capable of near-instantaneous or faster-than-light communication. It can send and receive messages to and from a corresponding device over any distance or obstacle whatsoever with no delay, even between star systems. As a name for such a device, the word "ansible" first appeared in a 1966 novel by Ursula K. Le Guin. Since that time, the term has been broadly used in the works of numerous science fiction authors, across a variety of settings and continuities. A related term is ultrawave.

Greg Egan is an Australian science fiction writer and mathematician, best known for his works of hard science fiction. Egan has won multiple awards including the John W. Campbell Memorial Award, the Hugo Award, and the Locus Award.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Spider Robinson</span> Canadian science fiction author (born 1948)

Spider Robinson is an American-born Canadian science fiction author. He has won a number of awards for his hard science fiction and humorous stories, including the Hugo Award 1977 and 1983, and another Hugo with his co-author and wife Jeanne Robinson in 1978.

<i>Diaspora</i> (novel) 1997 novel by Greg Egan

Diaspora is a hard science fiction novel by the Australian writer Greg Egan which first appeared in print in 1997. It originated as the short story "Wang's Carpets" which originally appeared in the Greg Bear-edited anthology New Legends. The story appears as a chapter of the novel.

<i>Axiomatic</i> (book) 1995 collection of short science fiction stories by author Greg Egan

Axiomatic (ISBN 0-7528-1650-0) is a 1995 collection of short science fiction stories by Greg Egan. The stories all delve into different aspects of self and identity.

<i>Teranesia</i> 1999 novel by Greg Egan

Teranesia is a 1999 science fiction novel by Greg Egan. The novel follows protagonist Prabir Suresh, who lives on an island in the South Moluccas with his biologist parents, who are investigating the unique evolutionary traits of butterflies on the island. As civil war erupts in Indonesia, Prabir and his baby sister Madhusree must escape the islands. When they grow up, Madhusree becomes a biology student, motivated to carry on her parents' legacy in uncovering the evolutionary phenomenon. Prabir reluctantly follows her, as he must navigate and confront the truth that shaped his past.

<i>Against the Fall of Night</i> 1948 novel by Arthur C. Clarke

Against the Fall of Night is a science fiction novel by British writer Arthur C. Clarke. Originally appearing as a novella in the November 1948 issue of the magazine Startling Stories, it was revised and expanded in 1951 and published in book form in 1953 by Gnome Press. It was later expanded and revised again and published in 1956 as The City and the Stars. A later edition includes another of Clarke's early works and is titled The Lion of Comarre and Against the Fall of Night. In 1990, with Clarke's approval, Gregory Benford wrote a sequel titled Beyond the Fall of Night, which continues the story arc of the 1953 novel. It is generally printed with the original novel as a single volume.

<i>M33 in Andromeda</i> Book by A.E. van Vogt

M33 in Andromeda is a collection of six science fiction stories by Canadian-American writer A. E. van Vogt, first published in April 1971.

<i>Children of the Lens</i> (novel) 1947 novel by Edward Elmer Smith

Children of the Lens is a science fiction novel by American author E. E. Smith. It was originally serialized in the magazine Astounding beginning in 1947, and was first published in book form in 1954 by Fantasy Press in an edition of 4,874 copies. It is the last book in Smith's Lensman series.

This article presents an incomplete list of short stories by Robert Sheckley, arranged alphabetically by title.

The Clockwork Rocket is a hard science-fiction novel by Australian author Greg Egan and the first part of the Orthogonal trilogy. The novel was published by Night Shade Books on 1 July 2011 with a cover art by Cody Tilson and by Gollancz on 15 September 2011 with a cover art by Greg Egan. The novel describes an alien civilization being threatened by the appearance of hurtling meteors entering their planetary system with an unprecedented speed and the implementation of an unusual plan: All the technology needed for an effective defense shall be developed on board of a generation ship launched into the void while only a few years pass back on the home world in the meantime due to time dilation. This is possible due to different laws for space and time in this universe, in which they have the same signature instead of different ones, or which is alternatively described by a Riemannian instead of a Lorentzian manifold. The consequences on some of the physical concepts needed in the novel including time dilation and radiation, are described by Greg Egan with diagrams in the novel and also his website. The story is continued in The Eternal Flame and The Arrows of Time.

"The Moral Virologist" is a science fiction short story by Greg Egan. It was first published in September 1990 in Pulphouse Magazine, and subsequently republished in 1991's The Best of Pulphouse, in the Summer 1993 issue of Eidolon magazine, and in Egan's 1995 collection Axiomatic. An Italian-language version, "Il Virologo Morale", was published in 2003.

The Eternal Flame is a hard science-fiction novel by Australian author Greg Egan and the second part of the Orthogonal trilogy. The novel was published by Night Shade Books on 26 August 2012 with a cover art by Cody Tilson and by Gollancz on 8 August 2013 with a cover art by Greg Egan. The novel describes the journey of the generation ship Peerless, which has departed in The Clockwork Rocket, and the development of new technology as well as changes of the society on board. An essential task is the construction of an engine not needing any fuel to generate thrust, but instead perfectly balancing out the radiation it emits with the energy this generates. To make such a process work, the universe of the novel is based on a Riemannian instead of a Lorentzian manifold, changing the rules of physics. The details are described by Greg Egan on his website. The story is continued in The Arrows of Time.

The Arrows of Time is a hard science-fiction novel by Australian author Greg Egan and the third part of the Orthogonal trilogy. The novel was published by Gollancz on 21 November 2013 with a cover art by Greg Egan and by Night Shade Books on 5 August 2014 with a cover art by Cody Tilson. The novel describes the return journey of the generation ship Peerless, which has been launched in The Clockwork Rocket and traveled into the void in The Eternal Flame, and the reverse enabling the construction of a device to receive messages from the own future as well as the journey to a world where time runs in reverse. The universe of the novel is therefore based on a Riemannian instead of a Lorentzian manifold, changing the rules of physics. The details are described by Greg Egan on his website.

"Axiomatic" is a science-fiction short story by Australian writer Greg Egan, first published in Interzone 41 in November 1990. The short story was included in the collection The Best of Greg Egan in 2020.

"Singleton" is a science-fiction short story by Australian writer Greg Egan, first published in Interzone 176 in February 2002. The short story was included in the collections Crystal Nights and Other Stories and Oceanic in 2009, as well as The Best of Greg Egan in 2020. The short story is set in the same universe as Egan's short story "Oracle" and Egan's novel Schild's Ladder.

"Contraction" is a science-fiction short story by Chinese writer Liu Cixin. It was published in Science Fiction World in Chongqing in 1999 and in the anthology Hold Up the Sky in October of 2020.

Dark Integers and Other Stories is a collection of five science-fiction short stories by Australian writer Greg Egan, published in 2008 by Subterranean Press. One of them, "Oceanic", won the Hugo Award for Best Novella, while two others were nominated.

"Luminous" is a science-fiction short story by Australian writer Greg Egan, first published in Asimov’s Science Fiction in September 1995.

"Dark Integers" is a science-fiction short story by Australian writer Greg Egan, first published in Asimov's Science Fiction in October/November 2007. The short story was included in the collections Dark Integers and Other Stories in 2008, Oceanic in 2009 and The Best of Greg Egan in 2020. It was nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Novelette in 2008. It is a sequel to the short story "Luminous".

References

  1. ""The Hundred Light-Year Diary" by Greg Egan". ISFDB. Retrieved 1 June 2024.
  2. 1 2 Burnham, Karen (13 April 2014). "Free Will in a Closed Universe: Greg Egan's Orthogonal Trilogy". New York Review of Science Fiction . Retrieved 4 May 2016.