Earthly disasters and interstellar wars, today's scientific breakthroughs and tomorrow's high-tech obscurantism, the dream of immortality and meeting a dream, after which all that remains is to die... Alastair Reynolds' universe seems to have absorbed all the popular subgenres and themes of science fiction, and they are explored with the insight and acumen of a practicing scientist. It is not for nothing that he is called one of the main science fiction writers of our time, the “British Heinlein.” In this collection, the author of the famous “Space of Revelation” appears before us as a master of small and medium forms - these stories and tales are in no way inferior in fascination to the grandiose space operas that made him famous. Based on the works “Beyond the Eagle Rift” and “The Blue Period of Winter” were filmed, perhaps the two best episodes of the acclaimed series “Love, Death and Robots,” produced by David Fincher. Most of the works included in this book are published in Russian for the first time.