Half of all the great art and literature in existence went unrecognised during the lifetimes of its creators. - Alastair Reynolds

How did you…pass the time?" Sunday asked. "You couldn't just ching out of it, could you?" "We had a different form of chinging," Eunice said. "An earlier type of virtual-reality technology, much more robust and completely unaffected by time lag. You may have heard of it. We called it 'reading.'

There are certain truths that, in themselves, are as dangerous as any advanced technology.

There are no nasty surprises," Swift said, "only degrees of unpreparedness.