History Creator / RobertReed

* CloningBlues: ''The Cuckoo's Boys'' revolves around the aftermath of a genius biologist creating a virus which impregnated ovulating women with his genetic code, effectively creating millions of copies of himself -- the clones are born like normal people and are no different from a regular person aside from a higher average IQ, but since they share the same general appearance (that of their creator), they are targeted by fanatics.

Not to be confused with the man named [[Series/TheBradyBunch Brady]].

* ''The Leeshore'' (1987)
* ''The Hormone Jungle'' (1988)
* ''Black Milk'' (1989)
* ''Down the Bright Way'' (1991)
* ''The Remarkables'' (1992)
* ''Beyond the Veil of Stars'' (1994)
* ''An Exaltation of Larks'' (1995)

* ContemptibleCover: The cover for ''Chrysalide'', which is a short story collection in French, has a [[GreenSkinnedSpaceBabe white-skinned and naked alien woman]] emerging from an egg-like sphere on an ice covered world.

* DeathWorld: Earth in ''Waging Good'' has an atmosphere pumped full of microscopic war machines, which enter the blood stream and [[YourHeadAsplode violently explode in the head]], viruses which infect pregnant women and turn the fetus into a [[FetusTerrible poison factory]] or {{TykeBomb}}, good ol' radiation, and chemical warfare agents.

* FetusTerrible: In ''Waging Good'', the Earth's atmosphere is full of a variety of deadly nanomachines and tailored viruses after losing a war with its former colonies on the Moon and beyond. One type of artificial virus targets unborn children -- mutating them into [[BodyHorror hellish abominations]], like hiding poison factories in their stomach -- or bladed monsters which try kill anything they see as soon as they are born. Because of this, Earth has "Jurors", people who test any newborn children as soon as they pop out. If they appear subverted, the Juror crushes their head against the nearest wall or table.

* AIIsACrapshoot: One of the more advanced Earths in ''Down the Bright Way'' was attacked by corrupted Von Neumann mining ships. The normally pacificistic Wanderers had no inhibitions about destroying the corrupt machines.

* AlternateUniverse: In ''Down the Bright Way'', the universes extend in two directions out from each other - "left" and "right". Each universe is slightly different from the next, or radically different due to divergence.

* [[BenevolentAlienInvasion Benevolent Human Subspecies Invasion]]: The Wanderers in ''Down the Bright Way'' try to stabilize the politics of the Earths that they visit, re-introduce extinct species, and slowly introduce new sciences
* BlackAndGrayMorality: ''The Leeshore''. The Alteretics conscript civilians and captured soldiers into being fanatical, cannibal soldiers via EmotionControl and MindRape. TheAlliance similarly uses EmotionControl, though in a much more benign way, to subtly reinforce certain emotions and mindsets in their soldiers - though this often makes them very bloodthirsty.

* DeathWorld: Many Earths in ''Down the Bright Way'' have gone through intense nuclear wars, killing off the locals or everything living on the planet - leaving only their machines alive, to keep fighting and producing more weapons.
* DeusEstMachina: An artificial god is built in ''The Leeshore'' using what is essentially computronium. The [[GodOfEvil god is not nice.]] - though [[spoiler: it is later revealed that the god isn't evil - it is simply being manipulated by the controlling priests.]]

* EmotionControl: The "wires" in ''The Leeshore'', which are used by [[TheAlliance both]] [[ReligionOfEvil sides]] of the [[BlackAndGrayMorality conflict]]. The good guys use it to subtly reinforce certain emotions in their soldiers and ensure loyalty - such as making them more courageous. The enemy use the device to essentially MindRape or "conscript" captured civilians soldiers into worshiping their [[DeusEstMachina artificial god]] and the priests; filling the conscript with joy whenever they please the controlling priest, or filling them with blinding rage when they think of their former allies.
* TheFogOfAges: The original Traveller, Jy, in ''Down The Bright Way'' is over a million years old, and must make constant decisions on what memories to keep or discard.

* HandBlast: An ability available to the fighting-gloves worn by Moliak and Cotton in ''Down the Bright Way''
* HumansAreTheRealMonsters: The [=UnFound=] in ''Down the Bright Way'', a highly advanced tribal society that knows nothing besides total war - ''everything'' not part of the tribe is an enemy and must be killed.

* ImAHumanitarian: [[spoiler: Cotton]] in ''Down the Bright Way''.

* LongevityTreatment: Poulsen treatments in ''The Remarkables'' can greatly expand one's lifespan (past the already improved ~150 years), but leaves visible marks - wrinkled hands and oddly colored skin.
* PerpetualMotionMachine: In ''An Exaltation Of Larks'', time travelers from the [[TheStarsAreGoingOut heat death of the universe]] have been steadily making their way back to the Big Bang (at 15 month intervals) in order to tweak the laws of physics to make the ''entire universe'' a perpetual motion machine - rather than slowly succumbing to entropy, the universe will periodically [[ApocalypseHow collapse]] and then expand again.
* SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong: The travelers in ''An Exaltation Of Larks'' have been steadily working their way back to the Big Bang, to physically alter the start of the universe in order to create a cyclic universe where it will periodically collapse and recreate itself, never [[TheStarsAreGoingOut allowing entropy to reach maximum.]]

* StarKilling: Used by Moliak to wipe out the [=UnFound=] systems in ''Down The Bright Way'' - Because the [=UnFound=] colonized ''every'' rock, comet, and planet that they can find, turning the star into essentially a giant bomb quickly became the most effective way to neutralize them.

* TimeAbyss: Mr. Turtle in ''An Exaltation of Larks''. He is at least a trillion years old - a time traveler from the end of the universe.

* AliensAreBastards: ''Five Thrillers''. Aliens [[spoiler: wipe out human civilization with a solar flare]] just because they ''can''.

* AlternateHistory: ''The Boy'' has the ''[[UsefulNotes/{{Jesus}} daughter]]'' of god, which caused Christianity to become a matriarchal religion rather than patriarchal. When Islam appeared a few centuries later, with a male prophet, UsefulNotes/TheCrusades were launched in the 7th century rather than in the 11th, which effectively wiped out Islam as a major entity. When the story takes place (some time in the 20th or 21st century), society is much like the era immediately following the American desegregation - men are effectively second class citizens.

* ArmyOfTheAges: In ''The Hoplite'', a "quantum dilator" is used to implant the consciousness of long-dead warriors into newly cloned bodies. The warriors are given a suit of PoweredArmor and [[DoomTroops no oversight when executing missions]]. The protagonist was a hoplite from Alexander the Great's army and works alongside an SS stormtrooper, a Crusader, a Aztek warrior, and a legionnaire. However, a civilian cast doubt on them being actual warriors from the past, claiming the "quantum dilator" [[QuantumMechanicsCanDoAnything is a buzzword]] and that they're just brainwashed.
* BalkanizeMe: In ''The House Left Empty'', a series of catastrophic EMP blasts and rogue viruses caused most government servers to go corrupt - including communication satellites. By the time the story takes place, most of the population live in "Self Governed" areas, which are essentially micronations. However, the [[VestigialEmpire government still apparently exists]] in some form, as the protagonist wonders why most people still file reports for the IRS.

** In ''Winemaster'', a large percentage of the educated population downloaded their personalities into tiny - and extremely fast - bodies. They live an hour like a person lives a year, and their brains are so compact that heavy atoms can erase memories, forcing them to enclose their tiny population centers with powerful magnetic shields.
* CloningBlues: ''The Cuckoo's Boys'' revolves around the aftermath of a genius biologist creating a virus which impregnated ovulating women with his genetic code, effectively creating millions of copies of himself - the clones are born like normal people and are no different from a regular person aside from a higher average IQ, but since they share the same general appearance (that of their creator), they are targeted by fanatics.
* DeathWorld: Earth in ''Waging Good'' has an atmosphere pumped full of microscopic war machines, which enter the blood stream and [[YourHeadAsplode violently explode in the head]], viruses which infect pregnant women and turn the fetus into a [[FetusTerrible poison factory]] or TykeBomb, good ol' radiation, and chemical warfare agents.
* EmergencyPresidentialAddress: ''Five Thrillers'' ends with the President telling whoever is listening to [[spoiler: murder, steal, and loot]] as it's the only way to survive the incoming solar flare.

** Appears in ''The Children's Crusade'', which is crewed by robots, with [[spoiler: the colonists being essentially cargo]]
** A Buick functions like a GenerationShip in ''Winemaster'' - the inhabitants, robots with human minds, live extremely fast, so several dozen generations go by during its drive from the United States to Canada.

* InYourNatureToDestroyYourselves: Stated by the immortal robotic crew of the GenerationShip in ''Chrysalis'' - they were programmed to believe that all sentient races eventually destroy themselves in devastating interstellar wars, after fleeing the ruins of the solar system after humanity's final, apocalyptic war.
* MatterReplicator: In ''The House Left Empty'', most homes after the [[BalkanizeMe collapse of most of the world's governments]] have their own miniature "factories" that contain [[NanoTechnology million of miniature robots]], which can manufacture a wide variety of goods when given a supply of matter. Simple food items, plastics, and metals are all within its reach. The protagonist rides in a copy of a [[CoolCar 2021 Ferrari roadster]] which was built in pieces by a larger replicator. The story also shows the scientific uses of the devices - before the collapse, railguns fired what were essentially cannonballs packed with more powerful versions of the factory nanobots at distant worlds and asteroids, which would use solar power to break up minerals and use them to build up bases for future explorers.

* PowerArmor: Soldiers in ''The Hoplite'' have a suit of power armor with a built-in railgun and a control system to call in artillery strikes and drone attacks.

* ResurrectedForAJob: The soldiers in ''The Hoplite'' were all long-dead, but their bones were dug up, used to clone a new body, and their memories retrieved using a device called the quantum-dilutor. All of the soldiers come from empires known for either their brutality or their cunning - Nazis, Mongolian warriors, Aztecs, and Romans are prime candidates for resurrection. The soldiers are used to subjugate rebellious regions.

* VillainProtagonist: The protagonist in ''The Hoplite'' is a resurrected hoplite from UsefulNotes/AlexanderTheGreat's army. He, and many other long dead warriors (A mongol, a [[UsefulNotes/TheKnightsTemplar templar]], a SS officer, etc) have their long-dead memories implanted into cloned bodies. They are then given a suit of power armor and a railgun, and use them to subjugate communities on Earth and raid colonies on Alpha Centauri. The protagonist murders several innocent people and children in revenge for being betrayed.

Robert David Reed (born October 9, 1956) is a UsefulNotes/HugoAward winning (and frequently Hugo Award nominated) ScienceFiction author from Nebraska. He has written over 200 (mostly unconnected) short stories, though he does write stories in his ''Literature/GreatShip'' universe. Many of his works feature forms of {{Immortality}} and TheSingularity, and often deal with how it affects culture.

Some of Reed's older, out of print short stories can be [[http://www.robertreedwriter.com/faq.html#onlinestories read for free on his website]]

Not to be confused with the man named [[Series/TheBradyBunch Brady]].

* WhoWantsToLiveForever: In the short story, ''Finished'', the state of your mind when you are "finished" (given an artificial body) affects how you live the rest of your life, as the hard-memory in the artificial brain doesn't adapt. If you are finished in a happy mood, you'll typically be very happy. If you are finished while in horrible pain, you'll be in horrible pain as long as you are alive...

Robert David Reed (born October 9, 1956) is a HugoAward winning (and frequently Hugo Award nominated) ScienceFiction author from Nebraska. He has written over 200 (mostly unconnected) short stories, though he does write stories in his ''Literature/GreatShip'' universe. Many of his works feature forms of {{Immortality}} and TheSingularity, and often deal with how it affects culture.

Robert Reed is a HugoAward winning (and frequently Hugo Award nominated) ScienceFiction author from Nebraska. He has written over 200 (mostly unconnected) short stories, though he does write stories in his ''Literature/GreatShip'' universe. Many of his works feature forms of {{Immortality}} and TheSingularity, and often deal with how it affects culture.

* AlternateHistory: ''The Boy'' has the ''[[{{Jesus}} daughter]]'' of god, which caused Christianity to become a matriarchal religion rather than patriarchal. When Islam appeared a few centuries later, with a male prophet, UsefulNotes/TheCrusades were launched in the 7th century rather than in the 11th, which effectively wiped out Islam as a major entity. When the story takes place (some time in the 20th or 21st century), society is much like the era immediately following the American desegregation - men are effectively second class citizens.

Not to be confused with the man named [[TheBradyBunch Brady]].

* VillainProtagonist: The protagonist in ''The Hoplite'' is a resurrected hoplite from UsefulNotes/AlexanderTheGreat's army. He, and many other long dead warriors (A mongol, a [[TheKnightsTemplar templar]], a SS officer, etc) have their long-dead memories implanted into cloned bodies. They are then given a suit of power armor and a railgun, and use them to subjugate communities on Earth and raid colonies on Alpha Centauri. The protagonist murders several innocent people and children in revenge for being betrayed.

* VillainProtagonist: The protagonist in ''The Hoplite'' is a resurrected hoplite from AlexanderTheGreat's army. He, and many other long dead warriors (A mongol, a [[TheKnightsTemplar templar]], a SS officer, etc) have their long-dead memories implanted into cloned bodies. They are then given a suit of power armor and a railgun, and use them to subjugate communities on Earth and raid colonies on Alpha Centauri. The protagonist murders several innocent people and children in revenge for being betrayed.

* AlternateHistory: ''The Boy'' has the ''[[{{Jesus}} daughter]]'' of god, which caused Christianity to become a matriarchal religion rather than patriarchal. When Islam appeared a few centuries later, with a male prophet, TheCrusades were launched in the 7th century rather than in the 11th, which effectively wiped out Islam as a major entity. When the story takes place (some time in the 20th or 21st century), society is much like the era immediately following the American desegregation - men are effectively second class citizens.

Robert Reed is a HugoAward winning (and frequently Hugo Award nominated) ScienceFiction author. He has written over 140 (mostly unconnected) short stories, though he does write stories in his ''Literature/GreatShip'' universe. Many of his works feature forms of {{Immortality}} and TheSingularity, and often deal with how it affects culture.

* ''The Flavors of My Genius'' (2006)

Robert Reed is a HugoAward winning (and frequently Hugo Award nominated) ScienceFiction author. He has written over 140 (mostly unconnected) short stories, though he does write stories in his ''Literature/GreatShip'' universe. Many of his works feature forms of {{Immortality}} and TheSingularity, and often deal with how it affects culture, and are typically relatively "[[MohsScaleOfSciFiHardness hard]]".

** Dozens of short stories such as ''The Remoras'' and ''Aeon's Child''