Zima Blue
by Alastair Reynolds · first published 2009
9mentions
6recommended by
8HN commenters
2017–2026first – last mentioned
75% recommend25% neutral
Why HN recommends it
Short story about an artist obsessed with a single shade of blue, read as a meditation on art and obsession; a good entry point to Reynolds, especially for readers who want a compact, beautiful piece of science fiction.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
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There’s a really great short story by Alistair Reynolds about an artist that’s obsessed with a certain Zima blue (name of the story) which is essentially an extended meditation on the above, I think you might like it. :)
on “Why we're blind to the color blue” ↗Great anecdote! Reminded me of the short story Zima Blue by Alastair Reynolds (which was adapted into an animation short on Netlifx's "Love, Death and Robots").
on “Why we're blind to the color blue” ↗You might like Alastair Reynolds’ earlier works too. His short story collections are a good place to start (Zima Blue, Diamond Dogs).
on “Autonomous Restructuring of Asteroids into Rotating Space Stations” ↗Andy Weir's stuff isn't utopian but is obviously very science-positive. I have slightly mixed feelings about Alastair Reynolds' work (I thought Revelation Space petered out a bit, but that Zima Blue is profoundly beautiful etc) but his Blue Remembered Earth trilogy is a very deliberate (dare I say heavy handed) attempt at a more optimistic universe. Going back a little, obviously there's the Culture…
on “Who Killed the World?” ↗Quantum Psychology by Robert Anton Wilson Zima Blue by Alastair Reynolds
on “Ask HN: What are the best books you've read that few others have?” ↗I'm not sure if this is in the Love Death and Robots version of Zima Blue - but it was part of the written story. The clips from people reviewing the LD&R version of it always concentrate on Zima and its pursuit of the color. There's an entire second story about the reporter…
on “LaMDA is not sentient” ↗I also recommend the written story for Zima Blue (the Love Death and Robots version was much more focused on the artistic aspect) and the question of wine.
on “AI is killing some companies, yet others are thriving – let's look at the data” ↗Alastair Reynolds wrote a short story with this as an element. I think it's in Zima Blue. Greg Egan goes into such things at length in Permutation City.
on “I Fell 15,000 Feet and Lived” ↗…being with a free will and human form. He started creating art: simple portraits to eventually huge cosmic murals. People forgot that he was a robot and he just became this legendary cosmic artist called Zima Blue (a blue tile was his signature). But he couldn't find peace, his piece of art was stripping away all his functions and advacements and going back to becoming a simple pool cleaning robot again, to clean…
on “Ask HN: Will robotics have a "Zima Blue" moment?” ↗