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| by James Blish
No. 4 in the Cities In Flight series |
Cover Notes
A Clash of Cymbals follows the passage of the 'New Earth' planet undertaking the first ever inter-galactic transit. In the less relativisticaly-distorted space between the two galaxies evidence of a collision between two universes is detected, a matter-anti-matter collision which reveals the cyclic nature of reality. An alien culture is also investigating this phenomenon, which will shortly accelerate to engulf all galactic space, in other words, the universe will end in a big crunch/big bang. It will be possible to modify the future development of the universes which will emerge from this singularity, and Amalfi directs the 'New Earth' residents to compete with the alien culture (the Web of Hercules) in order to prevent their manipulation of the future of the universe.
As with the other books, a detailed description of the technologies used is provided, including cosmological calculus which appears, though the book was written in 1959, to be compatible with modern string and M-brane theory.
Publication History
First published as hardcover by Putnam in 1959
First published as paperback by Avon in 1959
This story is included in the following books:
Categories: Authors James Blish | Series Cities In Flight | Published 1959 | Publishers Putnam | Publishers Avon
