Mohs 5.5: Megastructures

“Few artists thrive in solitude and nothing is more stimulating than the conflict of minds with similar interests,” wrote the celebrated science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke.In these pages, a spectacular collection of science fiction authors – newcomers and veterans, bestsellers and debuts–clash thusly over one of Clarke’s most famous motifs: extreme feats of engineering.Curated by Yudhanjaya Wijeratne, Mohs 5.5: Megastructures echoes a journey through hard science fiction that inspires, entertains, and, quite possibly, explores.

From Sri Lanka, India, Australia, and North America come five-minutes-into-the-future efforts to detect alien life, great colonies in the void, homophobia in space, and a one-man army being endlessly 3D-printed and sent out to do battle among the stars.