Science fiction award-winner, flesh-eating bacteria survivor, and somewhat questionably convicted felon Peter Watts returns with this long-awaited short fiction collection. Including an unpublished work, Watts posits unlimited brain-computer interfaces, the possibility of life existing inside stars, the hacking of human behavior, and ecological collapse. (Also, the healing power of revenge.)
ISBN: Print: 978-1-61696-467-2; Digital formats: 978-1-61696-468-9
Published: 22 September 2026
Available Format(s): trade paperback, digital
Science fiction award-winner, flesh-eating bacteria survivor, and somewhat questionably convicted felon Peter Watts returns with this long-awaited short fiction collection. Including an unpublished work, Watts posits unlimited brain-computer interfaces, the possibility of life existing inside stars, the hacking of human behavior, and ecological collapse. (Also, the healing power of revenge.)
What if a weaponized water supply reprograms pattern recognition in the brain, provoking violent rage at the sight of the Google logo. Or an accidental hive-mind creates a global agenda to resurrect itself in the scant seconds between its emergence and dissolution? A steroidal jump gate-building ship attempts to survive passage through a red-giant sun by hiding inside an ice-giant planet. When something is trying to colonize the sun, humans try to stop it. Spoiler alert: Nobody comes off very well.
In his newest short fiction, alongside an introduction by Richard Morgan, Watts (The Freeze-Frame Revolution) reserves whatever hope he has for whatever comes after humans. In light of his stories and recent events, it is difficult to fault that assessment.
Praise for Peter Watts
“If science fiction can really be claimed as a literature of ideas, then Watts is without doubt its premier practitioner.”
—Richard Morgan, author of Altered Carbon
“A new book from crazy genius Watts is always cause for celebration . . . Watts is one of those writers who gets into your brain and remains lodged there like an angry, sentient tumor.”
—io9
“Watts displays a gleefully macabre inventiveness combined with scientific rigour.”
—Nalo Hopkinson, author of Brown Girl in the Ring
“[Watts] asks the questions that the best science fiction writers ask, but that the rest of us may be afraid to answer.”
—Chicago Tribune
“Watts continues to challenge readers with his imaginative plots and superb storytelling.”
—Library Journal
“A hard science fiction writer through and through—and one of the very best alive, a peer of writers such as Neil Stephenson, Allen Steele, and the Three Gregs, Benford, Bear and Egan.”
—The Globe and Mail
“Even when Watts is wrong he is brilliant.”
—Armed and Dangerous
“Watts’s novels blow the mind pretty much on every page.”
—Tor.com
Peter Watts (www.rifters.com) is a former marine biologist who clings to some shred of scientific rigor by appending technical bibliographies onto his novels. His debut novel, Starfish, was a New York Times Notable Book, while his fourth, Blindsight—a rumination on the utility of consciousness that has become a required text in undergraduate courses ranging from philosophy to neuroscience—was a finalist for numerous North American genre awards, winning exactly none of them. (It did, however, win a shitload of awards overseas, which suggests that his translators may be better writers than he is.) His latest novella, The Freeze-Frame Revolution, won the Nowa Fantastyka Prize for Best Foreign Book in Poland.
Watts’s shorter work has also picked up trophies in a variety of jurisdictions, notably a Shirley Jackson Award (possibly due to fan sympathy over his nearly dying of flesh-eating disease in 2011) and a Hugo Award (possibly due to fan outrage over an altercation with US border guards in 2009). The latter incident resulted in Watts being barred from entering the US—not getting on the ground fast enough after being punched in the face by border guards is a “felony” under Michigan statutes—but he can’t honestly say he misses the place all that much.
Watts’s work is available in twenty languages—he seems to be especially popular in countries with a history of Soviet occupation—and has been cited as inspirational to several popular video games. He and his cat, Banana (since deceased), have both appeared in the prestigious scientific journal Nature. A few years ago he briefly returned to science with a postdoc in molecular genetics, but he really sucked at it.
Fold Catastrophes
Peter Watts
Science fiction award-winner, flesh-eating bacteria survivor, and somewhat questionably convicted felon Peter Watts returns with this long-awaited short fiction collection. Including an unpublished work, Watts posits unlimited brain-computer interfaces, the possibility of life existing inside stars, the hacking of human behavior, and ecological collapse. (Also, the healing power of revenge.)
Fold Catastrophes
by Peter Watts
ISBN: Print: 978-1-61696-467-2; Digital formats: 978-1-61696-468-9
Published: 22 September 2026
Available Format(s): trade paperback, digital
Science fiction award-winner, flesh-eating bacteria survivor, and somewhat questionably convicted felon Peter Watts returns with this long-awaited short fiction collection. Including an unpublished work, Watts posits unlimited brain-computer interfaces, the possibility of life existing inside stars, the hacking of human behavior, and ecological collapse. (Also, the healing power of revenge.)
What if a weaponized water supply reprograms pattern recognition in the brain, provoking violent rage at the sight of the Google logo. Or an accidental hive-mind creates a global agenda to resurrect itself in the scant seconds between its emergence and dissolution? A steroidal jump gate-building ship attempts to survive passage through a red-giant sun by hiding inside an ice-giant planet. When something is trying to colonize the sun, humans try to stop it. Spoiler alert: Nobody comes off very well.
In his newest short fiction, alongside an introduction by Richard Morgan, Watts (The Freeze-Frame Revolution) reserves whatever hope he has for whatever comes after humans. In light of his stories and recent events, it is difficult to fault that assessment.
Praise for Peter Watts
“If science fiction can really be claimed as a literature of ideas, then Watts is without doubt its premier practitioner.”
—Richard Morgan, author of Altered Carbon
“A new book from crazy genius Watts is always cause for celebration . . . Watts is one of those writers who gets into your brain and remains lodged there like an angry, sentient tumor.”
—io9
“Watts displays a gleefully macabre inventiveness combined with scientific rigour.”
—Nalo Hopkinson, author of Brown Girl in the Ring
“[Watts] asks the questions that the best science fiction writers ask, but that the rest of us may be afraid to answer.”
—Chicago Tribune
“Watts continues to challenge readers with his imaginative plots and superb storytelling.”
—Library Journal
“A hard science fiction writer through and through—and one of the very best alive, a peer of writers such as Neil Stephenson, Allen Steele, and the Three Gregs, Benford, Bear and Egan.”
—The Globe and Mail
“Even when Watts is wrong he is brilliant.”
—Armed and Dangerous
“Watts’s novels blow the mind pretty much on every page.”
—Tor.com
Peter Watts (www.rifters.com) is a former marine biologist who clings to some shred of scientific rigor by appending technical bibliographies onto his novels. His debut novel, Starfish, was a New York Times Notable Book, while his fourth, Blindsight—a rumination on the utility of consciousness that has become a required text in undergraduate courses ranging from philosophy to neuroscience—was a finalist for numerous North American genre awards, winning exactly none of them. (It did, however, win a shitload of awards overseas, which suggests that his translators may be better writers than he is.) His latest novella, The Freeze-Frame Revolution, won the Nowa Fantastyka Prize for Best Foreign Book in Poland.
Watts’s shorter work has also picked up trophies in a variety of jurisdictions, notably a Shirley Jackson Award (possibly due to fan sympathy over his nearly dying of flesh-eating disease in 2011) and a Hugo Award (possibly due to fan outrage over an altercation with US border guards in 2009). The latter incident resulted in Watts being barred from entering the US—not getting on the ground fast enough after being punched in the face by border guards is a “felony” under Michigan statutes—but he can’t honestly say he misses the place all that much.
Watts’s work is available in twenty languages—he seems to be especially popular in countries with a history of Soviet occupation—and has been cited as inspirational to several popular video games. He and his cat, Banana (since deceased), have both appeared in the prestigious scientific journal Nature. A few years ago he briefly returned to science with a postdoc in molecular genetics, but he really sucked at it.
www.rifters.com