Is Phase Space part of the Manifold series by Stephen Baxter?

Question

I've read Time and I am half way through Space, very enjoyable. I've bought the 3rd book Origin. Inside the front cover of the 1st book it says that Manifold is a series of 4 books, the last book being Phase Space. Is this correct? In the other books it doesn't mention Phase Space, can you enlighten me please?

Answer 1

Manifold is considered a trilogy, composed of the books you've mentioned, Time, Space, and Origin. Phase Space is a collection of short stories, described as "drawn from the vast graph of possibilities across which the lives of hero Reid Malenfant have been scattered." So while it doesn't exactly fit in as a fourth installment, the stories do fit in around the novels. (And is sometimes described as the fourth book in the Manifold "trilogy", which doesn't really make a whole lot of sense.)