Creatures of Want and Ruin by Molly Tanzer

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So desperate that when wealthy strangers ask her to procure libations for an extravagant party Ellie sells them everything she has including some booze she acquired under unusual circumstances. What Ellie doesn’t know is that this booze is special. Distilled from foul mushrooms by a cult of diabolists those who drink it see terrible things – like the destruction of Long Island in fire and flood. The cult is masquerading as a church promising salvation through temperance and a return to “the good old days so it’s hard for Ellie to take a stand against them especially when her father joins but Ellie loves Long Island and she loves her family and she’ll do whatever it takes to ensure neither is torn apart.
9781473672956Imagine a world where the healthy choice is the only choice. ‘Original and subversive.’ Independent ‘Life-affirming’ Erin Kelly author of He Said/She Said Lea Kirino is a ‘Lifer’ who has the potential to live forever – if she does everything right. She has lived her life by religiously following the state directives that ensure she remains fit and healthy. She knows she wants to live forever and she is going to green juice yoga-cise and meditate her way to immortality. Yet when a brush with death brings her face to face with a mysterious group who believe in everything the state has banned memories of now-forbidden childhood pleasures resurge alongside ghosts of her past. As Lea’s long-held beliefs begin to crack she is forced to consider: What does it really mean to live? ‘Addictive’ Sun ‘Fascinating’ Jeff VanderMeer author of the Southern Reach trilogy ‘An intriguing idea in which Heng takes a much-needed swipe at health fascism and our obsession with youth beauty and superfoods’ Mail on Sunday
9781473225527A powerful and intense sf tale from a master storyteller In the far future gap drives faster-than-light deep space travel but sometimes this afflicts some with irreparable brain damage. A Zone Implant can turn such a person into a zombie to protect his shipmates but it’s highly illegal. Ensign Morn Hyland works for the United Mining Company which is in charge of law enforcement throughout known space. She lives aboard a police ship together with most of her family; their job is to chase down pirates and other illegals who prey on the weak or smuggle goods into forbidden space. Her life is nothing out of the ordinary – until she falls in with the pirate Captain Nick Succorso. All of a sudden the young strong beautiful police officer appears to be falling in love – well lust at least – with the murdering pirate or so it appears to the folk at the space station’s bar. But the real story was quite different …
9781473676398Now a major HBO and Sky Atlantic limited series starring Ben Mendelsohn. ‘If you read only one thriller this summer make it this one’ Daily Mail A horrifying crime. Water-tight evidence points to a single suspect. Except he was seventy miles away with an iron-clad alibi. Detective Anderson sets out to investigate the impossible: how can the suspect have been both at the scene of the crime and in another town?
9780261103573Continuing the story begun in The Hobbit this is the first part of Tolkien’s epic masterpiece The Lord of the Rings featuring a striking black cover based on Tolkien’s own design the definitive text and a detailed map of Middle-earth. Sauron the Dark Lord has gathered to him all the Rings of Power – the means by which he intends to rule Middle-earth. All he lacks in his plans for dominion is the One Ring – the ring that rules them all – which has fallen into the hands of the hobbit Bilbo Baggins. In a sleepy village in the Shire young Frodo Baggins finds himself faced with an immense task as his elderly cousin Bilbo entrusts the Ring to his care. Frodo must leave his home and make a perilous journey across Middle-earth to the Cracks of Doom there to destroy the Ring and foil the Dark Lord in his evil purpose. Now published again in B format J.R.R. Tolkien’s great work of imaginative fiction has been labelled both a heroic romance and a classic fantasy fiction. By turns comic and homely epic and diabolic the narrative moves through countless changes of scene and character in an imaginary world which is totally convincing in its detail.
9780261103580Building on the story begun in The Hobbit this is the second part of Tolkien’s epic masterpiece The Lord of the Rings featuring a striking black cover based on Tolkien’s own design the definitive text and a detailed map of Middle-earth. Frodo and the Companions of the Ring have been beset by danger during their quest to prevent the Ruling Ring from falling into the hands of the Dark Lord by destroying it in the Cracks of Doom. They have lost the wizard Gandalf in the battle with an evil spirit in the Mines of Moria; and at the Falls of Rauros Boromir seduced by the power of the Ring tried to seize it by force. While Frodo and Sam made their escape the rest of the company were attacked by Orcs. Now they continue their journey alone down the great River Anduin – alone that is save for the mysterious creeping figure that follows wherever they go.
9780007523221A new B-format edition of this novel designed to take fans of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings deeper into the myths and legends of Middle-earth The Silmarillion is an account of the Elder Days of the First Age of Tolkien’s world. It is the ancient drama to which the characters in The Lord of the Rings look back and in whose events some of them such as Elrond and Galadriel took part. The tales of The Silmarillion are set in an age when Morgoth the first Dark Lord dwelt in Middle-Earth and the High Elves made war upon him for the recovery of the Silmarils the jewels containing the pure light of Valinor. Included in the book are several shorter works. The Ainulindale is a myth of the Creation and in the Valaquenta the nature and powers of each of the gods is described. The Akallabeth recounts the downfall of the great island kingdom of Numenor at the end of the Second Age and Of the Rings of Power tells of the great events at the end of the Third Age as narrated in The Lord of the Rings. This pivotal work features the revised corrected text and includes by way of an introduction a fascinating letter written by Tolkien in 1951 in which he gives a full explanation of how he conceived the early Ages of Middle-earth.
9780712352987In 1926 Muriel Jaeger dissatisfied with the Utopian visions of H G Wells and Edward Bellamy set out to explore `The Question Mark’ of what a future society might look like if human nature were properly represented. So disgruntled London office worker Guy Martin is pitched 200 years into the future where he encounters a seemingly ideal society in which each citizen has the luxury of every kind of freedom. But as Guy adjusts to the new world the fractures of this supposed Utopia begin to show through and it seems as if the inhabitants of this society might be just as susceptible to the promises of false messiahs as those of the twentieth century. Preceding the publication of Huxley’s Brave New World by 5 years The Question Mark is a significant cornerstone in the foundation of the Dystopia genre and an impressive and unjustly neglected work of literary science fiction. This edition brings the novel back into print for the first time since its original publication.
9781529100570Often compared to Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale and Naomi Alderman’s The Power – Woman on the Edge of Time has been hailed as a classic of speculative science fiction. Disturbing and forward thinking Marge Piercy’s remarkable novel will speak to a new generation of readers. Connie Ramos has been unjustly incarcerated in a mental institution with no hope of release. The authorities view her as a danger to herself and to others. Her family has given up on her. But Connie has a secret – a way to escape the confines of her cell. She can see the future. . . For fans of THE HANDMAID’S TALE this is a reissue of a much loved feminist classic. ‘She is a serious writer who deserves the sort of considered attention which too often she does not get…’ MARGARET ATWOOD
9780712352697The fact that humanity is not alone in the universe has long preoccupied our thoughts. In this compelling new collection of short stories from SF’s classic age our visions of `other’ are shown in a myriad of forms – beings from other worlds corrupted lifeforms from our own planet and entities from unimaginable dimensions. Amongst these tales the humble ant becomes humanity’s greatest foe a sailor awakes in a hellish landscape terrified by a monstrous creature from the deep an extra-terrestrial apocalypse devastates our world but also brings us together and our race becomes the unwitting agent of another species’ survival. Be prepared to face your greatest fears and relinquish your hold on reality as you confront the menace of the monster.
9780261103344This definitive paperback edition features nine illustrations and two maps drawn by J.R.R. Tolkien and a preface by Christopher Tolkien. Bilbo Baggins is a hobbit who enjoys a comfortable unambitious life rarely travelling further than the pantry of his hobbit-hole in Bag End. But his contentment is disturbed when the wizard Gandalf and a company of thirteen dwarves arrive on his doorstep one day to whisk him away on an unexpected journey ‘there and back again’. They have a plot to raid the treasure hoard of Smaug the Magnificent a large and very dangerous dragon… The prelude to The Lord of the Rings The Hobbit has sold many millions of copies since its publication in 1937 establishing itself as one of the most beloved and influential books of the twentieth century.
9780356507026A usurper has claimed the throne. Invaders amass at the borders. And they have made their alliances with enemy gods… For centuries the kingdom of Iraden has been protected by a god known as the Raven. But in their hour of need the Raven speaks nothing to its people. It is into this unrest that the warrior Eolo – aide to the true heir to the throne – arrives. In seeking to help his master reclaim his city Eolo discovers that the Raven’s Tower holds a secret. Its foundations conceal a dark history that has been waiting to reveal itself… and to set in motion a chain of events that could destroy Iraden forever. A triumph of the imagination The Raven Tower is the first fantasy novel by Ann Leckie New York Times bestselling author and winner of the Hugo Nebula and Arthur C. Clarke Awards. Gods meddle in the fates of men men play with the fates of gods and a pretender must be cast down from the throne in this breathtaking fantasy masterpiece.
9780241953181After the Internet what came next? Enter the Metaverse – cyberspace home to avatars and software daemons where anything and just about everything goes. Newly available on the Street – the Metaverse’s main drag – is Snow Crash a cyberdrug. Trouble is Snow Crash is also a computer virus – and something more. Because once taken it infects the person behind the avatar. Snow Crash bleeds into reality. Which is really bad news for Hiro – freelance hacker and the Metaverse’s best swordfighter (he wrote the code) – and Y. T. – skateboard kourier street imp and mouthy teenage girl – because reality was shitty enough before someone started messing with it . . . Exploring linguistics religion computer science politics philosophy cryptography and the future of pizza delivery Snow Crash is a riveting brake-neck adventure into the fast-approaching future.
9781785655630On a desert planet two boys meet sparking a friendship that will change human society forever. On the windswept world of Bleak a string of murders lead a writer to a story with unbelievable ramifications. One man survives the vicious attacks but is left with a morbid fascination with death; the perfect candidate for the perilous job of working on a rig. Welcome to the System. Here the concept of a god has been abandoned and a new faith pervades: AfterLife a social media platform that allows subscribers a chance at resurrection based on the votes of other users. So many Lives forever interlinked and one structure at the centre of it all: the rig.
9781473223127ALL HAIL THE GIRL KING. Your greatest enemy is closer than you think. Princess Lu is destined to become the first female emperor. Her sister Min is resigned to a life in her shadow. When their father declares their male cousin heir instead his betrayal changes everything. Determined to reclaim her birthright Lu goes on the run. Her path crosses with Nokhai the last surviving wolf shapeshifter. Forced into an uneasy alliance they’re going to need an army to take back the throne. Back in court Min discovers her hidden power. It’s a forbidden deadly magic that could allow Min to claim the throne for herself. But there can only be one emperor and the sisters’ greatest enemy could turn out to be each other . . . ‘I expect this to be one of the most talked-about books of 2019’ Samantha Shannon #1 bestselling author of The Priory of the Orange Tree
9781472217721In Trigger Warning global phenomenon and Sunday Times bestselling author Neil Gaiman returns to dazzle captivate haunt and entertain with this third collection of short fiction which includes a Doctor Who adventure the David Bowie-inspired The Return of the Thin White Duke and a never-before published American Gods story Black Dog. The Truth is a Cave in the Black Mountains was serialised on BBC Radio 4’s Book at Bedtime in November 2015. ‘We are all wearing masks. That is what makes us interesting. These are stories about those masks and the people we are underneath them.’ Neil Gaiman writing from a cabin in the dark woods. Make sure you secure your own mask before reading. Before being transported to worlds filled with witches watchers and big black bees with deathless Kin and pirate girls with things that prowl in the darkness beyond the circle fire to find the Shadder lurking at your journey’s end. But then what happens? There’s always something waiting for you. There’s always more. Just keep turning the pages. ‘We each have our little triggers.’ Literary alchemy from ‘a writer of rare perception and endless imagination’ (William Gibson) TRIGGER WARNING is a cornucopia of storytelling: horror and ghost stories science fiction and fairy tales fabulism and poetry. It will open your eyes to the inexhaustible supply of darkness around you the magic and the monsters the myths and the miracles and to finding truths in the most extraordinary of places.
9780008323745From the creator of the wildly popular Welcome to Night Vale podcast comes a story about loving about searching – and about the courage you need when you find the unexpected. For fans of Stephen King Serial Twin Peaks and of course the eponymous number one iTunes podcast itself. Keisha Lewis mourned the loss of her wife Alice who disappeared two years ago. There was a search there was grief beyond what she thought was possible. There was a funeral. But then Keisha began to see her wife again and again in the background of news reports from all over America. Alice isn’t dead. And she is showing up at the scene of every tragedy in the country. Keisha shrugs off her old life and hits the road as a trucker – hoping on some level that travelling the length of the country will lead her to the person she loves. What she finds are buried crimes and monsters (both human and unimaginable) government conspiracies haunted service stations and a darkness far older than the highway system it lies beneath. Inspired by the eponymous podcast Alice Isn’t Dead is a story about loving about searching – and about the courage you need when what you find is terrifyingly unexpected. Cast in the fluorescent lights of midnight diner-signs this story is as big as the open road and as intimate as the darkness of a trucker’s cab: perfect for fans of Stephen King Serial Twin Peaks and American Gods.
9781473224056Stephen Baxter’s highly acclaimed first novel and the beginning of his stunning Xeelee Sequence finally enters the SF Masterwork series! A spaceship from Earth accidentally crossed through a hole in space-time to a universe where the force of gravity is one billion times as strong as the gravity we know. Somehow the crew survived aided by the fact that they emerged into a cloud of gas surrounding a black hole which provided a breathable atmosphere. Five hundred years later their descendants still struggle for existence divided into two main groups. The Miners live on the Belt a ramshackle ring of dwellings orbiting the core of a dead star which they excavate for raw materials. These can be traded for food from the Raft a structure built from the wreckage of the ship on which a small group of scientists preserve the ancient knowledge which makes survival possible. Rees is a Miner whose curiosity about his world makes him stow away on a flying tree – just one of the many strange local lifeforms – carrying trade between the Belt and the Raft. And what he finds will change his world…
9780712353304Uncovering the history of the tattoo in classic fiction for the first time this original selection depicts the tattoo as a catalyst for scandal in society as a symbol for an unknowable supernatural force and as transcendent living art merging the spirits of a tattooer and his or her living canvas. Featuring previously hidden works from the pages of rare literary magazines such as The Starfish Tattoo” alongside such classics of the genre as Tanizaki’s “The Tattooer” and Saki’s “The Background this exploration of the tattoo in fiction is guaranteed to leave an indelible impression.
9781529000573Irene and Kai have to team up with an unlikely band of misfits to pull off an amazing art heist. Or they must risk the wrath of a dangerous villain in his secret island lair. . . As Irene tries to manage a fraught Fae-dragon truce and her overbearing parents she’s given a hot new mission. The world where she grew up is in danger and only one book can save it. This is held by Mr Nemo secretive Fae villain and antique dealer so Irene and Kai travel to his Caribbean retreat to strike a deal. But in return for the book they must steal a painting from twenty-first-century Vienna. They’ll join a team of dragons Fae gamblers and thieves so their greatest challenge may be one another. And some will kill to protect this painting which hides an extraordinary secret from a past age. In this bookish adventure a Librarian spy must fall in with a nefarious group to achieve her goals. Imagine Ocean’s Eleven meets James Bond with a pinch of magic. This is the sixth novel in Genevieve Cogman’s Invisible Library series.
9780356512013Some believe the Ambhan Empire is cursed. But Arwa doesn’t simply believe it – she knows it’s true. Widowed by the infamous unnatural massacre at Darez Fort Arwa was saved only by the strangeness of her blood – a strangeness she had been taught all her life to suppress. She offers up her blood and service to the imperial family and makes common cause with a disgraced illegitimate prince who has turned to forbidden occult arts to find a cure to the darkness hanging over the Empire. Using the power in Arwa’s blood they seek answers in the realm of ash: a land where mortals can seek the ghostly echoes of their ancestors’ dreams. But the Emperor’s health is failing and a terrible war of succession hovers on the horizon not just for the imperial throne but for the magic underpinning Empire itself. To save the Empire Arwa and the prince must walk the bloody path of their shared past through the realm of ash and into the desert where the cause of the Empire’s suffering-and its only chance of salvation – lie in wait. But what they find there calls into question everything they’ve ever valued . . . and whether they want to save the Empire at all.
9780356511368***Winner of the Arthur C. Clarke Award 2019*** Winner of the inaugural Nommo Award for Best Novel Africa’s first award for speculative fiction Shortlisted for the Kitschie Award for Best Novel 2019 John W. Campbell Award finalist for Best Science Fiction Novel ‘A magnificent tour de force’ Adrian Tchaikovsky ‘Smart. Gripping. Fabulous!’ Ann Leckie ‘Mesmerising’ M. R. Carey ‘An astonishing book. I wish I’d written it’ Lauren Beukes Rosewater is a town on the edge. A community formed around the edges of a mysterious alien biodome its residents comprise the hopeful the hungry and the helpless – people eager for a glimpse inside the dome or a taste of its rumoured healing powers. Kaaro is a government agent with a criminal past. He has seen inside the biodome and doesn’t care to again – but when something begins killing off others like himself Kaaro must defy his masters to search for an answer facing his dark history and coming to a realisation about a horrifying future. Rosewater is the start of a vibrant and compellingly told trilogy by one of science fiction’s most engaging new voices – perfect for fans of N. K. Jemisin’s The Fifth Season Ann Leckie’s Ancillary Justice and Jeff Vandermeer’s Southern Reach trilogy.
9781444763607THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER ‘Fforde pours his brilliant imagination into every corner of this world’ Daily Mail ‘Fforde keeps the puns and neologisms coming thick and fast while exploring every facet of his novel’s intriguing premise’ Financial Times Every Winter the human population hibernates. During those bitterly cold four months the nation is a snow-draped landscape of desolate loneliness and devoid of human activity. Well not quite. Your name is Charlie Worthing and it’s your first season with the Winter Consuls the committed but mildly unhinged group of misfits who are responsible for ensuring the hibernatory safe passage of the sleeping masses. You are investigating an outbreak of viral dreams which you dismiss as nonsense; nothing more than a quirky artefact borne of the sleeping mind. When the dreams start to kill people it’s unsettling. When you get the dreams too it’s weird. When they start to come true you begin to doubt your sanity. But teasing truth from Winter is never easy: You have to avoid the Villains and their penchant for murder kidnapping and stamp collecting ensure you aren’t eaten by Nightwalkers whose thirst for human flesh can only be satisfied by comfort food and sidestep the increasingly less-than-mythical WinterVolk. But so long as you remember to wrap up warmly you’ll be fine. Praise for Jasper Fforde: ‘Forget all the rules of time space and reality; just sit back and enjoy the adventure’ Telegraph ‘True literary comic genius’ Sunday Express ‘Ingenious’ Terry Pratchett
9781447281344Salvation is the first title in a stunning science fiction trilogy the Salvation Sequence by Peter F. Hamilton. Know your enemy – or be defeated. AD 2204 An alien shipwreck is discovered on a planet at the very limits of human expansion – so Security Director Feriton Kayne selects a team to investigate. The ship’s sinister cargo not only raises bewildering questions but could also foreshadow humanity’s extinction. It will be up to the team to bring back answers and the consequences of this voyage will change everything. Back on Earth we can now make deserts bloom and extend lifespans indefinitely so humanity seems invulnerable. We therefore welcomed the Olyix to Earth when they contacted us. They needed fuel for their pilgrimage across the galaxy – and in exchange they helped us advance our technology. But were the Olyix a blessing or a curse? THE FAR FUTURE Many lightyears from Earth Dellian and his clan of genetically engineered soldiers are raised with one goal. They must confront and destroy their ancient adversary. The enemy caused mankind to flee across the galaxy and they hunt us still. If they aren’t stopped we will be wiped out – and we’re running out of time.
9780006546061The hauntingly prophetic classic novel set in a not-too-distant future where books are burned by a special task force of firemen. Over 1 million copies sold in the UK. Guy Montag is a fireman. His job is to burn books which are forbidden being the source of all discord and unhappiness. Even so Montag is unhappy; there is discord in his marriage. Are books hidden in his house? The Mechanical Hound of the Fire Department armed with a lethal hypodermic escorted by helicopters is ready to track down those dissidents who defy society to preserve and read books. The classic novel of a post-literate future ‘Fahrenheit 451’ stands alongside Orwell’s ‘1984’ and Huxley’s ‘Brave New World’ as a prophetic account of Western civilization’s enslavement by the media drugs and conformity. Bradbury’s powerful and poetic prose combines with uncanny insight into the potential of technology to create a novel which over fifty years from first publication still has the power to dazzle and shock.
9780356511238Do you remember when we had the vote?” In a world that’s just a step away from our own time travel is possible. But war is brewing – a secret group is trying to destroy women’s rights and their access to the timeline. If they succeed only a small elite will have the power to shape the past present and future. Our only hope lies with an unlikely group of allies from riot grrls to suffragettes their lives separated by centuries battling for a world where anyone can change the future. A final confrontation is coming. The Future of Another Timeline is a breathtakingly original novel from Annalee Newitz founding editor of io9 about the lengths we’ll go to make history. ‘A revolution is happening in speculative fiction and Annalee Newitz is leading the vanguard’ Wil Wheaton actor Star Trek and Big Bang Theory ‘Clever compelling and utterly original’ Laurie Penny “Smart and profound on every level this is a deeply satisfying novel’ Publishers Weekly STARRED review ‘A glorious tale of hope in the face of outrage an anthem of timeless resistance against the powers that would lead us to our worst futures’ Ken Liu ‘A page-turner and an ambitious feminist lens on the time-traveler story’ Kelly Sue DeConnick screenwriter for Captain Marvel ‘Exciting and urgent in the here and now’ Saladin Ahmed ‘Secret history becomes a thrilling secret war’ Nicola Griffith

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Dimensions 210 × 140 mm
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Paperback