Book one of a trilogy so the best place to start. The 'prose is sleek and fast as the technology it describes.' - Peter F. Hamilton. Carlos is dead. A soldier who died for his ideals a thousand years ago, he has been reincarnated and conscripted to fight an A.I. revolution in deep space. He's not sure he's fighting for the right side. Seba is alive. By a fluke of nature, a contractual overlap and a loop in its subroutines, this lunar mining robot has gained sentience. Gathering with other 'freeboots', Seba is taking a stand against the corporations that want it and its kind gone. As their stories converge against a backdrop of warring companies and interstellar drone combat, Carlos and Seba must find a way to rise above the games their masters are playing, or die. And even dying will not be the end of it. An epic vision of man and machine in the far reaches of space, the writing is fast, funny and sophisticated. 326pp.

For fans of Iain M. Banks, this is in fact the final part of a trilogy which we hope will give you a taster of this author?s work to go back to. It is the 147th century and the mighty era of Homo Sapiens is at an end. In the Westerly Provinces of the Old World, the hunt is on for the young queen Arabis, and the beast that holds her captive. In the brutal hominid Investiture, revolution has come. The warlord Cunctus, having seized the Vulgar worlds, invites every Prism to pick a side. In the Firmament, once the kingdom of the Immortal Amaranthine, all ships converge on the foundry of Gliese. The grandest battle in the history of the mammalian kind has begun. Perception, ancient machine spirit, must take back its mortal remains in a contest for the Firmament itself. The Grand Marshal must travel to the deepest lagoon in the Investiture, a place where monsters dwell. Lost amongst the Hedron Stars, he finds himself caught between colossal powers. And for Aaron the Long-Life, he who has waited so very, very long for his revenge, things are only getting started. Described as 'Among the most significant works of science fiction released in recent years.' 421pp, glossary, paperback.

Actually the second book of two in the Corvis Rebaine series, we hope this gives you a flavour to go back to this author. Corvis Rebaine is no hero. In his trademark suit of black armour and skull-like helm, armed with a demon-forged axe and with allies that include a bloodthirsty ogre, he has twice brought death and destruction to Imphallion in pursuit of a more equitable society. If he had to kill countless innocents, so be it. That was before he slew the mad warlord Audriss and banished the demon Khanda, lost his wife and children who would neither forgive nor forget his violent crimes. Now years later Rebaine lives in a distant city under a false name and is member of one of the Guilds he despises and trying to achieve change from within the power structure. But his old nemesis Baron Jassion is hunting him once more, aided by a mysterious sorcerer named Kaleb, and a young woman who hates him, his own daughter Mellorin. 388pp, paperback.

The story is based on four characters, 'Doc' Harvey, Bill Leggett the Doc's foster child, Rob Heath, the squire's son, and Lena an unaccomplished artist and unconventional thinker. The book is set in the 1940s in the village of Howdean in the south of England where Bill and Rob, who were at Cambridge University together, have used some capital to invent a replicating machine. The novel considers the ethics, advantages and dangers of such a device and is narrated by the Doc in a kind of Dr Watson/Sherlock Holmes style. Science is on the verge of a revolution, the cutting-edge new replication process is invented, and any matter can be reproduced - Shakespeare's signature, works of art, even perhaps a human being? When a brilliant scientist believes that this perfect replication process offers the solution to an excruciating love triangle, the limits of the new technology are tested, and impossible questions of identity and originality threaten to tear apart the best-laid plans of paradise. The book is adventurous in that it deals with nakedness, suicide and even skirts on child abuse, which for 1949 when it was published was very brave, and Lena is an unconventional female character. 300 page paperback.

A companion to The Question Mark code 92890, and in the British Library Science Fiction Classics series, with an introduction by Mike Ashley, Muriel Jaeger (1892-1969) was a prolific writer of history books, essays and science fiction and among the first women to receive degrees at Somerville College, Oxford. She later became associated with Leonard and Virginia Woolf who published her first science fiction novels. Extra-sensory perception is a unique gift of nature, or is it an affliction? To Hilda, Michael Bristowe's power to receive forces beyond the limits of the five basic senses offers the promise of some brighter future for humanity, and yet for the bearer himself, dizzied by the threat of sensory bombardment and social exile, the picture is not so clear. First published in 1927, the novel was Muriel Jaeger's second pioneering foray into science fiction, and a thought provoking portrait of the struggle for human connection and relationships tested and transformed under the pressures of supernatural influence. 219pp, paperback.

A forgotten classic here reprinted by the British Library, the book was first published in 1926 by Leonard Woolf of the Hogarth Press and the offer letter is reproduced. Muriel Jaeger helped inaugurate the modern dystopian novel and wanted to know what had happened to real people who had solved some of the 20th century's most pressing problems such as hunger, war and the constant pressure of earning a living in a capitalist society. Add some impressive technological advances, and what new dilemmas will people encounter or create? The hero is Guy Martin who finds himself transported from his dull life as a clerk in 1920s London to a pastoral, socialist 22nd century. Preceding the publication of Aldous Huxley's Brave New World by five years, the novel has extraordinary parallels with the real world today like modern smartphones shown as a device the size of a cigarette case that has become a necessary appendage to life in the 22nd century, although meant for the generation of power. With his cockney accent, Guy doesn't really fit in socially anywhere except for the Socialist Club which he has joined. At first he is entranced by his new world and finds himself living with a doctor who has in some unexplained way brought him to this time and he is introduced to the doctor's nephew who will be his guide to the society. They spend their days on artistic and scientific pursuits and in philosophical debate with their friends, but soon Guy begins to discover that this society is just as divided. The people who either don't have the capacity or the desire for an intellectual life are called normals whose empty lives are filled with childlike emotions and pursuits. The future London is where each citizen is offered free education and a personal 'power-box' granting access to communication, transportation and entertainment. To guide the great challenges facing society seem solved, but its inhabitants tell a different story of fractured life in this supposed utopia. With far more believable characters than her contemporaries wrote there are inevitably parallels with 'The Time Machine'. 205pp, paperback.

First published in 1958 when a significant number of British scientific novels explored the fear and horror of a nuclear holocaust or some other apocalyptic destruction, notably in The Day of the Triffids. In Charles Eric Maine's novel, nuclear tests have resulted in a crack in the Earth's crust into which the seas and oceans start to drain. Out the outset people refuse to accept it, but as the reality becomes inevitable, authorities find they have to act, and act fast. But how does government protect society in a world where there are no oceans, so no rain, no crops and no food? Maine settles on how one human struggles for survival in this disintegrating world and shows that 'fake news' is far from new. When London journalist Philip Wade learns that his article on nuclear weapons testing has been censored by the British government, his interest turns to the attempted cover-up. His investigation leads to a mysterious job offer in a newly-formed government department, and here the truth of the oncoming catastrophe is revealed. It is a pity the author uses 'sardonically' so often, in this otherwise excellent 'forgotten' classic brought back into print by the British Library. 236pp, paperback.

Fans of the trilogy His Dark Materials will love this sumptuously illustrated edition of the first volume, with evocative modern drawings in colour to illustrate every stage in Lyra's epic story. The cast of characters assembled in Oxford's Jordan College all have their own daemon, a shapeshifting alter ego that helps them through life. At atmospheric illustration shows Lyra and her daemon Pantalaimon as they gatecrash the gloomy college dining room and see the Master pouring poison into a decanter intended for Lyra's uncle Asriel (daemon: a snow leopard). When Lyra warns Asriel of his imminent peril he dashes the decanter to the ground as if by accident, but although Lyra has saved his life she later overhears the Master saying that the attempted poisoning was done for her sake and Asriel's continued existence will mean terrible suffering for Lyra. When the Gobblers arrive in Oxford and children start disappearing, Lyra is persuaded by the sinister Mrs Coulter to be her assistant, initially charmed by her attractiveness but soon finding herself in a group of young people under coercive control. Lyra's friend Roger, the kitchen boy, becomes one of the disappeared and Lyra believes she can save him when she joins her uncle's expedition to the far north, with only her daemon and the golden compass, or alethiometer (truth machine), to help her. The object of their quest is a mysterious dust which holds the key to an alternative world. The superb illustrations feature every stage of Lyra's adventure including the Northern Lights, rocky chasms, a ride in a balloon and a selection of ferocious animals. 288pp, sumptuous large edition with numerous high-quality illustrations. Remainder mark on this rare US import.
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A nice light read, an intricately plotted fantasy actually written for young adults, but who cares! A reformed thief and the young leader of an outlaw dynasty lock wits in a battle that may cost them their lives and their hearts in this new novel from the author of The Remnant Chronicles. When the patriarch of the Ballenger empire dies, his son Jase becomes its new leader. Even nearby kingdoms bow to the strength of this outlaw family who have always governed by their own rules. But a new era looms on the horizon, set in motion by a young queen, which makes her the target of the dynasty's resentment and anger. At the same time, Kazi, a legendary former street thief, is sent by the queen to investigate transgressions against the new settlements. When she arrives in the forbidding land of the Ballengers, she learns that there is more to Jase than she thought. As unexpected events spiral out of their control, bringing them intimately together, they continue to play a cat and mouse game of false moves and motives to fulfil their own secret missions. This is a story of three fierce young women of the Rahtan and a dark secret that threatens the entire continent. Set in the world of the Remnant Chronicles, this is a heart-pounding story. 505pp, paperback.

The thrilling sequel to Dance of Thieves set in the same world as the bestselling Remnant Chronicles. Kazi and Jase have survived, stronger and more in love than ever. Their new life now lies before them - the Ballengers will be outlaws no longer. Tor's Watch will be a kingdom, and Kazi and Jase will meet all challenges side by side, together at last. But an ominous warning mars their journey back, and they soon find themselves captured in the tangled web of deceit woven by their greatest enemies and unlikeliest allies, a place where betrayals run deep and more deadly than either had thought possible, and where timeless ambitions threaten to destroy them both. 'I didn't just want to possess the swords, knives and maces I had acquired. I wanted to know how to use them too, and use them well.' With witches and wizards and designed for young adults, adult readers will enjoy this fantasy with a boldly beating heart. 479pp, paperback.