A brilliant sci-fi novel from one of the last century's most influential pop culture figures
Substance D - otherwise known as Death - is the most dangerous drug ever to find its way on to the black market. It destroys the links between the brain's two hemispheres, leading first to disorentation and then to complete and irreversible brain damage. Bob Arctor, undercover narcotics agent, is trying to find a lead to the source of supply, but to pass as an addict he must become a user, and soon, without knowing what is happening to him, he is as dependent as any of the addicts he is monitoring.
Lees meerThe science fiction masterpiece behind the cult classic films Bladerunner and Bladerunner 2049.
World War Terminus had left the Earth devastated. Through its ruins, bounty hunter Rick Deckard stalked, in search of the renegade replicants who were his prey. When he wasn't 'retiring' them with his laser weapon,
he dreamed of owning a live animal - the ultimate status symbol in a world all but bereft of animal life.
Then Rick got his chance: the assignment to kill six Nexus-6 targets, for a huge reward. But in Deckard's world things were never that simple, and his assignment quickly turned into a nightmare kaleidoscope of subterfuge and deceit - and the threat of death for the hunter rather than the hunted ...
Readers have been blown away by Philip K. Dick:
'Now I understand what all the fuss is about. The guy is a visionary . . . Every paragraph launches us forward, demands our attention . . . a classic example of the finest science fiction' Goodreads reviewer,
'Probably my favourite Philip K. Dick book . . . set in a dystopian Earth much dilapidated after 'World War Terminus' . . . I cannot praise this book enough, it really is one of the all-time greats' Goodreads reviewer,
'A science fiction masterpiece . . . about a post-apocalyptic world seeking resurrection through the rediscovery of empathy. But who is more empathetic - humans or androids? What is the dividing line? The book constantly explores how far human ideas of life, death, religion and love could survive in a dark uncaring world' Goodreads reviewer,
'I thought this was great and original . . . The Earth has become barely habitable due to nuclear winter, radiation and depopulation . . . a really cool story and I think only PKD could have written something of this style. I would recommend this . . . if you liked the Blade Runner movies' Goodreads reviewer,
Lees meerIndividually, they are a seemingly simpleminded young man living in the woods who can read the thoughts of others, a runaway girl with telekinetic powers, twin girls who can barely speak but can teleport across great distances, and an infant with a mind like a supercomputer. Together, they are the Gestalt - a single extraordinary being comprised of remarkable parts - although an essential piece may be missing . . .
But are they the next stage in human development or harbingers of the end of civilization? The answer may come when they are joined by Gerry. Powerfully telepathic, he lacks a moral compass - and his hatred of the world that has rejected him could prove catastrophic.
More Than Human is a genre-bending wonder that explores themes of responsibility and morality, individuality, and belonging. The novel was one of the first to elevate science fiction into the realm of literature, and inspired musicians and artists, including the Grateful Dead and Crosby, Stills & Nash.
From the Nebula Award-winning author of Godbody, The Dreaming Jewels, and other great works of science fiction, this is a must-listen for anyone who enjoys Ramsey Campbell, Robert Silverberg, or Philip Jose Farmer.
First published in 1952, More Than Human won the Retro Hugo Award for Best Novel.
Lees meerThe book that defined the cyberpunk movement, inspiring everything from The Matrix to Cyberpunk 2077.
The sky above the port was the colour of television, tuned to a dead channel.
William Gibson revolutionised science fiction in his 1984 debut Neuromancer. The writer who gave us the matrix and coined the term 'cyberspace' produced a first novel that won the Hugo, Nebula and Philip K. Dick Awards, and lit the fuse on the Cyberpunk movement.
More than three decades later, Gibson's text is as stylish as ever, his noir narrative still glitters like chrome in the shadows and his depictions of the rise and abuse of corporate power look more prescient every day. Part thriller, part warning, Neuromancer is a timeless classic of modern SF and one of the 20th century's most potent and compelling visions of the future. His later work, The Peripheral, has been adapted into a series by Amazon Prime, starring Chloë Grace Moretz.
Readers are hooked on Neuromancer:
'Wow. This is a wild ride. If you liked Philip K. Dick's writing . . . if you liked Bladerunner, if you liked The Matrix . . . you will love Neuromancer' Goodreads reviewer, ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐
'Like nothing I have read before . . . Gibson's writing is poetry, not jargon . . . [it's] slick and jagged like a serrated knife . . . Yeah I am a big, big fan . . . a unique, important and truly amazing reading experience' Goodreads reviewer, ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐
'Basically a futuristic crime caper. The main character is Case, a burnt-out hacker, a cyberthief . . . Challenging? Yes. But it's electrifying once you get it . . . Neuromancer is in me like a teabag, flavouring my life, and I can't imagine what it would be like if I hadn't pressed on' Goodreads reviewer, ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐
'For me it was a sci fi thriller, two of my favourite genres rolled into one. I was grabbed immediately by the characters of Cole and Molly - especially Molly with her attitude, her mirror eyes and the blades under her fingernails . . . This is a very visual book and it was easy to start choosing who would play the roles in a movie' Goodreads reviewer, ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐
Lees meerHenry Dorsett Case is a low-level hustler, former hack and 'console cowboy' who crashed and burned. His nerves were damaged and thus cut off from the digital matrix, he slouches through life.
Until he meets Molly, an augmented 'razorgirl', who offers him a deal on behalf of a shadowy man called Armitage. His nerves repaired and matrix access restored, in exchange for a single job. But it's not so simple - unless he completes the job, sacs of poison will explode inside him and cripple him again.
And the job? That might be impossible.
The first novel to win the Hugo, Nebula and Philip K. Dick Awards, Neuromancer has become a seminal part of SF history, coining the term 'cyberspace' and lighting a fuse on the Cyberpunk movement. Part thriller, part warning, it is one of the 20th century's most potent visions of the future.
'A ground-breaking success' - Empire
'Gibson is better than almost anybody at noticing what's genuinely interesting about the world' - Ned Beauman
'Neuromancer is a book of exquisitely observed detail' - Eileen Gunn
Welcome to The Best Of The Masterworks: a selection of the finest in science fiction
The multi-award-winning SF masterpiece from one of the greatest SF writers of all time
Rama is a vast alien spacecraft that enters the Solar System. A perfect cylinder some fifty kilometres long, spinning rapidly, racing through space, Rama is a technological marvel, a mysterious and deeply enigmatic alien artefact.
It is Mankind's first visitor from the stars and must be investigated ...
Winner of the HUGO AWARD for best novel, 1974
Winner of the NEBULA AWARD for best novel, 1973
Winner of the JOHN W. CAMPBELL AWARD for best novel, 1974
Winner of the BSFA AWARD for best novel, 1973
She awoke in an alley to the splash of rain. She was naked, a foot-long gash in her back was still bleeding, and her identity implant was gone. Lore van de Oest had been the daughter of one of the world's most powerful families ... and now she was nobody, and she had to hide.
Then out of the rain walked Spanner, predator and thief, who took her in, cared for her wound, and taught her how to reinvent herself again and again. No one could find Lore now: not the police, not her family, and not the kidnappers who had left her in that alley to die. She had escaped ... but the cost of her new found freedom was crime and deception, and she paid it over and over again, until she had become someone she loathed.
Lore had a choice: She could stay in the shadows - stay with Spanner - and risk losing herself forever. Or she could leave Spanner and find herself again by becoming someone else: stealing the identity implant of a dead woman, taking over her life, and creating a new future.
But to start again, Lore required Spanner's talents - Spanner, who needed her and hated her, and who always had a price. And even as Lore agreed to play Spanner's game one final time, she found that there was still the price of being a van de Oest to be paid. Only by confronting her family, her past, and her own demons could Lore meld together who she had once been, who she had become, and the person she intended to be ...
Slow River won the 1997 Nebula Award for Best Novel.
Lees meerIn the year 2100, the invention of the Electron Pump - an apparently inexhaustible supply of free energy - has enabled humanity to devote its time and energies to more than the struggle for survival, finally breaking free of the Earth.
But the Electron Pump works by exchanging materials with a parallel universe, and such unbalancing of the cosmos has consequences. Humans and aliens alike must race to prevent a vast nuclear explosion in the heart of the Sun - and the vaporisation of the Earth exactly eight minutes later ...
Lees meerA masterly tale of political deception from the most significant writer of SF in the 20th century
World War III is raging - or so the millions of people crammed in their underground tanks believe. For fiteen years, subterranean humanity has been fed on daily broadcasts of a never-ending nuclear destruction, sustained by a belief in the all powerful Protector.
Now someone has gone to the surface and found no destruction, no war. The authorities have been telling a massive lie. Now the search begins to find out why.
Lees meerA deep and meaningful masterpiece of science fiction, full of heart and mind-bending ideas. A true classic, Vonnegut will make you laugh and have you contemplating the meaning of life
When Winston Niles Rumfoord flies his spaceship into a chrono-synclastic infundibulum he is converted into pure energy and only materializes when his waveforms intercept Earth or some other planet. As a result, he only gets home to Newport, Rhode Island, once every fifty-nine days and then only for an hour.
But at least, as a consolation, he now knows everything that has ever happened and everything that ever will be. He knows, for instance, that his wife is going to Mars to mate with Malachi Constant, the richest man in the world. He also knows that on Titan - one of Saturn's moons - is an alien from the planet Tralfamadore, who has been waiting 200,000 years for a spare part for his grounded spacecraft . . .
Readers love The Sirens of Titan:
'A truly exceptional work by a truly exceptional author expressing some exceptionally powerful ideas' Goodreads reviewer,
'Vonnegut uses the absurd to explore what makes us human . . . I recommend this book for any fan of Vonnegut or [Douglas] Adams' Goodreads reviewer,
'The Sirens of Titan is primarily a parody of trashy pulp science fiction novels, a boisterous, chucklesome book . . . In this sense, The Sirens of Titan, twenty years early, precedes and foreshadows (and, I would say, is superior to) Douglas Adams's The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy' Goodreads reviewer,
'There are plenty of space travels in The Sirens of Titan but it isn't a space opera . . . It is a spaced out satire, a cosmic comedy of manners' Goodreads reviewer,
'I went into this expecting a science fiction/satire but instead I got an emotionally moving story about the meaning of life by none other than one of the greatest writers that ever lived. Period' Goodreads reviewer,
'Funny until it suddenly becomes creepy, to tell you why would be a spoiler though . . . Vonnegut is only using sci-fi as a platform to tell an allegorical story about life, together with an anti-war and anti-religion themes' Goodreads reviewer,
'This is not just one of Vonnegut's best books. It's one of the best books I've ever read' Goodreads reviewer,
Lees meerGully Foyle, Mechanic's Mate 3rd Class.
EDUCATION: none
SKILLS: none
MERITS: none
RECOMMENDATIONS: none
That's the official verdict on Gully Foyle, unskilled space crewman.
But right now he is the only survivor on his drifting, wrecked spaceship, and when another space vessel - the Vorga - ignores his distress flares and sails by, Gully becomes obsessed with revenge. He endures 170 days alone in deep space before finding refuge on the Sargasso Asteroid and returning to Earth to track down the crew and owners of the Vorga. But, as he works out his murderous grudge, Gully Foyle also uncovers a secret of momentous proportions ...
Lees meer'Gripping and sentimental, it makes us appreciate our planet's cosmic rarity while highlighting what might happen if we collectively realize that too late' Sabatine, BookTok
A world of peaceful aliens conquered by bloodthirsty yumens, their existence is irrevocably altered. Forced into servitude, the Athsheans find themselves at the mercy of their brutal masters.
Desperation causes the Athsheans to retaliate against their captors, abandoning their strictures against violence. In defending their lives, they endanger the very foundations of their society. Every blow against the invaders is a blow to the core of Athsheans' culture.
And once the killing starts, there is no turning back.
Winner of the 1973 Hugo award for Best Novella, and nominated for many others, The Word for World is Forest is part of Le Guin's 'Hainish Cycle'. It explores a future history of Earth and pacifistic ideals in its depictions of violence, colonialism and resistance.
'A simple story that, like most things Le Guin wrote, packs a powerful emotional and critical punch'- Tordotcom
'Deeply moving and shocking by turns'- Suzanne Reid
'Le Guin writes in quiet, straightforward sentences about people who feel they are being torn apart by massive forces in society . . . and who fight courageously to remain whole' - The New York Times Book Review
Welcome to The Best Of The Masterworks: a selection of the finest in science fiction
Collected for the first time, these three previously unpublished Dune novellas by bestselling authors Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson shine a light upon the darker corners of the Dune universe. Spanning space and time, Sands of Dune is essential reading for any fan of the series.
The world of Dune has shaped an entire generation of science fiction. From the sand blasted world of Arrakis, to the splendor of the imperial homeworld of Kaitain, readers have lived in a universe of treachery and wonder.
Now, these stories expand on the Dune universe, telling of the lost years of Gurney Halleck as he works with smugglers on Arrakis in a deadly gambit for revenge; inside the ranks of the Sardaukar as the child of a betrayed nobleman becomes one of the Emperor's most ruthless fighters; a young firebrand Fremen woman, a guerrilla fighter against the ruthless Harkonnens, who will one day become Shadout Mapes.
'Ridiculously fast paced and fun: mangatastic-action with heart and soul' DAILY MAIL
'A brilliant page turner by my new auto-buy author' ADALYN GRACE
'A high-octane cyberpunk thrill ride . . . I devoured it' FONDA LEE
'Like a quest straight out of Cyberpunk 2077' LINDEN LEWIS
'Grips you from the first sentence to the last' T. L. HUCHU
Scion introduces #1 New York Times bestseller James Islington's first ever sci-fi novel in an unmissable new series filled with deadly assassins, dark humour, and world-changing technology - perfect for fans of Dungeon Crawler Carl and The Murderbot Diaries.
KILL OR DIE . . . WHAT WOULD YOU CHOOSE?
My job, when you think about it, isn't so different from a lot of people's.
The more old-fashioned crowd do still get hung up on the 'killing people' part of it, I guess, but that's a them problem: it's been perfectly legal to take out lifers for ages. Besides, once ultrawealthy morons realised they had a way to live forever - limited resources be damned - there was only ever going to be one genuinely practical deterrent.
So, sure, I have to deal with a tonne of boring planning. Inconvenient hours. Some pretty awkward face-to-face interactions. And like most of us, I'm really only clocking in to try and crawl out from beneath my debts. But someone's got to do it.
Luckily, my genetic compatibilities make me really, really good at doing it.
Still. This next job . . . I don't know. It's something I haven't had to deal with in years. Kind of the opposite of my regular duties. Strange, that it got thrown my way.
I'm sure it'll all go totally fine though.
In a world where the rich live forever and the poor die young, Azure is an assassin trained to kill the richest of them all - until he's hired to protect one of them instead. The question is: when you're drowning in debt, how far is too far? Fusing the dystopian morality of cyberpunk with the explosive action of anime, Scion is a fever dream you can binge in one sitting.