Your Library, Your Voice Help us design your dream libraryThe city's New Central Library (Ngā Kete Wānanga o Ōtautahi) will be built in Cathedral Square and the Christchurch City Council wants your input on the design. What exciting things do you want to do in our New Central Library? How should the building look and feel? Have your say at http://yourvoice.ccc.govt.nz
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"Mars is supposed to be dead, just a big hunk of cold rock hanging in space." ~ from Michael J. Martinez's The Daedalus Incident
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New and Recently Released!
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| Red Rising by Pierce BrownAs a member of the Reds, Martian society's lowest caste, 16-year-old Darrow lives beneath the surface of the Red Planet, mining Helium 3. Having witnessed firsthand the harsh consequences of rebellion, he's anxious to preserve the status quo, however dire - until his beloved wife, Eo, is executed for her political activism. Darrow joins the rebel group Sons of Ares in order to infiltrate the elite Golds and destroy the system from within. This fast-paced, action-packed debut is the 1st book in a planned trilogy. |
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| A Darkling Sea by James L. CambiasIlmatar is an ice-bound planet whose vast sub-surface ocean supports a blind, sentient alien race. Contact with the Ilmatarans is strictly forbidden, due to rules put in place by the six-limbed Sholen, who believe that humanity is too dangerous to be permitted contact with other species. Their concerns are soon justified by the actions of one Earthling, a journalist killed during an illicit attempt to film the Ilmatarans. This incident sets off an inter-galactic diplomatic crisis as well as conflict between human researchers and Sholen regulators. Boasting strong characterizations and extensive, immersive world-building, A Darkling Sea presents a gripping story that also provides a thought-provoking exploration of ethical issues. |
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| Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeerFour women - a biologist, a psychologist, a surveyor, and an anthropologist - set out on a scientific expedition to Area X, a quarantined zone that defies all attempts to map its terrain or understand its nature. Eleven previous missions have failed; is the twelfth time the charm, or will these intrepid explorers join their predecessors as casualties of Area X? Suspenseful and menacing, Annihilation is the 1st volume in the Southern Reach novels. |
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| Archetype: A Novel by M.D. WatersA woman wakes up in a hospital with amnesia. All she knows is what her doctors tell her: her name is Emma Burke, she's happily married to successful businessman Declan, and she was injured in a terrorist attack. However, Emma's vivid recurring dreams and disturbing flashbacks show her a different life - one that forces her to question everything she's come to believe and makes her doubt everyone she's supposed to trust. If you enjoy Archetype, keep an eye out for its forthcoming sequel, Prototype. |
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| The Martian: A Novel by Andy WeirStranded on Mars after an aborted surface mission, astronaut Mark Watney must rely on his wits to survive on an inhospitable planet. As Watney documents his attempts to create food, water, and oxygen from limited resources, NASA officials scramble to come up with a way to increase his chances of survival until they can find a way to bring him back to Earth. Fans of hard science fiction and survival stories will appreciate this debut novel for its smart, likable lead who uses humour and technological ingenuity to make an impossible situation bearable. |
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Orbus
by Neal L. Asher
In charge of an old cargo spaceship, the Old Captain Orbus flees a violent and sadistic past, but he doesn't know that the lethal war drone, Sniper, is a stowaway, and that the past is rapidly catching up with him. His old enemy the Prador Vrell, mutated by the Spatterjay virus into something powerful and dangerous, has seized control of a Prador dreadnought, murdering its crew, and is now seeking to exact vengeance on those who tried to have him killed. Their courses inexorably converge in the Graveyard, the border realm lying between the Polity and the Prador Kingdom, a place filled with the ruins left by past genocides and interplanetary war. But this is the home of the Golgoloth, monster to a race of monsters, the place where a centuries-long cold war is being fought. Meanwhile, the terrifying Prador King is coming, prepared to do anything to ensure Vrell's death and keep certain deadly secrets buried ... and somewhere out there something that has annihilated civilisations is stirring from a slumber of five million years. The cold war is heating up, fast.
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| Dust by Elizabeth BearSet aboard a broken generation ship in orbit around a dying sun, this opening volume of author Elizabeth Bear's Jacob's Ladder trilogy breathes new life into a well-worn SF trope. Bioengineered crew members, nanotech "angels", and descendants of the ship's AI are fighting for control of the endangered ship. When servant girl Rien learns that captive angel Perceval is her half-sister, she frees her in a desperate attempt to form an alliance that could avert a disastrous war. Unbeknownst to the two young women, their escape is noticed by the last vestiges of the AI Jacob Dust. Readers eager for a "brilliantly detailed, tightly plotted, roller-coaster book" (Booklist) with fantastic characters will not be disappointed. |
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| Hull Zero Three by Greg BearUnexpectedly (and unwillingly) released from the deep hibernation state of Dreamtime, an amnesiac crew member awakes - cold, naked, and disoriented - on a damaged starship drifting through deep space. In order to survive, he and his fellow passengers must band together and brave a veritable labyrinth of alien-infested corridors in order to reach the ship's control room... where they may or may not be able to fix the problem. Bleak and suspenseful, this horror-tinged tale will keep readers turning the pages. |
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Slow train to Arcturus
by Eric Flint
Sending a spaceship to rendezvous with an enormous vessel made up of a series of globular habitats approaching its star system, the aliens find a savage race calling themselves "humans" who promptly slaughter the exploration team, except for a single survivor who escapes to another habitat, where he finds more friendly humans whose help he requires to get back to his own ship.
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| Polaris by Jack McDevittSixty years later, the fate of the luxury spacecraft Polaris remains one of the galaxy's greatest unsolved mysteries. Like a futuristic Marie Celeste, the ship was discovered adrift in space, its crew and passengers having vanished without a trace. When antiquarian Alex Benedict acquires some artifacts from Polaris, he discovers that others are willing to kill for the items. Alex and his assistant, Chase Kolpath, set out to track down the would-be assassins and, in the process, find out what really happened on Polaris' fateful last voyage. Although it's the 2nd book in author Jack McDevitt's Alex Benedict series, after A Talent for War, Polaris stands on its own. |
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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