"Nothing looks more lovely than something that’s about to end, and that’s true even if you yourself are going to be the cause of its ending." ~ from Chris Beckett's
Dark Eden
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New and Recently Released!
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Dark Eden: A Novel
by
Chris Beckett
Welcome to Eden, population 532. Inhabited by Family -- close-knit clans descended from two astronauts who arrived generations ago via Landing Veekle -- this sunless planet is home to a unique culture sustained by mythic tales of Earth (where people power their dwellings with Lecky-trickity and communicate by Rayed Yo) while eagerly anticipating the return of the ship that brought them to Eden. However, 15-year-old John Redlantern - not content to sit under the lantern trees and wait for a rescue party that may never come - rebels and is punished with exile. Cast out of Family, John's real life suddenly begins. Fans of Harry Harrison's West of Eden Trilogy or William Golding's
The Inheritors
may enjoy this thought-provoking depiction of a not-quite-human society struggling to survive and evolve in an inhospitable alien environment.
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The Burning Dark
by
Adam Christopher
No good deed goes unpunished, as
Captain Abraham Idaho "Ida" Cleveland learns when his wartime heroics result in his reassignment to U-Coast Star City, where he'll be overseeing the demolition of a decommissioned space station. Despite his defeat of the Spiders of Tau Retore, all evidence of this victory has been wiped from the official record, making the once-decorated officer a pariah among his fellow soldiers. In addition to figuring out why he's been relegated to a backwater outpost in a remote star system, Ida must also investigate the increasingly strange behavior of his crew members -- behavior that may be connected to a mysterious message from a long-dead astronaut. This atmospheric, compelling novel gets creepier with every page, which should appeal to readers who like a bit of cosmic horror in their science fiction.
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The Bees: A Novel
by
Laline Paull
The rules are simple: "Accept, Obey, and Serve." But Flora 717, a worker bee whose "exceedingly large and ugly" appearance distinguishes her from the rest of her caste, is destined to put that motto to the test. As she rises through the colony's ranks - from sanitation worker to nurse, from forager to Queen's handmaid - Flora observes, questions, and challenges the hive's strict laws and neither the brainwashing effects of honey nor the all-consuming pheromonal power of Queen's Love can stop her. But honeybee colonies are super-organisms whose survival depends on the suppression of individual desires in service of the common good. Will Flora prove to be the savior of her hive, or the agent of its destruction?
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The Adjacent
by
Christopher Priest
At the center (if there is one) of this thought-provoking experimental novel is a love story fractured, replicated, reconfigured, and repeatedly transformed by the Perturbative Adjacent Field, a theoretical concept described by physicist Thijs Rietvel that turns out to be all too real. The PAF, which facilitates the transportation of matter across time and space, is touted as "The Weapon That Will End War," although it may turn out to be the weapon that causes the war that will end everything. In the meantime, the strange workings of adjacency technology will influence (and subtly connect) the lives of a widowed photojournalist, an Edwardian stage magician, a female World War II pilot, and others. If you enjoy brain-twisting, stylistically complex, genre-bending novels, check out The Adjacent.
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SF Gateway Omnibus
by
John Sladek
An SF Gateway Omnibus featuring three classic works from John Sladek. The reproductive system, The Muller-Fokker effect and Tik-tok.
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Halo : mortal dictata
by
Karen Traviss
ONI's black-ops team, Kilo-Five must prevent the former military leaders of the Covenant, now known as the Elites, from threatening the entire human race, in this new novel in a series based on the popular video game.
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Great North Road
by
Peter F. Hamilton
In 2143 Newcastle, a naked corpse is dredged from the River Tyne. Although there's no physical evidence to work with, police detective Sidney Hurst must discover the identity of the murderer - not to mention that of the victim, who may be any one of the hundreds of clones that comprise the North family. This wealthy and powerful dynasty was founded by three brothers who pioneered the technology that enabled humans to access other star systems - leading to the off-world production of Earth's primary fuel source, bioil. Caught up in a tangled web of money, politics, and family secrets, Hurst's only lead is a decades-old crime with striking similarities to his present-day investigation. This blend of science fiction and mystery boasts an intriguing premise, fascinating future technology, and detailed world-building.
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Jack Glass : a Golden Age story
by
Adam Roberts
Golden Age SF meets Golden Age Crime from the author Kim Stanley Robinson thinks should have won the Booker.
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Seeker
by
Jack McDevitt
Back in the 27th century, 5,000 colonists boarded the transport ship Seeker, designed to provide an escape from their oppressive theocratic society, and went on to found the space colony of Margolia before vanishing without a trace. When he discovers an artifact from the Seeker, obsessive antiquities dealer Alex Benedict and his assistant, pilot Chase Kolpath, embark on a quest to verify the object's provenance, following the course of the ship while attempting to unravel the mystery of its fate.
Seeker
is the stand-alone 3rd book in the Alex Benedict series, which begins with
A Talent for War; the most recent installment of the series is
Firebird.
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Thirteen
by
Richard K. Morgan
Genetically engineered by the US government as the ultimate fighting force, the new breed of soldiers known as "thirteens" so terrify humanity that they have been exiled to reservations on Earth's Mars colony. Carl Marsalis is a thirteen who works as a UN hit man, tracking down others of his kind who have escaped, even though he's lost his taste for killing. But when a ship from Mars crashes off the coast of California, a thirteen escapes the wreckage and goes on a murderous rampage - and it's up to Marsalis to stop him. This futuristic noir thriller features plenty of action and a "complex, looping plot" (Publishers Weekly) that should tantalize fans of Philip K. Dick.
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Limit
by
Frank Schätzing
On Earth in 2025, cybercop Owen Jericho stumbles upon a plot to destroy entrepreneur Julian Orley, who, opening the first-ever hotel on the moon, has assembled the world's richest and most powerful individuals to sample his brand-new lunar accommodation.
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Osama
by
Lavie Tidhar
In an alternate world without global terrorism Joe, a private detective, is hired by a mysterious woman to track down the obscure creator of the fictional vigilante, Osama Bin Laden. Joe's quest to find the man takes him across the world, from the backwaters of Asia to the European Capitals of Paris and London, and as the mystery deepens around him there is one question he is trying hard not to ask: who is he, really, and how much of the books are fiction? Chased by unknown assailants, Joe's identity slowly fragments as he discovers the shadowy world of the refugees, ghostly entities haunting the world in which he lives. Where do they come from? And what do they want? Joe knows how the story should end, but even he is not ready for the truths he'll find in New York and, finally, on top a quiet hill above Kabul-nor for the choice he will at last have to make.
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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