Fiction > Science Fiction

"An impressive introduction."-The Review of Contemporary Fiction "Should appeal to [Le Guin's] fans."-Library Journal (starred review) "Borges and CortAzar are alive and well."-Bridge Magazine Multiple storytellers tell of a fabled nameless empire that has risen and fallen innumerable times. Beggars become emperors, democracies become dictatorships, and history becomes legends and stories. First published in Argentina 1983; This translation 2003.

By water logic, a cow doctor becomes a politician. A soldier becomes a flower farmer. A lost book contains a lost future. The patterns of history are made and unmade. Amid assassinations, rebellions, and the pyres of too many dead, a new government forms in the land of Shaftal--a government of soldiers and farmers, scholars and elemental talents, all weary of war and longing for peace. But some cannot forget their losses, and some cannot imagine a place for themselves in an enemy land. Before memory, before recorded history, someth... read more

Written in a voice that is accessible to both mainstream and genre readers, this gripping tale contains a contemporary political subtext that is packed with humanism, complexity, and subtle humor. This inventive story centers on a mysterious enclave protecting a lost culture, a hidden city in the wilderness where stranded aliens struggle to preserve their fragile society. Hoping for a better life, many have fled the Secret City in favor of trying to survive in the harsh human world; others remain concealed, living out a fading memo... read more

Originally published in Asimov's "Science Fiction" as the short stories: "The Edge of the Universe"; "Get Me to the Church on Time"; and "The Hole in the Hole"; this inventive and quirky novel combines the stories, featuring the inspired adventures of Wilson Wu, a jack-of-all-trades who uses his eclectic background to solve a variety of wacky futuristic dilemmas. An Ivy League graduate, Wu is a rock musician, a Volvo mechanic, a trial lawyer, a camel driver, an aeronautics engineer, an entomological meteorologist, and, most importa... read more

Winter is an Earth-like planet with two major differences: conditions are semi artic even at the warmest time of the year, and the inhabitants are all of the same sex. Tucked away in a remote corner of the universe, they have no knowledge of space travel or of life beyond their own world. And when a strange envoy from space brings news of a vast coalition of planets which they are invited to join, he is met with fear, mistrust and disbelief...'The Left Hand of Darkness' is a groundbreaking work of feminist science fiction, an imagi... read more

Filled with sex and violence - in and out of time and space - the three books in this trilogy are only partly works of the imagination. They tackle the cover-ups of our time - from who really shot the Kennedys to why there's a pyramid on a US one-dollar bill - and suggest a mind-blowing truth

With only TAMMY - a slightly tearful computer - and an imaginary dog called Ed for company, fixing time machines is a lonely business and Charles Yu is stuck in a rut. He's spent the better part of a decade navel-gazing, spying on 39 different versions of himself in alternate universes (35 of them are total jerks). And he's kind of fallen in love with TAMMY, which is bad because she doesn't have a module for that. With all that's on his mind, perhaps it's no surprise that when he meets his future self, he shoots him in the stomach... read more

Melanie Stryder refuses to fade away. The earth has been invaded by a species that takes over the minds of their human hosts while leaving their bodies intact, and most of humanity has succumbed. Wanderer, the invading 'soul' who has been given Melanie's body, knew about the challenges of living inside a human: the overwhelming emotions, the too-vivid memories. But there was one difficulty Wanderer didn't expect: the former tenant of her body refusing to relinquish possession of her mind. Melanie fills Wanderer's thoughts with ... read more

This is the latest magnificent creation from the award-winning author of "Cryptonomicon and the Baroque Cycle" trilogy. Erasmas, 'Raz', is a young avout living in the Concent, a sanctuary for mathematicians, scientists, and philosophers. Three times during history's darkest epochs, violence has invaded and devastated the cloistered community. Yet the avout have always managed to adapt in the wake of catastrophe. But they now prepare to open the Concent's gates to the outside world, in celebration of a once-a-decade rite. Suddenly, ... read more

It begins in the realm of the Real, where matter still matters. It begins with a murder. And it will not end until the Culture has gone to war with death itself. Lededje Y'breq is one of the Intagliated, her marked body bearing witness to a family shame, her life belonging to a man whose lust for power is without limit. Prepared to risk everything for her freedom, her release, when it comes, is at a price, and to put things right she will need the help of the Culture. Benevolent, enlightened and almost infinitely resourceful though... read more

In a world renowned even within a galaxy full of wonders, a crime within a war. For one brother it means a desperate flight, and a search for the one - maybe two - people who could clear his name. For his brother it means a life lived under constant threat of treachery and murder. And for their sister, even without knowing the full truth, it means returning to a place she'd thought abandoned forever. Only the sister is not what she once was; Djan Seriy Anaplian has changed almost beyond recognition to become an agent of the Cultu... read more

Esmay Suiza had surprised everyone by becoming the youngest and lowest-ranking member of Fleet ever to win a major battle. Finding herself the senior surviving officer in a mutiny against a treacherous captain, she'd had no choice - it was do or die. And she'd risen to the challenge, saving Heris Serrano and her crew in the process. But instead of congratulations, her actions lead to a court martial for treason ...Esmay's boldness continues to reap her as much trouble as reward, when a very public argument makes her an enemy at Fle... read more

The Ringworld is dying. And this time even Louis Wu - captive of the hyper-intelligent alien Tunesmith - may be unable to save it. Even if Louis can escape he will then have to survive in a galaxy ravaged by interstellar war and deadly political intrigue. For the Ringworld is no longer a secret and entire civilisations now battle to control its power. The victorious race that conquers the Ringworld will conquer the galaxy . . . and no one will be able to stop them. But Louis Wu is going to try.

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The first manned mission to Mars has been a resounding success, and excitement grows as more new discoveries are made. However, one discovery continues to defy rational explanation - the 'marsmat' - a complex anaerobic life-form found in the planet's honeycomb of tunnels. This raises questions about the nature and meaning of life itself which will lead the curious and the driven to Pluto and beyond, to the cold void at the fringes of the solar system.

In Blackout, award-winning author Connie Willis returned to the time-travelling future of 2060 and sent three Oxford historians to World War II England: Michael Davies, intent on observing heroism during Dunkirk; Merope Ward, studying children evacuated from London; and Polly Churchill, posing as a shop girl in the middle of the Blitz. But the three become unexpectedly trapped in 1940, struggling to go home they also have to survive, as Hitler's bombers attempt to pummel London into submission. Now the situation has grown even more... read more

Four time-traveling history students from Oxford are in 1940s England studying different aspects of World War II. But when their means of getting home is destroyed in an air-raid, the four find themselves facing a future as dark and uncertain as the English in 1940: alone, cut off from help and time running out ... First published 2010.

What Happens when bio-terrorism becomes a tool for corporate profits? And what happens when said bio-terrorism forces humanity to the cusp of post-human evolution? In The Windup Girl, award-winning author Paolo Bacigalupi returns to the world of "The Calorie Man"( Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award-winner, Hugo Award nominee, 2006) and "Yellow Card Man" (Hugo Award nominee, 2007) in order to address these questions. First published 2009.

At the centre of the Intersolar Commonwealth universe is a massive black hole. This Void is not a natural artefact. Inside there is a strange universe where the laws of physics are very different to those we know. It is slowly consuming the other stars of the galactic core - one day it will have devoured the entire galaxy. It's AD 4000, and a human has started to dream of the wonderful existence of the Void. He has a following of millions of believers. They now wish to Pilgrimage to the Void to live the life they have been shown. O... read more

due December 2005.