Dystopian and utopian fiction

Book Synopsis''A witty, time-travelling romance'' Maria Semple, author of Where''d You Go, Bernadette This is a love story that could only happen because of an accident of time travel. Tom and Penny belong to a world so perfect there''s no war, no poverty, no under-ripe avocados. But when something awful happens to Penny, and Tom tries to make it right, he accidentally destroys everything, waking up in our broken, dysfunctional world. Only here, Penny and Tom have a second chance. Should Tom go back to his brilliant but loveless existence, or risk everything by staying in our messy, complicated world for his one and only chance at true love? ''Thrilling and refreshingly optimistic'' Andy Weir, author of The Martian ''Sharp and funny'' Daily Mail ''It''s a Wonderful Life meets The Jetsons'' Buzzfeed''All Our Wrong Todays is an entertaining romp thatTrade ReviewAll Our Wrong Todays is an entertaining romp that should appeal to fans The Time Traveler's Wife -- Best recent science fiction * The Guardian *Sharp, funny writing in a mind-bending, time-travelling junket of a novel * Daily Mail *A mind-bending time travel caper * Guardian * Elan Mastai manages the [time-travel] genre masterfully in his debut novel -- Olivia Ovenden * Esquire *A thrilling tale of time travel and alternate timelines with a refreshingly optimistic view of humanity's future -- Andy Weir, author of international bestseller * The Martian *A novel about time travel has no right to be this engaging. A novel this engaging has no right to be this smart. And a novel this smart has no right to be this funny. Or insightful. Or immersive. Basically, this novel has no right to exist." * Jonathan Tropper, New York Times bestselling author of This Is Where I Leave You and One Last Thing Before I Go *Elan Mastai has conjured up a witty and freewheeling time-traveling romance that packs an emotional wallop. All Our Wrong Todays is a page-turning delight -- Maria Semple, author of * Where’d You Go, Bernadette *All Our Wrong Todays is elaborately constructed and incredibly emotionally intelligent; it's a story with super high stakes that genuinely makes you feel every part of Tom's awful predicament * SciFiNow *Witty, original, funny, charming - a great story! * Joe Haddow, BBC Radio 2 Book Club *It's all very clever, but it's also not really the point. Because as well as being an intelligent sci-fi story, it's also a love story, and kind of a monomyth, and also just an incredibly relatable, insightful story about being in your 30s, feeling like you haven't achieved anything, and figuring out what's next * SciFiNow UK *A timeless, if mind-bending, story about the journeys we take, populated by friends, family, lovers and others, that show us who we might be, could be - and maybe never should be - that eventually leads us to who we are * USA Today *Mastai has a penchant for exuberant plot, a quick dash of character and fearlessly funny storytelling * The Washington Post *All Our Wrong Todays is the mind-bending science fiction romance you need to read * Mashable *This lovely new novel is It's a Wonderful Life meets The Jetsons. Tom who lives in an alternate 2016 where all the sci-fi fantasies of the 1950s are a reality, suddenly finds himself stranded in our 2016, where he rediscovers his family, friends, and self. * Buzzfeed *Imagine a world where 2016 was glorious: no Bowie, Brexit, Bake-Off, Bannon. That's where All Our Wrong Todays begins... Ambitious, funny, wry and philosophical, it's not surprising that author Mastai started off his life as a screenwriter (All Our Wrong Todays has already been picked up by uber-producer Amy Pascal) because this a book that has the grand scope of sweeping cinema peppered throughout * Emerald Street *Sharp, funny writing is married to complex plotting that whisks through various alternative realities in this mind-bending, time-travelling junket of a novel * Daily Mail *

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Book SynopsisPre-order Andrew Hunter Murray's brilliantly entertaining new thriller A Beginner's Guide to Breaking and Entering coming May 2024!There's no way back from paradise. From the Sunday Times bestselling author of The Last Day, this high-concept thriller will provoke and grip you from the very first page . . .'Sucks you in and doesn't let you leave until the very last page' Anthony Horowitz'Smoothly written, thought provoking ... with an effective shocker of an ending' Guardian'Absolutely brilliant. I'm thinking it needs to be made into a movie!' Zoe Ball___________________Sanctuary Rock is a perfect place.A remote island, owned by a wealthy philanthropist who is building a brand-new world on the ruins of the old one.Ben only came to the island to bring his fiancée Cara home. But when he arrives, he is rapidly seduced by the vision of a better way of life, as described by the charismatic and mysterious Sir John.Before long, he decides to stay.But the island holds darker secrets than he could ever have suspected.Then he learns the only route back to the mainland is about to close for good.And his own life may be in terrible danger . . .___________________'The considerable pleasure of this novel is in the getting from here to there' The Times'Gripping, unsettling and original. Andrew Hunter Murray is a fabulous storyteller.' Tim Harford'Rich in imagination and stylishly written ... Totally absorbing.' Paul Burke, Crime Time FM___________________Readers can't get enough of The Sanctuary . . .***** 'A thoughtful, impressive science fiction thriller.'***** 'I hope AHM keeps writing books because they are *chef's kiss* perfection.'***** 'Some great twists, turns and surprises! Thoroughly enjoyable and thought-provoking.'***** 'I like Andrew Hunter Murray's style ... It was a brilliant read.'***** 'This book took a totally different turn to what I was expecting! Really enjoyable, stayed up late to finish it as the story was so tense towards the end.'

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Book SynopsisBrian K. Vaughan and Cliff Chiang’s Eisner Award winning series Paper Girls is coming Amazon Prime Video in July 2022! Can anyone escape fate? That's what Mac and her fellow newspaper delivery girls must discover as they escape the year 2000 and travel to the distant future. Plus, the truth behind the mysterious "old-timers" is finally revealed. Collects PAPER GIRLS #21-25

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Book SynopsisFrom author Leah Vernon comes the action-packed second installment in the Union series about a young woman’s battle for power in a racially divided futuristic world. A thousand years into the future, a Black elite class reigns while the underclass toils at their feet. With her society’s future hanging in the balance, young Avi Jore enters into an arranged marriage. But the ceremony turns violent when the servants rebel and kill Avi’s father. In the aftermath of General Jore’s death, Avi and her sister Jade vie for power in a vicious contest. As the rightful heir, Avi has no choice but to defend what’s hers—at any cost. With her loyalties tested and her enemies closing in, Avi must rely on her sister Saige, who searches for allies outside the Union’s walls. As Avi and Saige navigate threats and betrayals in the wake of worsening unrest, they forge a path forward that could forever change their turbulent world.Trade Review“This quick-paced, violent, and at times heart-wrenching fantasy and sf blend will have readers at the edge of their seat as multiple, often flawed, perspectives navigate a war sparked by race and an incessant hunger for power. Fans of Susan Collins, N.K. Jemisin, and Pierce Brown will appreciate the world building and the well-developed characters used to present very real and serious topics.” —Booklist

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Book Synopsis'Strikingly beautiful' Guardian'Tough and tender' Joanne HarrisAfter the Sickness has killed off her parents, and the bombs have fallen on the last safe cities, Monster emerges from the Arctic vault which has kept her alive. When she washes up on the coast of Scotland, everyone she knows is dead, and she believes she is alone in an empty world.Slowly, piece by piece, she begins to rebuild a life. Until, one day, she finds a girl: another survivor, feral, and ready to be taught all that Monster knows. But as the lonely days pass, the lessons the girl learns are not always the ones Monster means to teach . . .Trade ReviewFresh and powerful . . . Hale's writing is assured and . . . strikingly beautiful . . . Most of all, the book has a great generosity and empathy for monsterdom, and refreshingly allows its characters to find happiness without becoming more ordinary . . . Hale is certainly a skilful writer with a compelling voice, and her ideas are bold and promising * * Guardian * *A terrific piece of writing; tough and tender and insightful. Loved it -- JOANNE HARRISA complex, accomplished debut. The prose dazzles while the themes of feminism, power and fertility sneak in for a gut-punch. It kept me gripped from the first page, and the characters continue to live and breathe in my imagination -- KIRSTY LOGAN, author of THE GRACEKEEPERSTaut, tough and sensitive, the narrative conjures up a devastated world, inhabited by two intriguing characters, with precision and real atmosphere * * Daily Mail * *Katie Hale has written two fascinating, flawed and compelling characters and, with only two people and an empty world, has created a novel that is gripping, insightful and unique -- CLAIRE FULLER, author of OUR ENDLESS NUMBERED DAYSIn a novel in which the entire planet has been devastated, Hale, a poet, narrows her focus right down to the inner lives of her two protagonists and their relationship with each other, dissecting each layer as it is uncovered with delicacy and lyricism * * Herald * *A riveting and disturbing novel, part twisted fairy tale and part dystopian nightmare, in which the primal human need to find meaning and love shines through the darkness of a ruined world -- MICK KITSON, author of SALPowerful and unflinching . . . This is a humane, tender and often painful exploration of the ways in which daughters consider themselves to be braver, smarter and more independent than their mothers, as well as the strength of love and hope in an empty world. Hale has crafted a gripping and intense dystopian fairytale . . . Beautifully written . . . A must-read * * The Skinny * *Held together by skilful, well-crafted prose . . . Keep[s] the reader hooked to the last page . . . Her writing is superb * * Wee Review * *A gripping study of loneliness and what it can do to your psyche . . . Hale's style means we'll be interested in what she writes next * * Herald * *

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Book SynopsisThe pulldogs, a group of people at the twilight of Western civilisation, undergo an anthropological transformation caused by the dissemination of nanites (nanorobots capable of assembling molecules to create matter). This technology changes the way they eat and gives rise to a culture which, while reminiscent of an ancient nomadic society, is creative and new. Liberation from the imperative of food, combined with the ability to 3D print objects and use cloud computing, makes it possible for the pulldogs to make a choice that seems impossible and anachronistic – a new life, but is it really an Arcadia? FLAME TREE PRESS is the imprint of long-standing Independent Flame Tree Publishing, dedicated to full-length original fiction in the horror and suspense, science fiction & fantasy, and crime / mystery / thriller categories. The list brings together fantastic new authors and the more established; the award winners, and exciting, original voices. Learn more about Flame Tree Press at www.flametreepress.com and connect on social media @FlameTreePress.Trade ReviewThis is exciting stuff and is first rate futurism.” James Patrick Kelly, Nebula, Locus and Hugo Award winner"Our world is closing in. We're in danger of becoming parochial and tribal. This is why Francesco Verso is such an important voice in SF. Here's a writer and publisher from outside the anglosphere, not just reminding us that SFF is a global literature and a global language but working in tireless support of writers and literature from all across the planet. Listen to what he has to say." -- Ian McDonald"The Roamers is an urgent, impassioned work for our times that cements Francesco Verso’s place at the forefront of European SF writers working today. Not to be missed!" -- Lavie Tidhar

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Book SynopsisA NEW STATESMAN BOOK OF THE YEAR 2023 'Stylish, beautiful and strange' Jessie Greengrass As featured on BBC Open Book: 'poses questions about whether we can love AI and whether AI could love us ... I couldn't help but develop a soft spot for Mother' -- Johny Pitts Lena has always lived in the jungle with Mother. There they look after a holiday home in surroundings that burst with colour and crawl with danger. Lena's only other friend is Isabella, who once visited regularly with her wealthy parents and security drone, Anton. But Isabella and her family haven't been seen in years. Mother is not like other mothers. She gets angry when Lena draws her with a face. When Lena challenges her to portray herself, she paints a tiny yellow dot surrounded by swirling black. She is a bastion of light, she says, against an army of darkness. Outside, rebels are fighting to take over the country. Mother is determined nothing will change inside the security fence, nothing to threaten her bond with Lena, or endanger the family. But there are secrets that need to emerge. How did Lena end up here? And what has happened to the family who no longer visit? What has Mother been planning, and what is gathering around them to change their lives forever?Trade ReviewInsightful and very alive ... Pachico's alternative universe is a world of its own here, animated beyond what is possible in most fiction now * Guardian *An affecting AI mystery * i weekend *A bewildering and compelling novel that explores the tensions between town and country, danger and safety, rich and poor, and above all the human and the non-human... like Lord of the Flies fed through an episode of Black Mirror * Literary Review *Skilfully plotted * Telegraph *'Dazling and horrifying - this is Louise Bourgeois' Maman in a novel for the age of AI. Spectacular punchy prose and big thinking on the emotions of machines. We need writers like Pachico to help us think into the future -- Anna Metcalfe, author of ChrysalisCompelling, atmospheric and sultry -- Olivia Sudjic, author of Asylum RoadThe robots are here, and they're touchy and insecure. At least, that's so in Julianne Pachico's brilliant AI mystery, Jungle House. With its remote setting, survival theme, and exploration of the possibilities and limitations of technology, it's a harmonious counterpoint to Naomi Alderman's apocalypse thriller, The Future -- Madeleine Feeny * the Bookseller, Editor's Pick *Jungle House is excellent at suspense, constantly weaving terror through beguiling descriptions of the tropical landscape, and delivering well-earned plot twists throughout ... A fresh, darkly witty reminder that technology and nature still have some kinks to work out * Strong Words Magazine *One of the most talked-about releases this month and it's easy to see why ... a highly imaginative concept novel for our AI age * The Gloss, Irish Times *Jungle House is extraordinary, a charming and ominous and utterly riveting story that reads partly like a fable, and partly like a premonition of our future -- Phil Klay, author of RedeploymentStylish, beautiful and strange, Jungle House looks with clear eyes at the complicated nature of embodiment, at our relationships both to ourselves and to others, and the delicate balance of love -- Jessie Greengrass, author of The High HouseAs enchanting as a fairy tale, and equally sinister, Jungle House takes us to the primordial forest and a future where AI manages the every need of a wealthy elite. Pachico's captivating novel is both a provocative conjuring of a future that's almost upon us, and a moving exploration of the mother-daughter bond -- Victoria Gosling, author of Bliss and BlunderConstantly seems to pose questions about whether we can love AI and whether AI could love us ... I couldn't help but develop a soft spot for Mother -- Johny Pitts, author of AfropeanJulianne Pachico's smart plotting means you're never quite certain what's going to happen next but you're left rooting for Mother and Lena, 2023's unlikeliest literary duo. Intriguing and beautifully written, Jungle House is totally recommended * the Crack *Tense, poignant and atmospheric * the Bookseller, Editor's Pick *Intense and insightful ... a superb imagining on a topical subject matter - one which will leave you questioning developments about the impact of artificial intelligence, and its future * Buzz Magazine *This AI mystery is one to watch ... Gripping * Sunday Post *Well written with strong characters ... if The Jungle Book was about an abandoned baby girl who was looked after by two robots and an all-seeing, all-hearing and all-knowing "Mother", instead of a lovable black bear and a grumpy panther * Birmingham Mail *Thought-provoking and hauntingly atmospheric, Pachico's second novel is a gripping account of unravelling domestic dystopia and a timely reflection on what it means to be human in a world increasingly run by machines * Mail on Sunday *There's an element of Hal 9000 transported to terra firma in Pachico's latest ... a smart novel that mines fearmongering about the dangers of AI for bleak satire * Irish Times *Praise for Julianne Pachico * : *A millennial's view of the complexities of Colombia, full of existential angst and funny details ... Go to Pachico's Colombia * The New York Times *Superb * Kelly Link, author of Get in Trouble *Pachico is a gripping writer * The Times *Thrilling ... remarkably inventive * Atlantic *Pachico lays bare the trauma of life in post-peace Columbia * Ingrid Persaud, author of Love after Love *

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Book SynopsisThe Republic of Gilead offers Offred only one function: to breed . If she deviates, she will, like dissenters, be hanged at the wall or sent out to die slowly of radiation sickness. But even a repressive state cannot obliterate desire - neither Offred's nor that of the two men on which her future hangs...Trade Review'Moving, vivid and terrifying. I only hope it's not prophetic' Conor Cruise O'Brien, The Listener'The Handmaid's Tale is both a superlative exercise in science fiction and a profoundly felt moral story' Angela Carter'Our of a narrative shadowed by terror, gleam sharp perceptions, brilliant intense images and sardonic wit' Peter Kemp, Independent'The images of brilliant emptiness are one of the most striking aspects of this novel about totalitarian blindness...the effect is chilling' Linda Taylor, Sunday Times'Powerful...admirable' Robert Irwin, Time Out

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Book SynopsisA Guardian Science Fiction Book of the Year. Mimi is drowning in the world's trash. She's a 'waste girl', a scavenger picking through towering heaps of hazardous electronic detritus. Along with thousands of other migrant workers, she was lured to Silicon Isle, off the southern coast of China, by the promise of steady work and a better life. But Silicon Isle is where the rotten fruits of capitalism and consumer culture come to their toxic end. The land is hopelessly polluted, the workers utterly at the mercy of those in power. And now a storm is gathering, as ruthless local gangs skirmish for control, eco-terrorists conspire, investors hunger for profit, and a Chinese-American interpreter searches for his roots. As these forces collide, conflict erupts – a war between rich and poor, a battle between past and future. Mimi must decide if she will remain a pawn... or change the rules of the game altogether. 'An accomplished eco-techno-thriller with heart and soul' DAVID MITCHELL. 'Waste Tide is a work of spoiled and toxic beauty... It's more than a timely eco-thriller; it's a dark mirror held up to our selves' SIMON INGS. Trade ReviewAn accomplished eco-techno-thriller with heart and soul as well as brain. Chen Qiufan is an astute observer, both of the present world and of the future that the next generation is in danger of inheriting -- David MitchellThe pinnacle of near-future SF writing -- Cixin LiuSomething startlingly new... an action-packed story that's full of moral complexity' -- Charlie Jane AndersA hard-hitting, uncompromising look at the near future -- Adrian TchaikovskyA stunning tale of greed [that] deftly exposes all the hidden contours of the human heart -- Maggie Shen KingA work of spoiled and toxic beauty... It's more than a timely eco-thriller; it's a dark mirror held up to our selves' -- Simon IngsChinese author Chen Quifan's debut novel Waste Tide is all too true to life * SFX *A cracking science fiction novel by Chen Qiufan suggests humanity's future may be even stranger than its past * New Scientist *Chen's portrait of industry and society alike is caustically bleak – life is short and cheap – and the cultural impact of his future tech well thought through * SFX. *A crop of younger writers are now emerging in the duo's wake [Cixin Liu and Han Song]. Waste Tide takes place on an island devoted to electronics refuse in a fictionalised South China Sea... The setting is not too far divorced from parts of real-life China, in which the by-products of the electronics industry create uninhabitably toxic environments' * Economist. *This chilling eco-techno tale, well translated by Ken Liu, illustrates that the eternal conflict of good and evil remains alive in our "brave new world" * The Tablet *There's an old school cyberpunk quality to the book, a compelling reflection on a world defined by its waste * Guardian *

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Book SynopsisThe seminal series' spin-off story recounting how the mightiest warrior in the universe built his arsenal of war. The creative trio of Jodorowsky, Charest, and Janjetov bring us a tale of how No Name, the most ruthless mercenary in the Caste of the Metabarons, assembled the galaxy’s most powerful and destructive weapons in an effort to secure his position as the universe’s ultimate warrior. This limited edition collects the entire story in Deluxe Oversized format for the first time ever, allowing a closer look at the iconic, cinematic art styles of both Travis Charest and Zoran Janjetov. This edition is limited to its first printing.

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Book SynopsisIn the western Pacific Ocean floats an island archipelago, cut off from the world and full of mysteries: scientific secrets that some believe are best forgotten, decaying monuments to an era of human decadence two centuries gone, and strange, radioactive monsters that tear apart any human beings foolish enough to set foot there. Its name, spoken only in whispers: Japan. It's illegal to go near this dangerous place-but, after being torn from his family and convicted on a false charge, that's exactly where Leon has been sent. An experienced soldier of fortune, Leon is tasked with retrieving a powerful weapon called Tsugumi. Can they stay alive long enough to find this Tsugumi? Just what the hell is it, anyway, if that's even the right question? And does it have anything to do with the quiet, brutal girl with taloned feet who swoops in to save Leon's life?

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Book SynopsisIn this postapocalyptic fantasy, a sea of sand swallows everything but the past.In an endless sea of sand drifts the Mud Whale, a floating island city of clay and magic. In its chambers a small community clings to survival, cut off from its own history by the shadows of the past.The Mud Whale has been overrun with tárichos, a virulent parasitic growth that turns everyone it touches into mindless husks controlled by the Nous Geráki. The only way to stop the spread of the tárichos is to destroy the Nous, but that won’t be an easy task—or one without sacrifice.

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Book SynopsisAcross the globe, millions of computer screens flicker with the artfully coded world of T'Rain - an addictive internet role-playing game of fantasy and adventure. But backstreet hackers in China have just unleashed a contagious virus called Reamde, and as it rampages through the gaming world spreading from player to player - holding hard drives hostage in the process - the computer of one powerful and dangerous man is infected, causing the carefully mediated violence of the on-line world to spill over into reality. A fast-talking, internet-addicted mafia accountant is brutally silenced by his Russian employers, and Zula - a talented young T'Rain computer programmer - is abducted and bundled on to a private jet. As she is flown across the skies in the company of the terrified boyfriend she broke up with hours before, and a brilliant Hungarian hacker who may be her only hope, she finds herself sucked into a whirl of Chinese Secret Service agents and gun-toting American Survivalists; the Russian criminal underground and an al-Qaeda cell led by a charismatic Welshman; each a strand of a connected world that devastatingly converges in T'Rain. An inimitable and compelling thriller that careers from British Columbia to South-West China via Russia and the fantasy world of T'Rain, Reamde is an irresistible epic from the unique imagination of one of today's most individual writers.Trade ReviewFantastic * Sunday Times *Like Stephenson's most critically acclaimed novel, Cryptonomicon, Reamde combines meticulous observation of the stranger socio-economic effects wrought by technology with rousing fusillade adventure... Outrageously entertaining... a joyride * Guardian *Sometimes when you're reading Neal Stephenson, he doesn't just seem like one of the best novelists writing in English right now; he seems like the only one * Time *

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Book SynopsisIt is four years since the virus came, killing every adult in its path. Not long after that the electricity failed. Food and water started running out. Fires raged across the country. Now Anna cares for her brother alone in a house hidden in the woods, keeping him safe from 'the Outside'. But, when the time comes, Anna knows they must leave their world and find another. By turns luminous and tender, gripping and horrifying, Anna is a haunting parable of love and loneliness; of the stories we tell to sustain us, and the lengths we will go to in order to stay alive.Trade ReviewAmmaniti sets a new standard in post-apocalyptic fiction . . . This story of children running wild in Sicily brilliantly manipulates the usual models even as it transcends their limits . . . In the midst of wonderfully detailed disorder, one girl named Anna struggles to survive, fighting off feral dogs and crazed children and enduring one of recent literature's most nightmarish visions of hell on earth as she tries to feed and protect her young brother, Astor -- John Burnside * * Guardian * *From The Lord of the Flies to The Road, we do love a dystopian tale of survival. And it's apt that in these uncertain modern times, here comes arguably the best one yet . . . Complex, moving and scary, this one will stay with you long after the last page * * Sunday Telegraph * *Ammaniti's Italian bestseller has been compared to . . . Lord Of The Flies and The Road . . . It's a powerfully disturbing and thought-provoking read * * Daily Mail * *One of Italy's foremost literary talents . . . Combines the wayward fantasy of J.G. Ballard with comic-strip adventure . . . Ammaniti has lost none of his gift for landscape description -- Ian Thomson * * Times Literary Supplement * *Brave and uncompromising writing . . . A brutal but moving post-apocalyptic tale set in a world where adults have all been wiped out . . . reminiscent of Lord of the Flies or Cormac McCarthy's The Road . . . written with such heart and compassion for the plight of the characters that you can't help but get sucked in and root for them. Compelling and moving writing -- Doug Johnstone * * Big Issue * *Unbeatable storytelling - an immediate and engaging study of humanity at its best and worst * * Financial Times * *A gripping tale of resilience, friendship and sibling love in a brutal and dangerous world. I loved it! -- MEGAN BRADBURY, author of EVERYONE IS WATCHINGAmmaniti won the Italian Strega Prize for I'm Not Scared, and Anna has the same taut narrative, with straight-from-the-bow suspense, but its mark is philosophical . . . concerned not only with the will to live but also with what makes us alive * * Irish Times * *Ammaniti has an enviable ability to keep readers thoroughly absorbed * * The Herald * *Anna has pretty much everything you could hope for from a post-apocalyptic picaresque adventure story * * London Review of Books * *

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Book Synopsis''An exceptional debut'' Sunday Telegraph''Obsessed with The Handmaid''s Tale? This brilliant book is the one for you'' Stylist''An intriguing, gorgeously realised and written novel which inexorably draws you into its dark heart'' Kate HamerOn a small isolated island, there''s a community that lives by its own rules. Boys grow up knowing they will one day take charge, while girls know they will be married and pregnant within moments of hitting womanhood. But before that time comes, a ritual offers children an exhilarating reprieve. Every summer they are turned out onto their doorsteps, to roam the island, sleep on the beach and build camps in trees. To be free. At the end of one of such summer, one of the younger girls sees something she was never supposed to see. And she returns home with a truth that could bring their island world to its knees.''A skilful novel full of suspense'' Trade ReviewAn intriguing, gorgeously realised and written novel which inexorably draws you into its dark heart -- Kate HamerIt's a richly envisioned world, the strange isolation of which Melamed is excellent at teasing out slowly * Independent *An exceptional debut * Sunday Telegraph *A skilful novel full of suspense * Guardian *An assured, lyrical and vivid debut * Irish Independent *An obvious comparison is Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale, and Melamed is more than equal a writer. Her prose is exact, the premise chilling and her characters all too plausible * Daily Mail, top debuts of 2017 *Obsessed with The Handmaid's Tale? This brilliant book is the one for you * Stylist *[A] dark, compelling debut... At a time when it feels as if women's rights around the world are being slowly eroded this absorbing novel is both gripping and to-the-bone chilling. Melamed is definitely a talent to watch. * Daily Express *Gather the Daughters is an always-compelling and sometimes-shocking read as the horrific secrets of the island are slowly revealed. I read it in one sleep-deprived sitting * Red Magazine *Gather The Daughters is extraordinary, powerful, and harrowing-and yet hopeful in its portrait of the human spirit and the endurance of love. This is a visceral book on all levels and it is haunting me still -- Julie CohenA terrifying work of speculative fiction ... Melamed is a masterful writer, and she establishes a hauntingly vivid atmosphere....This is a haunting work in the spirit of The Handmaid's Tale-but Melamed more than holds her own. Fearsome, vivid, and raw * Kirkus Reviews *Melamed's haunting and powerful debut blazes a fresh path in the tradition of classic dystopian works...a searing portrayal of a utopian society gone wrong...Melamed's prose is taut and precise. Her nuanced characters and honest examination of the crueler sides of human nature establish her as a formidable author in the vein of Shirley Jackson and Margaret Atwood * Publishers Weekly *At times harrowing in its depiction of cruelty, at other times joy-filled and buoyed by the spirit of liberated girlhood, this is an exhilarating, feminist cry-out, which I hope finds a wide readership * The Big Issue *A chilling, vividly realised feminist novel that propels the reader into the dark heart of a cruelly repressive and sinister society * Daily Mail *

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Book SynopsisAn American short-story writer of intimidating talent'' Zadie SmithDark, concerned, confused and funny, all at the same time ... Like so much of Saunders'' brilliant, crazy writing it''s relevant, but not too relevant'' The TimesFrom the No. 1 New York Times bestselling author of the 2017 Man Booker Prize winner Lincoln in the BardoA breathtaking collection of strange, surreal, and utterly human short stories from the celebrated master of the form.Talking candy bars, baby geniuses, disappointed mothers, castrated dogs, interned teenagers, and moral fables all in this hilarious and heartbreaking collection by George Saunders, this generation''s literary voice of wisdom and humour, for a time when we need it most.Trade Review‘An American short-story writer of intimidating talent' * Zadie Smith *‘Graceful, dark, authentic and funny' * Thomas Pynchon *‘Dark, concerned, confused and funny, all at the same time ... Like so much of Saunders' brilliant, crazy writing it's relevant, but not too relevant' * The Times *‘You do not read Saunders' stories so much as watch them detonate on the page in front of you, like a firecracker some joker has slipped into your pudding' * New Statesman *

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Book SynopsisJeffrey Lockhart has been summoned to The Convergence: a remote and secret compound where death is exquisitely, cryogenically controlled.He is there to say goodbye to his stepmother, Artis, who has chosen to surrender her dying body; preserving it until a future time when biomedical advances and new technologies can return her to a life of transcendent promise. And his healthy father, Ross, might join her.Hypnotic and seductive, Don DeLillo's Zero K is a visionary novel about the legacies we leave, the nobility of death, and the ultimate worth of 'the mingled astonishments of our time, here, on earth.'Trade ReviewBoth beautiful and profound, certainly DeLillo's best since Underworld, it forces us to confront the spectre of our own mortality, to ask deep questions of our motives in wishing to prolong our span on Earth. We finish the novel with a sudden recognition of the kindness of death, the balm of a bounded life * Observer *DeLillo is one of urban life's most perceptive chroniclers * Independent *DeLillo's 16th novel takes a sanguine and, as usual, perceptive look at life as it is now, beset by wars, terrorism and the catastrophic results of climate change, and balances them against the beauty and joy that can be involved in being human * Daily Mail *Humanly moving . . . sentence by sentence brilliance of phrasing and cadence * Literary Review *A kind of greatest-hits compilation of earlier motifs and gestures * London Review of Books *Haunting. . . Simultaneously terrifying yet beautifully told with a real tenderness for the everyday details of life in New York. . . certainly not to be missed * GQ *Very moving . . . his optimism is a welcome gift in this intense and deeply considered book * Prospect *A visionary novel of ideas that remembers even visionary novels are read by living, breathing humans * Independent *As he approaches 80, Don DeLillo is still producing work that channels America's tensions. . . supple and sad and oddly compassionate too; his most fully realised work in more than a decade * Guardian *DeLillo's spare eloquence and the cosmic depression underlying it makes this emptiest of novels a rich reading experience * The Times *Time has done nothing to diminish this writer's casually epigraphic style, his daring narrative choreography nor his sensitivity to the swelling fears of our age . . . truly provocative' * The Washington Post *[DeLillo's] most persuasive [novel] since his astonishing 1997 masterpiece, Underworld . . . Zero K reminds us of Mr. DeLillo's almost Day-Glo powers as a writer and his understanding of the strange, contorted shapes that eternal human concerns (with mortality and time) can take in the new millennium' -- Michiko Kakutani * New York Times *Brilliant in its imaginative scope * The Atlantic *Among DeLillo's finest work . . . DeLillo sneaks a heartbreaking story of a son attempting to reconnect with his father into his thought-provoking novel * Publishers Weekly *Sentence by sentence, DeLillo magically slips the knot of criticism and gives his readers what Nabokov maintained was all that mattered in life and art: individual genius. Sentence by sentence, DeLillo seduces . . . DeLillo has written a handful of the past half-century's finest novels. Now, as he approaches 80, he gives us one more, written distinctly for the 21st -- Joshua Ferris * New York Times *A return to full realization for DeLillo. . .Deserves to win old and new readers alike. A marvellous blend of DeLillo's enormous gifts; his bleak humour and edged insight, the alertness and vitality of his prose, the vast, poetic extrapolations are all evident. So is the visceral quickness and wit in the sentences -- Sam LipsyteAs ever, DeLillo explores the depths of an edgy, timely topic, completely resisting cliché, and emerges with something both fresh and universal * The Huffington Post *The reigning poet of unease, DeLillo has always understood the greatest disquiet — our mortality — and how our sense of it coats the surfaces of day-to-day life with a film, something DeLillo peels back at last in this bravura new novel about cryogenic life extension, family, and the losses we can’t overcome * Boston Globe *An eerie descent into a secret collective that seeks to elude death through cryonic freezing. It blends DeLillo's typical mix of introspection and creeping dread with something else — a menacing sense of the absurd, borrowed from Kafka. Combine this with a wry sense of humor and you've got a dive into the murky boundary between life and death that's as amusing as it is alarming * NPR *

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Book Synopsis‘A writer of sentences so elegant that they gleam’ - Ali Smith, author of How to be BothInfluenced by the mysterious place gingerbread holds in classic children's stories - equal parts wholesome and uncanny - beloved novelist Helen Oyeyemi invites readers into a delightful tale of a surprising family legacy, in which the inheritance is a recipe. Perdita Lee and her mother Harriet may appear your average schoolgirl and working mother but they are anything but. For one thing, their home is a gold-painted seventh-floor flat with some surprisingly verbal vegetation. And then there's the gingerbread. As we follow the Lees through encounters with jealousy, ambition, family grudges, work and wealth, gingerbread seems to be the one thing that holds a constant value . . . Endlessly surprising and satisfying, written with Helen Oyeyemi's inimitable style and imagination, Gingerbread is a true feast for the reader.

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Book SynopsisTrippy, incisive, riotously funny' ALEXANDRA KLEEMAN[An] insightfully nightmarish parable '' HALLE BUTLER''A stunner' NANA KWAME ADJEI-BRENYAHLuminous as if George Saunders infiltrated the Severance writers' room' WASHINGTON POSTA work place novel. A love story. A dream you can't wake fromJonathan Abernathy is a loser. Unemployed and behind on his student loan repayments, the only thing Abernathy has in abundance is debt.When a secretive government loan forgiveness programme offers him a job he can literally do in his sleep, Abernathy thinks he's found his big break. Hired as a dream auditor, he finds himself entering the dreams of white-collar workers to flag their anxieties for removal at night so they''ll be more productive in the day. If Abernathy can at least appear competent, might he have a chance at a new life?As Abernathy tries to find his footing in this new gig, reality and morality begin to warp around him. Soon, the lines between life and work, right and wrong, and even sTrade Review‘McGhee brilliantly articulates the neuroses of a young person trying to survive in a system rigged against him … A magical-realist office drama infused with millennial anomie, and McGhee’s canny, often bittersweetly hilarious prose reads as if George Saunders infiltrated the Severance writers’ room’ Washington Post ' Imagine the movie Inception, but populated by the middle-management workers in David Graeber’s book Bullshit Jobs ' New York Times ‘Fearlessly inventive and exquisitely poised … trippy, incisive, and, most importantly, riotously funny’ Alexandra Kleeman, author of You Too Can Have a Body Like Mine ‘An original mind brimming over with invention and comic ferocity’ Ben Marcus, author of The Flame Alphabet 'An excitingly original writer, inventing much needed and killingly funny satires for contemporary work and dreams of success' Holly Pester, author of The Lodgers ‘Precision, humour, heart … a stunner’ Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah, author of Chain-Gang All-Stars ‘[An] insightfully nightmarish parable of the pervasive ravages of debt’ Halle Butler, author of The New Me ‘An exuberant, poignant, freewheeling debut’ Jeff VanderMeer, author of Annihilation ‘Funny, freaky, intellectually bold and always from the heart’ Sam Lipsyte, author of The Ask ‘A revelation … There's nothing like it, awake or asleep’ Hilary Leichter, author of Temporary ‘The rare novel that truly feels like it could've only been written by a single brilliant mind’ Jean Kyoung Frazier author of Pizza Girl ‘A marvellous chronicler of the fantastic, the perverse, and the sublime’ Kelly Link, author of White Cat, Black Dog ‘Debt can take on a life of it’s own, but when it’s really good – like Jonathan Abernathy – so can art’ Electric Lit

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Book SynopsisGRANTA BEST OF YOUNG BRITISH NOVELISTSLONGLISTED FOR THE WOMEN''S PRIZE 2023LONGLISTED FOR THE NOTA BENE PRIZE 2024From the Booker Prize-nominated author of The Water Cure comes a chilling new feminist fable based on the true story of an unsolved mystery . . .''A shimmering fever-dream of a novel'' TelegraphSpring, 1951. Four people meet in a small French town: the baker and his wife; the ambassador and his wife. Two belong to the town, two are outsiders.Some time later, strange things start happening. Horses drop dead in the fields. Children grow wild and unbiddable. Ghosts are sighted after dark. Someone is playing a dangerous game of cat and mouse but who is the predator and who their prey?Audacious and mesmerizing, Cursed Bread is a darkly erotic mystery about a town gripped by madness, envy like poison in the blood, and desire that burns and consumes.''A dreamy sapphic romp'' The Times''Gauzy [and] gripping, a quietly rich maturation of Mackintosh''s skill'' GuardianThe Spectator Book of the Year 2023Trade ReviewA shimmering fever-dream of a novel, teasing the reader [..] while finding a fresh narrative framework for the relationship between monotonous small-town life and repressed female desire. Cursed Bread contains more riches than many a novel twice its length * Telegraph *A quietly rich maturation of Mackintosh's skill... This is a book about the power desire and greed exert over reality and memory... Mackintosh has entered a brilliant new stage of writing * Guardian *Nimble, terrifying... Mackintosh is a wonderful prose stylist and she uses many of the resources that served her well in her Booker prize-nominated debut, The Water Cure: the slow unravelling of sanity, the isolated and mysterious setting, that feeling of panting, crawling, unfulfilled desire... A dreamy sapphic romp * The Times *Remarkable, sensuous, thrillingly written . . . Mackintosh's evocation of desire is so tangible that you can smell the aroma of illicit sex * Observer *A richly atmospheric tale of greed, desire and vainglorious ambition, the plot centres around Elodie, wife of the village baker, who projects the wants and desires from her own unfulfilling marriage onto the arrival of two glamorous newcomers to the village... Shimmering with an almost hallucinatory quality throughout, closing its pages at The End feels like waking up from a fever dream. Fascinating. * Marie Claire *A sun-scorched fever dream . . . Mackintosh's top-notch phrasemaking and knack for forming uncanny images generate a baleful atmosphere of lust and dread in this splendidly peculiar tale * Daily Mail *Sensual, luminous, transcendent... This tale of obsession, desire and betrayal has a timeless, dreamlike quality. It confirms Mackintosh as one of our finest young writers * The Bookseller, Editor's Choice *As in her previous novels, Mackintosh's prose is eerie but minimalist - dreamlike yet grounded. Her style elevates plot to the status of fable or allegory without resorting to straightforward metaphor. This a story shrouded in mist, thick with meaning * New Statesman *This novel is a masterclass in observation, of fracturing personalities but also in its tight and nuanced portrait of the rituals and minutiae of small-town life. Afterwards, you'll want to devour it all over again * Independent *Mackintosh's dark imagination and precision as a prose stylist combine to devastating effect, as unsettling as it is unpredictable * Financial Times *Sensual, brilliant... This strange fable takes place in a 20th-century French village (and, remarkably, is based on a true story). It is the sort of tale that you will want to sneak a chapter of at the dinner table before food is served. The book details the progress of a maddening, hot summer... Be warned: you will never look at a boulangerie in the same way again * Daily Telegraph (Summer Reads) *A thrilling and subversive fable * i-D *Distinctive, cool, sparse... An eerie ambiguity fills Cursed Bread * i *Intoxicating, sumptuous and savage, Cursed Bread has a gothic sensibility that is entirely original. In Mackintosh's hands, the strange, compulsive machinations of desire become luminous and ghastly all at once -- Alexandra Kleeman, author of 'You Too Can Have a Body Like Mine'Sensuous and haunted, like Madame Bovary reworked as a ghost story - an incredible book about desire, pleasure, beauty. Sophie's fiction always has a gauzy quality, filled with strange, languid images, which rise to a narrative crescendo like clues in a detective novel. She makes it look effortless -- Jo Hamya, author of 'Three Rooms'Cursed Bread floored me on the first page and didn't let up for the rest of the journey. It always feels like a true privilege to spend time with Sophie Mackintosh's brilliant mind and she is only getting better and weirder and wilder. A knockout -- Megan Nolan, author of 'Acts of Desperation'Macabre and sensuous... [It] packs a punch * Mail on Sunday *Her writing is so sleek, the characters mysterious and yet indelible - a taut, seductive, thrilling gem of a novel -- Olivia Sudjic, author of 'Asylum Road'Sophie Mackintosh takes a true story and asks what any of us really know about what is true? Our desires poison us. Shame and longing intertwine. We hide even from ourselves... This novel is subtle and devouring; reading it is like being slowly swallowed by the night -- Rowan Hisayo Buchanan, author of 'Starling Days'Vivid and shocking, written with stunning, incantatory prose, Cursed Bread is the kind of book that upends your nervous system -- Julia May Jonas , author of VladimirBloody, sexy, sinister, strange. This book will take hold of you -- Saba Sams, author of 'Send Nudes'Everything Sophie Mackintosh is so febrile and tactile, when you read her books you feel as if you live in them. The world felt so eerie after finishing Cursed Bread. I didn't feel quite the same as I was before, but in the best way -- Annie Lord, author of 'Notes on Heartbreak'A story of love, lust and appetite . . . a book I haven’t been able to stop thinking about * The Spectator 'Best Books of 2023' *Pristine, visceral & wild. She's a master. You won't be disappointed -- Sarah Rose Etter, author of 'The Book of X'Gorgeously atmospheric and feverishly compulsive [on] amorphous longings and desires, and the hot shame of wanting more than you deserve -- Lara Williams, author of 'Supper Club'Sophie Mackintosh has given her strange and intriguing imagination the opportunity to flourish. There is tension on every page * Prospect *A thrilling and feverish fable of secret desire * Monocle *

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Book Synopsis''ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS I''VE READ IN RECENT YEARS . . . PACKS A HELL OF AN EMOTIONAL PUNCH'' Adrian Tchaikovsky, author of Children of TimeFrom one of the most imaginative writers of her generation comes an extraordinary vision of the future.Ven was once a holy man, a keeper of ancient archives. It was his duty to interpret archaic texts, sorting useful knowledge from the heretical ideas of the Burning Age - a time of excess and climate disaster. For in Ven''s world, such material must be closely guarded, so that the ills that led to that cataclysmic era can never be repeated.But when the revolutionary Brotherhood approaches Ven, pressuring him to translate stolen writings that threaten everything he once held dear, his life will be turned upside down. Torn between friendship and faith, Ven must decide how far he''s willing to go to save this new world, and how much he is willing to lose.Notes from the Burning AgeTrade ReviewOne of the best books I've read in recent years. Thought provoking, imaginative and packs a hell of an emotional punch * Adrian Tchaikovsky, author of CHILDREN OF TIME *A gripping, utterly involving, dystopian eco-thriller that balances the intimacies of betrayal against global climate collapse * DAILY MAIL *A riveting tale . . . North's convincing view of post-apocalyptic society captivates, and the political intrigues will keep readers hooked right up until the explosive close * PUBLISHERS WEEKLY *An impassioned, urgent and compelling new work that burns as bright as the fires of our own burning age. This is not to be missed -- Lavie Tidhar, World Fantasy Award-winning authorClaire North depicts a startling, richly developed postapocalyptic world in this beautiful and riveting novel * BUZZFEED *Notes is compelling because it is beautiful . . . It felt seamless . . . When North was done and Notes reached its explosive conclusion, I just wasn't ready to leave. Her world was such a fragile, beautiful, doomed place, I felt like I should stick around just to make sure it would all be okay * NPR *A passionate and committed vision of what we do to nature, and what it can do to us * LOCUS *Mesmeric, terrifying and wonderful. North is practically her own genre at this point. -- M. R. Carey, author of THE GIRL WITH ALL THE GIFTSAn irresistible, haunting thrill * Joe Hill, author of HORNS and LOCKE AND KEY *A clever and thought-provoking conceit * GUARDIAN *North's latest once again displays her mastery of lyrical prose . . . The author presents a fascinating testament to humanity's fallibility and tendency towards denial, merged with the potency of truth and the power of love * BOOKLIST *Claire North's most ambitious novel to date * LOCUS *Remarkable . . . one of the most moving, horrifying and gut-wrenching novels of the year * NPR *A suspenseful tale of the truths that lie hidden in the human heart . . . This is a world-spanning cat-and-mouse chase that tackles big questions about the nature of truth and whether we can ever really know one another or ourselves. True love, life, and death, what's worth dying - or killing - for: It's all here in this gripping, bloody, and haunting novel * KIRKUS *In rich, compelling prose, North weaves together the threads of imperial control, ideological conviction, love and the thrill of power . . . A lyrical and sometimes surreal approach to espionage and its thrills * SHELF AWARENESS *North's talent shines out -- SUNDAY TIMESClaire North is a true original, a master of ingenious plotting and feats of imagination -- Alex Marwood, author of THE WICKED GIRLSClaire North's writing is terrific, smart and entertaining -- Patrick NessNorth demonstrates skill in creating a terrifying setting that feels rooted to the present day . . . Every aspect of life in Theo's Britain is imbued with a menace that feels both recognizable and urgent, and the decisions the characters make as a result feel uncomfortably real. * RT BOOK REVIEWS on 84K *The truly scary thing about 84K is how convincing this dark, brutal class-divided Britain is * SFX (4 1/2 stars) *North is an original and even dazzling writer, and fans of her work will enjoy this grim tale of capitalism taken to a terrifying extreme * KIRKUS on 84K *Another captivating novel from one of the most intriguing and genre-bending novelists * BOOKLIST on 84K *An extraordinary novel that stands with the best of dystopian fiction, with echoes of The Handmaid's Tale -- Cory Doctorow on 84K

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Book SynopsisAuster''s haunting exploration of war in a post 9/11 world from the author of contemporary classic The New York Trilogy: ''a literary voice for the ages'' (Guardian) ''I am alone in the dark, turning the world around in my head as I struggle through another bout of insomnia, another white night in the great American wilderness.''Seventy-two-year-old August Brill is recovering from a car accident in his daughter''s house in Vermont. When sleep refuses to come, he lies in bed and tells himself stories, struggling to push back thoughts about things he would rather forget - his wife''s recent death and the horrific murder, in Iraq, of his granddaughter''s boyfriend, Titus. Brill, a retired book critic, imagines a parallel world in which America is not at war with Iraq but with itself. In this other America the Twin Towers did not fall on 9/11, and the 2000 election results led to secession, as state after state pulled away from the union and

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Book SynopsisBran's Southern California upbringing is anything but traditional. After her mother abandons her and joins a Buddhist colony, Bran is raised by her common-law stepfather' on Bourdon Farms a plant nursery that doubles as a cover for a biker gang. She spends her days tending plants, slogging through high school and imagining what life could be if she had been born to a different family.Then she meets Peter a charming, troubled college student from the East Coast who launches his teaching career by initiating her into the world of art. The two begin a seemingly doomed long-distance relationship as Bran searches for meaning in her own surroundings. She knows how to survive, but now she must learn how to live.''Avalon observes beautifully the shifting terrain of teenage intimacy: its intensity and its fragility . . . it's a hilarious, heartbreaking and of course extremely weird novel.'' Sunday Times

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Book SynopsisHaunting and beautifully written first novel by the award-winning author of Battleborn, set among a cult of survivors in a dystopian American desert''A Mad Max world painted with a finer brush'' Elle''An unforgettable journey into a hauntingly imagined near-future'' Ruth Ozeki''Set in a drought-ravaged Southern California trolled by scavengers, Gold Fame Citrus burns with a dizzying, scorching genius'' Vanity Fair Desert sands have laid waste to the south-west of America. Las Vegas is buried. California - and anyone still there - is stranded. Any way out is severely restricted. But Luz and Ray are not leaving. They survive on water rations, black market fruit and each other''s need. Luz needs Ray, and Ray must be needed. But then they cross paths with a mysterious child, who needs them more than anything - and the thirst for a better life begins.Claire Vaye Watkins''sTrade ReviewAn extraordinary novel: relentlessly brilliant, utterly fearless, and often savagely funny. Watkins explores the maze of human thirst in all its forms. Here's a love story that tracks the mutating hopes of two lost souls, in prose that is fever-bright and ferociously assured. More confirmation that Watkins is one of the brightest stars in our firmament * Karen Russell, author of Swamplandia and Vampires in the Lemon Grove *A tour-de-force first novel blisters with drought, myth, and originality . . . Praised for writing landscape, Watkins' grasp of the body is just as rousing . . . Critics will reference Annie Proulx's bite and Joan Didion's hypnotic West, but Watkins is magnificently original * Kirkus *A gripping, audacious novel, plausibly imagined in all its remarkable details. With Claire Vaye Watkins there was never promise: it was achievement from the start, and this book repays her admirers in spades * Thomas McGuane *An unforgettable journey into a hauntingly imagined near-future. With her mind-bending vision, breathtaking storytelling and utterly original voice, Claire Vaye Watkins is one of my favorite writers * Ruth Ozeki, author of A Tale for the Time Being *Set in an increasingly plausible-seeming future in which drought has transformed Southern California into a howling wasteland, this debut novel by the author of the prize-winning story collection Battleborn finds two refugees of the water wars holed up in a starlet's abandoned mansion in L.A.'s Laurel Canyon. Seeking lusher landscape, the pair head east, risking attack by patrolling authorities, roving desperadoes, and the unrelenting sun * The Millions - most anticipated books of 2015 *Exhilarating, upsetting, delirious, bold, Gold Fame Citrus is a head rush of a novel and establishes Claire Vaye Watkins as an important new voice in American literature * Louise Erdrich, author of The Round House *A sun-hammered fever dream, not unlike the shimmering, sweltering southwest it depicts. Your heart will be wrung out by the journey of Luz, Raymond, and Ig. Your imagination will feast on the assured depiction of a near-future that is burnt to a crisp. And you'll hope it's all a mirage as Watkins renders a hot and very plausible future the frightening force of a burning inevitability * Smith Henderson, author of Fourth of July Creek *The book is packed with persuasive detail, luminous writing, and a grasp of the history (popular, political, natural and imagined) needed to tell a story that is original yet familiar, strange yet all too believable * Publisher's Weekly *American odyssey: Set in a drought-ravaged Southern California trolled by scavengers, Gold Fame Citrus burns with a dizzying, scorching genius * Vanity Fair *Watkins brings a gorgeous sense of language and a native desert-dweller's understanding of California to her audacious and dystopian first novel . . . The drought, the desperation and the fantasy built by the guru all feel disturbingly real * BBC *She's sharp, at times merciless, and never above a little fun . . . The book is instantly entrancing, alluring as a mirage, and filled with peril, mystery, sandstorms, the occult, and a cast of nuanced characters * Los Angeles Magazine *Extraordinary power and beauty . . . A great pleasure of the book is Watkins's fearlessness * New York Times *Like the best stories in her 2013 Dylan Thomas Prize-winning collection Battleborn, the narrative focuses on left-behind people and left-behind places - those who exist at the periphery of destructive events . . . Which may make it surprising to say that this book is also funny. It's funny in the way that a Joy Williams or Mary Gaitskill or Flannery O'Connor story is funny. It's laughter in the dark, the comedy of unending struggle . . . The sentences in Gold Fame Citrus are alive in ways the sun-blasted landscape isn't, and therein lies the hope -- Jonathan Lee * Financial Times *Watkins's apocalyptic new novel seems a revisionist refit of McCarthy's The Road . . . that (unlike The Road) puts female characters centre-stage in a geographically vivid setting. The style hits you first . . . Formidably wrought -- Anthony Cummins * Daily Telegraph *Watkins writes with grace, wit and imagination in her first novel . . . Watkins's writing engrosses because she is mainly concerned with how people behave in extreme circumstances; no matter how strange the background, her characters stay believable -- Kate Saunders * The Times *The empty swimming pools and intense light conjure JG Ballard's environmental dystopias as well as Margaret Atwood's . . . Both nail-biting and digressive, at times lushly overwritten, at times wryly incisive, but always powerful . . . Vaye Watkins' portrait of Levi, the leader of the sand dune colony, is a tour de force: chilling, beguiling, paranoid, convincing and pathetic by turns. . . Her novel certainly cuts deep in its vision of overwhelming natural power . . . most of all in her extraordinary creation of the dune sea . . . too vast for human comprehension, yet at the same time a tabula rasa for each fragile individual's desires, it's a classic example of the Romantic sublime, as mesmerising as it is deadly -- Justine Jordan * Guardian *A wild book conveying the allure of people improvising, as well as the strange charm of the landscape . . . Vaye Watkins is well versed in the region's seductive myths . . . It is hard not to read the demise of idealogy as well as collapsing ecology as the driving force [ . . .] a contemporary distrust of power, whoever wields it [. . .] even her pleasure in language reflects back a suspicion of rhetoric that seeks to persuade . . . The complexities of emotion and power is probed so intelligently -- Kate Webb * Times Literary Supplement *California has always been the place where they went to start it big. Lured by 'gold, fame, citrus' as a character puts it, a phrase on which her book is a fascinating, dystopian fugue . . . Like McCarthy, her desert landscapes are dense as well as barren, not just in the physical detail with which they're rendered, but the significance with which characters imbue them . . . A powerful portrait of an apocalypse less the result of external catastrophe, than familiar human failings -- Sam Kitchener * Independent *A Mad Max world painted with a finer brush . . . beautiful and profoundly unsettling * Elle *

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Book Synopsis‘Frightening and timely, Bradley’s The Sisterhood is the book everyone should read this year. If you thought it ended with Orwell, think again . . .' CHRISTINA DALCHERVox meets The Handmaid’s Tale in this feminist reimagining of 1984   In Oceania, whoever you are, Big Brother is always watching you and trust is a luxury that no one has. Julia is the seemingly perfect example of what women in Oceania should be: dutiful, useful, subservient, meek. But Julia hides a secret. A secret that would lead to her death if it is discovered. For Julia is part of the underground movement called The Sisterhood, whose main goal is to find members of The Brotherhood, the anti-Party vigilante group, and help them to overthrow Big Brother. Only then can everyone be truly free.   When Julia thinks she’s found a potential member of The Brotherhood, it seems like their goal might finTrade Review'Though set in a dystopian world replete with endless horrors, The Sisterhood ultimately tackles a much more universal story, that of a woman on a quest to seek identity and purpose in a society which denies her access to both. Where any passion beyond the all-encompassing authority of Big Brother is forbidden, much love simmers beneath the surface of Katherine Bradley's fast-paced and suspenseful work. The Sisterhood's greatest gift, however, may be in its message of hope, capable of surmounting even the most formidable of odds and the most uncertain of futures' KATHERINE J. CHEN, author of Joan 'A gut-wrenching, heart-breaking journey through the looking glass of 1984. Compulsively written, Julia’s is a story begging to be told' FREYA BERRY, author of The Dictator's Wife '1984’s Julia gets the spotlight in this reimagining of Orwell’s classic, where she presents as a dutiful Outer Party member, but is working with a small band of rebel women. A heart-pounding look into a secondary character’s legacy' Grazia 'A compelling tale of love and sacrifice, a worthy companion to the original novel' My Weekly 'Sinister, chilling and heart-breaking, it’s a worthy successor to Orwell’s dystopian classic, allowing readers to explore a new version of Julia’s story' Culturefly 'A dazzling retelling of the classic dystopian novel, which raises profound questions about how society works, and whether or not woman have political agency. I found it memorable, deeply moving, and at times, terrifying' KATE RHODES, author of the Ben Kitto series 'Katherine Bradley has delivered a worthy counterpart to George Orwell's 1984 in this chilling, taut book. It's as claustrophobic as it needs to be; particularly frightening as one looks around and sees that we are voluntarily moving towards Orwell's nightmare. It is nothing short of a triumph' MARA TIMON, author of City of Spies ‘In this highly original take on Orwell’s 1984 – the Big Brother of all dystopian classics – Bradley weaves a complex and engaging plot around the idea of a female resistance to oppressive overlords. Oppressive and creepy, but with real heart’ A. K. TURNER, author of the Cassie Raven series

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Book Synopsis''Absolutely amazing... a cross between The Road by Cormac McCarthy and The Walking Dead'' Eoin Colfer''You''ll be terrified, fascinated and above all, uplifted by Orpen - a heroine to rival Philip Pullman''s Lyra or The Passage''s Amy'' StylistRaised by her mother and Maeve on Slanbeg, an island off the west coast of Ireland, Orpen has a childhood of love and stories by the fireside. But the stories grow darker, and the training begins. Ireland has been devoured by a ravening menace known as the skrake, and though Slanbeg is safe for now, the women must always be ready to run, or to fight.When Maeve is bitten, Orpen is faced with a dilemma: kill Maeve before her transformation is complete, or try to get help. So Orpen sets off, with Maeve in a wheelbarrow and her dog at her side, in the hope of finding other survivors, and a cure. It is a journey that will test Orpen to her limits, on which she will learn who she Trade ReviewWritten in sparse, affecting prose, and reminiscent of Cormac McCarthy's The Road, this is a fiercely feminist, highly imaginative novel * Observer *A debut novel of jaw-dropping skill and immense power, a shimmering dystopian vision but also a lucid meditation on tenderness, intimacy and courage. From the get-go it gripped me, and since the last page I've been haunted -- Joseph O'ConnorKept me up until 2am. A triumph. A confident, assured debut from one of the most exciting new voices on the Irish literary scene -- Louise O'NeillI will be cursing Last Ones Left Alive for seriously troubling dreams for weeks to come -- Patrick GaleA deft and darkly enigmatic saga . . . so many details connect this terrifying Ireland to the one we recognise * Irish Independent *This dystopian future Ireland will unnerve and intrigue and thrill readers everywhere -- Donal RyanA riveting novel. It reminded me that even in the darkest times, love and human decency can survive -- Eowyn IveyLast Ones Left Alive gripped me as much by the heart as it did by the throat. A stormer of a debut, Davis-Goff has created an urgent, assured, terrifying tale of destruction, humanity, and love -- Kiran Millwood HargraveBeautifully written and terrifying. 'Last Ones Left Alive' will leave you reeling, not only from its originality and searing vision, but also from the humanity of the relationships portrayed -- Kate HamerLAST ONES LEFT ALIVE combines the spare poetry of THE ROAD with the dizzying pace of 28 DAYS LATER. A beautiful book, lyrical in its violence, painting in vivid strokes the joy and brutality of the human experience. An original, brilliant take on the end of the world. -- Jennie Melamed, author of GATHER THE DAUGHTERSDavis-Goff has crafted a beautiful, lyrical, and guttural examination of what it takes to love and survive in a world shaped by loss and violence. This is a magnetic novel pulsing with life. It is truly remarkable and unforgettable -- Sarah Schmidt, author of SEE WHAT I HAVE DONEThis pacy debut marries glimmering prose to a gripping plot * Sunday Express *

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Book SynopsisThe Iron Heel (1907) is a novel by American writer Jack London. A groundbreaking work of dystopian science fiction, The Iron Heel was inspired by London’s socialist views and belief in an eventual global upheaval. Although his predictions proved wrong for the United States of the early-twentieth century, London was recognized by such figures as George Orwell for his foresight regarding the rise of fascism in Europe. The novel is told from the perspective of a scholar named Anthony Meredith who lives in the post-revolutionary Brotherhood of Man in the year 2600 AD. Having discovered the “Everhard Manuscript,” a record of the rise of the Oligarchy in twentieth century America that provides the bulk of the narrative, Meredith writes the introduction and extensive footnotes throughout. The Manuscript is the story of Avis Everhard, a young woman who becomes radicalized by the rise of authoritarianism in the United States and eventually leads a failed revolution against the Oligarchy. While the frame narrative provides a sense of hope for the future of humanity, the Manuscript describes a society crushed by the consolidation of economic and political power by a wealthy few, who control all aspects of everyday life and rule with the help of a ruthless mercenary army. As she rises through the ranks of the resistance movement, Everhard comes to understand that the sacrifices required of a hero must be made for a future she holds little hope of seeing. With a beautifully designed cover and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of Jack London’s The Iron Heel is a classic of American literature reimagined for modern readers.

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Book Synopsis__________________________________________________She wants to escape the past. Is she doomed to repeat it? In the spectacular sequel to Subject Twenty-One, Elise and her friends have unearthed the truth that has been kept from them their whole lives and escaped the Museum of Evolution - but at what cost?'An unputdownable exploration into the ethics of science' Buzz MagazineAfter a perilous escape, Elise and her companions have made it to the safety of the secret fifth base, Uracil, but her family is still in danger. Desperate to secure them passage and a safe place to live, she makes a deal with the leaders of Uracil - she'll become their spy, jeopardising her own freedom in the process.But first she has to help rescue the next Neanderthal, Subject Twenty-Two.Twenty-Two has never left the confines of the steel walls that keep her separated from the other exhibits. She has no contact with the outside world and no way of knowing why she has been abandoned. With diminishing deliveries of food and water, she has to start breaking the museum's rules if she wants a second chance at living.One belongs to the future and the other to the past, but both will need to adapt - or neither will survive . . .__________________________________________________PRAISE FOR THE TOMORROW'S ANCESTORS SERIES'A stonking good sci-fi & coming-of-age story all wrapped into one . . . a book that tackles humanity, hardship, and classism at the deepest level.' Magic Radio Book ClubIncredible . . . without a doubt one of the best YA sci-fi books I've ever read' Out and About Books'Instantly engaging . . . widens out from a tale of a girl trying to find her own identity to a broader story encompassing an entire population's burden of oppression, and the desire for freedom' Track of Words'One of the rare debuts that are really five star reads. Subject Twenty One grabbed me instantly and I couldn't put it down' Dom Reads__________________________________________________Make sure you've read the whole series!1. Subject Twenty-One2. The Fifth Base3. The Fourth SpeciesTrade ReviewPRAISE FOR THE HIDDEN BASE * : *Well written and imaginative . . . A real page-turner, it had me reading until long after I should have turned out the light * Julia Blake, author of Black Ice *A really unique YA dystopian world, I highly recommend this series. * Book Phenomena *A fast-paced and exciting page-turner which kept me gripped from start to finish * Stephanie Jane, author of Finally a Vegan *The Tomorrow's Ancestors stories are brilliant. Highly recommended. * Jera's Jamboree *

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Book Synopsis'Original, timely, terrifying' CHRIS WHITAKER'Brilliant, profoundly unsettling' DAILY MAILWHAT HAPPENS WHEN THE WATER RUNS OUT?THE WORLD IS RUNNING OUT OF WATER. With supply in the Scottish cities drying up, Aida is forced back home to live with her mum at their rural farm. For now, they are safe with just enough to get by. Yet at the border, tensions are close to breaking point as more and more southerners chase the delusion that Scotland is an eternal spring - while fewer and fewer are allowed through. The service station where Aida works grows emptier with every day. Then, when suspicious strangers arrive at the farm asking for help, Aida and her family face a terrible decision. How much water can they afford to share? AND THEN THE TAPS ARE TURNED OFF. Now they must survive long enough for the rain to come.Completely compelling, devastating and thought-provoking, Thirsty Animals takes us on a captivating journey of survival and self-discovery.'Beautifully written, vivid and unflinching, it confirms Atalla as a real talent' DOUG JOHNSTONE'A master of slow-burning tension and unease . . . The pace of the story builds to an unputdownable conclusion, and the characters will stay with the reader for a long time' CAILEAN STEEDTrade ReviewThirsty Animals is a hard-hitting speculative thriller, equal parts terrifying and compassionate. Beautifully written, vivid and unflinching, it confirms Atalla as a real talent * Doug Johnstone *Original, timely, terrifying. Thirsty Animals takes a brutal yet deeply heartfelt look at survival, and kindness, and just how difficult it can be for the two to coexist at the extremes * Chris Whitaker *Rachelle Atalla's second novel has shown her once again to be a master of slow-burning tension and unease. Thirsty Animals is terrifyingly believable, and functions both as a warning against overconsumption and division, while also providing a hopeful message about the redemptive possibilities of community. The pace of the story builds to an unputdownable conclusion, and the characters will stay with the reader for a long time * Cailean Steed *this is one seriously brilliant and thought-provoking read * Heat *This brilliant, profoundly unsettling second novel will secure Atalla's place as an extraordinary writer, and a poet of controlled bleakness * Daily Mail *Atalla knows how to ramp up tension expertly, and Thirsty Animals comes to a dramatic, unexpected but satisfying conclusion * Big Issue *Compelling, unsettling and emotive, this is an exciting story of survival and self-discovery * Candis *A disturbing and compelling book * SFX *A prophetic book, offering the reader both a deeply unsettling glimpse into our possible future and a comforting reminder of how resilient humans can be. I was utterly captivated by the story, especially Atalla's characters who are richly drawn and incredibly relatable. Atalla has an uncanny knack of both revealing the best and the worst of humanity. She's quickly establishing herself as a writer for these unsettling times * Jan Carson *Thirsty Animals is one of those perfect reads. Compulsive and profound in equal measure, it is both page-turning thriller and philosophical disquisition on what it means to be human rolled into one. A dystopian triumph that confirms Atalla as a major talent, this chilling and believable second novel is horrifyingly brilliant in the best possible way * Mary Paulson-Ellis *Atalla writes with humanity and with such pace that at times, you find yourself gasping for breath. Even if you think apocalyptic fiction is not your bag, you might be surprised by Thirsty Animals. I was. * The Herald *

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Book SynopsisThe smash hit series written by New York Times bestselling writers SCOTT SNYDER (WYTCHES, AD: AFTER DEATH) and CHARLES SOULE (CURSE WORDS, Oracle Year) with art by GIUSEPPE CAMUNCOLI (The Amazing Spider-Man, Darth Vader, Hellblazer), DANIELE ORLANDINI (Darth Vader) and Eisner Award-winning colorist MATT WILSON (THE WICKED + THE DIVINE, PAPER GIRLS) gets its first collection! In UNDISCOVERED COUNTRY, readers will journey into an unknown region that was once the United States of America-a mysterious land that has been literally walled off from the rest of the world for well over a century. Two small expeditions enter the former US simultaneously-one from the east, one from the west-and journey inward, each seeking their own form of truth as they struggle to survive in this strange and deadly lost country! Collects UNDISCOVERED COUNTRY #1-6

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Book Synopsis“The pacing, script, and artwork are all dynamite” – AIPT Chip Zdarsky (Daredevil) and Ramon K Perez’s (Tales of Sand, Jane) sensational horror series returns!Chaos in Stillwater erupts! With the Judge out of commission, Ted and his militia storm the town and take control. But in this small town where no one can die, there are others willing to go even further... Collects STILLWATER #7-12.

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Book SynopsisThe year is 2098. A THIRD WORLD AMERICA is ravaged by economic collapse, environmental disaster and internal conflict. Del, a young volunteer working triage at a field hospital is abducted by a ruthless motorcycle gang. Her only hope is FALE an ex-military, private contractor hired to find and bring her home. ALMIGHTY is white-knuckle thrill ride that will have fans of the genre begging for more. Collects ALMIGHTY #1-5

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Book SynopsisAfter the death of their parents, Ataru Kashiwagi and his younger sister, Yuri, depend on each other. Ataru works hard at high school and his job, and spends his leisure time on a social media site: Real Account. Eventually, he hits 1,500 followers, but he sometimes wonders how much they really care about him. One night, the screen ominously begins to glitch, only displaying: The Game Will Now Begin. In the blink of an eye, Ataru finds himself transported into Real Account's loading screen - except now it's a 3-D lobby! Before them stands Marble, the smiley-faced announcer. With a sinister cheerfulness, Marble says, "If you die in here, you die out there... and so do all your followers!"

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Book SynopsisA post-apocalyptic tale of environmental disaster and impossible choicesOVER 30,000 COPIES SOLD IN FRANCE“A wrenching exploration of the consequences of survival.” — Kirkus Reviews“An engrossing fable in which families and societies unravel and are refashioned.” — ForeWord ReviewsA small boat, alone on the furious ocean. A family stranded on an island, battered by waves on all sides. A decision which looms, unavoidable, on the horizon.When a volcano collapses in the ocean and generates a tidal wave of biblical proportions, the world disappears around Louie, his parents and his eight siblings. Their house, perched on a summit, stands firm. A far as the eye can see there is only silver water shaken, like jolts of rage, by violent storms. It is shaken by violent storms, like jolts of rage.A remarkable story of destruction, resilience, love, and the invisible but powerful links that bind a family together.“Just After the Wave is a fable for today, as well as a wrenching story of love and survival. Sandrine Collette has reached deep into past fairy tales and modern reality to create a novel that's a stunning, resonant wake-up call.” - Shelf AwarenessTrade Review“A magnificent book full of fury and humanity . . . hypnotic and captivating.” * Les Notes Bibliographiques *“An extraordinary psychological thriller.” * Madame Figaro *“A fable with mythological overtones, as nerve racking as it is moving.” * Lire *

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Book Synopsis'In A Song for a New Day, liberty and creative endeavour are compromised by political and socioeconomic reality. Pinsker presents a frighteningly real near-future US [and] movingly charts Rosemary's coming-of-age story as her world and Luce's collide' Guardian BEFORE Luce is on the road. Success is finally within grasp: her songs are getting airtime; the venues she's playing are getting larger. But mass shootings, bombings and now a strange contagion are closing America down around her... AFTER Rosemary is too young to remember the Before. She's grown up in a world where proximity to others is not only unusual, it is also illegal. Life as she knows it is entirely online, virtual. But now she's on the road, in the real world, searching for something that, until a few weeks ago, she never knew existed.Trade ReviewSarah Pinsker has written a wonderful epic about music, community, and rediscovering the things that make us human -- Charlie Jane Anders, author of All the Birds in the SkyThe combination of technothriller, rock-and-roll novel, and rebellion in a dystopian world make for a riveting, sweet, funny, angry, gorgeous read -- Cory Doctorow, author of WalkawayA compelling book about the importance of music – and any sort of art – in a world where it seems like the least essential thing. This is an expertly drawn post-catastrophe world peopled by compassionately written characters -- Ann Leckie, author of Ancillary MercyAn all-too plausible version of the apocalypse, rendered in such compelling prose that you won't be able to put it down... A lively and hopeful look at how community and music and life goes on even in the middle of dark days and malevolent corporate shenanigans' -- Kelly Link, author of Get it TroubleWoven through Pinsker's meticulously crafted future of technology-enabled isolation and corporate-consumerist powerlessness is a stirring anthem against the politics of fear. A dazzling tale told in multiple voices, with not a single note out of place. This is the lyrical protest song that we have always needed, perhaps more so now than ever -- Ken Liu, author of Grace of KingsCements Pinsker's status as a rising star in the world of speculative fiction... A gorgeous novel that celebrates what can happen when one person raises her voice' * Kirkus Reviews *This excellent debut novel by Nebula winner Pinsker establishes her as an astonishingly impressive writer of day-after-tomorrow SF... This tale of hope and passion is a remarkable achievement' * Publishers Weekly *STARRED REVIEW* *In A Song for a New Day, liberty and creative endeavour are compromised by political and socioeconomic reality. Pinsker presents a frighteningly real near-future US... Pinsker movingly charts Rosemary's coming-of-age story as her world and Luce's collide' * Guardian *

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Book SynopsisLaisve is a refugee in a destroyed city-island, hunted in Raids and haunted by the spirits of her drowned mother and brother. She dives into the river and finds herself travelling between times and waterways that will connect her with people from the past and future. Among them are a group of workers constructing a colossal monument to freedom for a young and bustling nation. But exactly what - and whom - will that liberty represent?As Laisve drifts into their histories, she schools seekers in the ways of dreams, love and the ultimate aim of liberty: to free the next generation from the chains of this one.Trade ReviewA long, disturbing dream . . . a fascinating, unsettling ride * * Guardian * *There's so much that feels deeply present about Yuknavitch's latest novel: the ever-expanding police state, lower Manhattan under water and a woman on a mission to rescue other vulnerable women. Yuknavitch's words are incantations, and Thrust is a triumph * * Elle * *An indignant and impressive novel * * New York Times * *Moving and incisive * * Time * *This weirdly wonderful [novel] on the surveillance state, climate change, and what it means to have agency as a woman in the world will throw your mind for a loop in the best way * * Good Housekeeping * *[This] powerful, braided fable unites workers of the world across time and space and class to start conceiving of a better world . . . Yuknavitch is firmly in control * * Los Angeles Times * *Thrust is alarmingly trenchant - and a hell of a wild ride. Daring, dazzling and earth-splitting, this is a book to take in wide-eyed -- REBECCA MAKKAI, author of The Great Believers[The] most mind-blowing book about America I've ever inhaled . . . I read Thrust in a state of flustered fascination and finished longing to dream it again * * Washington Post * *A unique dystopian tale, one much more than a straightforward calamity-charged premonition * * Buzz Magazine * *A complex novel of great imagination . . . profound, thought-provoking and deeply beautiful * * Shelf Awareness * *

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Book SynopsisThe author of the acclaimed novel Scarborough weaves an unforgettable and timely dystopian tale about a near-future, where a queer Black performer and his allies join forces to rise up when an oppressive regime gathers those deemed "Other" into concentration camps.Set in a terrifyingly familiar near-future, with massive floods leading to rampant homelessness and devastation, a government-sanctioned regime called The Boots seizes on the opportunity to round up communities of color, the disabled, and the LGBTQ+ into labour camps.In the shadows, a new hero emerges. After he loses his livelihood as a drag queen and the love of his life, Kay joins the resistance alongside Bahadur, a transmasculine refugee, and Firuzeh, a headstrong social worker. Guiding them in the use of weapons and close-quarters combat is Beck, a rogue army officer, who helps them plan an uprising at a major televised international event.With her signature "raw yet beautiful, disturbing yet hopeful" (Booklist) prose, Catherine Hernandez creates a vision of the future that is all the more frightening because it is very possible. A cautionary tale filled with fierce and vibrant characters, Crosshairs explores the universal desire to thrive, love, and be loved for being your true self.Trade ReviewCrosshairs is a blistering page-turner. One can describe it as dystopic fiction, but Catherine Hernandez is presenting us with something much more prescient to consider. The novel acts as a provocation and a challenge for readers to locate themselves. Crosshairs offers a glance into a world that is possible if we continue on a trajectory that is frightfully present. Most importantly, Crosshairs asks us what we will do to resist and build a better future when faced with such momentous and dangerous times. * Carianne Leung, award-winning author of That Time I Loved You *Crosshairs is both unnervingly prescient and undeniably profound. A harrowing work that's as much a battle cry as a ballad for the erased, and we should all be listening. * V.E. Schwab, New York Times bestselling author of A Darker Shade of Magic *Crosshairs leaves readers with two promises. The first is that change is possible. If people with privilege can be motivated to take action against systemic oppression, sould can be saved and lives can be spared. The second promise is that without change, we are hurtling towards disaster. Consider this book a call to action. A demand for change before it's too late. * Quill and Quire *Crosshairs made me shiver. It troubled my dreams. Still, I could not put down this dystopia. It was utterly compelling. Catherine Hernandez prophesies Canadian genocide against Queer, Black, Brown, and Indigenous folks. At the same time, she inspires the reader with her depiction of a resistance full of characters who ? even in the face of hatred and complacency ? show love, pride, endurance, courage, and insist on living to the very last breath. * Lawrence Hill, bestselling author of The Illegal and The Book of Negroes *In Crosshairs, Catherine Hernandez shapes a world at once fantastical and familiar, remarkable and relatable . . . The result is a sparkling but devastating novel about corporate and state cruelty, individual as well as community sacrifice, and Queer Black and Brown kinship that must be protected at all costs. Timely, unapologetic, complicated. * Jenny Heijun Wills, award-winning author of Older Sister, Not Necessarily Related *A beautiful, unapologetic, and unwatered-down...dystopian [novel] that holds a sobering mirror up to our own world * New York Times bestselling author Marie Lu *Every character has a moment to tell their story. Hernandez delivers beautiful and heartbreaking scenes in a story that is hard especially because of how close it feels to our present. * Booklist *Catherine Hernandez is groundbreaking. Her talent is remarkable. I dare you not to cry or scream or marvel or, like me, do all at once while reading this book. This story is a masterpiece of voice and metaphor, image and embodiment. But it is also a perfectly crafted portrait of us now, of us then, of the us we hope to be. I love this book, this big, bright missive that not only breaks the ground, but that gifts us with the steps to take in order to get to the other side, together. * Cherie Dimaline, bestselling author of The Marrow Thieves and Empire of Wild *Hernandez is unrelenting in her portrayal of the regular violence, assault and abuses faced by these Otherized people in 'civil societies.' She excels in her ability to show the ease of even the most brazen fascism and the pervasiveness of the feelings and scenarios that elicit its subsequent rise. * USA Today *Hernandez's storytelling throughout is compelling, and she builds tension and intrigue as the story moves forward, leaving the reader ravenous for the outcome. . . A rare and wonderful and formidable feat. * Letticia Cosbert Miller, The Toronto Star *Catherine Hernandez's sharp-eyed, queer dystopian fantasy is no gentle wake-up call. It is a blaring fire alarm and a call to arms against authoritarianism, white supremacy, and transphobia. * BookPage *

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Book SynopsisIn a world ravaged by climate change, a young woman's job of enforcing Britain's one-child policy is compromised when she discovers an illegal sibling on the ministry hit list, and that sibling is hers… `A tightly paced plot set in an all-too imaginable future … a page-turning, thought-provoking read´ Jo Callaghan ‘With echoes of V for Vendetta, ONE serves as a stark warning, challenging societal norms and individual sacrifices in the face of adversity’ SciFi Now Book of the Month ‘Pleasingly terrifying’ New Scientist `A terrifying vision of a global climate emergency, a jaw-dropping government conspiracy and some truly devastating twists … one hell of a speculative thriller´ Tom Hindle ––––––––––––––––––– One law. One child. Seven million crimes… A cataclysmic climate emergency has spawned a one-child policy in the UK, ruthlessly enforced by a totalitarian regime. Compulsory abortion of 'excess' pregnancies and mandatory contraceptive implants are now the norm, and families must adhere to strict consumption quotas as the world descends into chaos. Kai is a 25-year-old `baby reaper´, working for the Ministry of Population and Family Planning. If any of her assigned families attempt to exceed their child quota, she ensures they pay the price. Until, one morning, she discovers that an illegal sibling on her Ministry hit-list is hers. And to protect her parents from severe penalties, she must secretly investigate before anyone else finds out. Kai's hunt for her forbidden sister unearths much more than a dark family secret. As she stumbles across a series of heinous crimes perpetrated by the people she trusted most, she makes a catastrophic discovery that could bring down the government … and tear her family apart. ––––––––––––––––––– `Eve Smith is a master storyteller for our troubled times´ Simon Conway `Chillingly plausible … both thrilling and deeply moving´ Philippa East `All too convincing and scientifically plausible … as much a warning as an entertainment´ Paul E. Hardisty `Amazing, beautiful writing, jam-packed with clever ideas´ Helen Fitzgerald `Gripping, frightening and deep … a very brilliant, masterful book´ Sarah K. Jackson `Simmering with great intelligence and insight that never fails to be terrifyingly and thrillingly plausible´ James Goodhand `A visionary storyteller´ Awais Khan `A gripping and pacy thriller set in an all too plausible and terrifying future´ David Beckler `Meticulously crafted, no detail is overlooked … so authentic it doesn't feel speculative at all´ Sarah Sultoon `Raises troubling issues about the balance between saving the planet and our individual human rights … brilliant!´ Guy Morpuss `Pulse-pounding and heart-rending in equal measure, this book is a tour-de-force´ Louise Mumford `A powerful warning and a gripping thriller´ Greg Mosse `A chilling, poignant novel that holds a mirror up to our world … sensational´ Vikki Patis `Gripping and unsettling´ Shen Yang `Compulsive and addictive´ Adam Simcox `Another taut and terrifying thriller from Eve Smith´ Louise Swanson `A terrifying, yet plausible read. Too scary to imagine in reality, and yet…´ Heather Fitt `Horrifying and gripping in equal measure … a jaw-dropping glimpse of the catastrophe around the corner … Astonishing´ Lucy Martin

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Book SynopsisWith a surprisingly upbeat tone, readers of Girls’ Last Tour will enjoy this trip throughapocalyptic Japan. All alone after the end of days, two girls bike through the emptyruins of Japan—and they’re not about to let the collapse of civilization get in the way ofsightseeing! Even when the world ends, their journey goes on.

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Book SynopsisInception meets Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind in this captivating prequel to the acclaimed, bestselling science fiction romance Reset by Sarina DahlanCan you give up a love you can't forget?After the Last War destroyed most of the world, survivors formed a new society in four self-sustaining cities in the Mojave Desert. To halt extinction, everything in the Four Cities is carefully predicted and carefully controlled ... even love.But how can you control love and freedom? In the engrossing prequel to Reset, Preset weaves the tales of Eleanor, the Crone, and Eli, the Planner, before and after the creation of the Four Cities. Much has changed in the world and their relationship, but there are some truths that have yet to come to light.Fighting for change yet still loving her husband Eli, the scientist Eleanor travels to Elara, the lone city resisting fully bending to Eli's control. There she must separate reality from lies, memories from desires, as she tries to piece together the truth about what is happening in the Four Cities.But the gulf between love and freedom, between the past and the now, between what we remember and what we strive to become can be as vast as the break between two hearts bound together. It is here, in the dark fissure left by loss, where Eleanor discovers the true cost that has been paid to save humanity.

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Book SynopsisPre-order Andrew Hunter Murray's brilliantly entertaining new thriller A Beginner's Guide to Breaking and Entering coming May 2024!Half the world is in darkness. Only she can save the light . . . the post-apocalyptic bestselling read.'A brilliant near-future thriller and a really cracking read' Richard Osman'Will keep you gripped to the very last page' C.J. Tudor'Wonderful ... the best future-shock thriller for years.' Lee Child'A stunningly original thriller' Harlan Coben'A beautifully realised and thought-provoking thriller' The Times'Intriguing and unusual' Sunday Times____________________2059. The world has stopped turning. One half suffers an endless frozen night; the other, nothing but burning sun.Only in a slim twilit region between them can life survive.In an isolationist Britain clinging on in the twilight zone, scientist Ellen Hopper receives a letter from a dying man. It contains a powerful and dangerous secret.One that those in power will kill to conceal . . .____________________'Reminiscent of Robert Harris's high-concept conspiracy thrillers' Financial Times'I read this hungrily ... A fabulous achievement.' Stephen Fry'Inventive, richly detailed world-building' Telegraph'A tantalizing, suspenseful odyssey of frustration, deceit, treachery, torture, hope, despair and ingenious sleuthing' Washington Post'A taut, thrilling runaround' Guardian'A brilliant debut ... Fans of Robert Harris will love it' Daily Express'To say it's gripping is an understatement' Sara Pascoe'Murray has crafted something original ... an interesting new twist on a post-apocalyptic tale.' Kirkus'Downright impossible to stop reading.' Booklist'Dark, believable and brilliantly written' Jenny Colgan'I couldn't put this book down!' Christina DalcherTrade ReviewI read this hungrily ... Its intelligence and bravura characterization will have you turning page after page. A fabulous achievement. * STEPHEN FRY *A brilliantly clever thriller from a brilliantly clever writer. -- Richard OsmanMurray should be commended for going into the nitty-gritty of how his post-disaster society functions[…] What really distinguishes the book, though, is the creative energy of its world-building: it demonstrates the virtue of using the future as a playground for the imagination rather than trying to second-guess it. * Telegraph: the best thrillers and crime fiction of 2020 *A taut, thrilling runaround... The Last Day is an impressive dystopian techno-thriller. Murray paints a grim picture of a draconian isolationist Britain, with some vivid descriptions of a much-changed London, and the novel’s climax has a neat twist. * Guardian Books of the Month *A brilliant debutwhich blends apocalyptic drama with a tale of espionage, keeping readers on tenterhooks […] Fans of Robert Harris will love it. * Daily Express *

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Book SynopsisOrwell is most well-known for his two famous novels Nineteen Eighty-Four and Animal Farm, but their dystopian vision was informed by observations of poverty in England (Down and Out in Paris' and London and Road to Wigan Pier), and disillusion with political and national events of the 1930s and 1940s. Homage to Catalonia chronicled his experience of the Spanish Civil War and formulated his revulsion against totalitarianism, highlighted in his subsequent novels. This new collection (edited and with a new introduction by Professor Richard Bradford, and a foreword by Whitbread Prize winner D.J. Taylor) brings together Orwell's two celebrated novels and some of his seminal nonfiction (extensive extracts from Down and Out in Paris and London and The Road to Wigan Pier, and the whole of Homage to Catalonia), along with some brief extracts of pertinent work by Jack London, who also explored totalitarianism in The Iron Heel (fiction), and the Russian dissident Yevgeny Zamyatin whose own work We (1921) offers a strong warning about a dystopian police state. A new addition to the Flame Tree deluxe Gothic Fantasy series on classic and modern writers, exploring origins and cultural themes in myth, fable and speculative fiction. The Flame Tree Gothic Fantasy, Classic Stories and Epic Tales collections bring together the entire range of myth, folklore and modern short fiction. Highlighting the roots of suspense, supernatural, science fiction and mystery stories, the books in Flame Tree Collections series are beautifully presented, perfect as a gift and offer a lifetime of reading pleasure.

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