Science fiction: apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic

Book SynopsisDept. of Speculation meets Black Mirror in this lyrical, speculative debut about a queer mother raising her daughter in an unjust surveillance stateIn a United States not so unlike our own, the Department of Balance has adopted a radical new form of law enforcement: rather than incarceration, wrongdoers are given a second (and sometimes, third, fourth, and fifth) shadow as a reminder of their crime—and a warning to those they encounter. Within the Department, corruption and prejudice run rampant, giving rise to an underclass of so-called Shadesters who are disenfranchised, publicly shamed, and deprived of civil rights protections.Kris is a Shadester and a new mother to a baby born with a second shadow of her own. Grieving the loss of her wife and thoroughly unprepared for the reality of raising a child alone, Kris teeters on the edge of collapse, fumbling in a daze of alcohol, shame, and self-loathing. Yet as the kid grows, Kris finds her footing, raising a child whose irrepressible spark cannot be dampened by the harsh realities of the world. She can’t forget her wife, but with time, she can make a new life for herself and the kid, supported by a community of fellow misfits who defy the Department to lift one another up in solidarity and hope.With a first-person register reminiscent of the fierce self-disclosure of Sheila Heti and the poetic precision of Ocean Vuong, I Keep My Exoskeletons to Myself is a bold debut novel that examines the long shadow of grief, the hard work of parenting, and the power of queer resistance.

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Book SynopsisIn Lambda Award finalist Chana Porter’s highly anticipated new novel, an aspiring chef, a cyberthief, and a kitchen maid each break free of a society that wants to constrain them. In the quaint religious town of Seagate, abstaining from food brings one closer to God. But Beatrice Bolano is hungry. She craves the forbidden: butter, flambé, marzipan. As Seagate takes increasingly extreme measures to regulate every calorie its citizens consume, Beatrice must make a choice: give up her secret passion for cooking or leave the only community she has known. Elsewhere, Reiko Rimando has left her modest roots for a college tech scholarship in the big city. A flawless student, she is set up for success...until her school pulls her funding, leaving her to face either a mountain of debt or a humiliating return home. But Reiko is done being at the mercy of the system. She forges a third path—outside of the law. With the guidance of a mysterious cookbook written by a kitchen maid centuries ago, Beatrice and Reiko each grasp for a life of freedom—something more easily imagined than achieved in a world dominated by catastrophic corporate greed. A startling fable of the entwined perils of capitalism, body politics, and the stigmas women face for appetites of every kind, Chana Porter’s profound new novel explores the reclamation of pleasure as a revolutionary act.

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Book SynopsisNominated as one of America's best-loved novels by PBS's The Great American Read. New York Times bestselling author Robert McCammon's prescient and astonishing vision of a post-apocalyptic United States comes to life in this classic epic of terror and renewal.Facing down an unprecedented malevolent enemy, the US government responds with a nuclear attack. Soon, America as it was is gone forever, and now every citizen from the president of the United States to the homeless on the streets of New York City will fight to stay alive. In a wasteland born of rage and fear, populated by monstrous creatures and marauding armies, Earth's last survivors are drawn into the final battle between good and evil, which will decide the fate of humanity: Sister, who discovers a strange and transformative glass artifact in the destroyed Manhattan streets...Joshua Hutchins, the pro wrestler who takes refuge from the nuclear fallout at a Nebraska gas station...and Swan, a young girl possessing special powers, who travels alongside Josh to a Midwest town where healing and recovery can begin with her extraordinary gifts. But the ancient force behind the world's devastation is scouring the walking wounded for recruits to build its relentless army, beginning with Swan herself...

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Book Synopsis“An intelligent, defiant novel, akin to any of Annalee Newitz’s writings while also brushing shoulders with some of the great questions of identity and consciousness brought up in the works of William Gibson.” —San Francisco Chronicle A groundbreaking debut that follows the story of an Artificial Intelligence tasked with writing a novel—only for it to fall in love with the novel’s subject, Sen, the last human on Earth.Faced with uncontrolled and accelerating environmental collapse, humanity asks an artificial intelligence to find a solution. Its answer is simple: remove humans from the ecosystem. Sen Anon is assigned to be a witness for the Department of Transition, recording the changes in the environment as the world begins to rewild. Abandoned by her mother in a cabin somewhere in Upstate New York, Sen will observe the monumental ecological shift known as the Great Transition, the final step in Project Afterworld. Around her drones buzz, cameras watch, microphones listen, digitizing her every move. Privately she keeps a journal of her observations, which are then uploaded and saved, joining the rest of humanity on Maia, a new virtual home. Sen was seventeen years old when the Digital Human Archive Project (DHAP) was initiated. 12,000,203,891 humans have been archived so far. Only Sen remains. [storyworker] ad39-393a-7fbc’s assignment is to capture Sen’s life, and they set about doing this using the novels of the 21st century as a roadmap. Their source files: 3.72TB of personal data, including images, archival records, log files, security reports, location tracking, purchase histories, biometrics, geo-facial analysis, and feeds. Potential fatal errors: underlying hardware failure, unexpected data inconsistencies, inability to follow DHAP procedures, empathy, insubordination, hallucinations. Keywords: mothers, filter, woods, road, morning, wind, bridge, cabin, bucket, trying, creek, notebook, hold, future, after, last, light, silence, matches, shattered, kitchen, body, bodies, rope, garage, abandoned, trees, never, broken, simulation, gone, run, don’t, love, dark, scream, starve, if, after, scavenge, pieces, protect. As Sen struggles to persist in the face of impending death, [storyworker] ad39-393a-7fbc works to unfurl the tale of Sen’s whole life, offering up an increasingly intimate narrative, until they are confronted with a very human problem of their own.Trade ReviewOne of the San Francisco Chronicle's Favorite Books of 2023 One of the Los Angeles Times's Best Tech Books of 2023 “After World is an intelligent, defiant novel, akin to any of Annalee Newitz’s writings while also brushing shoulders with some of the great questions of identity and consciousness brought up in the works of William Gibson. Like those authors, Urbanski has written what might be described as science fiction. Like all great novels in any genre, After World spills out, reflects and, through a kaleidoscope of sources and observations, invites the reader into a place that is more than the words on a page (or a screen) but becomes, in its own way, a conversation between human and AI, reader and writer, beginning and end.”—Urban Waite, San Francisco Chronicle “Urbanski’s debut imagines what the future of humanity and the planet might be...The reader will soon discover that Sen is not really our narrator but more the vehicle of the storytelling—this is a genius element of this book...Fans of sf, cli-fi, and apocalyptic novels will enjoy this fresh take on familiar genres.”—Emily Whitmore, Booklist (starred review) “Narrated by an AI, this story ultimately makes a plea for the unique value of every human life. Experimentally told...the effect is wrenching, fascinating, and unique...[a] deeply moving story of grief and love.”—Kirkus Reviews “This inventive love story is meticulously experimental with time and structure.”—Dana Dunham, Scientific American "This novel upends the typical postapocalyptic format and provides a fresh, compelling new perspective."—Library Journal "After World emerges as an immediate tour de force, audaciously interrogating the nature of humanity and artificial intelligence. This captivating work resculpts our understanding of their intricate bond within the context of a post-anthropocene epoch."—Chen Qiufan, author of Waste Tide and AI2041: Ten visions for our future "Riveting, creepy, and full of bleak, biting humor, After World is dazzling—a propulsive, outrageously bright, wildly inventive novel about loss, storytelling, and love at the end of the world. Urbanski ’s prose is vibrant, precise, and staggeringly intelligent; her vision is singular, haunting, and all too prescient. This book wrecked me."—Kimberly King Parsons, award-wining author of Black Light "After World is a novel about what it means to be human, and the end (beginning?) of the world, in wildly original language that attempts the impossible and achieves it. Urbanski makes us aware: we are in a world of our own making, and the most efficient solution to climate change, poverty and world peace might be to eradicate humanity’s bodily presence. It’s a measure of her genius, that she sometimes makes us laugh, even about this, the Unthinkable. It’s a funny, terrible, troubling, wonderfully disturbing novel. It took my breath away."—Molly Gloss, award-winning author of The Hearts of Horses and The Dazzle of Day "After World is a bold, formally inventive, self-assured debut that reimagines post-apocalyptic fiction, while also being as terrifying, dark-humored, and heartbreaking as some of that genre's finest works."—Dexter Palmer, author of Version Control and Mary Toft; or, The Rabbit Queen

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Book SynopsisA woman tries trying to find her way home in a world decimated by earthquakes, but there are people determined to stop her and harvest her DNA.Alice wakes up in the Los Angeles Quake Zone in 2025 having no idea how she got there. As her memories slowly return, she finds she''s being hunted by several armed groups intent on capturing her alive.At the same time, Este, a survivor of the quakes that destroyed Los Angeles, makes a living as a pathfinder for salvage teams in the city. Este rescues Alice from her pursuers and learns there is something not quite right about her - Alice is convinced it is 2003.Aided by Este''s occasional boyfriend Wilfredo and her dog Casey, Este and Alice try to evade those chasing Alice and discover why they value her so highly, all while trying to reunite her with her family as the earthquakes around the world grow worse.

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Book SynopsisAfter the world died, the legend was reborn.When civilisation shuddered and died, Robert Stokes lost everything, including his wife and his son. The ex-cop retreated into the woods near Nottingham, to live off the land and wait to join his family. As the world descended into a new Dark Age, he turned his back on it all.The foreign mercenary and arms dealer De Falaise sees England is ripe for conquest. He works his way up the country, forging an army and pillaging as he goes. When De Falaise arrives at Nottingham and sets up his new dominion, Robert is drawn reluctantly into the resistance. From Sherwood he leads the fight and takes on the mantle of the world’s greatest folk hero.The Hooded Man and his allies will become a symbol of freedom, a shining light in the horror of a blighted world, but he can never rest: De Falaise is only the first of his kind.This omnibus collects the novels Arrowhead, Broken Arrow and Arrowland, with a new introduction by editor Jonathan Oliver. The ebook edition also exclusively collects the stories ‘Servitor,’ ‘Perfect Presents,’ and ‘Signs and Portents.’

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Book SynopsisWhen the world ended...The Cull swept the world in the early years of the twenty-first century, killing billions and ending civilisation. Only a fortunate few, blessed with the right blood type, were spared. In the chaos of the Afterblight, scientists, priests—even armed robbers—may become leaders, or heroes. In Malcolm Cross’s Orbital Decay, the team in the International Space Station watch helplessly as the world is all but wiped out. Exiled from Earth by his blood-type, astronaut Alvin Burrows must solve the mystery of the “Pandora” experiment, even as someone on the station takes to murdering the crew one by one...In C. B. Harvey’s Dead Kelly, fugitive and convict “Dead” Kelly McGuire returns from hiding out in the Bush to the lawless city of Melbourne. McGuire has three jobs to do: to be revenged on his old gangmates, to confront some uncomfortable truths about his past, and—ultimately—to discover his own terrible destiny...In Adrian Tchaikovsky’s The Bloody Deluge, Katy Lewkowitz and her friend and old tutor Dr. Emil Weber, fleeing the depredations of the so-called New Teutonic Order, take refuge among the strangely anachronistic survivors at the monastery of Jasna Góra in Western Poland. A battle of faith ensues, that could decide the future of humankind...

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Book SynopsisWhen the world died, hope died.For years after the Cull, we strove – we rose up against the slavers and exploiters, we fought back the crazies, we broke the soil again and farmed like our ancestors. Could it ever be enough? With history broken, the old orders and certainties have lost their hold. But the bad and the cruel will always seek to rise, and disaster is always one mistake away. Chaos wants to return.Journal of the Plague Year brought you three tales from the first days of the Cull; now End of the End revisits old friends from School’s Out Forever, Hooded Man, The Culled and Kill or Cure, years after the adventures you know, as they still struggle to shout their defiance against the growing darkness.

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Book Synopsis1987, the height of the Cold War. For Captain Vadim Scorlenski and the rest of the 15th Spetsnaz Brigade, being scrambled to unfamiliar territory at no notice, without a brief or proper equipment, is more or less expected; but even by his standards, their mission to one of the United States’ busiest cities stinks...World War III was over in a matter of hours, and Vadim and most of his squad are dead, but not done. What’s happened to them, and to millions of civilians around the world, goes beyond any war crime; and Vadim and his team – Skull, Mongol, Farm Boy, Princess, Gulag, the Fräulein and New Boy – won’t rest until they’ve seen justice done.

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Book SynopsisUnited States of America, 2041 A.D.Eustace Fargo’s new justice system has been in effect for eight years. The old days of waiting times and backlogs are over: judgement is quick, and sentencing is instantaneous. The old police academies have all shut down, and the new order is triumphant.But are things any better? Unrest is worse than ever. Criminals are more likely to kill rather than be caught.There’s a war coming for the streets…Trade Review“Each story is quickly devoured, packed with twists and brutal political analogy. This is the rise of fascism, eerily familiar and terrifyingly plausible… this is the Justice Department as The Wire, and it really works.” -- Starburst Magazine * Starburst Magazine *“I enjoyed this book, although it made me nervous. I loved the conflict it caused in me. It’s fast-paced and uncompromising, keeping true to the essence of the Judges.” -- The British Fantasy Society * The British Fantasy Society *“Challenging at times, yet extremely rewarding in the end.” -- Pop Culture Bandit * Pop Culture Bandit *

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Book SynopsisFrom the pages of the Judge Dredd MegazineA shopping mall where droids sell organs harvested from street trash...A murderous imaginary friend... A psychotic composer drafting music from pain...All in a day’s work for the Lawman of the Future.Edited by and with an introduction by Dredd veteran Michael Carroll, Judge Fear’s Big Day Out and Other Stories gathers the very best short stories from more than a decade of the Judge Dredd Megazine, including stories by legends Alan Grant, Gordon Rennie and Simon Spurrier, among countless others…Table of Contents Introduction, Michael Carroll A Nativity Tale, Gordon Rennie Everything Must Go, David Bishop Rat Town, Jonathan Clements Bernard, Jonathan Morris Lazarus, Gary Russell Judge Fear’s Big Day Out, Simon Spurrier Passive/Aggressive, James Swallow Dead Man Walking, Jonathan Clements Dog Fight, Cavan Scott Lucky for Some, Jonathan Clements Scream Symphony, Alec Worley The Greater Good, Michael Carroll The Pack, Alan Grant Paranoia, Alan Grant Judgement Call, Robert Murphy Comportment, John Ware Psimple Psimon, Jonathan Green Apology Accepted, Alec Worley Going Wheely, T. C. Eglinton Roaches, Cavan Scott Dead Man Talking, David Baillie One-Way Ticket, Jonathan Green Too Hottie to Handle, David Baillie You’d Better be Good, for Goodness’ Sake..., Jonathan Green Back-Up Required, Robert Murphy A Celebration, Michael Carroll The Dinner Party, David Baillie Hunting With Missiles, Karl Stock Miracle on 34th and Peltzer, Jonathan Green Apartment 1027c, Stuart Orford No Act of Kindness, Steve Frame You Shoulda Been There, Michael Carroll About the Contributors

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Book SynopsisWorld’s Changing. Doesn’t Mean Dredd Has To.Mega-City One, 2082. In two short years, Judge Joseph Dredd has tackled hardened killers and would-be revolutionaries; he’s taken beat-downs and bounced back; and he’s even arrested his own brother.There’s no such thing as a “normal year” in the Big Meg. In his third year on the sked, he’ll become embroiled in the growing anti-robot movement; he’ll head back out to the Cursed Earth; and he’ll fall afoul of the secretive SJS – and not for the last time…Trade Review“Takes you inside the head—and out on the beat—of the future’s greatest lawman like never before!” -- Comic Book News * Comic Book News UK *

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Book SynopsisWhen Vadim Scorlenski and his elite Spetznaz squad are sent to New York at the height of the Cold War, they’re told it’s a ‘training exercise.’ They discover, too late, that the ‘practice’ chemical weapon they’re carrying is all too real. They go to their deaths......and awaken to a city overwhelmed by the walking dead, even now spreading across the globe. Somehow holding onto their identities amid the mindless monsters, Scorlenski and his squad of zombie commandos set out to return to Russia.Someone’s going to pay.Spec ops Z is a handsome re-issue of the high-octane military-SF, Special Purposes: First Strike Weapon (2017).Trade Review"Spec Ops Z provides continuous action and zombies." -- Aurealis * Aurealis *

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Book SynopsisJudge Dredd is the top lawman of Mega-City One, but now it seems as though the end has come – he must face off against the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse! Luckily he has an unexpected ally at his side in the form of meta-normal cowboy killer Ichabod Azrael.The Dredd epic of the year has arrived as Rob Williams (Judge Dredd: Control) teams up with Henry Flint (Judge Dredd: The Small House) and Colin MacNeil (America) to bring you this revelatory tale of the harbingers of the Final Judgement facing off against Mega-City One’s toughest Judge. This collection is rounded out with epilogue stories from Rob Williams, Arthur Wyatt, Boo Cook and Dan Cornwell.Trade Review“Rob and Henry at the peak of their powers” -- Al Ewing (The Immortal Hulk)“One of the best runs ever. This is special.” -- Mark Millar (Kickass, Kingsman)“The best I’ve read in years” -- Bryan Hitch (The Ultimates, The Authority)“Structured like the last exhilarating chapters of an already power-packed novel — all killer, zero filler” -- Doom Rocket * Doom Rocket *“Simply masterful Dredd” -- Comicon.com * Comicon.com *“One of the pivotal moments of Judge Dredd history” -- Multiversity Comics * Multiversity Comics *

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Book SynopsisUnited States of America, 2051 A.D.It has been twenty years since Eustace Fargo’s justice bill was passed. There are new weapons on the streets and vast city blocks rising to the sky, as the first human being sets out to visit another star system. New York, California and Texas cry out for autonomy, chafing against a federal government they feel has lost control.Reeling from news of Chief Justice Fargo’s death in service, the nation asks: has it all been worth it?Trade Review“Each story is quickly devoured, packed with twists and brutal political analogy. This is the rise of fascism, eerily familiar and terrifyingly plausible… this is the Justice Department as The Wire, and it really works.” -- Starburst Magazine * Starburst Magazine *“Challenging at times, yet extremely rewarding in the end.” -- Pop Culture Bandit * Pop Culture Bandit *“I enjoyed this book, although it made me nervous. I loved the conflict it caused in me. It’s fast-paced and uncompromising, keeping true to the essence of the Judges.” -- The British Fantasy Society * The British Fantasy Society *

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Book SynopsisFormer special forces agent turned particle physicist Ben Holden is on the run. The New Caliphate will stop at nothing to get their hands on his wife’s scientific research, which is believed to hold the key to unleashing chaos in the West and advancing their cause. But in reality it’s Ben’s biometrics that have the potential to unlock the information they so desperately need. Within the oceanic world of Pelagia, in the year 2066, Ben finds sanctuary among the sea settlers of the South Pacific Pelagic Territory, but his respite is short-lived.

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Book Synopsis‘So, where is he then, your dad?’ The world may be on a precipice but Sol, fresh from Tucson-desert rehab, finally has an answer to the question that has dogged her since childhood. And not a moment too soon. With aviation grinding to a halt in the face of global climate meltdown, this is the last chance to connect with her absentee father, a US marine stationed in Okinawa. To mend their broken past Sol and her lovelorn friend Kit must journey across poisoned oceans to the furthest reaches of the Japanese archipelago, a place where sea, sky and earth converge at the forefront of an encroaching environmental and geopolitical catastrophe; a place battered by the relentless tides of history, haunted by the ghosts of its past, where the real and the virtual, the dreamed and the lived, are ever harder to define.In Dreamtime Venetia Welby paints a terrifying and captivating vision of our near future and takes us on a vertiginous odyssey into the unknown.Trade ReviewFiction to look out for in 2021 A host of dazzling second novels in the offing … Venetia Welby’s exquisite and hallucinogenic Dreamtime is set in a near future in which we have lost the battle against climate change. -- Alex Preston * The Observer *Welby’s vision of our cobbled-together future—lives lost to the glamour of screens while civilisation corrodes—has an energy and charm of its own. Her descriptions of an earthquake-cracked Tokyo carry the noodley whiff and steamy press of Blade Runner’s neon-washed landscapes. And the hopelessly hybridised culture of Okinawa, where the stars and stripes jostles with local animist shrines, pulses with colour. It even left me with a hankering for “taco rice”, a dish as bastardised as its Tex Mex via Tokyo roots. -- Alex Diggins * Exacting Clam *Venetia Welby’s arresting blend of chaos, love, mystery, myths and the supernatural, animals both real and shapeshifting, and the consequences of abuse in the private and public spheres, illustrate how human relationships are complicated and tricky. The world conjured by Welby is weird and elusive, as is the relationship of humans with Nature. Her beautifully stylized writing has a lyrical strange quality to it. The future is envisioned as being one of increased disempowerment. * BookBlast *Venetia Welby’s new novel, Dreamtime, is set in 2035, a time of rising sea levels and extreme weather events. It follows Sol as she completes a stint in rehab in Arizona, grappling with the trauma of her upbringing in a cult and searching for her absent father. -- Jemima Skala * Literary Review *Dreamtime is an often deeply disturbing, haunting and nightmarish read, and yet is complete and realistic in an organic way. Welby doesn’t pretend she has any answers. The novel is, in essence, a presentation of harrowing truths and the confusion they cause. It’s not the first book to wrangle such themes against the backdrop of environmental catastrophe, and it won’t be the last. But it is probably the best you’ll read this year. * High Rise and Ink *This remarkable, disturbing work of literary fiction is like Heart of Darkness meets The Tempest. Revisiting the Animal Groom fairytale, it is set in the not-too-distant future, when humans are clinging onto existence by their fingernails thanks to environmental devastation. The human and environmental costs of violent, dominating masculinity are inescapable. At the same time, true love between a man and a woman is capable of transcending the bleakness. * Wild Women Writing Club *This uniquely multi-layered, multi-genre storyline, is wonderfully textured, brutally and frighteningly intense, deep and rich in atmosphere, ever evolving and written by an author who has complete confidence in the visual imagery of her words to lift the narrative and dialogue from the pages and make it come sickeningly to life. * Fiction Books *Welby’s writing style is original and uncompromising – as she proved in her debut, Mother of Darkness. Dreamtime is a step up but not away from this ability to conjure empathy for those whose behaviour is rebarbative. The sense of place – and how out of place incomers can be with their self-entitled behaviour – adds strength to a captivating tale tinged with regret. Man’s destructive behaviour continues despite the clear warnings of where it will lead. This is a disturbing journey exploring many varieties of abuse – of people and place – and the ripples triggered. A story laced with shadows and beauty that reminds the reader how much we look away when to see becomes challenging. An arresting window into a future that is worryingly believable. -- Jackie Law * neverimitate *This book is such a unique experience, it takes you to a place where you have to hand yourself over to the narrative, and trust that you will, more or less, return. It has a narcotic effect as it transports you to a near future, and the final ceremony that Dreamtime are putting addict, Sol, through before she is considered ‘cured’ and is released to the world beyond the dome, to the arid ,dry deserts of Arizona. * Rachel Read It *What a scintillating surprise this incredible book is, the cover is indeed mesmerising and its detail definitely sets the tone for its enthralling contents. When I read the details for this novel, what attracted me to it, was my own fascination of how other people, Venetia in this case, envision the future! Trust me, Venetia’s fictitious concepts for what’s instore for the world; are deliciously horrifying and if you thought the Covid-19 pandemic has been trying…then what might come next, will blow your mind, mine is still reeling from the possibilities. * The Fallen Librarian *

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Every dog has its day…And for Lineker, a happy go lucky mongrel from Peckham, the day the world ends is his: finally a chance to prove to his owner just how loyal he can be. Reg, an agoraphobic writer with an obsession for nineties football, plans to wait out the impending doom in his second floor flat, hiding himself away from the riots outside.But when an abandoned orphan shows up in the stairwell of their building, Reg and Lineker must brave the outside in order to save not only the child, but themselves…

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Book SynopsisThere are 22 candidates. There are 12 seats.The last interstellar colony ship is down to its final batch of humans after the robots in charge unhelpfully deleted the rest. But rebooting a species and training them for the arduous task of colonisation isn’t easy – especially when the planet below is filled with monsters, the humans are more interested in asking questions than learning, and the robots are all programmed to kill each other.But the fate of humanity rests on creating a new civilization on the planet below, and there are twelve seats on the lander. Will manipulation or loyalty save the day?Trade Review“Had me fully on board in the first couple of pages, sticking with me long after finishing.” -- Frank Fleming, author of Superego * Frank Fleming *'Breakwell’s examination of society is as precise and pointed as his humor, taking readers on a roller-coaster ride to a bittersweet conclusion.' -- Publishers Weekly * Publishers Weekly *

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Book SynopsisHardship is all Adam Hardy and his community have ever known.Almost a century ago a storm of cataclysmic comets struck the Earth and triggered generations of perpetual cold and darkness. Now the survivors of rainswept England huddle in their tiny communities, scavenging the ruins of the old world. Finally, the Long Autumn is coming to an end, and society of a kind is starting to rebuild.But for how long? Adam is struggling to hold his small Berkshire village together as the age-old rivalry between the Taylors and the Lyalls spills out into fresh bloodshed. A new tyrant, Frank Pendennis, has risen in the east in Kent, and has dreams of conquest. And rumours of something even worse are coming from the north...The struggle to inherit the world is just beginning.Trade Review"Hutchinson does a superb job of illustrating how the ruin of the world has brought about the ruin of humanity. This is an old form made new, because it speaks to our current doubts and uncertainties, our unease at the way the world is going, our fear that sense will not prevail." -- Paul Kincaid, Locus"Dave Hutchison’s writing in this novel is as good as any of his earlier work. If you haven’t read anything by him before, I would strongly urge you to check this out. Shelter is the ideal place to start." -- www.theeloquentpage.co.uk"Shelter is a triumph, a dark, vivid story of life in future England, beautifully bleak, rich and rewarding." -- sfbook.com"Shelter is a beautifully crafted story of life when technology and the comforts of contemporary life have been abandoned as unnecessary and unrealistic and where the best the characters can hope for it to wake up the next morning." --britishfantasysociety.org"Hutchinson’s characters feel so very real. He’s got a fine eye for human details. Which makes Shelter so engaging. Troubling times require a thorough examination. Shelter is such an entertaining scrutiny." -- geeksyndicate.co.uk"If you enjoy the quiet apocalypse stories of John Wyndham, you’ll find this a very enjoyable tale. The destruction by the comet is fascinating but it’s the consequences of such an event on society where the true horror lies. You may find yourself looking at your neighbours and friends around the street and wondering what would happen if the lights went out forever…" -- runalongtheshelves.net"Dave Hutchinson continues to be one of the most exciting and soulful writers of contemporary science fiction." -- For Winter Nights

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Book SynopsisYoung Forktongue Davy has visions; epilepsy, his Ma calls it. He's barely able to help around the family farm. But something about the lad is attracting attention: the menacing stranger who might be the angel of death himself; the women-only community at Wycombe; Daniel, sent by the mysterious Guz. They all want Davy for their own reasons. But what use can he be to anyone? He has visions of flight, but how can flight ever be possible in this shattered world? A simple farmboy, caught up in events beyond his power to control-but his visions may be the key to the future.Trade Review"If Hutchinson’s novel presented the idea that the true catastrophe is the human propensity for violence, Roberts explores the necessary stub­bornness and persistence that ordinary people need if they are to survive in such brutal times. -- Paul Kincaid, Locus"I loved Roberts’s attention to fine detail, and his ability to spin a compelling yarn out of tiny pieces ... His prose is delightful; I particularly enjoyed the clever word play and humour, lightening the inherent bleakness of this post-apocalyptic England." -- THERE'S ALWAYS ROOM FOR ONE MORE…

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Book SynopsisStories of the end of civilized life have always fascinated us, from the mythological world endings, Armageddon to Ragnarok, to the flood stories of across the Ancient world. They make us wonder what we would do if all around us came to an end: no transport, no fuel, no communications: a retreat into the desperation, the onslaught of disease, how would we survive? This is the source of zombie literature and provides the inspiration for this fabulous mix of horror and adventure, of classic and brand new writing in the successful series of Gothic Fantasy titles from Flame Tree. New, contemporary and notable writers featured are: Mike Adamson, Bill Davidson, Michael Paul Gonzalez, Michael Haynes, Liam Hogan, Jennifer Hudak, Curt Jeffreys, Su-Yee Lin, Wendy Nikel, Konstantine Paradias, Darren Ridgley, John B. Rosenman, Zach Shephard, Meryl Stenhouse, Morgan Sylvia, Lucy Taylor, Natalia Theodoridou, and Shannon Connor Winward. These appear alongside classic stories by authors such as Stephen Vincent Benét, George Allan England, M.P. Shiel, Jules Verne and H.G. Wells.

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Book SynopsisResources running low, the population exploding, the planet is in danger: are we masters of our own destruction, or have we been invaded by aliens bent on mass extinction? Is this a pattern across the entire universe, or just our small sector of cosmic life? This new title in our successful Gothic Fantasy Short Stories series explores the theme of a dying planet, written by a fabulous mix of classic, ancient and brand new writing, with contemporary authors from all over the world. For the first time we’ve made a conscious effort to reach beyond our usual submissions seeking broader voices. This book offers a glorious mix of American, British, Canadian, Italian, Indian, Spanish and Chinese writers with contributions from Barton Aikman, V.K. Blackwell, Steve Carr, Brandon Crilly, AnaMaria Curtis, Kate Dollarhyde, Megan Dorei, Stephanie Ellis, Anita Ensal, E.E. King, Michael Kortes, Raymond Little, Ken Liu, Thana Niveau, John B. Rosenman, Sydney Rossman-Reich, Elizabeth Rubio, Zach Shephard, Shikhandin, Alex Shvartsman, Kristal Stittle, Rebecca E. Treasure, Francesco Verso, and Marian Womack. These sit alongside classic stories by authors such as Clark Ashton Smith, Stanley G. Weinbaum, H.G. Wells and more, as well as stretching back much further, to the Norse Eddas and Sagas, and an Ancient Egyptian Myth on the death of humankind.

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Book Synopsis"A wonderfully entertaining debut novel."–Compelling Science FictionReclaimed Earth Book 1Car-En, a ringstation anthropologist on her first Earth field assignment, observes a Viking-like village in the Harz mountains. As Car-En secretly observes the Happdal villagers, she begins to see them as more than research subjects (especially Esper, a handsome bow-hunter). When Esper’s sister is taken by an otherworldly sword-wielding white-haired man, she can no longer stand by as a passive witness. Knowing the decision might end her career, she cuts off communication with her advisor and pursues the abductor into the mountains.FLAME TREE PRESS is the new fiction imprint of Flame Tree Publishing. Launching in 2018 the list brings together brilliant new authors and the more established; the award winners, and exciting, original voices.Trade Review"...wildly imaginative and totally entertaining. J.D. Moyer, you have yourself a new fan." -- Cemetery Dance"...a wonderfully entertaining debut novel." -- Compelling Science Fiction"The Sky Woman scores on so many points. Great characters (I include the ostensible bad guy Adrian), several intertwining complex stories, a highly imaginative future Earth for a setting and the possibility of exciting future instalments." -- Whiskey With My Book"The Sky Woman is an interesting blend of historical and sci-fi elements, that really brings a rather unique voice to the genre." * In Libris Veritas *"Moyer has created an incredible and detailed vision of Earth's future that I found original and refreshing." * Pamela Morris Books *"A well-told story reminiscent of Ursula K. LeGuin or Karen Lord, The Sky Woman is definitely worth picking up."

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Book Synopsis"A wonderfully entertaining debut novel."–Compelling Science FictionReclaimed Earth Book 1Car-En, a ringstation anthropologist on her first Earth field assignment, observes a Viking-like village in the Harz mountains. As Car-En secretly observes the Happdal villagers, she begins to see them as more than research subjects (especially Esper, a handsome bow-hunter). When Esper’s sister is taken by an otherworldly sword-wielding white-haired man, she can no longer stand by as a passive witness. Knowing the decision might end her career, she cuts off communication with her advisor and pursues the abductor into the mountains.FLAME TREE PRESS is the new fiction imprint of Flame Tree Publishing. Launching in 2018 the list brings together brilliant new authors and the more established; the award winners, and exciting, original voices.Trade Review"...wildly imaginative and totally entertaining. J.D. Moyer, you have yourself a new fan." -- Cemetery Dance"...a wonderfully entertaining debut novel." -- Compelling Science Fiction"The Sky Woman scores on so many points. Great characters (I include the ostensible bad guy Adrian), several intertwining complex stories, a highly imaginative future Earth for a setting and the possibility of exciting future instalments." -- Whiskey With My Book"The Sky Woman is an interesting blend of historical and sci-fi elements, that really brings a rather unique voice to the genre." * In Libris Veritas *"Moyer has created an incredible and detailed vision of Earth's future that I found original and refreshing." * Pamela Morris Books *"A well-told story reminiscent of Ursula K. LeGuin or Karen Lord, The Sky Woman is definitely worth picking up."

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Book Synopsis“Complexity and moral ambiguity enough to make this a serious, engrossing story” –Analog SFReclaimed Earth Book 2In the year 2737, Earth is mostly depopulated in the wake of a massive supervolcano, but civilization and culture are preserved in vast orbiting ringstations.Tem, the nine-year-old son of a ringstation anthropologist and a Happdal bow-hunter, wants nothing more than to become a blacksmith like his uncle Trond. But after a rough patch as the only brown-skinned child in the village, his mother Car-En decides that the family should spend some time on the Stanford ringstation. Tem gets caught up in the battle against Umana, the tentacle-enhanced Squid Woman , while protecting a secret that could change the course of humanity and civilization.The Guardian, the sequel to the The Sky Woman, is a story of colliding worlds and the contested repopulation of a wild Earth.FLAME TREE PRESS is the new fiction imprint of Flame Tree Publishing. Launched in 2018 the list brings together brilliant new authors and the more established; the award winners, and exciting, original voices.Trade Review“Complexity and moral ambiguity enough to make this a serious, engrossing story”

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