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Books > Fiction > Genre fiction > Science fiction
'Not Alone kept me breathless with tension.' - Emma Donoghue, bestselling author of Room 'Intensely moving, genuinely gripping, plausible and absorbing' - Charlotte Mendelson, author of The Exhibitionist In a world very close to our own, a mother and her young son desperately fend for themselves in the confinement of their one bedroom flat. Five years ago, a toxic microplastics storm killed most of the population. Now Katie must forage and hunt the few surviving animals for meat as she attempts to feed her little boy, to care for him as best she can. At a time when stepping outside could kill you, Harry is kept indoors at all costs, never venturing beyond the entrance to their building, never knowing the truth of how he came to call this place home. Bodies continue to build up around them, inescapable layers of toxic dust hang heavily in the air and Katie is only getting sicker. Then, after years without human contact, Katie and Harry are terrified by the arrival of another survivor and Katie knows she must finally undertake a previously unthinkable journey in search of the man she was supposed to marry. In search of a new life for her son. Outside their safe haven, Katie and Harry encounter a world that is forever changed. There are new threats to their safety here, fellow survivors who are determined to start a new population, to save the world they so desperately misunderstood. Katie is pushed to unimaginable lengths as she pushes ahead in search of a better life and as Harry's safety wavers in the balance. As they travel further north, leaving their once safe haven so far behind them, Katie knows how much harder it will be to return if things go wrong. In Not Alone, Sarah K. Jackson combines heart-stopping adventure, with a deeply felt and vividly imagined central bond between mother and child which transcends the world around them. This stunning debut is about love, trust, hope and the looming threat facing us all.
Now a series on Apple TV+
After two scientists crash on a hostile moon, they must use every tool at their disposal to survive. Shroud is a tense, atmospheric voyage into the unknown from sci-fi master and Arthur C. Clarke Award Winner Adrian Tchaikovsky. New planets are fair game to asset strippers and interplanetary opportunists—and a commercial mission to a distant star system discovers a moon that is pitch black, but alive with radio activity. Its high-gravity, high-pressure, zero-oxygen environment is anathema to human life, but ripe for exploitation. They named it Shroud. Under no circumstances should a human end up on Shroud's inhospitable surface. Except a catastrophic accident sees Juna Ceelander and Mai Ste Etienne doing just that. Forced to stage an emergency landing, in a small, barely adequate vehicle, they are unable to contact their ship and are running out of time. What follows is a gruelling journey across land, sea and air. During this time, Juna and Mai begin to understand Shroud's dominant species. It also begins to understand them. If they escape Shroud, they'll face a crew only interested in profiteering from this extraordinary world. They'll somehow have to explain the impossible and translate the incredible. That is, if they make it back at all.
'An astonishing science fiction phenomenon' WASHINGTON POST 'I know nothing comparable to it except The Lord of the Rings' Arthur C Clarke 'It is possible that Dune is even more relevant now than when it was first published' NEW YORKER The Duke of Atreides has been manoeuvred by his arch-enemy, Baron Harkonnen, into administering the desert planet of Dune. Although it is almost completely without water, Dune is a planet of fabulous wealth, for it is the only source of a drug prized throughout the Galactic Empire. The Duke and his son, Paul, are expecting treachery, and it duly comes - but from a shockingly unexpected place. Then Paul succeeds his father, and he becomes a catalyst for the native people of Dune, whose knowledge of the ecology of the planet gives them vast power. They have been waiting for a leader like Paul Atreides, a leader who can harness that force ... DUNE: one of the most brilliant science fiction novels ever written, as engrossing and heart-rending today as it was when it was first published half a century ago. Joint winner of the HUGO AWARD for best novel, 1966 Winner of the NEBULA AWARD for best novel, 1965 Read the book which inspired the 2021 Denis Villeneuve epic film adaptation, Dune, starring Oscar Isaac, Timothee Chalamet, Zendaya and Josh Brolin.
He can jump between worlds. But can he save his own?
Rebellion could be their salvation – or their doom. War Bodies by Neal Asher is a gripping, high-octane standalone set in his expansive Polity world. Long ago, the Cyberat left Earth to co-evolve with machines. Now, led by the powerful dictator Castron, their Old Guard believe that machines should replace the physical body. But these beliefs are upended with the arrival of the human Polity – and their presence ignites rebellion. Piper was raised as a weapon against the Cyberat, implanted with secretive hardware. When his parents are captured by the Old Guard, the Polity offer him unexpected aid. Piper knows the Polity want more from him, but at what cost? The rebellion also attracts the deadly prador, placing an entire world in peril. As war rages across the planet, Piper must battle with the unknown technology implanted in his bones. It may be the Polity’s answer to their relentless fight against the prador. It could also be civilization-ending Jain tech – or something far more extraordinary.
Octavia E. Butler's ground-breaking masterpiece, with an original foreword by Ayobami Adebayo. 'A marvel of imagination, empathy and detail' NEW YORK TIMES 'The marker you should judge all other time-travelling narratives by' GUARDIAN 'One of the most significant literary artists of the twentieth century. One cannot exaggerate the impact she has had' JUNOT DIAZ -- In 1976, Dana dreams of being a writer. In 1815, she is assumed a slave. When Dana first meets Rufus on a Maryland plantation, he's drowning. She saves his life - and it will happen again and again. Neither of them understands his power to summon her whenever his life is threatened, nor the significance of the ties that bind them. And each time Dana saves him, the more aware she is that her own life might be over before it's even begun. This is the extraordinary story of two people bound by blood, separated by so much more than time. 'No novel I've read this year has felt as relevant, as gut-wrenching or as essential' CAROLINE O'DONOGHUE -- PRAISE FOR OCTAVIA E. BUTLER, THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR 'Unnervingly prescient and wise' YAA GYASI 'Butler's evocative, often troubling, novels explore far-reaching issues of race, sex, power and, ultimately, what it means to be human' NEW YORK TIMES 'Butler's prose, always pared back to the bone, delineates the painful paradoxes of metamorphosis with compelling precision' GUARDIAN 'Octavia Butler was a visionary' VIOLA DAVIS 'An icon of the Afrofuturism world, envisioning literary realms that placed black characters front and center' VANITY FAIR 'Butler writes with such a familiarity that the alien is welcome and intriguing. She really artfully exposes our human impulse to self-destruct' LUPITA NYONG'O
HarperCollins is proud to present its new range of best-loved, essential classics. 'Big Brother is Watching You.' Winston Smith rewrites history. It's his job. Hidden away in the Record Department of the sprawling Ministry of Truth, he helps the Party, and the omnipresent Big Brother, control the people of Oceania. But the notebook he's begun to write in is against the rules - in fact, the Thought Police could arrest him simply for having it. Despite the danger, a seed of rebellion has begun to grow in Winston's heart - one that could have devastating consequences. In George Orwell's final novel, he explores a dystopian future in which a totalitarian government controls the actions, thoughts and even emotions of its citizens. Its lasting popularity is testament to Orwell's powerful prose, and is a passionate warning for today.
Op 'n dag in die vroee sewentigs bemerk 'n afgelee Noord-Kaapse gemeenskap 'n gebou in hul midde waar voorheen net 'n stuk braakgrond was. Drie weke later verdwyn die gebou . . . Lees ook oor die vreemde werklikheid van mense wat meer as een maal lewe, oor die jong man wat so skaam is dat hy nie op foto's kan vertoon nie, en oor die intense liefdesverhouding van 'n paartjie wie se lewenspaaie net vir 'n paar sekondes gekruis het.
Twintig jaar ná die Hardskip. Dié wat oor is in die Wes-Kaap is gelooi deur die groot honger toe al die oeste misluk het, deur die stof en die gluur van die son. Op Kylemore wonder Ampersand wat geword het van Wakinyan, die swarthaar- man wat als kom deurmekaarroer het. Hier’s min vir haar oor ná haar ouma se dood, so sy vat die pad – met haar sade. Sy moet vir Wakinyan vind, en sy moet sorg dat die saad nie in Meconium – hulle wat alle saad wil beheer – se hande val nie, want plantsaad is in 2081 ’n streng taboe en Amper se grootste las. Maar juis in Meconium moet sy gaan soek, waar high-tech shit en high-shit tech vennote is. Amper en haar unieke neus wat die groot stof kan deurtas moet haar pad voel-voel baan deur die stank van dié regime. Stof is subtiele toekomsfiksie, avontuurverhaal én ’n aards-poëtiese ontginning van ’n beeldskone anderster Afrikaans. Dié debuut spruit uit ’n cum laude- meestersgraad in kreatiewe skryfwerk onder leiding van Marlene van Niekerk en Willem Anker.
Her mission is vital. Her failure is unthinkable. A hidden corner of space is swarming with lethal alien technology, a danger to all sentient life. It's guarded by Orlandine, who must keep it contained at any cost - as it has the power to destroy entire civilizations. She schemes from her state-of-the-art weapons station, with only an alien intelligence to share her vigil. But she doesn't share everything with Dragon . . . Orlandine is hatching a plan to obliterate this technology, removing its threat forever. For some will do anything to exploit this ancient weaponry, created by a long-dead race called the Jain. This includes activating a Jain super-soldier, which may breach even Orlandine's defences. Meanwhile, humanity and the alien prador empire keep a careful watch over this sector of space, as neither can allow the other to claim its power. However, things are about to change. The Jain might not be as dead as they seemed - and interstellar war is just a heartbeat away. The Soldier is the first novel in the Rise of the Jain series, by bestselling science fiction author Neal Asher.
Penny, an artist, has lived in the same apartment for decades, surrounded by the artifacts and keepsakes of her long life. She is resigned to the mundane rituals of old age, until things start to slip. Before her longtime partner passed away years earlier, provisions were made, unbeknownst to her, for a room in a unique long-term care residence, where Penny finds herself after one too many "incidents." Initially, surrounded by peers, conversing, eating, sleeping, looking out at the beautiful woods that surround the house, all is well. She even begins to paint again. But as the days start to blur together, Penny - with a growing sense of unrest and distrust - starts to lose her grip on the passage of time and on her place in the world. Is she succumbing to the subtly destructive effects of aging, or is she an unknowing participant in something more unsettling? At once compassionate and uncanny, told in spare, hypnotic prose, Iain Reid's genre-defying third novel explores questions of conformity, art, productivity, relationships, and what, ultimately, it means to grow old. 'I loved this book and couldn't put it down - a deeply gripping, surreal and wonderfully mysterious novel. Not only has Reid given us a brilliant page turner, but a profoundly moving meditation on life and art, death and infinity. Reid is a master' Mona Awad, author 13 Ways of Looking at a Fat Girl and All's Well
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