"Humankind has changed, fractured, Prismed into a dozen breeds of fairy-tale grotesques, the chaos of expansion, war and ruin flinging humanity like bouncing sparks around the blankness of space." ~ from Tom Toner's The Promise of the Child
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Star Wars Day - Saturday 12 December Fun for all the family with a Star Wars themed quiz, colouring in, displays of books, toys and memorabilia from a galaxy far, far away...and much more. Be in to win with our Star Wars costume competition - for kids and adults! Main activities will take place between 2 and 3pm.
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| Ancillary Mercy by Ann LeckieHoused in a composite human body not her own, Fleet Captain Breq is the last remaining "ancillary" fragment of a fallen starship's AI, as well as the commander of her own vessel. With civil war raging throughout the rapidly fracturing Radchaai Empire, Breq and her crew devise a plan to defend Atheok Station from ancient nemesis Anaander Mianaai, Lord of the Radch. Action-packed heroics unfold side-by-side with reflections on identity and personhood in this dramatic conclusion of the Imperial Radch trilogy, which begins with Ancillary Justice and Ancillary Sword. |
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Liberty 1784 : The Second War for Independence
by Robert Conroy
The British win the American Revolutionary War, and a desperate Washington and the American founders must make a last stand in an enclave called Liberty. In 1781, George Washington's attempt to trap the British under Cornwallis at Yorktown ends catastrophically when the French fleet is destroyed in the Battle of the Capes. The revolution collapses, and the British begin a bloody reign of terror. A group of rebels flees westward and sets up a colony near what is now Chicago. They call it Liberty.
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| Luna: New Moon by Ian McDonaldIn place of a government, the Moon boasts a corporate syndicate headed by the Five Dragons, powerful families who profit from lunar resources while ordinary people pay steep per diems for food, water, and air (or die trying). Focusing on the Corta clan, which controls the Moon's Helium-3 industry, Luna introduces matriarch Adriana Corta and her kin as they fight both among themselves and against their principal rivals, the MacKenzies, whose lucrative mineral extraction business threatens their bottom line. Advanced technology enhances and amplifies the extensive world-building in this compelling first volume of a planned duology. |
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Arcadia
by Iain Pears
Three interlocking worlds. Four people looking for answers. But who controls the future or the past? In the basement of a professor's house in 1960s Oxford, fifteen-year-old Rosie goes in search of a missing cat and instead finds herself in a different world.
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| Radiance by Catherynne M. ValenteThe daughter of one of Earth's most acclaimed movie directors, Severin Unck blazes her own artistic trail by making documentaries about obscure and overlooked cultures within the solar system. However, her latest project, a film about a lost colony on Venus, becomes her controversial final work when she disappears during the shoot. In a "found footage" narrative style that compiles transcripts, news items, eyewitness accounts, and more, Radiance - described by its author as a "decopunk alt-history Hollywood space opera mystery thriller with space whales" -- is a must-read for SF fans seeking a lush, lyrical outer space adventure. |
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A call to arms : a novel of the Honorverse
by David Weber
Earning powerful enemies throughout his career in the Royal Manticoran Navy, King's officer Travis Long is targeted by corrupt Star Kingdom Parliament members who would eliminate the Navy and leave their star system vulnerable to unanticipated threats.
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| Futuristic Violence and Fancy Suits by David WongThe pseudonymous author of John Dies at the End turns his attention from horror to science fiction in this fast-paced, darkly humorous novel, which begins when barista Zoey Ashe survives a live-streamed assassination attempt. That's when she discovers that her deceased biological father was not the deadbeat she always assumed, but rather the billionaire founder of Tabula Ra$a, a Mob-ruled metropolis in the Utah desert. Her dead dad's associates, the Suits, offer to protect her from future attacks in exchange for her help defeating their enemy, cyborg crime boss Molech. And since staying alive is a priority for Zoey, she has no choice but to accept their help. |
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Saucer : savage planet
by Stephen Coonts
Aliens are coming! A year after young engineering student Rip Cantrell discovered the first flying saucer buried deep in the sands of the Sahara, another saucer is brought up from the bottom of the Atlantic. The recovery is funded by a pharmaceutical executive who believes that the saucer holds the key to an anti-aging drug formula that space travelers would need to voyage between galaxies. But one of his technicians, Adam Solo, an alien marooned on Earth for a thousand years, steals the saucer, hoping to summon a starship to rescue him. Unfortunately, the stolen saucer has damaged communications gear. Solo goes to Rip Cantrell and his partner, ex-Air Force test pilot Charlotte "Charley" Pine, and Rip's uncle Egg, for help in summoning a starship.
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| A Scanner Darkly by Philip K. DickHis identity obscured by a "scramble suit," which provides camouflage by making him a non-entity, drug dealer Bob Arctor leads a dangerous double life as Agent Fred, an undercover narcotics agent investigating the source of the illegal and highly addictive Substance D. During the course of the operation, Arctor gets hooked on the drug, which draws him ever deeper into a surreal underworld in which no one is quite what they seem. Originally published in 1968, A Scanner Darkly draws on author Philip K. Dick's own experiences to paint a stark, compelling picture of a futuristic society characterized by constant surveillance. |
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The peripheral
by William Gibson
Depending on her veteran brother's benefits in a city where jobs outside the drug trade are rare, Flynne assists her brother's latest beta-test tech assignment only to uncover an elaborate murder scheme.
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| Afterparty by Daryl GregoryPrior to her extended stay in a mental hospital, biochemist Lyda Rose invented Numinous, a medication designed to treat schizophrenia that was shelved after its side effects proved lethal. On the ward, Lyda encounters a girl showing all the symptoms of Numinous abuse, despite the fact that the drug's production has been banned for years. With the help of her own chemically induced guardian angel, Dr. Gloria, and her ex-colleague Ollie, an intelligence analyst, Lyda searches for the manufacturers in order to put a stop to Numinous' production. Fast-paced, thought-provoking, and witty, Afterparty may appeal to fans of other tales of designer drugs gone awry, such as Mira Grant's Parasitology series. |
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| The One-Eyed Man: A Fugue, With Winds and Accompaniment by L.E. Modesitt, Jr.Hard SF. Sent by the interstellar Union of the Ceylesian Arm to the colony world of Stittara, scientist Dr. Paulo Verano must assess the impact of human activity on the planet's ecosystem. Complicating his assignment, however, are political and economic considerations, for Stittara is a source of anagathics, a class of life-extending drug more valuable to his employers than either the planet's unique ecology or its many and varied inhabitants. For more stories about plantetary exploration in which scientific, political, and corporate interests intersect, check out Joan Slonzcewski's Elysium cycle or Jane Lindskold's Artemis Awakening series. |
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| Flashback: A Novel by Dan SimmonsSF Mystery. BIAHTF: "Before It All Hit the Fan." That's the last time Nick Bottom was happy. Now homeless and jobless, Nick's life revolves around flashback, a drug that enables users to relive the best moments of their lives. Desperate to stay "under the flash" so that he can spend time with his dead wife, the former Denver police detective accepts money from a Japanese billionaire to revisit a cold case that he couldn't solve six years ago. Using flashback to review now-destroyed evidence from the investigation, Nick pursues suspects who live only in his mind and leads that shouldn't go anywhere, yet point to sinister motives on the part of nearly all parties involved. |
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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