The SF Site: Four Walls Eight Windows

Novels

Slaughtermatic
Steve Aylett

Steve Aylett introduces us to:

Dante Cubit, bandito extraordinaire,

Kid Entropy, sidekick and Kafka-cell weapon wielder,

Download Jones, human whose personality is live on the Net,

Eddie Gamete, post-modern philosopher/prankster presumed dead,

Rosa Control, Dante's squeeze and razor-toting rager.
Dante Cubit and the Entropy Kid plan to rob a bank using Download Jones' VR schematic. But it turns out to be for the wrong building. In the middle of the hold-up, Dante throws himself 20 minutes into the past and into the bank's vault. When Dante Two comes out of the vault, Dante One kills him. Now legally dead and beyond the law, Dante wonders whether the heist has actually happened or whether it was simulated in a sim-crime environment. Welcome to the world of Beerlight.

The Resurrections
Simon Louvish

The Resurrections posits a vision of an alternative 20th century. Here, Hitler and Trotsky have survived well into the late 1960s. It examines how slight changes in events can trigger mammoth waves which affect each and every one of us. Comparisons abound what with the recent spate of science fiction novels leaning towards alternate history. Less worldly is Harry Turtledave's The Guns of the South while the most obvious comparison is Philip K. Dick's The Man in the High Castle.

Parable of the Sower
Octavia E. Butler

Lauren Olamina is an empath, wracked by the pain of others. In a neighborhood enclave of the USA where the gap between the "haves" and the "have-nots" has continued to expand, she lives a protected life. But one night, violence explodes, and the walls of her neighbourhood are breached, wiping out her family and friends. Now the outside world beckons. Her and her fellow travellers start a trek of a thousand miles. Lauren becomes a prophet carrying nothing but the promises of new life and a new faith... Earthseed. Parable of the Sower was a 1994 New York Times Recommended Book.

Collections

Bloodchild and Other Stories
Octavia E. Butler

Octavia E. Butler's writing can best be described as "eloquent, distinguished, and poignant prose." While she does write short fiction, she's best known for her novels. So trying to find some takes some work. This collection includes "Speech Sounds" which won a Hugo Award and "Bloodchild" which received both Hugo and Nebula Awards. Like her novels, these stories plunge you into the depths of the human soul to show you things both strange and fantastic. Perhaps the best story, "Bloodchild" twists the tables to show what it is to be a male valued chiefly for your reproductive capacity. Here, the child is not human and a symbiotic relationship with aliens who use males as egg incubators makes the reader wince. Each item in the collection has an afterword that offers Butler's thoughts and inspirations. It also includes two autobiographical items at the end on what could be termed "the art, the craft, and the business of writing."
It collects the following stories:

Preface

Bloodchild

The Evening and the Morning and the Night

Near of Kin

Speech Sounds

Crossover

Positive Obsession

Furor Scribendi

Collections

The Steampunk Trilogy
Paul Di Filippo

Set in a alternate nineteenth century, the stories mix historical and fictional characters with glee.

"Victoria," sees young, vibrant Queen Victoria taken from her throne to be replaced by a seductive human/newt clone. Now it is imperative to find Victoria while hiding this horrid secret from her subjects.

"Hottentots," leads us adventuring to Massachusetts which is being threatened by monsters from the deep.

"Walt and Emily," are Emily Dickinson and Walt Whitman. Their story leads us on a voyage to a dimension beyond time where Emily encounters the future Allen Ginsberg.

Ribofunk
Paul Di Filippo

These stories share a common setting some 70 years in the future where gene splicing is common. Human-animal hybrids are produced in a routine fashion in order to act as servants or to do the awkward, unpleasant jobs. Any type of body modification is routine. "Tropes" or designer drugs allow whatever effect is needed from pleasure to learning. North America is run by Canada (cool!). Di Filippo blended "ribosome" (as in cellular biology) with "funk" (as in rock and roll) to get the world of Ribofunk. Wandering its byways, you'll meet the Protein Police who patrol for renegade gene splicers, you'll find part-human sea creatures living in Lake Superior handling with toxic spills (euuhh!), you'll meet a sentient river, you'll worry with a reluctant skyscraper climber who gets stuck and you'll revel at a chain-smoking Peter Rabbit who leads a bloody rebellion against Mr. McGregor.
It collects the following stories:

One Night in Television City

Little Worker

Cockfight

Big Eater

The Boot

Blankie

The Bad Splice

McGregor

Brain Wars

Streetlife

Afterschool Special

Up the Lazy River

Distributed Mind

Fractal Paisleys
Paul Di Filippo

This volume includes ten SF stories of what the author terms "trailer park science fiction". Here you'll find out the real reason for the disappearance of the dinosaurs, you'll see how John Lennon found inspiration, you'll read about a fellow who needs to replace his Lovin' Spoonful album, you'll sit in on intergalactic battle of the bands and you'll learn the reasons why Republicans have ruled the USA for twelve straight years. These stories and others are tied together by the author's deep-seeded fascination with alternate worlds and ordinary people who are in charge of the forces that control the universe.
It collects the following stories:

Fractal Paisleys

The Double Felix

Earth Shoes

Mama Told Me Not to Come

Lennon Spex

Flying The Flannel

Do You Believe in Magic?

Master Blaster and Whammer Jammer Meet the Groove Thang

Queen of the Pixies, King of the Imps

The Cobain Sweater

Contact
Telephone You can order with a credit card by calling toll-free to: 1-800-788-3123	Internet Amazon.com Books.com	Mail You can find a catalogue and an order form at Four Walls Eight Windows. Their street address is: Four Walls Eight Windows 39 West 14th Street / No. 503 New York, NY 10011