Four Hundred Billion Stars (1988)
Del Rey, Gollancz
A joint winner of the Philip K.Dick Award, the novel
follows Dorothy Yoshida, a telepath and an astronomer. She is
sent to investigate the mystery of a small planet orbiting a
red dwarf star. It appears to have been terraformed,
yet its only advanced life-forms are creatures called
herders. They seem to possess primitive intelligence, while the slug-like
herbivores they shepherd have only a rudimentary nervous
system. It seems unlikely that these life-forms might really be connected with The Enemy
which fights a savage war with mankind in deep space?
When Dorothy lands, her mind immediately detects a
dazzling intellect, the intensity of which she had never
before felt.
Secret Harmonies (1989)
Del Rey, Gollancz
The paradise planet Elysium is
like Earth before the Age of Waste.
It is both beautiful and bountiful, inhabited by peaceful aboriginals.
At Port of Plenty, the first colonists kept new technology
to themselves, governing the settlements with an iron hand.
Richard Florey who worked in the city's university, and Miguel
Lucas, a settler who has "gone native", find themselves
caught up in a revolution.
Eternal Light (1991)
Gollancz, AvoNova
Dorothy Yoshida returns. She is abused earthborn telepath and prime player in
the secret history of the galaxy. Perhaps the seeds of destiny were sown
a million years in the past when a giant sun exploded and vast
civilizations died in the feud of ten thousand alien
family nations. Or perhaps it all began a dozen years before her
birth -- when a Greater Brazilian flyby drone was destroyed above a red
dwarf star, drawing an uncomprehending human race into a
very old genocidal conflict that was not their own.
Dorothy's mental ability to touch the past
and the future has made her the pawn of a wealthy immortal's
vengeance. It sends her to the black hole at the core of the
galaxy and into the perilous heart of a fanatical religious sect's relentless
search for hidden gods.
Red Dust (1993)
Gollancz, AvoNova
500 years after the Chinese terraformed Mars, the
process is in reverse. The Emperor has followed the Golden Path
into a vast virtual reality universe, leaving behind hunger riots,
civil war, and creeping despair. Wei Lee is a lowly itinerant worker and unlikely
messiah. Wei is a fan of rock'n'roll, a dupe, a womanizer, and a fool.
One day, he stumbles on a plot that has been underway for decades.
Wei is catapulted into a journey that will take him from a
Tibetan lamasery in the Badlands through the teeming cities,
swampy waterways, and vast dust deserts of Mars to a showdown at the
summit of the biggest volcano in the Solar system. It is a battle
in virtual reality for the future of Mars and humanity itself.
Pasquale's Angel (1994)
Gollancz, AvoNova
In a grim, early age of artists, princes, and philosophers, a
struggling painter follows his angel through the twisting, soot-stained
streets of 16th century Florence. But, on the eve of the Medici Pope's visit,
an assassin has murdered an assistant to the immortal Raphael,
the city's most renowned personage. It is a crime that draws Pasquale,
a young artist, and the brilliant, alcoholic
investigative reporter Niccolo Machiavegli into the deepest
shadows of the steam-driven city. More deaths are sure to
follow.
Fairyland (1995)
Gollancz, AvoNova
Winner of the 1996 Arthur C.Clarke Award, Fairyland
is set in the 21st century. Europe is
divided between the First World bourgeoisie, made rich by
nanotechnology and the cheap versatile slave labour of genetically engineered
Dolls and the Fourth World of refugees and homeless
displaced by war and economic upheavals. In London, Alex Sharkey
is trying to make his mark as a designer of psychoactive viruses,
whilst staying one step ahead of the police and the Triad gangs. At
the cost of three hours of his life, he finds an unlikely ally in
a scary, super-smart little girl called Milena, but his troubles
really start when he helps Milena quicken intelligence
in a Doll, turning it into the first of the fairies.
Milena isn't sure if she's mad or if she's the only sane person
left in the world; she only knows that she wants to escape to her own
private Fairyland and live forever. Although Milena has created
the fairies for her own ends, some of the Folk, as fey and dangerous
as any in legend, have other ideas about their destiny.
Child of the River (1997)
Gollancz, Eos
The first volume of a
trilogy, it explores a vast, ancient world and may be the
ultimate fate of intelligent life in the universe.
Confluence, an artificial world orbiting an obscure
star is a flat strip 20,000 km long, bounded on one side by the Rim
Mountains, on the other by the Great River. It is home to thousands of alien
races shaped and raised to intelligence by god-like descendants of humanity
who long ago retreated from the universe into an artificial Black Hole.
Abandoned by its creators, Confluence's stagnant civilization is threatened by
the heresies of the last humans, members of a five-million-year-old expedition to
the neighbouring galaxy.
Yama, a foundling, is discovered to have the ability to control
the machines that maintain the fabric of the world.
He must unravel the riddle of his birth before he
can understand whether he is to be the saviour of Confluence.
Ancients of Days (1998)
Gollancz, Eos
From our review of the second volume of the trilogy:
Yama's adventures continue. Relationships forged in the first volume also develop, and new and
equally interesting characters -- both friends and enemies -- are introduced. Yama is growing
into maturity on two levels: by growing into his psychological adulthood; and by increasing
the mastery of his unique ability to manipulate the machines left behind by the Preservers.
His quest remains constant: to find out who he really is and to discover his own people, if
indeed they still exist. The route to this goal, however, is as convoluted as the River is straight.
Shrine of Stars (1999)
Gollancz, Eos
From our review of the third volume of the trilogy:
It follows Yama and Pandaras after they are
separated. Yama begins to be possessed by a machine implanted in his body, while Pandaras tries to find
Yama, unwillingly bringing Prefect Corin back on Yama's trail. After many trials, Yama comes to full
understanding of himself and of his fate. Yama must make a journey off Confluence to another planet, and
he must come to a solution to the problem of the future of the bloodlines of Confluence that deals with the
apparent coming destruction of Confluence.
The Secret of Life (2000)
HarperCollins Voyager / Tor
From the publisher:
It's 2025 and the Earth is damaged. Irreparably. The quest for scientific solutions is hampered by commercial greed,
political infighting and a mass fear that whatever we do, we can only make things worse. Then a miracle. Scientists
at the Chinese Martian base have discovered the 'Chi' -- an active micro-organism several kilometres below the
surface. Very active. Left undisturbed for 2 billion years, it has super-evolved and is able to swap DNA at will,
maximising its survival whatever the environment. Against all protocol, the 'Chi' is brought secretly back to
Earth where it is stolen, and accidentally plunged into the pacific Ocean. Only a few weeks later, a giant slick
of plankton is found growing at an exponential rate. It is sucking the seas dry of life. And the question must be
asked. Who is colonizing whom?
Whole Wide World (2001)
HarperCollins Voyager
From the publisher:
London, two years after the InfoWar when terrorists brought down the Internet, equalized the nation's back accounts at zero and attacked the City with conventional and microwave bombs.
Now the cameras are everywhere: smart, tireless, and linked together by the Autonomous Distributed Expert Surveillance System. But there's a flaw in the system, a way of outwitting its cold eye, and someone has been murdered because of it.
In the ruins of smashed computers around the body of a girl a police officer who has been sidelined to Information Technology sees a way to get back to active duty. But the CCTVs are in the control of people who would rather he did not solve the crime.
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Doctor Who: Eye of the Tyger
Telos Publishing
Cutting a wide swath through science fiction and fantasy with a side trip into adventure, this Dr. Who story follows the exploits of
the Eighth Doctor. We are aboard a colony spaceship in the 32nd Century with a religious group that left Earth to find their own world.
Their leader, Seraph, has copied his mind into the ship's computers, but now he is not responding. It seems he has
been lured away by a siren's song coming from inside a black hole.
With the ship trapped in orbit there and his followers in disarray,
the Doctor arrives looking for a cure to a raging Tyger-fever which has infected his companion Fyne.
White Devils (2004)
Simon & Schuster / Tor
Nicholas Hyde is a charity worker in Africa. He is one of a team looking into what may be a wartime atrocity.
Their team is ambushed by a group of small, ape-like creatures -- white devils -- that slaughter most of the group.
A cover-up is begun when the team's government observer say he saw only rebel troops in body paint.
Obligate, a company that effectively owns the Congo, seems to be the origin of the cover story.
But Nicholas refuses to co-operate. The truth will get out and the whole world will know.
Then people around him start to die. He must figure out the secret behind the attackers to protect himself.
He teams up with a bush pilot Teddy Yssel, a survivor of an earlier attack, and Elspeth Faber
and they set off on a journey into the depths of darkest Africa. But they won't be the only ones on the quest.
Mind's Eye (2004)
Simon & Schuster
A childhood incident left Alfie Flowers with a mild form of epilepsy.
Now he is a professional photographer. He comes across a glyph rendered by a graffiti artist named Morph
that reminds him of the trauma suffered in childhood. It begins his quest to find the artist. But he is not
alone in his search. Harriet Crowley, who has links to British Intelligence agencies, is looking too.
She knows that the the glyph can be used in a form of mind control.
It, along with a certain drug combo, can trigger ceritain types of responses, leaving the patient
open to outside suggestion and control. The glyphs have been used previously in a failed CIA experiment which
led to the deaths of thousands. Those responsible may have returned and are hunting Morph.
King of the Hill (1991)
Gollancz
It collects the following stories:
The King of the Hill
Karl the Ogre
Transcendence
The Temporary King
Exiles
Little Ilya and Spider and Box
The Airs of Earth
The Heirs of Earth
The Invisible Country (1996)
Gollancz
It collects the following stories:
The Invisible Country
Gene Wars (aka Evan's Progress in an abridged form)
Recording Angel
Prison Dreams
Dr. Luther's Assistant
The Temptation of Dr. Stein
Children of the Revolution
The True History of Dr. Pretorius
Slaves
In Dreams (1992)
edited by Paul J. McAuley and Kim Newman
Gollancz
A celebration of the 7-inch single, it collects the following stories:
Black Day at Bad Rock by Christopher Fowler
Blues for a Dying Breed by Cliff Burns
Bold as Love by Gwyneth Jones
Candy Comes Back by Colin Greenland
Changes by Andrew Weiner
Digital to Analogue by Alastair Reynolds
The Discovery of Running Bare by Jonathan Carroll
Don't Leave Me by Barrington J. Bayley
The Elvis National Theater of Okinawa by Lukas Jaeger and Jonathan Lethem
Falling Stones by Peter F. Hamilton
Fat Tuesday by Ian McDonald
Honey, I'm Home! by Lisa Tuttle
Last Rising Sun by Graham Joyce
Life in the Groove by Ian Watson
The Man who Shot Anarchy Gordon by Ray Davis
Night Shift Sister by Nicholas Royle
Nyro Fiddles by F. Paul Wilson
Planet Rock (Don't Stop) by Charles Shaar Murray
Reed John-Paul Forever by Steve Antczak
The Reflection Once Removed by Scott Bradfield
Riders on the Storm by Mark Timlin
The Shiny Surface by Don Webb
Snodgrass by Ian R. MacLeod
Sticks by Lewis Shiner
Thrumm by Steve Rasnic Tem
Weep for the Moon by Stephen Baxter
Worthless by Greg Egan
Wunderkindergarten by Marc Laidlaw
Uncollected Short Fiction |
Wagon Passing
1984 Asimov's SF Magazine, June
Among the Stones
1987 Amazing, January
A Dragon for Seyour Chan
1987 Interzone #19
Inheritance
1988 The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, November
Jacob's Rock
1989 Amazing, March
Crossroads Blues
1991 Interzone, April
Negative Equity
1991 Dark Terrors 2, edited by Stephen Jones & David Sutton
Second Skin
1997 Asimov's SF Magazine, April
Residuals with Kim Newman
1997 Asimov's SF Magazine
The Worst Place in the World
1997 The Mammoth Book of Dracula, edited by Stephen Jones
Back Door Man
1997 Future Histories, edited by Stephen McClelland
All Tomorrow's Parties
1997 Interzone
The Quarry
1997 Dark of the Night, edited by Stephen Jones
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1998 Asimov's SF Magazine
The Secret of My Success
1998 Interzone
Sea Change, With Monsters
1998 Asimov's SF Magazine
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