New Releases by Brian W. Aldiss

A classic collection of twelve exciting science fiction stories from the Hugo Award–winning author of Non-Stop and Hothouse. "Brian Aldiss is a master of the form." — The Guardian Prepare yourself for an out-of-this-world journey through time and space, in fantastic tales that skirt reality, with Science Fiction Grand Master Brian W. Aldiss at the helm . . . A one-armed mutant travels back in time on a deadly mission. A team of scientists fears what comes next when they land on a peaceful planet littered with alien corpses. Beings from the future need help from the past. A man is forced to relive one meaningless day over and over before a strange audience. A jaded sportsman gets more than he bargained for on his latest big game hunt. A governor is eager to rebuild a war-torn planet but may not be prepared for the cost . . . Originally published in 1959, No Time Like Tomorrow showcases the skills of a gifted author at the dawn of his career.

A retrospective of classic science fiction tales from the first decade in the long-running career of the Hugo Award–winning author of Non-Stop. "A writer of imagination and power." —Frederick Pohl Science Fiction Grand Master Brian W. Aldiss had a career spanning sixty years. Although he is a well-known author of the 1960s and ''70s British New Wave style of science fiction, Aldiss''s career as a science fiction writer began in the 1950s. The Complete Short Stories: The 1950s offers the full catalog of Aldiss''s stories from his first decade as an author. This volume starts off with his first professional sale, "A Book in Time"—about a bookseller chasing a thief one hundred years into the future—and finishes off with a group of strangers forming a peculiar bond in "Three''s a Cloud." By the end of the decade, Aldiss had established himself as a major new voice in science fiction. Together the fifty-eight stories in this retrospective collection offer a look at the burgeoning writer before he became a literary legend.

Twelve science fiction tales collected from the prolific career of the Hugo Award–winning author of the Helliconia trilogy. "Brian Aldiss is a master of the form." — The Guardian Nominated for the Locus Award for Best Collection In this dynamic collection, Science Fiction Grandmaster Brian W. Aldiss bridges fantasy and reality as he offers up some remarkable tales sure to enthrall fans both old and new . . . A mobile cinema breaks down in Patagonia and transforms a local family''s life forever. An enormous head appears in the sky, forcing civilization to ponder its significance. A train passenger struggles to read his book while a fellow traveler interrupts him with a tale stranger than fiction. A boy discovers what happens when he doesn''t hibernate for winter like the rest of humanity. A man captures everything he says on a digital recorder as an exercise in personal humility. An English teashop awaits you at the end of civilization . . . Aldiss came to prominence during the New Wave period of science fiction, known for experiments with form and content. His refusal to confine himself to any one style and his interest in a wide variety of subjects earned him praise in the St. James Guide to Science Fiction as "the most significant English writer of science fiction since H. G. Wells." First published in 2005, Cultural Breaks spans four decades of Aldiss''s long and distinguished career, and makes it clear that he never stopped exploring.

The entire catalog of the Hugo Award–winning author''s science fiction stories from the 1960s: all four volumes in one book. Featuring "Supertoys Last All Summer Long," the basis of the Steven Spielberg film A.I. Artificial Intelligence. "One of the best SF writers Britain has ever produced." —Iain M. Banks Hailed by the Guardian as "a master of the form," Science Fiction Grand Master Brian W. Aldiss came into his own as an author in the early 1960s. He created enough short fiction over the course of one decade to fill four volumes. This edition of The Complete Short Stories: The 1960s combines all four into one complete collection. The stories herein, gathered from diverse and often rare sources, showcase how Aldiss became one of Great Britain''s most beloved authors, and how his work exemplifies the New Wave style. He was constantly experimenting with form and content and exploring new ideas. In this collection, you will meet astronauts approaching a star-swallowing vortex, a mother and son captured by aliens and taken to a world where time runs backward, a robot who commits suicide, and a unique little boy who is closer to his teddy bear than his own mother. The scope of Aldiss''s imagination and his gifted prose are sure to challenge and delight readers both old and new. This special short story collection is a must-have for Aldiss fans, as well as an exciting introduction to the work of a true master.

Twenty-two classic science fiction stories spanning the first three decades of the Science Fiction Grand Master''s career. Features "Super-Toys Last All Summer," the short story that inspired the film A.I. Artificial Intelligence. "Britain''s most versatile and durable and consistently most interesting science-fiction writer presents his own personal ''best of'': 22 splendid tales. . . . To Aldiss, the human dimension has always been more important than hardware or fireworks—which is why his best stories have a timeless quality weaving intelligence, emotion, and inventiveness." — Kirkus Reviews (starred review) Winner of the Hugo and Nebula Awards, Brian W. Aldiss was a science fiction author "in competition with no one but himself" ( The New York Times Book Review). In this collection he shows why, offering up twenty-two stories from the first three decades of his career, encompassing a stunning range of ideas, moods, and styles. In the title story we find a man, recently back from an expedition in space, who lives 3.3077 minutes in the future. A meteor shakes things up in a quiet English town in "The Saliva Tree," an homage to H. G. Wells, and which earned Aldiss the Nebula Award in 1965. A giant lizard-like alien comes to Earth in "Heresies of the Huge God," and while some believe it is a monster, others worship it. A mother tries to connect with her son through the help of a robot intermediary in "Super-Toys Last All Summer." Unhappy with the state of his life, a man ventures back in time to hunt dinosaurs in "Poor Little Warrior!" Robots have an existential crisis in "Who Can Replace a Man?" and men travel to Mars to take a picture of the planet''s tallest volcano in "The Difficulties in Photographing Nix Olympica." Although the stories in this collection were originally published in the 1950s,''60s, ''70s, and ''80s, they remain just as gripping today. Each conveys a fascinating idea for readers to ponder, and together, they make a perfect introduction to one of British science fiction''s greatest authors.

Twelve exciting science fiction stories by the Hugo and Nebula Award–winning author of the Helliconia trilogy, Hothouse, and Non-Stop. "Aldiss offers up tales of humanity''s possible futures, in visions ranging from apocalyptic to comic. . . . Quite stunning. . . . Overall, the book demonstrates Aldiss had more range as a storyteller than many of the field''s popular practitioners at the time." — Science Fiction & Fantasy Book Reviews There is much to be learned through travel. In New Arrivals, Old Encounters, Science Fiction Grand Master Brian W. Aldiss takes readers on adventures to fantastical new worlds. Here are twelve tales that provide stunning vantage points from which to view the shadowy realms of human nature . . . An idyllic planet is visited by humans who play terrible music in the title story. A time traveler forges a friendship with an ancient Chinese poet in "The Small Stones of Tu Fu." "Amen and Out" tells of a machine-dominated world where everyone prays to talking shrines, and an acid head''s immortal ancestor reveals some troubling truths. A tourist becomes involved with the Tahitian underworld when his family leaves him behind and the bureaucracy won''t allow him to leave in "A Spot of Konfrontation." The crew of Earth''s first interstellar mission returns home after 120 years away to find a world radically different from when they left in "Three Ways." With humor and imagination, Aldiss leads readers from Earth to the stars and back again on a riveting journey that shows what makes mankind tick. "The wit is often brilliant, the sense of humor is usually informed by a zest for living and a nice awareness of the distance between man''s intellectual reach and his emotional grasp." —Robert Nye, The Guardian

Travel through time and space with fourteen remarkable science fiction stories from the early career of an award-winning Grand Master of the genre. "The stories in this collection are some of Aldiss'' earliest stories and it''s amazing how little they have lost through the years. . . . Well worth picking up." — Science Fiction Book Reviews A father communicates with his unborn son to warn him of impending dangers . . . On the fringes of a galaxy waits a machine inhabited by a terrifying being with one mission: to destroy a planet in our solar system . . . A man is condemned to live a routine from which he cannot deviate, all before a live audience who eerily find humor in the strangest of his actions . . . A time traveler is recruited to voyage many thousands of years into the future to rescue mutated beings known as "the Failed Men" by digging them up from their graves . . . These stories and more await readers in Space, Time, and Nathaniel. Originally published in 1957, this collection marked Brian W. Aldiss''s entry into science fiction. He would become a pioneer in the genre''s British New Wave style with experimental tales such as these, exploring the vastness of outer space and the unknown realms of human nature.

Ten classic fables about the spark of life and the flash of destruction, from the Grand Master of Science Fiction behind the Helliconia trilogy. "As a short story writer, Mr. Aldiss may legitimately be regarded as a nonpareil." — The Sunday Times A Hugo and Nebula Award–winning author, Brian W. Aldiss was a prolific writer with a gifted imagination. Originally published in 1984, Seasons in Flight reveals the scope and intensity of this gift through ten stories leading readers into a realm where ancient powers clash with modern gods. A bold fisherman challenges the distance and taboos that separate him from his beloved. A kind prince underestimates human nature when he liberates slaves. Nuclear holocaust resurrects primal terrors on a tropical island. Two rival chiefs embrace the futility of tribal wars after reaching the end of their divinity. Although some of these tales may depict a bleak existence, all of them carry a spark of humor and optimism, along with the stunning creativity that made Aldiss one of the greatest authors in science fiction history. "Strong folktale flavor . . . delicate, understated work, displaying a flawless technique. . . . Impressive!" — Kirkus Reviews "The book succeeds . . . very fast reading, Seasons in Flight should be sampled . . . for the taste and the experience." — Fantasy Review

In this satirical science fiction classic, a new technology promises to help British subjects find love—and threatens to destroy the empire. In the years following World War II, a new day has risen in Great Britain. A mechanical marvel has arrived to free society from the shackles of prudish Victorian morality and neo-Freudianism. The Emotion Register, a coin-shaped device, attaches to the forehead and emits a soft pink glow when the wearer experiences sexual attraction. Now the British can no longer deny that sex exists—and the government is insisting everyone undergo the procedure to get the device. Much of the population, including young Jimmy Solent, embraces the Emotion Registers. The gadget gives them a new lease on life. Meanwhile others refuse, seeing the marvel as an invasion of privacy. And so, another conflict begins on British soil. Fortunately, the stakes are far lower and much more hilarious . . . A satire on sexual reserve set in an alternate world, The Primal Urge was first published in 1961. Although the novel was initially banned in Ireland, Brian W. Aldiss still went on to become a Grand Master of Science Fiction.

Survivors of nuclear war endure strange adventures across time and space in this humorous classic by a Grand Master of Science Fiction. World War III is coming to an end, but the real chaos is just beginning. Nuclear warfare during the conflict has given rise to a disturbance in the fabric of space and time. Time-turbulences run rampant, sending whatever is caught in their trap to different times and locations. Survivors find themselves in the past, present, or future—or on other planets. Leaders across the globe, as well as an advanced AI system, are all vying to learn as much as possible about these time anomalies—and exploit them as best they can. But the disappearance of a mega-industrialist could have some answers . . . Meanwhile, a band of heroes embarks on a perilous quest in an alternate world of swords and sorcery. A mad scientist is wreaking havoc on Mars. And just about everyone is bursting whimsically into song. Who knows if the mayhem will ever subside . . . "Offers some wild entertainment . . . the whizzing energy behind all these time-warps and dirty deterministic work at the cosmic crossroads is something to wonder at." — The Guardian

A grieving songwriter reflects on his life and contemplates his future in this classic novella of heartbreak and healing from a Grand Master of Science Fiction. It''s been a long time since Hugh Billing visited his home in England. Decades earlier, he made his fortune as a hit songwriter in America, but years of shuffling between cities and countries has changed him. His clothes are American, his speech is American—even his thoughts are American. He doesn''t have much English left inside him and he hasn''t had a hit in years. What he does have, however, is sadness . . . Then his mother''s death returns him to London to embark on a new journey. Forced to examine the state of his life, Hugh begins moving from loneliness and aimlessness to somewhere around survival and hope.

In ferner Zukunft hat die Erde aufgehört, sich zu drehen Millionen Jahre in der Zukunft: Die Sonne ist auf das Hundertfache ihrer Größe angewachsen. Erde und Mond drehen sich nicht mehr und haben sich einander bis auf wenige Tausend Kilometer angenähert. Im immerwährenden Sonnenlicht der Tagseite hat sich ein gewaltiger Dschungel aus fleischfressenden Pflanzen entwickelt. Was auf der in ewige Dunkelheit getauchten Nachtseite ist, weiß niemand. Dies ist die Geschichte von Gren, der sich mit seiner Gefährtin aufmacht, dieses Rätsel zu lösen – und sich auf seiner Reise unzähligen Gefahren stellen muss ...

A "brilliant . . . classic of the field" generation ship adventure from the Golden Age of Science Fiction by the author of the Helliconia Trilogy ( Encyclopedia of Science Fiction). Non-Stop is Grand Master of Science Fiction and Hugo and Nebula Award–winning author Brian W. Aldiss''s debut novel. Written in response to Robert Heinlein''s Orphans of the Sky and published in the late 1950s, it is set in a primitive world, home to tribes of inhabitants who endure their harsh and stunted lives in a maze of corridors. Though legends exist that they''re actually on a ship traveling through the universe, no one really believes it. But that conviction doesn''t stop a group of people from embarking on a mission to find the rumored "Forwards" section and its control room. Through a tangled, hydroponic jungle, they''ll encounter telepathic animals, giants, outcasts, and mutants in an epic race to uncover the truth—and survive . . . "A breakneck ride filled with some truly disturbing and chaotic imagery . . . Aldiss'' world is visceral and powerful." — Science Fiction and Other Suspect Ruminations "Worth reading, and quite a significant contribution to the long SF history of generation ship novels." —SF Site Praise for Brian W. Aldiss "A major figure in world SF . . . Whatever else Aldiss may be, predictable he is not." — The Guardian "One of the most influential—and one of the best—SF writers Britain has ever produced." —Iain M. Banks, award-winning author of the Culture series "One of the most important SF writers of the 20th century." — Publishers Weekly

Die Erde in der nahen Zukunft ist zu einer Albtraumwelt geworden: Ausgelaugt und abgewirtschaftet, von Insektiziden und Pestiziden vergiftet, bietet sie der sich explosionsartig vermehrenden Weltbevölkerung keinen Lebensraum mehr. Die meisten ihrer über zwanzig Milliarden Bewohner sind unterernährt und von Krankheiten gezeichnet. Allmächtige Farmer geben den Ton an. Die afrikanischen Länder – einst Spielball fremder Wirtschafts- und Konzerninteressen – treiben nun selbst Großmachtpolitik reinsten Wassers, während die früheren Industrienationen auf den Status von Entwicklungsländern herabgesunken und ihren Rohstofflieferanten auf Gedeih und Verderb ausgeliefert sind. Kurzum: Die Erde ist eine Welt geworden, deren Bewohner sich fragen müssen, ob ein Ende mit Schrecken nicht besser ist als ein Schrecken ohne Ende ...

Eine Menschheitschronik aus der fernen Zukunft Vor Äonen verließen die Menschen ihren Heimatplaneten, eine kleine Welt in den Randbezirken unserer Galaxis, und brachen ins All auf. Ihre Nachfahren leben im Sternenschwarm, einem kosmischen Cluster mit zehntausenden Welten. Die Erde haben sie schon lange vergessen, doch das Erbe der Menschheit bewahren sie bis in die ferne Zukunft ...

Mitte des 21. Jahrhunderts beschließen die Staaten der Erde, dass der Mars nicht zu einem zweiten »blauen Planeten« umgeformt werden soll, sondern – wie die Antarktis – der Wissenschaft vorbehalten bleibt. Auf diesem »weißen« Mars errichtet eine kleine Gruppe von Männern und Frauen eine Forschungseinrichtung. Sie hoffen, dort jenes Elementarteilchen zu finden, das die letzten Rätsel unseres Universums und unserer Existenz löst. Doch als sie durch eine Katastrophe von der Erde abgeschnitten werden, sind sie gezwungen, eine völlig neue Form menschlicher Gemeinschaft zu entwickeln, um ihr Überleben auf dem Planeten langfristig zu sichern.

Wie werden intelligente Lebewesen von einem anderen Planeten wohl aussehen? Gehen sie, so wie wir Menschen, aufrecht auf zwei Beinen? Oder tragen sie Kleidung? Als die Menschen zum ersten Mal auf die Utod stoßen – rhinozerosähnliche Kolosse mit sechs Beinen und grauer Haut, die sich am liebsten in ihren eigenen Exkrementen wälzen –, halten die Forscher sie für Tiere. Sie machen Jagd auf die großen Pazifisten, die obendrein keine Schmerzen empfinden können. Doch dann stellt ein Mitglied des Forscherteams die Intelligenz der Utod fest – und muss sich mit der Frage auseinandersetzen, was »intelligentes Leben« eigentlich bedeutet ...

Four loosely linked realistic novels from "one of Britain''s most accomplished and versatile writers" ( The Guardian). A Hugo and Nebula Award–winning science fiction writer, British novelist Brian W. Aldiss also regularly "returned to earth with distinction," penning realistic works, including the Squire Quartet ( The New York Times). Comprised of "loosely interconnected novels following many characters through a twenty-first century landscape of insidious new technology and international political turmoil" ( Booklist), here is the complete series from this "ambitious and gifted writer" ( The Guardian). Life in the West: Thomas C. Squire, creator of the hit documentary series Frankenstein Among the Arts, one-time secret agent, and founder of the Society for Popular Aesthetics, is attending an international media symposium in Sicily. It is here that he becomes involved with the lovely but calculating Selina Ajdina. Alongside the drama of the conference is the story of Squire''s private life—the tale of his infidelity, the horrifying circumstances surrounding his father''s death, and the threatened future of his ancestral home in England. "[A] novel of ideas that is also eminently readable . . . a virtuoso performance." — Publishers Weekly Forgotten Life: Analyst Clement Winters is trying to write a biography of his recently deceased older brother, Joseph. Through the writings Joseph left behind—letters, diaries, notes, and confessions—Clement realizes how vastly his perception of his sibling differs from reality. As Clement tries to make sense of Joseph''s life, he uncovers dark corners of his family history and even his own existence. "A realistic novel . . . imaginative richness . . . [a] many-layered venture into the extraordinariness of ordinary lives." — The New York Times Remembrance Day: When four people are killed by a terrorist bombing in a small British seaside hotel, an American academic examines the details of the victims'' lives and histories to find the relationship between them and their fate. "Aldiss discovers fresh and arresting nuances in the dichotomy between blind chance and predestination in human affairs . . . original, disturbing, and memorable." — Kirkus Reviews Somewhere East of Life: Architectural historian Roy Burnell has been tasked with traveling the globe and listing architectural gems in danger of being destroyed. But when Burnell is in Budapest, ten years of his memory, including his sexual experiences, are stolen. In this near future, where thieves sell memories on the black market, Burnell tries to resume his life, while also searching for the "bullet" that will restore his memory. "Intelligent, funny, and hopeful in spite of itself." — Kirkus Reviews

From a Science Fiction Grand Master: The sweeping epic of a planet veering from one extreme atmosphere to another—and the humans trying to survive on it. Helliconia Spring introduces us to a tumultuous world that follows an eccentric orbit around a double-star system—and the satellite from Earth secretly monitoring it. Hugo and Nebula Award–winning author Brian W. Aldiss then explores the social and religious divisions keeping the planet''s population in conflict even as they''re devastated by plague in Helliconia Summer, and concludes the trilogy with Helliconia Winter, which recounts both the threat of a looming, frigid age of decay and the hope of a new future. The Helliconia Trilogy is both a riveting story and a thought-provoking examination of how our destinies are shaped by the environment around us. Aldiss''s study of fields from astronomy to climatology to geobiology endow all three novels with rich details of the planet Helliconia. This riveting, century-spanning saga is a timely exploration of what climate change can mean for our own planet. "Brian Aldiss''s towering imagination places his Helliconia Trilogy far above standard science fiction" ( Daily Mail).

A Hugo Award–winning classic about a far-future Earth dominated by gargantuan plants and the few humans who remain Millions of years beyond our time, our Earth has long since stopped spinning—and giant flora have taken over the sunlit half of the motionless world. Here humans are among the very few animal species that still exist, struggling to survive against enormous odds, but they have become small and weak, and their numbers have dwindled to almost nothing. When the aging leader of Gren''s tribe decrees it is time for the old ones to go "Up," the younger are left to make their own way below. Although the journey will not be an easy one for young Gren, he sets off on an odyssey across a perilous world populated by carnivorous plants and other evolved vegetation. But any knowledge to be gained at the terminator—the forbidding boundary between the day world and the night—might well prove worthless for the boy and the companions he amasses along the way when the expanding sun goes nova and their Earth is no more. A thrilling parable of courage, discovery, and survival, Hothouse is among Grand Master Brian W. Aldiss''s most beloved and enduring works. Ingeniously inventive, richly detailed, and breathtakingly lush and vibrant, the doomed world and people that Aldiss creates will live forever in the minds of all those who enter this remarkable realm.

In the far future, a group of evolved utopians stranded on an inhospitable planet are unable to resist the reemergence of the human animal One million years in the future, the universe has become a utopia for the humans inhabiting it. Having evolved into the race homo uniformis—"man alike throughout"—they share a centralized nervous system and know nothing of war, disease, violence, emotion, or any of the ancient ills that plagued their ancestors. But while en route to a vacation that is light years from Earth, a small group of elite travelers find themselves marooned in the wilderness of the planet Lysenka. And they are not alone. Many millennia ago, during Earth''s darker days, human colonists came to this regenerate world, and the creatures their descendants became out of necessity bear little resemblance to the uniquely civilized beings now stranded in their midst. Here, in this place far removed from the protection of uniformity, there is only one rule: Adapt—or die. One of the twentieth century''s premier practitioners of the art of science fiction, Grand Master Brian W. Aldiss offers readers a startling look into the far future with a remarkable work of speculation that explores what it means to be human.

A disruption of time and space sends a modern man back two hundred years to confront Dr. Frankenstein''s immortal monster in this brilliant reinvention of Mary Shelley''s classic tale Some years into the twenty-first century, a newly devised weapon of mass destruction will do far worse than kill; it will disrupt time and space. Suddenly, land, buildings, animals, and people are falling through "timeslips" and being transported briefly back to earlier eras. One of these inadvertent time travelers, Joe Bodenland, is shocked when he finds himself parked outside a villa on the shore of Lake Geneva—and soon after, unbelievably, in the presence of nineteenth-century literary luminaries Lord Byron and Percy Shelley, along with Shelley''s very enticing fiancée, budding author Mary. But when Joe comes face to face with a real, flesh-and-blood Victor Frankenstein and the monster the mad doctor brought into this world, the visitor from the future realizes that not only has time been disrupted, reality itself has been transmogrified. And this Frankenstein, it seems, is far from finished with his unholy endeavors, leaving it up to Joe to make it right for the sake of history—and for the bewitching lady novelist who has stolen his heart—before he is rudely thrust back to his own time. An absolutely stunning reinvention of a cherished literary classic, Frankenstein Unbound proves once more that there are no limits to the unparalleled creative genius of science fiction Grand Master W. Brian Aldiss, one of the most revered names in the field of speculative fiction.

A novel of time-traveling adventure from the author of the story "Supertoys Last All Summer Long," the basis for the movie A.I.: Artificial Intelligence. Winner of two Hugo Awards, one Nebula Award, and named a Grand Master by the Science Fiction Writers of America, Brian W. Aldiss challenged readers'' minds for over fifty years with literate, thought-provoking, and inventive science fiction. In the year 2093, human consciousness has expanded to the point that man can now travel to the past using a technique called "mind-traveling." Artist Edward Bush returns from a nearly three-year mind-travel to find that his government has crumbled and society is now under the leadership a new regime. Given Bush''s experience, he is recruited by the regime to track down and assassinate a scientist whose ideas threaten to topple everything they''ve built. This ebook includes an introduction by the author.

A civilization crumbles as its planet hurtles away from its star in the final chapter of this "monumental" epic from the Grand Master of Science Fiction ( The Times, London). After many centuries, the flowering of human civilization has begun to dwindle again and the Great Year slowly progresses while the long, deadly cold winter looms—but a break in the long, repeating cycles of growth and decay may result from the long-ago visit of the Earthman. New legends of the spring and summer have evolved and a new future may be aborning. More than thirty years after the original publication of Helliconia Spring, the first volume of the Helliconia Trilogy, the series is newly available, now with a map, an afterword, and an introduction by the author.

A new savior emerges from a drugged-out dystopia in "the most ambitious psychedelic sci-fi novel of the era" from the Science Fiction Grand Master (Conceptual Fiction). The earth is recovering from the Acid Head War, in which hallucinogenic chemicals were the primary weapon. Many humans are now suffering from delusions and are unable to tell the real from the imaginary. When a man named Colin Charteris tries to make sense of the drugged-out world, he is taken as the new messiah. As he descends into paranoid visions, he begins to believe this himself.

Human reproduction has ceased and society slowly spirals in this "adult Lord of the Flies" by a Grand Master of Science Fiction ( San Francisco Chronicle). After the "Accident," all males on Earth become sterile. Society ages and falls apart bit by bit. First, toy companies go under. Then record companies. Then cities cease to function. Now Earth''s population lives in spread‐out, isolated villages, with its youngest members in their fifties. When the people of Sparcot begin to make claims of gnomes and man‐eating rodents lurking around their village, Greybeard and his wife set out for the coast with the hope of finding something better.

A strange alien species forces us to question our definition of civilization in this biting satire from the Grand Master of Science Fiction. What would intelligent life‐forms on another planet look like? Would they walk upright? Would they wear clothes? Or would they be hulking creatures on six legs that wallow in their own excrement? Upon first contact with the Utod— intelligent, pacifist beings who feel no pain—mankind instantly views these aliens as animals because of their unhygienic customs. This leads to the slaughter, capture, and dissection of the Utod. But when one explorer recognizes the intelligence behind their habits, he must reevaluate what it actually means to be "intelligent."

Fourth in the acclaimed Squire Quartet—from the author of "Supertoys Last All Summer Long," the basis for the movie A.I.: Artificial Intelligence. Architectural historian Roy Burnell has been tasked with traveling the globe and listing architectural gems in danger of being destroyed. But when Burnell is in Budapest, ten years of his memory, mostly his architectural knowledge and sexual experiences, are stolen. In this near-future, thieves using EMV ("e-mnemonicvision") sell memories on the black market. In the wake of this event, Burnell tries to resume his life, while also searching for the "bullet" that will restore his memory. Winner of two Hugo Awards, one Nebula Award, and named a Grand Master by the Science Fiction Writers of America, Brian W. Aldiss challenged readers'' minds for over fifty years with literate, thought-provoking, and inventive science fiction. "Aldiss weaves these thoughts into a delightful and sometimes harrowing story, proving once again that science fiction can illuminate vital matters of the present as effectively as any genre." — Publishers Weekly This ebook includes an introduction by the author.

The Hugo and Nebula Award–winning author and Science Fiction Grand Master delivers a sweeping epic of a planet suffering deadly conditions of alternating extremes in this Nebula Award finalist Helliconia follows an eccentric orbit around a double-star system with a twenty-six-hundred-year cycle of very long seasons. As spring slowly breaks the brutally long winter, humans emerge from hiding and a long sequence of civilization and growth begins to repeat again, unbeknownst to the participants but watched by an orbiting satellite station, Avernus, created by Earth some centuries ago. Humans free themselves from slavery to the aboriginal Phagors, and religion and science flower and expand. Brian W. Aldiss has, for more than fifty years, continued to challenge readers'' minds with literate, thought-provoking, and inventive fiction. Helliconia Spring''s prescience with regard to climate change is nothing short of extraordinary.

War is humanity''s only hope. " Aldiss'' dark vision of collapsing society and withering earth is poignant and brutal . . . [a] richly detailed world" (Science Fiction Ruminations). In a future where the Earth has been savaged by overpopulation and over‐farming, robots are considered more valuable than humans and sand must be altered to create artificially fertile soil. Ex‐convict Knowle Noland, the hallucinating sea captain of the Trieste Star, finds himself wrapped up in a plot to incite a global war that will wipe out millions. War, it seems, is the only way to drastically reduce the population and create a better world for those who survive.