Most Popular Books by Paolo Bacigalupi

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • A "fresh, genre-bending thriller” (Los Angeles Times) set in the near future when water is scarce and a spy, a hardened journalist and a young Texas migrant find themselves pawns in a corrupt game. "Think Chinatown meets Mad Max." NPR, All Things Considered In the near future, the Colorado River has dwindled to a trickle. Detective, assassin, and spy, Angel Velasquez “cuts” water for the Southern Nevada Water Authority, ensuring that its lush arcology developments can bloom in Las Vegas. When rumors of a game-changing water source surface in Phoenix, Angel is sent south, hunting for answers that seem to evaporate as the heat index soars and the landscape becomes more and more oppressive. There, he encounters Lucy Monroe, a hardened journalist with her own agenda, and Maria Villarosa, a young Texas migrant, who dreams of escaping north. As bodies begin to pile up, the three find themselves pawns in a game far bigger and more corrupt than they could have imagined, and when water is more valuable than gold, alliances shift like sand, and the only truth in the desert is that someone will have to bleed if anyone hopes to drink.

Anderson Lake is AgriGen’s Calorie Man, sent to work undercover as a factory manager in Thailand while combing Bangkok’s street markets in search of foodstuffs thought to be extinct, hoping to reap the bounty of history’s lost calories. Emiko is the Windup Girl, a strange and beautiful creature. Emiko is not human; she is an engineered being, grown and programmed to satisfy the decadent whims of a Kyoto businessman, but now abandoned to the streets of Bangkok. Regarded as soulless beings by some, devils by others, New People are slaves, soldiers, and toys of the rich in this chilling near future in which calorie companies rule the world, the oil age has passed, and the side effects of bio-engineered plagues run rampant across the globe.

From the New York Times best-selling author of The Windup Girl and The Water Knife comes a sweeping literary historical fantasy about the young scion from a ruling-class family who faces rebellion as he ascends to power. "Steeped in poison, betrayal, and debauchery, reading Navola is like slipping into a luxurious bath full of blood." —Holly Black, #1 New York Times best-selling author "You must be as sharp as a stilettotore’s dagger and as subtle as a fish beneath the waters. This is what it is to be Navolese, this is what it is to be di Regulai." In Navola, a bustling city-state dominated by a handful of influential families, business is power, and power is everything. For generations, the di Regulai family—merchant bankers with a vast empire—has nurtured tendrils that stretch to the farthest reaches of the known world. And though they claim not to be political, their staggering wealth has bought cities and toppled kingdoms. Soon, Davico di Regulai will be expected to take the reins of power from his father and demonstrate his mastery of the games of Navolese diplomacy: knowing who to trust and who to doubt, and how to read what lies hidden behind a smile. But in Navola, strange and ancient undercurrents lurk behind the gilt and grandeur—like the fossilized dragon eye in the family’s possession, a potent symbol of their raw power and a talisman that seems to be summoning Davico to act. As tensions rise and the events unfold, Davico will be tested to his limits. His fate depends on the eldritch dragon relic and on what lies buried in the heart of his adopted sister, Celia di Balcosi, whose own family was destroyed by Nalova’s twisted politics. With echoes of Renaissance Italy, The Godfather, and Game of Thrones, Navola is a stunning feat of world-building and a mesmerizing depiction of drive and will.

Paolo Bacigalupi''s debut collection demonstrates the power and reach of the science fiction short story. Social criticism, political parable, and environmental advocacy lie at the center of Paolo''s work. Each of the stories herein is at once a warning, and a celebration of the tragic comedy of the human experience. The eleven stories in Pump Six represent the best Paolo''s work, including the Hugo nominee "Yellow Card Man," the nebula and Hugo nominated story "The People of Sand and Slag," and the Sturgeon Award-winning story "The Calorie Man."

Set in a dark future devastated by climate change, Tool of War is the third book in a major adventure series by a bestselling and award-winning science fiction author and starring the most provocative character from the acclaimed novels Ship Breaker and The Drowned Cities. In this gripping, eerily prescient sci-fi thriller that Kirkus described as "masterful," Tool--a half-man/half-beast designed for combat--proves himself capable of so much more than his creators had ever dreamed. He has gone rogue from his pack of bioengineered "augments" and emerged a victorious leader of a pack of human soldier boys. But he is hunted relentlessly by someone determined to destroy him, who knows an alarming secret: Tool has found the way to resist his genetically ingrained impulses of submission and loyalty toward his masters... The time is coming when Tool will embark on an all-out war against those who have enslaved him. From one of science fiction''s undisputed masters comes a riveting and all-too-timely page-turner that explores the intricate relationships connecting hunter and prey, master and enslaved, human and monster. "Suzanne Collins may have put dystopian literature on the YA map with ''The Hunger Games''...but Bacigalupi is one of the genre''s masters, employing inventively terrifying details in equally imaginative story lines." -- Los Angeles Times

In this Hugo and Nebula Award-nominated short story, a Laotian journalist, Ong, tries to succeed in an American news agency where glamorous “click-bait” stories drive revenue, and in-depth news stories are a dying breed. As Ong struggles to survive in the newsroom, he must choose whether he will pursue clicks and success, or stay true to his ideals, and risk everything because of it. “The Gambler” was nominated for the 2009 Hugo Award for Best Novelette, and the 2009 Nebula Award for Best Novelette. It was featured in Gardner Dozois’s “Year’s Best SF” Twenty-Sixth Edition, Jonathan Strahan’s “Best SF of the Year” Volume 3, and originally published in Pyr’s Fast Forward 2 Anthology. Reviews: “The stories he [Paolo] chooses to write are those that make an easy extrapolation of the present into the near future, but with an immediacy and richness of detail that shows the reader just how close we are to seeing this come to pass. The world of The Gambler isn’t as dystopian as what we normally get from him, but his protagonist still serves a similar function as a lone voice of reason in a future you would not prefer but which seems somehow inevitable. There may be some analogy there with the author himself, but either way this is a nicely done story.” --- Mataglap SF “…The story … wisely spends its time deepening Ong’s quiet but firm sincerity. The end of the “The Gambler” is probably the most touching thing Bacigalupi has yet written: what Ong gambles on is human nature, and Bacigalupi makes us want him to win.” ---Torque Control

In “The People of Sand and Slag,” a Hugo and Nebula Award-nominated short story, Paolo Bacigalupi weaves a tale about the lives of three technologically modified guards, their barren, heavily mined landscape, and a chance encounter with a creature rare for their time period – a dog. What starts off as a hunt for an enemy ends up as a story of empathy, and what it means to be human. “The People of Sand and Slag” was nominated for the 2005 Hugo Award for Best Novelette, and the 2006 Nebula Award for Best Novelette. It was featured in Gardner Dozois’s “Year’s Best SF” Twenty-Second Edition, Jonathan Strahan’s “Best SF of the Year” 2004 Edition, and in John Joseph Adams’ “Wastelands” Anthology in 2008. Reviews: “A difficult and touching story, which steps pretty far outside the box to examine our relationship to pets, and to nature. At every stage, Bacigalupi gets it right.” --- Internet Review of Science Fiction “Bacigalupi posits a future where humanity has adapted itself to living in a hostile environment. ... There is plenty of techie stuff entwined with the premise itself to satisfy the hardest of hard sf readers, but the main attraction of this story is the faint hope that those parts of us that can accept the "other" might still exist in a world where self-preservation and survival come first.” --- Tangent Online

Set in a dark future America devastated by the forces of climate change, this thrilling bestseller and National Book Finalist is a gritty, high-stakes adventure of a teenage boy faced with conflicting loyalties. In America''s flooded Gulf Coast region, oil is scarce, but loyalty is scarcer. Grounded oil tankers are being broken down for parts by crews of young people. Nailer, a teenage boy, works the light crew, scavenging for copper wiring just to make quota--and hopefully live to see another day. But when, by luck or by chance, he discovers an exquisite clipper ship beached during a recent hurricane, Nailer faces the most important decision of his life: Strip the ship for all it''s worth or rescue its lone survivor, a beautiful and wealthy girl who could lead him to a better life.... In this powerful novel, Hugo and Nebula Award winning author Paolo Bacigalupi delivers a fast-paced adventure set in the vivid and raw, uncertain future of his companion novels The Drowned Cities and Tool of War. "Suzanne Collins may have put dystopian literature on the YA map with The Hunger Games...but Bacigalupi is one of the genre''s masters, employing inventively terrifying details in equally imaginative story lines." — Los Angeles Times A New York Times Bestseller A Michael L. Printz Award Winner A National Book Award Finalist A VOYA 2010 Top Shelf Fiction for Middle School Readers Book A Rolling Stone 40 Best YA Novels Book Don''t miss the other books in the series: The Drowned Cities Tool of War

In this page-turning contemporary thriller, National Book Award Finalist and New York Times bestselling author Paolo Bacigalupi explores the timely issue of how public information is distorted for monetary gain, and how those who exploit it must be stopped. Everything Alix knows about her life is a lie. At least that''s what a mysterious young man who''s stalking her keeps saying. But then she begins investigating the disturbing claims he makes against her father. Could her dad really be at the helm of a firm that distorts the truth and covers up wrongdoing by hugely profitable corporations that have allowed innocent victims to die? Is it possible that her father is the bad guy, and that the undeniably alluring criminal who calls himself Moses--and his radical band of teen activists--is right? Alix has to make a choice, and time is running out, but can she truly risk everything and blow the whistle on the man who loves her and raised her?

In "The Fluted Girl," Hugo and Nebula award-winning author Paolo Bacigalupi weaves a tale of the freedoms and shackles of wealth and fame. Lidia is a fluted girl, one of a pair of genetically altered and surgically designed twins, intended to win the hearts and minds of all who observe her in performance. While Lidia''s patron, Madame Belari, plots to profit from Lidia''s and her sister''s debut exhibition, Lidia seeks her freedom, and will pay any price to seize it. "The Fluted Girl" was featured in Ellen Datlow''s "Year''s Best Fantasy & Horror," Seventeenth Edition; in Gardner Dozois'' "Year''s Best SF," Twenty-First Edition; and in Jonathan Strahan''s "Best SF of the Year," 2003 Edition. Reviews: "This science fantasy puts us in a decadent future world both feudal and capitalistic, in which human beings can be remade in a variety of styles, and immortality is possible at a price... Bacigalupi imagines an intricate and lush world… but perhaps the best thing about the story is that it is in no way predictable, and yet the twists he gives the reader do not jar. "The Fluted Girl" is a glorious story that will leave you hungry for more of Bacigalupi''s work." --- Tangent Online "The resulting story is a scary one, with the original premise, but also holding to a core story: what will people in power, unchallenged power, do with the tools available to them? The result is horribly erotic and immoral, but thought provoking at the same time." -- SF Signal

While practicing for their next baseball game, thirteen-year-old friends Rabi, Miguel, and Joe discover that the nefarious activities of the Delbe, Iowa, meatpacking plant have caused cows to turn into zombies.

WINNER OF THE WORLD FANTASY AWARD FOR BEST COLLECTION From award-winning and New York Times bestselling authors Paolo Bacigalupi and Tobias Buckell comes a fantasy novel told in four parts about a land crippled by the use of magic, and a tyrant who is trying to rebuild an empire—unless the people find a way to resist. Khaim, The Blue City, is the last remaining city in a crumbled empire that overly relied upon magic until it became toxic. It is run by a tyrant known as The Jolly Mayor and his devious right hand, the last archmage in the world. Together they try to collect all the magic for themselves so they can control the citizens of the city. But when their decadence reaches new heights and begins to destroy the environment, the people stage an uprising to stop them. In four interrelated parts, The Tangled Lands is an evocative and epic story of resistance and heroic sacrifice in the twisted remains surrounding the last great city of Khaim. Paolo Bacigalupi and Tobias Buckell have created a fantasy for our times about a decadent and rotting empire facing environmental collapse from within—and yet hope emerges from unlikely places with women warriors and alchemical solutions.

A mutant baby goes on a rampage through Central Park. An immigrant reveals secrets in the folds of a perfect gift. Lucky Cats extend their virtual paws to salute a generous revolution. The Internet invades a third-world village. The premier speculative-fiction magazine Fantasy & Science Fiction continues to discover and showcase many of the most inventive authors writing in any genre. Now drawing even more deeply upon F&SF’s impressive history, this extraordinary companion anthology expands upon sixty-five years’ worth of top-notch storytelling. The Very Best of Fantasy & Science Fiction, Volume Two is a star-studded tribute to the continuing vision of F&SF.

Offers a collection of short stories about post-apocalyptic survival from such authors as Kage Baker, Cory Doctorow, Paul Tremblay, and Blake Butler.

ITS THE END OF THE WORLD AS WE KNOW IT... For decades, the apocalypse and its aftermath have yielded some of the most exciting short stories of all time. From David Brin''s seminal The Postman to Hugh Howey''s Deep Blood Kettle and Tananarive Due''s prescient Patient Zero, the end of the world continues to thrill. This companion volume to the critically acclaimed WASTELANDS offers thirty of the finest examples of post-apocalyptic short fiction, with works by: Ann Aguirre Megan Arkenberg Paolo Bacigalupi Christopher Barzak Lauren Beukes David Brin Orson Scott Card Junot Díaz Cory Doctorow Tananarive Due Toiya Kristen Finley Milo Joe R. Lansdale George R. R. Martin Jack McDevitt Seanan McGuire Maureen F. McHugh D. Thomas Minton Rudy Rucker & Bruce Sterling Ramsey Shehadeh Robert Silverberg Award-winning editor John Joseph Adams has once again assembled a who’s who of short fiction, and the result is nothing short of mind-blowing. --- PRAISE FOR WASTELANDS: Everything that is best about the trope, from bleak, empty worlds to beacons of hope. - Booklist. The best anthology of any kind I have read to date. - Grasping for the Wind. A great collection that gets my highest recommendation.- Bookgasm

The thrilling companion to Bacigalupi''s Printz Award winner "Ship Breaker." In a dark future America, young refugees Mahlia and Mouse have managed to leave behind the war-torn lands of the Drowned Cities. But when they discover a wounded half-man who is being hunted by a vengeful band of soldiers, their fragile existence quickly collapses.