New Releases by Stephen Baxter

Arc, a new publication from the makers of New Scientist, explores the future through cutting-edge science fiction and forward-looking essays by some of the world’s most celebrated authors, alongside columns by thinkers and practitioners from the worlds of books, design, gaming, film and more.

Centuries have passed. The wall that Ana''s people built has long outlasted her and history has been changed. The British Isles are still one with the European mainland and Doggerland has become a vibrant and rich land. So rich that it has drawn the attention of the Greeks. An invasion is mounted and soon Greek Biremes are grinding ashore on a coastline we never knew and the world will be changed for ever. Stephen Baxter''s new series catapults forward from pre-history into the ancient world and charts a new and wonderful story for our world. This is a superb example of Baxter''s belief that anything is possible for mankind - even making a new world.

The universe shifts and changes: suddenly you understand, you get it, and are filled with wonder. That moment of understanding drives the greatest science-fiction stories and lies at the heart of Engineering Infinity. Whether it’s coming up hard against the speed of light – and, with it, the enormity of the universe – realising that terraforming a distant world is harder and more dangerous than you’d ever thought, or simply realizing that a hitchhiker on a starship consumes fuel and oxygen with tragic results, it’s hard science-fiction where a sense of discovery is most often found and where science-fiction’s true heart lies. This exciting and innovative science-fiction anthology collects together stories by some of the biggest names in the field, including Gwyneth Jones, Stephen Baxter and Charles Stross.

It''s the year 2030. The oceans have risen rapidly, and soon the entire planet will be submerged. But the discovery of another life-sustaining planet light years away gives those who remain alive hope. Only a few will be able to make the journey-Holle Groundwater is one of the candidates. If she makes the cut, she will live. If not, she will be left to face a watery death...

From Arthur C. Clarke, the brilliant mind that brought us 2001: A Space Odyssey, and Stephen Baxter, one of the most cogent SF writers of his generation, comes a novel of a day, not so far in the future, when the barriers of time and distance have suddenly turned to glass. When a brilliant, driven industrialist harnesses cutting-edge physics to enable people everywhere, at trivial cost, to see one another at all times—around every corner, through every wall—the result is the sudden and complete abolition of human privacy, forever. Then the same technology proves able to look backward in time as well. The Light of Other Days is a story that will change your view of what it is to be human. At the Publisher''s request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

RESPLENDENT is a collection of stories that encompasses mankind''s epic fight for survival against the Xeelee, a narrative of how man will change and evolve over our epic journey out into the universe. These tales will encompass the rise of sub-molecular empires in the first nanoseconds after the Big Bang to mankind''s final transformation. Full of cutting-edge science, descriptions of time and space on a mind-boggling scale and memorable, all-too-human characters. It is both the capstone to one of the most significant series in the history of SF and a remarkable achievement in its own right. This is a mature and uniquely talented writer at the height of his powers.

George Poole, divorcé sans enfant, informaticien sans grand avenir, vit et travaille à Londres. Après l''enterrement de son père, il découvre un secret de famille : il a une sœur jumelle, Rosa, " disparue " alors qu''ils avaient trois ans. Ses recherches l''amènent à Rome, où Rosa a été élevée par une étrange institution, l''Ordre de Sainte Marie Reine des Vierges, fondé au début de l''ère chrétienne par une certaine Regina. George découvre un sanctuaire qui héberge des milliers de femmes, toutes très jeunes et qui lui ressemblent étrangement avec leurs cheveux blonds et leurs yeux gris, auto-organisées comme dans une ruche...

Set in 1962 Liverpool during the Cold War, young Laura Mann discoveres that she carries the key that will unlock the difference between the future and the end of the world. For Laura Mann is ... the H-Bomb Girl! Pursued by futuristic forces beyond her wildest imagination, Laura must find answers before time runs out.

The concluding volume of the acclaimed Time''s Tapestry series. "This is the climax of one of the most thoughtful and involving series of novels that have brought history alive like no other."—Fantastic Fiction It is a war that has been fought throughout the centuries—the fate of Rome, the fate of Christendom, the fate of the young country called America—all were at stake down through the ages. Now, in the early days of WWII, as Germany launches a successful invasion of England, nothing less than the fate of the 20th century is to be determined. For the Nazi’s have a secret plan, far grander than simply subjugating an enemy. In the middle of that plan, tangled up in the strands of history, are Mary Wooler, an American historian caught in the Blitz; her son Gary, fighting a ruthless invader at civilization’s frontier; and Ben Kaman, a Jewish refugee whose dreams place him at the heart of the conspiracy that is threatening the fabric of the tapestry of time…

The third novel in Stephen Baxter''s Time''s Tapestry series. “We’ve come to expect excellence from Stephen Baxter and that’s what we get it in Navigator.”—SciFiDimensions As William the Conqueror’s men attempt to stamp out the flames of rebellion, a prophecy is uttered. A bedraggled woman in a ruined chapel speaks of civilizations in conflict, armed by the engines of God… And that prophecy proves to be true as the fearsome war between Christianity and Islam leaves its mark across the land. In Spain, a rogue priest dreams of the final defeat of Islam, for he has found a rent in the tapestry of time, a point where agents from the future used diabolical weapons of destruction to change history. Centuries later, in 1492, as men of vision weary of the strife and are drawn to the unknown West, one such explorer seeks the funding for his voyage—while a mysterious Weaver plots to unravel the strands of time and stop him…

Next year. Sea levels begin to rise. The change is far more rapid than any climate change predictions; metres a year. Within two years London, only 15 metres above the sea, is drowned. New York follows, the Pope gives his last address from the Vatican, Mecca disappears beneath the waves. Where is all the water coming from? Scientists estimate that the earth was formed with seas 30 times in volume their current levels. Most of that water was burnt off by the sun but some was locked in the earth''s mantle. For the tip of Everest to disappear beneath the waters would require the seas to triple their volume. That amount of water is still much less than 1% of the earth''s volume. And somehow it is being released. The world is drowning. The biblical flood has returned. And the rate of increase is building all the time. Mankind is on the run, heading for high ground. Nuclear submarines prowl through clouds of corpses rising from drowned cities, populations are decimated and finally the dreadful truth is known. Before 50 years have passed there will be nowhere left to run. FLOOD tells the story of mankind''s final years on earth. The stories of a small group of people caught up in the struggle to survive are woven into a tale of unimaginable global disaster. And the hope offered for a unlucky few by a second great ark . . .

The second novel in Stephen Baxter''s Time''s Tapestry series. Inscribed in Latin, the ancient scroll known as The Prophecy has remained in the hands of a single family for generations, revealing secrets about the world to come, and guiding them to wealth and power... Three centuries have passed since Rome fell, as foretold by The Prophecy—which is now in the hands of a young girl who lives disguised as a boy among the monks on the isle of Lindisfarne. When the Vikings come, deliberately destroying the final copies of the scroll, it will still live on—in the memory of one family. And when William of Normandy, whom history will call the Conqueror, rises to power, once more the fate of the land rests on actions inspired by the ancient words. But as time passes, memories dim—and the surviving member of the family struggles to understand his heritage before all knowledge of the future will be lost to the past…

This is an eclectic collection of all-original science fiction stories from some of the foremost luminaries in the genre. Featuring new tales of far future murder, first contact, love and war from such well-regarded and award winning authors as Peter F. Hamilton, Stephen Baxter, Adam Roberts, Jeffrey Thomas, Eric Brown, Paul Di Filippo, Neal Asher, Jay Lake and Ian Watson, this collection is sure to delight all fans of good science fiction.

A first installment of a four-book alternate history epic traces the rise of a powerful family whose successes are linked to an ancient prophecy that guides their financial and political choices, in a tale that begins with a Celtic noble''s betrayal and culminates in the fall of the Roman empire. 20,000 first printing.

In the eighteenth century, the received wisdom, based on biblical calculations, was that the Earth was just six thousand years old. James Hutton, a gentleman with a passion for rocks, knew that could not be the case. Looking at the irregular strata of the Earth he deduced that a much longer span of time would be required for the landscape he saw to have evolved. In the turbulent world of Enlightenment Scotland, he set out to prove it. Hutton''s entourage in Edinburgh comprised the leading thinkers of the age, including Erasmus Darwin, Adam Smith, James Watt, David Hume, and Joseph Black. But his geological theories would ignite decades of profound religious debate. Ultimately, Hutton''s discovery of deep time changed our view of the universe forever.

In the distant future, Alia is entrusted to Witness the life of Michael Poole, a man haunted by his wife''s death and struggling to reconnect with his estranged son while fighting off a global disaster. Book #3.

“Baxter has an uncanny gift for mixing a punchy, cyberpunk cynicism with his resolutely hard SF story base. . . . [Exultant] rivals Asimov in its boundless vision for the future evolution of humanity.”—Kirkus Reviews (starred review) For more than twenty thousand years, humans have been at war with the alien race of Xeelee. Faced with certain death, a young pilot, Pirius, disobeys orders and travels into the future. Upon his return, Pirius is court-martialed and sentenced to penal servitude. But it is not only Pirius who pays the price. In flying into the future and back again, Pirius returned to a time before he’d left, a time inhabited by his younger self, who also receives punishment. Commissary Nilis believes that the elder Pirius, whom he dubs Pirius Blue, may know how to defeat the Xeelee. But Nilis can do nothing for Pirius Blue. Instead, he takes the younger Pirius—Pirius Red—back to Earth. There Pirius Red will discover truths that shatter his preconceived notions of all that he is fighting for, while Pirius Blue will learn even harsher truths. But the most shocking revelation of all is still to come. “Absurdly ambitious, technically brilliant, and downright exciting.”—SFX Magazine “Striking . . . chilling . . . [with] a triumphant conclusion.”—Starburst

Two children travel to a virtual reality ''theme park'' called GulliverZone where they cross paths with a cyber sorceress.

“Lean, taut storytelling . . . breakneck stuff . . . Arguably his most accessible book to date—Baxter [is] resplendent.”—SFX magazine When his father dies suddenly, George Poole stumbles onto a family secret: He has a twin sister he never knew existed, who was raised by an enigmatic cult called the Order. The Order is a hive—a human hive with a dominant queen—that has prospered below the streets of Rome for almost two millennia. After Poole enters the Order’s vast underground city and meets the disturbing inhabitants, he uncovers evidence that they have embarked on a divergent evolutionary path. These genetically superior humans are equipped with the tools necessary to render modern Homo sapiens as extinct as the Neanderthals. And now they are preparing to leave their underground realm. “[Excels] at both action-packed storytelling and philosophical speculation.”—Library Journal “Utterly fascinating . . . constantly surprising . . . Coalescent reveals a new side to Baxter’s vast talent.”—Locus

“Magisterial and uplifting . . . A brilliant, grandscale sampling of sixty-five million years of human evolution . . . It shows the sweep and grandeur of life in its unrelenting course.” —The Denver Post Stretching from the distant past into the remote future, from primordial Earth to the stars, Evolution is a soaring symphony of struggle, extinction, and survival; a dazzling epic that combines a dozen scientific disciplines and a cast of unforgettable characters to convey the grand drama of evolution in all its awesome majesty and rigorous beauty. Sixty-five million years ago, when dinosaurs ruled the Earth, there lived a small mammal, a proto-primate of the species Purgatorius. From this humble beginning, Baxter traces the human lineage forward through time. The adventure that unfolds is a gripping odyssey governed by chance and competition, a perilous journey to an uncertain destination along a route beset by sudden and catastrophic upheavals. It is a route that ends, for most species, in stagnation or extinction. Why should humanity escape this fate? Praise for Evolution “Spectacular.”—The New York Times Book Review “Strong imagination, a capacity for awe, and the ability to think rigorously about vast and final things abound in the work of Stephen Baxter. . . . [Evolution] leaves the reader with a haunting portrayal of the distant future.”—Times Literary Supplement “A breath of fresh air . . . The miracle of Evolution is that it makes the triumph of life, which is its story, sound like the real story.”—The Washington Post Book World

This cutting edge science fiction anthology features stories by award-winning authors who imagine what would happen if the vastness of cyberspace was replaced by things surprising and strange. Authors include Stephen Baxter, David Brin, and S.M. Stirling.

In 1650, the theologian and scholar Bishop James Ussher announced that the world was created on 23rd October 4004 BC. This date had been carefully calculated by adding together all the ages and reigns of the monarchs recorded in the Bible. In the late eighteenth century, James Hutton set out to prove him wrong. A gentleman farmer with legal and medical training, Hutton was fascinated by the natural landscape and in particular by rock formations. He was also surrounded by some of the most brilliant men of his day - Erasmus Darwin, Adam Smith, James Watt and David Hume. Looking at the irregular strata in the layers of the earth, Hutton deduced that the world must be much, much older than Ussher''s prediction. His revelation was blasphemy - but it was also one of the most extraordinary defining moments in history, forming the framework for Darwin''s theory of evolution, and shaping our modern view of the world and our place in it.

“Reading Manifold: Time is like sending your mind to the gym for a brisk workout. If you don’t feel both exhausted and exhilirated when you’re done, you haven’t been working hard enough.”—The New York Times Book Review The year is 2010. More than a century of ecological damage, industrial and technological expansion, and unchecked population growth has left the Earth on the brink of devastation. As the world’s governments turn inward, one man dares to envision a bolder, brighter future. That man, Reid Malenfant, has a very different solution to the problems plaguing the planet: the exploration and colonization of space. Now Malenfant gambles the very existence of time on a single desperate throw of the dice. Battling national sabotage and international outcry, as apocalyptic riots sweep the globe, he builds a spacecraft and launches it into deep space. The odds are a trillion to one against him. Or are they? “A staggering novel! If you ever thought you understood time, you’ll be quickly disillusioned when you read Manifold: Time.”—Sir Arthur C. Clarke

The daughter of Silverhair, lcebones has awakened from her strange sleep of a thousand years in a place she does not recognize, surrounded by others of her gargantuan race who have grown soft and slow on the generosity of their captors. But the human masters are gone, abandoning the mammoths to the harsh realities of a distant, frozen world. And so it falls to Icebones to unite this ragged band and lead them on a remarkable quest for safety. But the journey must wind through a landscape of unimaginable dangers. And the safe haven they seek may be no more than legend. Still lcebones must persevere, for only she carries the accumulated knowledge of mammoth history -- and only she can achieve the glory foretold in songs older than time.

“One of the best SF writers in the business . . . [Manifold: Origin is] filled with marvelous scientific speculations, strange events, novel concepts, and an awe-inspiring sense of the wonders of the universe.”—Science Fiction Chronicle In the year 2015, astronaut Reid Malenfant is flying over the African continent, intent on examining a mysterious glowing construct in Earth’s orbit. But when the very fabric of the sky tears open, spilling living creatures to the ground and pulling others inside (including his wife, Emma), Malenfant’s quest to uncover the unknown becomes personal. While desperately searching to discover what happened to the woman he loves, Malenfant embarks upon an adventure to the very fount of human development . . . on earth and beyond.

“As always, [Stephen] Baxter plays with space and time with consummate skill. . . . He continues to be one of the leading writers of hard science fiction, and one of the most thought-provoking as well.”—Science Fiction Chronicle The year is 2020. Fueled by an insatiable curiosity, Reid Malenfant ventures to the far edge of the solar system, where he discovers a strange artifact left behind by an alien civilization: A gateway that functions as a kind of quantum transporter, allowing virtually instantaneous travel over the vast distances of interstellar space. What lies on the other side of the gateway? Malenfant decides to find out. Yet he will soon be faced with an impossible choice that will push him beyond terror, beyond sanity, beyond humanity itself. Meanwhile on Earth the Japanese scientist Nemoto fears her worst nightmares are coming true. Startling discoveries reveal that the Moon, Venus, even Mars once thrived with life—life that was snuffed out not just once but many times, in cycles of birth and destruction. And the next chilling cycle is set to begin again . . . “When the travel bug bites and usual planets don’t excite, perhaps it’s time to burst the bounds of this old solar system and really see the sights. . . . Baxter’s expansive new novel is just the ticket.”—The Washington Times “Breathtaking in its originality and scope.”—The Washington Post

Beginning with an in-depth look at what the 21st century might bring in the way of technological advances and an examination of our past efforts to gain the future (the Apollo programme and the Space Shuttle) DEEP FUTURE takes you on a dizzying ride to the limits of time and space and looks at how mankind might overcome the unavoidable limitations of a physical universe and win the deep future. Only a writer as imaginatively gifted as Stephen Baxter could present a future history of mankind that incorporates space-faring genetically modified squid and the mining of black holes. DEEP FUTURE is a vivid travelogue of both the distant future and the far reaches of a solar system we must colonise and a galaxy we simply must inherit in order to survive. The logic of a vast universe in which we seem to be alone could be grim but in Baxter¿s hands the deep future is our only possible refuge. Even the chapter which charts how nature will leave us behind if we fail is a beautifully atmospheric cautionary tale.