New Release Books by Toby Litt

Elliott is something of a genius. More than that, Elliott is an ideal friend, and to know him is to adore him. But few people do know Elliott, because he is also stuck. He lives in a wheelchair in an orphanage. It's 1979. Elliott is forced to spend his days in an empty corridor, either gazing out of the window at the birds in a tree or staring into a white wall wherever the Catholic Sisters who run the ward have decided to park him. So when Jim, blind and mute but also headstrong, arrives on the ward and begins to defy the Sisters' restrictive rules, Elliott finally sees a chance for escape.

From Trumpocalypse to Brexit Britain, brick by brick the walls are closing in. But don’t despair. Bulldoze the borders. Conquer freedom not fear. EXIT EARTH explores all life – past, present, or future – on, or off – this beautiful, yet fragile, world of ours. Final embraces beneath a sky of flames. Tears of joy aboard a sinking ship. Laughter in a lonely land. Dystopian or utopian, realist or fantasy, horror or sci-fi, EXIT EARTH is yours to conquer. EXIT EARTH includes the short fiction of all fourteen finalists from the STORGY EXIT EARTH Short Story Competition, as judged by critically acclaimed author Diane Cook (Man vs. Nature). EXIT EARTH EXTRA contains additional stories by award winning authors M R Cary (The Girl With All The Gifts), Toby Litt (Corpsing), James Miller (Lost Boys), Courttia Newland (A Book of Blues), and David James Poissant (The Heaven of Animals), in addition to stories by Tomek Dzido, Ross Jeffery, Alice Kouzmenko, Tabitha Potts, and Anthony Self. With exclusive artwork by Amie Dearlove, HarlotVonCharlotte, CrapPanther, and cover design by Rob Pearce.

The Dead Boy Detectives are on the case. When several children go missing in a small English town, a series of strange and unexpected twists take them to Free Country, a place that dates back a millennium, where children never grow old and are free from the abuse and tyranny of adults. But Free Country is failing, and what it needs is the strength of five innately powerful children-including the young sorcerer Timothy Hunter-to restore their uncanny world to what it once was. Collects THE CHILDREN'S CRUSADE #1 and THE CHILDREN'S CRUSADE #2, written by Gaiman with cowriters Alisa Kwitney and Jamie Delano. A brand-new middle chapter written by DEAD BOY DETECTIVES writer Toby Litt and drawn by artist Peter Gross (THE BOOKS OF MAGIC, THE UNWRITTEN) completes this compelling tale of ancient history, stolen dreams and lost children. Also featuring a new introduction by Gaiman, plus new cover art by DEAD BOY DETECTIVES artist Mark Buckingham.

Computers are changing. Soon the silicon chip will seem like a clunky antique amid the bounty of more exotic processes on offer. Robots are changing too; material evolution and swarm intelligence are creating a new generation of devices that will diverge and disperse into a balanced ecosystem of humans and ‘robjects’ (robotic objects). Somewhere in between, we humans will have to change also… in the way we interact with technology, the roles we adopt in an increasingly ‘intelligent’ environment, and how we interface with each other. The driving motors behind many of these changes will be artificial life (A-Life) and unconventional computing. How exactly they will impact on our world is still an open question. But in the spirit of collective intelligence, this anthology brings together 38 scientists and authors, working in pairs, to imagine what life (and A-Life) will look like in the year 2070. Every kind of technology is imagined: from lie-detection glasses to military swarmbots, brain-interfacing implants to synthetically ‘grown’ skyscrapers, revolution-inciting computer games to synthetically engineered haute cuisine. All artificial life is here. Featuring scientific contributions from: Martyn Amos, J. Mark Bishop, Seth Bullock, Stephen Dunne, James Dyke, Christian Jantzen, Francesco Mondada, James D. O'Shea, Andrew Philippides, Lenka Pitonakova, Steen Rasmussen, Thomas S. Ray, Micah Rosenkind, James Snowdon, Susan Stepney, Germán Terrazas, Andrew Vardy and Alan Winfield. Supported by TRUCE (Training and Research in Unconventional Computation in Europe).

Toby Litt is one of that rare breed of fiction writers who never writes the same book twice: every time out, he takes an unexpected new tack--and his readers happily follow. ​Told in the form of the pithy, even lyrical advice a young soldier leaves behind after a mission gone wrong, Notes for a Young Gentleman is no exception. Its brilliantly creative form, and the epigrammatic genius Litt displays in its creation, nonetheless can't hide the powerful, emotional story at its heart: of a young soldier parachuting toward a beautiful, moonlit country house on a mission . . . of betrayal. The house? Marlborough. The target? Winston Churchill, an old friend of his father. A brilliant, at times dizzying but always heartfelt exploration of love, revenge, and the essence of a gentleman, Notes for a Young Gentleman is classic Toby Litt: wholly new and wholly unforgettable.

Stories set in India, Sweden, Australia, and Iran.

Toby Litt is best known for his "hip-lit" fiction, which, in its sharing of characters and themes across numerous stories and novels, has always taken an unusual, hybrid form. In Mutants, he applies his restless creativity to nonfiction. The book brings together twenty-six essays on a range of diverse topics, including writers and writing, and the technological world that informs and underpins it. Each essay is marked by Litt's distinct voice, heedless of formal conventions and driven by a curiosity and a determination to give even the shortest piece enough conceptual heft to make it come alive. Taken as a whole, these pieces unexpectedly cohere into a manifesto of sorts, for a weirder, wilder, more willful fiction. Praise for Toby Litt "A genuinely individual talent with a positive relish for dealing with the contemporary aspects of the modern world."--Scotsman "Toby Litt is awfully good--he gives something new every time he writes."--Muriel Spark "He has invented a fresh, contemporary style--it will sing in the ears of this generation."--Malcolm Bradbury

We know Stanislaw Lem, whether or not we consciously know that we do. He may only be recognised in the West as the author of the twice-filmed novel, Solaris, but the influence of his other work is legion. From computer games (The Sims was inspired by one of his short stories), to films (the red and blue pills of The Matrix owe much to his Futurological Congress); from the space comedies of Red Dwarf to the metaphysical satires of Douglas Adams... the presence of this masterly Polish writer can be traced far and wide. Nor was his genius confined to fiction. Lem's essays and pseudo-essays borne out of the military industrial tensions of the Cold War have outlived their original context and speak to the most current developments in virtual reality, nanotechnology, and artificial intelligence. To celebrate his name, as well as his vision, this anthology brings together writers, critics and scientists who continue to grapple with his concerns. British and Polish novelists join screenwriters, poets, computer engineers, and artists, to celebrate and explore Lem's legacy through short stories and essays - two literary forms that, as Lem knew well, can blend together to create something altogether new. As one of the barriers to Lem's fame was language, this book also features specially commissioned translations: three stories never to have appeared in English before. Lem was always ahead of us. It's time we caught up.

A series of time-travel tales, including Damon Lindelof and Jeff Lemire bringing a blast from DC's past; another installment of the 'Dead Boy Detectives' from Toby Litt, Mark Buckingham and Victor Santos Montesinos; Matt Kindt presents a stirring story of man vs. machine; and much more!

Kumiko saw it first. A heart � a human heart � slithering down outside the window of a train travelling between London Bridge and Blackfriars. Someone must have thrown it out from a carriage in front. Kumiko is determined to find out who � and why. But Skelton was sitting next to Kumiko on the train and he saw it too, so he also wants to get to the bottom of the mystery. Or he says he does, but really he just wants Kumiko back, because she�s walked out on him, just like that, and left him heartbroken. Each for their own reasons, Kumiko and Skelton set out � separately � on a bizarre trail of discovery. Darting between dingy student pubs, the roofs of Borough Market and the corridors and car-parks of Guy�s Hospital, they become embroiled in the seedy world of young medical students, until eventually the gossip and the stories lead them both to the hospital�s infamous dissection lecturer � known behind his back as �King Death� �

Humankind has taken a fateful journey into space . . . A vast generation ship hurtles away from a violent, troubled Earth to settle a distant planet orbiting an alien star. Those who set out on this journey are long-since dead. Those who will arrive at their destination have yet to be born. For those who must live and die in the cold emptiness between the stars, there is only the claustrophobic permanence of non-being. Life lived in unending stasis. Then the unthinkable happens: two souls €" August and Celeste €" rebel. And from the fruit of their rebellion comes a new and powerful force which will take charge of the ship's destiny. Journey into Space is science fiction at its most classic and beguiling: timeless, vast in scope and daring in execution. €~One of the most inventive and original writers around' Sunday Mirror €~Litt is equally adept at building tension and coming up with a haunting phrase. Perhaps most impressive of all, though, is the richness of his imagination. He doesn't quail at taking big risks and possesses the talent to bring them off' Daily Telegraph

The end of the world doesn't come with a bang or a whimper, but with the chukka-chukka of a helicopter coming into land WELCOME TO HOSPITAL! Hospital is about blue murder and saving lives, having sex and surgery, falling in love and falling from a great height, crazy voodoo and hypnotic surveillance ; it's about the last days and the first days. And the Rubber Nurse knows you've been very naughty and is going to teach you a well-deserved lesson. It's the story of a lost boy wandering the corridors of a strange, antiseptic building, looking and hoping for a chance to get home. And also of a man who won't wake up despite the best efforts of the hospital staff ; and while he sleeps, a threatening darkness settles over everything...

Perched somewhere between the now and nevermore the DEAD BOY DETECTIVES will take on any and all mysteries including their own untimely deaths!

When Agatha and Paddy decide to leave London and buy a house on the coast, they are full of hope for themselves and their growing family - baby Max and a new child on the way. Three months later, when the builders move out and they move in, things look very different. A personal tragedy threatens to destroy all they have carefully built up and only a small miracle, it seems, will save them. . . Ghost Story is a book both haunted and haunting, which asks how we can ever mourn something that hasn't lived. Emotionally resonant, beautifully crafted and ultimately redemptive, it will take you to the heart of suffering and desire.

1995, and at a party in Bedford, Mary meets Jack and Neal, a pair of hipsters and self - confessed 'Beats' stuck (un)squarely in the sixties. After a 'Beat (not - quite) Happening' at the local library, the three of them (and Neal's cat Koko) set off in Mary's Vauxhall on a road trip to Brighton in search of literary fame and fortune. But, this is neither the time nor the place for free love, uncomplicated sex and unrestrained cool - this is 1990s Britain and everything comes with a price . . .

From Toby Litt, the author who brought you Adventures in Capitalism and Corpsing, this is Exhibitionism: a collection of witty, kinky stories that blend high lit. with hardcore, draw back the curtains on a world of xxx-rated escapades and tell you all you need to know about the etiquette of eye-contact during oral sex. With gorgeous girls, porn stars, and more twists 'n' turns, sex 'n' violence and glitz 'n' glamour than ever before, Toby Litt is back . . . and this time it's personal. 'Escapist young alien-abduction fans inadvertently swap underpants; pornographic-video copiers are embarrassed by sexual predators; a voyeuristic Rossetti student gets locked in Radclyffe Hall's tomb by vengeful lesbians . . . [Litt is] a master of scarily dynamic prose and a really gifted storyteller' Guardian 'All the stories in Exhibitionism crackle with wit, spot-on observation and a distinctive kind of gritty glamour. Clever, kinky and sexy enough to make you sweat' Sleazenation

This book takes the reader to the epicentre of the consumer world. There are adventures with money, with food, with consumer desirables, with sex. Gap polo necks, Ben & Jerry's, Nintendos, Fiat Puntos and other brand names are featured.

Okay are a Canadian indie/rock band who sound a little like the Velvet Underground on quarter-speed. This is their story. Narrated by the drummer, Clap, it follows twenty years of life on and off the road with the band: the gigs and groupies, the tunes and tours, the fall outs and fuck ups, the overdoses and the sweet, sweet soul-damage of it all. For anyone who's ever wondered what it's like to be in a rock band, I Play the Drums in a Band Called Okay is a dream of a book that delivers everthing it promises - but it's more than that too, and behind the glitz of celebrity shimmers a mature and nuanced novel about pains and joys as fundamental as those of loving and losing, growing up and moving on . . .

Everything Toby Litt touches turns to gold.

With the death of one of the Gang (as they call themselves), the war games escalate, directed now against the adults they hold responsible for the loss of one of their soldiers.