Sci Fiction 2006
File Updated: 05/02/2007
Tangled Web UK: New Sci Fiction Titles 2006

Adam Roberts Gradisil Published March 2006 by Gollancz at £18.99 ISBN: 0575075872
Revenge needs space to grow
Gradisil is an epic space opera of family revenge and the birth of a nation.
Not so very long from now, if you are wealthy, space can be yours. Space to grow. New technology has seeded a rebirth of the pioneer spirit. A new breed of adventurer has slipped the bonds of gravity and begun a fresh life in orbit. Free from interference by government, free from the petty concerns of earth.
Who wouldn’t want such freedom? Who wouldn’t want to escape from society’s tangles? From the claws of the corporations? From the stifling love of family?
But tradition, fear and revenge carry a murderous weight. A gravity that is not so easy to escape. The death of Gradisil’s grandfather, floating high in the uplands above earth; was only the beginning. And now the US government is looking up at the new nation above our heads with jealous eyes.
Reviews for Adam Roberts
'The king of high-concept' Jon Courtenay Grimwood, The Guardian
‘Roberts joins my list of essential authors’ Vector (Critical Journal of the British Science Fiction Association)
‘A pretty superb tale, a poison chalice of delights’ John Clute, New York Review Of Science Fiction
‘Very high concept. Very vividly executed’ Stephen Baxter
‘A purveyor of illusions that underscore the real, a beguiling dispenser of cruel instruction. Heed him. Harsh medicine is not often so entertainingly administered’ SFSITE.COM
‘Adam Roberts has got what it takes’ Peter F. Hamilton

About The Author
Adam Roberts is a lecturer at the University of London. He has an MA from Aberdeen and a PhD in English and Classics from Cambridge. Adam has been a Lecturer of English at Royal Holloway, University of London since 1990. His areas of specialisation are:
1) Nineteenth Century. He is Deputy Director of RHUL’s MA in Victorian Media and Culture.
2) Postmodernism. Deputy Director of the RHUL MA in Postmodernism, Literature and Contemporary Culture and
3) Science Fiction.
He is also the Deputy Dean of Arts.
Adam has edited and published a number of academic books: Robert Browning (Twayne 1996) (ed.); Robert Browning (OUP: The Oxford Authors 1998); Romantic and Victorian Long Poems: a Guide (Ashgate 1999) (ed.); Tennyson (OUP: The Oxford Authors 2000) (assoc. ed); The Oxford Readers Guide to Dickens (OUP 1999); Fredric Jameson (Routledge: Routledge Critical Thinkers, September 2000); Science Fiction (Routledge New Critical Idiom 2000).
Adam’s previous SF novels include Salt (for which he received an Arthur C. Clarke award nomination), he followed that up with On and last year published Stone. Polystom is Adam’s Roberts’ fourth novel.
He currently lives in Staines with his wife and daughter.
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New" Adam Roberts Gradisil Pbk published November 2006 by Gollancz at £7.99 ISBN: 0 575 07

Revenge needs space to grow
Gradisil is an epic space opera of family revenge and the birth of a nation.
Not so very long from now, if you are wealthy, space can be yours. Space to grow. New technology has seeded a rebirth of the pioneer spirit. A new breed of adventurer has slipped the bonds of gravity and begun a fresh life in orbit. Free from interference by government, free from the petty concerns of earth.
Who wouldn’t want such freedom? Who wouldn’t want to escape from society’s tangles? From the claws of the corporations? From the stifling love of family?
But tradition, fear and revenge carry a murderous weight. A gravity that is not so easy to escape. The death of Gradisil’s grandfather, floating high in the uplands above earth; was only the beginning. And now the US government is looking up at the new nation above our heads with jealous eyes.
Reviews for Adam Roberts
'The king of high-concept' Jon Courtenay Grimwood, The Guardian
‘Roberts joins my list of essential authors’ Vector (Critical Journal of the British Science Fiction Association)
‘A pretty superb tale, a poison chalice of delights’ John Clute, New York Review Of Science Fiction
‘Very high concept. Very vividly executed’ Stephen Baxter
‘A purveyor of illusions that underscore the real, a beguiling dispenser of cruel instruction. Heed him. Harsh medicine is not often so entertainingly administered’ SFSITE.COM
‘Adam Roberts has got what it takes’ Peter F. Hamilton
About The Author
Adam Roberts is a lecturer at the University of London. He has an MA from Aberdeen and a PhD in English and Classics from Cambridge. Adam has been a Lecturer of English at Royal Holloway, University of London since 1990. His areas of specialisation are:
1) Nineteenth Century. He is Deputy Director of RHUL’s MA in Victorian Media and Culture.
2) Postmodernism. Deputy Director of the RHUL MA in Postmodernism, Literature and Contemporary Culture and
3) Science Fiction.
He is also the Deputy Dean of Arts.
Adam has edited and published a number of academic books: Robert Browning (Twayne 1996) (ed.); Robert Browning (OUP: The Oxford Authors 1998); Romantic and Victorian Long Poems: a Guide (Ashgate 1999) (ed.); Tennyson (OUP: The Oxford Authors 2000) (assoc. ed); The Oxford Readers Guide to Dickens (OUP 1999); Fredric Jameson (Routledge: Routledge Critical Thinkers, September 2000); Science Fiction (Routledge New Critical Idiom 2000).
Adam’s previous SF novels include Salt (for which he received an Arthur C. Clarke award nomination), he followed that up with On and last year published Stone. Polystom is Adam’s Roberts’ fourth novel.
He currently lives in Staines with his wife and daughter.
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New" Justina Robson Keeping It Real Pbk published November 2006 by Gollancz at £6.99

Quantum Gravity Book One
Lila black: half robot, all attitude.
The Quantum Bomb of 2015 changed everything. The fabric that kept the dimensions apart was torn and now, six years later, the people of earth exist in uneasy company with the inhabitants of, amongst others, the elven, elemental and demonic realms. Magic is real, and even more dangerous than technology. Elves are utterly alien, scarily erotic, very dangerous and really bored by the constant Lord of the Rings jokes. Elementals are a law unto themselves - and demons are best left well to themselves.
Special agent Lila Black, 21, used to be pretty but now she’s not so sure.
Torn apart two years ago, her body is now half restless carbon and metal alloy machinery. A machine she’s barely in control of. When it goes into combat mode, at the merest provocation, enough weapons for a small army spring from within itself. And somewhere inside her is the Al. And Lila has never known where she ends and the Al begins.
As for her heart ... well, ever since being drawn into a Game by the elf she’s been assigned to protect, she’s not even sure she can trust that any more.
Justina Robson’s superb new series combines her trademark themes of the nature of identity and reality, magic and technology, with a break-neck plot, a mischievous sense of fun and a seriously sexy new heroine.
'It's good. It's really very good indeed. I loved it' Peter F Hamilton
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Dan Simmons The Endymion Omnibus Pbk published December 2005 by Gollancz at £12.99 ISBN: 0 575 07634 8

The triumphant concluding novels to the Hyperion Quartet, together in one volume for the first time.
Two hundred and seventy-four years after the fall of the WorldWeb in Fall Of Hyperion, Raoul Endymion is sent on a quest. Retrieving Aenea from the Sphinx before the Church troops reach her is only the beginning. With help from an android named A. Bettik, Raoul and Aenea travel the river Tethys, pursued by Father Captain Frederico DeSoya, an influential warrior-priest. And the Shrike still haunts them all.
The Rise of Endymion
The time of reckoning has arrived. As a final genocidal Crusade threatens to enslave humanity forever, a new messiah has come of age. She is Aenea and she has undergone a strange apprenticeship to those known as the Others. Now her protector, Raul Endymion, one-time hepherd and convicted murderer, must help her deliver her startling message to her growing army of disciples.
But first they must embark on a final spectacular mission to discover the underlying meaning of the universe itself. They have been followed by the Shrike - monster, angel, killing machine - who is about to reveal the long-held secret of its origin and purpose. And on the planet of Hyperion, where the story first began, the final revelation will be delivered - an apocalyptic message that unlocks the secrets of existence and the fate of humankind in the galaxy.
‘Matches and perhaps even surpasses Isaac Asimov and James Blish’ Washington Post
About The Author
Dan Simmons, a former teacher and director of programmes for gifted children, now writes full time. He lives with his wife and daughter in Colorado, USA. He has always been interested in writing/composing his first short stories at the age of nine. Since then he has been co- winner of the first Twilight Zone Magazine short story contest, winner of the Rod Serling Memorial Award and the winner of the World Fantasy Award for Best Novel with Song of Kali.
Dan Simmons is also the author of the internationally acclaimed Hyperion, winner of the 1990 Hugo Award and Locus Award for Best Science Fiction Novel, Phases of Gravity and Carrion Comfort, winner of the 1990 Bram Stoker Award, British Fantasy Society Award and Locus Award for Best Horror Novel.
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Dan Simmons The Fall of Hyperion Pbk published December 2005 by Gollancz at £7.99 ISBN: 0 575 07638 0

From the bestselling author of ILIUM, the second of the acclaimed Hyperion Cantos.
The universe is reaching a crisis point.
The mysterious Time Tombs are opening and the Shrike that has risen from them may well control the fate of all mankind. The Ousters are laying siege to the Hegemony of Man and the Als we created have turned against us to build the Ultimate Intelligence; God. The God of Machines. His genesis could mean annihilation for man.
Something is drawing the hegemony, the Ousters, the Als, the entire universe to the Shrike.
Here is a superb vision of future technology and ancient religions, of scientific revelation and timeless mystery.
‘Matches and perhaps even surpasses Isaac Asimov and James Blish’ Washington Post
About The Author
Dan Simmons, a former teacher and director of programmes for gifted children, now writes full time. He lives with his wife and daughter in Colorado, USA. He has always been interested in writing/composing his first short stories at the age of nine. Since then he has been co- winner of the first Twilight Zone Magazine short story contest, winner of the Rod Serling Memorial Award and the winner of the World Fantasy Award for Best Novel with Song of Kali.
Dan Simmons is also the author of the internationally acclaimed Hyperion, winner of the 1990 Hugo Award and Locus Award for Best Science Fiction Novel, Phases of Gravity and Carrion Comfort, winner of the 1990 Bram Stoker Award, British Fantasy Society Award and Locus Award for Best Horror Novel.
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New" Dan Simmons Endymion Pbk published November 2006 by Gollancz at £7.99 ISBN: 0 575 07

About The Author
Dan Simmons, a former teacher and director of programmes for gifted children, now writes full time. He lives with his wife and daughter in Colorado, USA. He has always been interested in writing/composing his first short stories at the age of nine. Since then he has been co- winner of the first Twilight Zone Magazine short story contest, winner of the Rod Serling Memorial Award and the winner of the World Fantasy Award for Best Novel with Song of Kali.
Dan Simmons is also the author of the internationally acclaimed Hyperion, winner of the 1990 Hugo Award and Locus Award for Best Science Fiction Novel, Phases of Gravity and Carrion Comfort, winner of the 1990 Bram Stoker Award, British Fantasy Society Award and Locus Award for Best Horror Novel.
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New" Dan Simmons The Rise of Endymion Pbk published November 2006 by Gollancz at £7.99 ISBN: 0 575 07

About The Author
Dan Simmons, a former teacher and director of programmes for gifted children, now writes full time. He lives with his wife and daughter in Colorado, USA. He has always been interested in writing/composing his first short stories at the age of nine. Since then he has been co- winner of the first Twilight Zone Magazine short story contest, winner of the Rod Serling Memorial Award and the winner of the World Fantasy Award for Best Novel with Song of Kali.
Dan Simmons is also the author of the internationally acclaimed Hyperion, winner of the 1990 Hugo Award and Locus Award for Best Science Fiction Novel, Phases of Gravity and Carrion Comfort, winner of the 1990 Bram Stoker Award, British Fantasy Society Award and Locus Award for Best Horror Novel.
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Martin Sketchley The Destiny Mask Pbk published April 2006 by Simon & Schuster at £6.99

After the death of Vourniass Lycern, child-bearer to the Seriattic Royal Household, her twin sons, fathered by former Military Intelligence Officer Alexander Delgado, have grown up ignorant of their relationship. Michael has been raised on Earth as the son of General William Myson, while Cascari has been brought up within Delgado’s terrorist group. No one knows Michael and Cascari are brothers, and both believe they are rightful heir to the position of Monosiell - head of Seriatt’s Royal Household.
When the existing Monosiell dies suddenly, the long-awaited opportunity presents itself: with Cascari in power, Delgado knows he could strike at Myson more effectively, while Myson seeks the strategic value of Seriatt’s proximity to the M4 wormhole.
Moreover, the Seriatts are developing time travel capacity, using technology extrapolated from The Destiny Mask - the artefact Seriattic Oracles use to predict the future. Delgado knows that with time travel capability, Myson would represent an immeasurable threat - one which he must prevent.
While strange occurrences in the vicinity of the wormhole go unnoticed, on Seriatt the Oracles predict the coming of a saviour; but who this will be, no one can tell.
This is the second novel in Martin Sketchley’s acclaimed Structure series.
Praise for The Affinity Trap:
'In the best British SF tradition' Guardian
‘The characters are fresh, feisty and vigorous ... Compelling. There are plenty of twists and turns before the shock ending. Good pacy, racy, spacey stuff. Great anti-hero, gripping action and an interesting take on the whole addiction culture’ Dreamwatch
‘Sketchley’s fast-paced first novel combines elements of military SF, future dystopia and individual rebellion ... Rousing stuff’ SFX
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Walter Jon Williams Conventions of War Pbk published November 2005 by Simon & Schuster at £10.99 ISBN: 0 7432 5677 8

Book Three of Dread Empire’s Fall
The breathtaking conclusion in the towering epic of intergalactic war, begun in The Praxis and The Sundering.
The universe has fallen into bloody chaos now that the dread empire of the tyrannical Shaa is no more at the mercy of the merciless insectoid Naxid who, freed from subjugation, now hunger for domination. But the far-flung human descendants of Terra have finally tasted liberty, and their warrior heroes will not submit. Separated by light-years, Lord Gareth Martinez and his one-time comrade and lover, the mysterious guerilla fighter Caroline Sula, each pursue a different road to victory in tomorrow’s ultimate battle - for the new order will be far more terrible than the old ... unless one last, bold, and desperate stratagem can hold a shattered galaxy together.
Praise For Dread Empire's Fall
'Interstellar adventure has a new king, and his name is Walter Jon Williams' George R.R.Martin
‘Walter Jon Williams has been compared to writers as diverse as Patrick O’Brian and Jane Austen; both comparisons, bizarrely, make sense. This is classic space opera, elegantly written and beautifully plotted’ Guardian
`This is a hugely fun ride. It has empires crashing, civil wars, aliens, humans, scheming clans, plucky young heroes and villains fighting space battles in huge starships - what more can you ask for? Alien Online
`Fearsomely inventive space opera’ SFX
`With THE PRAXIS, Walter Jon Williams has succeeded in creating the perfect contemporary space opera, revved up and ready to take the SF genre by force with all the artistry and panache one could ask for’ Enigma
`Crammed full with worm-holes, space ships, anti-matter bombs and all the paraphernalia of high space opera, this is a great read’ The Times
`Fascinating ... this is the new space opera - done with grace and imagination’ Time Out
`What sets THE PRAXIS apart from its more conventional kin ... is the adroitness with which it integrates battles and disasters and species-wide politicking with the intimate, the personal, and the social. A writer who can make a formal reception, a dinner party, or a staff meeting as gripping as a fleet action is a rarity and a treasure, and that is just what we have in Williams’ Locus
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