Books Tagged With author - british

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Summary: Isolated on Mars, anyone could start going stir crazy… Katya should be on top of the world. She’s overcome a traumatic past and now she’s part of the first permanent settlement on Mars. So why do things feel so wrong? The colonists are confined to a small base on the surface of a hostile planet, so perhaps it’s only cabin fever. After all, she’s got great friends, an exciting career, and an ex-girlfriend who – she’s sure – would do anything to have her back… But with cracks appearing in the relationships between the crew and nothing but empty Martian desert beyond the safety of their domes, it’s far too easy for the mind to drift. And when it does, it can be difficult to tell what’s real, and what’s pure imagination… Past Imperfect is a short story set during Livid Skies, SI CLARKE’s second novel. It’s written for people who enjoy science fiction that challenges their preconceptions. This is a work of neurodiverse, culturally diverse, gender-bendy, socio-politico-economic, drunken-arguments-in-the-pub science fiction – not bang-bang-pew-pew science fiction. 

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Summary: First of the Vyrdigaan Prophecies, telling the back-story of Parsivaal Probyt. Parsivaal had always known his mother hated him. Everyone at the Beryk enclave believed him to be the product of rape. A chance meeting with a woman claiming to be his grandmother helps him to learn the truth of his origins. Through her, he discovers another branch of his family. His new-found relatives show him love and introduce him to a radically different culture and lifestyle. As he grows up, his life choices lead him away from his homeworld of Malvania and into the unknown. Having come from a remote enclave, he finds it difficult to adapt to life in a busy city. An unlikely travelling companion becomes his guide and helps him adjust to life outside the enclave. Dreams and visions compel him to solve a mystery and set him on a path taking him away from his new life and onwards to further adventures. Travel with him as he is propelled towards his destiny by a series of perplexing and frustrating events.

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Summary: Morgan Bentley is a bastard. Matthew knows this absolutely—until he doesn’t. Matthew and his friend Cory are thrilled to attend one of the most prestigious universities in the UK. On their pre-entry visit, they met Morgan Bentley and his stuck-up friends. Matthew takes an instant dislike to the arrogant, conceited, self-obsessed, beautiful, intelligent, and charismatic boy. Throughout the next year, Matthew harbours his dislike, never missing the opportunity to complain to his best friend, Cory, what a bastard Morgan is. Then, an unexpected turn of events catapults Matthew, Morgan, and Cory into a nightmare, and all the things Cory had said about Matthew’s true feelings about Morgan come crashing down on his head, and he realises that what he thought was hatred and anger was, in fact, growing attraction and begrudging admiration. But when the deadly nature of the elusive Project X is revealed, it seems their budding romance is doomed before it begins, as one of them is unlikely to survive.

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Summary: In this stunning work of speculative urban fiction, Redfern Jon Barrett breaks down the binary between utopia and dystopia—presenting an ambitopian vision of the world’s first gay state. A glittering gay metropolis of 24 million people, Berlin is a bustling world of pride parades, polyamorous trysts, and even an official gay language. Its distant radio broadcasts are a lifeline for teenagers William and Gareth, who flee toward sanctuary. But is there a place for them in the deeply divided city? Meanwhile, young mother Cissie loves Berlin’s towering high rises and chaotic multiculturalism, yet she’s never left her heterosexual district—not until she and her family are trapped in a queer riot. With her husband Howard plunging into religious paranoia, she discovers a walled-off slum of perpetual twilight, home to the city’s forbidden trans residents. Challenging assumptions of sex and gender, Proud Pink Sky questions how much of ourselves we need to sacrifice in order to find identity and community.

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Summary: Frontiers have always attracted the Other - where they find that the Other is always already there. These 22 stories explore what happens when queer characters encounter weirdness on the edge of the worlds they know. Authors include: Julie Bozza, J.A. Bryson, Dannye Chase, S.E. Denton, Miguel Flores, Adele Gardner, Roy Gray, KC Grifant, Peter Hackney, Bryn Hammond, Narrelle M Harris, Justin Warren Jackson, Toshiya Kamei, Catherine Lundoff, Bunny McFadden, Angus McIntyre, Atlin Merrick, Eleanor Musgrove, Jennifer Lee Rossman, Lauren Scharhag, Sara L. Uckelman, and Dawn Vogel.

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Summary: Planet H Man has toppled under the coup of the century and Mex must choose. Will she settled for her retirement fund or politicians too young to take seriously? Planet Hyman is at a loss as their new and callous leader takes a sabbatical, she has found her "pleasure dome" and while she learns there is more to life than a new manifesto, a coup rises to the occasion. With Mex hungover in Scotland there is little to stand in their way apart from a hippy colony too chilled to care, a reporter with no scruples, and a missing set of batteries.  The coup has plans to runs things the “proletarian way” they are young, idealistic, and haven’t tasted luxury yet. They almost make it, grab the operations room, when their new and callous leader arises from her pleasure dome and grabs back her throne.  Will Mex pick up her leathers and defend the coupe, or return to her planet to recuperate from a Scottish “good night out”? Rebel Without A Crew is the quirky third book in the Planet Hy Man science fiction comedy series. If you like high-mileage heroines, fast-paced satire, and meticulously crafted universes, then you’ll love Kerrie Noor’s otherworldly farce.

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Summary: RISE (noun / verb) Eight definitions to inspire writers around the world, and an unlimited number of possible stories to tell: 1) An upward slope or movement 2) A beginning or origin 3) An increase in amount or number 4) An angry reaction 5) To take up arms 6) To return from death 7) To become heartened or elated 8) To exert oneself to meet a challenge Rise features 300-word speculative flash fiction stories from across the rainbow spectrum, from the minds of the writers of Queer Sci Fi.

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Summary: For some, the zombies are a good thing. The man who calls himself Marcus Black spent years hiding his true identity from the world, killing to feed the shadow that lives inside him. Now the dead walk the earth and he’s just trying to survive. With the dead a constant threat, Marcus is forced to suppress his true self and fight against the shadow that lives inside him. Losing that fight will leave him exposed and could cost him his life. When he discovers an abandoned camp deep in the forest Marcus believes he’s finally found a home. A place where he can once again unleash the shadow. Isolated. Quiet. Safe. It’s perfect. Until the outside world intrudes and Marcus finds himself caught between the living and the dead. Hiding behind a veneer of humanity, Marcus struggles to find a way to get rid of the new arrivals. But as his mask begins to slip, he discovers that he may not be the only one with a deadly secret. Dexter meets The Walking Dead in this gripping new horror series. Get Serial Killer Z today and face the dead.

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Summary: Every patient zero has a doctor. Edward Taylor just killed a man. It wasn’t the first time but it could be the last. For the last twenty years, he’s been careful, hiding his true self behind a mask of humanity. But now someone out there knows what Edward is, and he has no idea what they’re planning to do with that knowledge. When he’s approached by a journalist working to bring down controversial research lab, Hunter Neurologics, Edward’s personal and work life collide. Cornered, and with his paranoia growing, he’s forced to take action and triggers a sequence of events that might just unleash a plague of the dead on the world. Dexter meets The Walking Dead in this gripping prequel to the brand new horror series, Serial Killer Z.

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Summary: The dead are not the only threat. After being forced to leave the safety of Camp Redfern, serial killer, Marcus Black, has found himself a new home. Hidden in a cave deep in the mountains, he’s free to unleash his true self and hunt the dead that infest the world. When a chance encounter with a group of scavengers turns violent, Marcus flees to a nearby town. Sanctuary is a safe haven for those lucky enough to survive the swarms of zombies that roam the landscape, but the cracks are beginning to show. As life in Sanctuary unravels, Marcus is caught between two factions vying for control in a cold war that threatens to spill over into violence at any moment. Forced to take sides, and with tensions rising, Marcus must decide which is more important - revenge or freedom. Dexter meets The Walking Dead in this gripping new horror series. Get Serial Killer Z: Sanctuary today and face the dead.

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Summary: Secrets are never forgotten. Marcus Black is a killer. He hides behind a mask of humanity, preying on the living and the dead to feed the shadow that lives within him. When the outbreak began he fled to the mountains, but someone out there knows his true identity, and they’ve summoned him back to the city. Now the shadow is missing, and without it, he’s lost. Returning home, Marcus finds the city has changed. The military run brutal work camps while the rich throw parties. Contact with the rest of the world has been lost, and there are rumors of swarms of the dead laying waste to nearby cities. When Marcus meets Cali Hart, a colleague from his former life, she eagerly draws him deeper into this bizarre new world and offers him a way to reawaken the shadow. Desperate to get back to his old life, Marcus is drawn to the idea, but should he trust Cali? Or is her own shadow more dangerous than his? Dexter meets The Walking Dead in this gripping horror series. Get Serial Killer Z: Shadows today and face the dead.

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Summary: Shadows of the Past is the new novella collection set in The Cassie Tam Files universe! Enjoy two new stories that follow PI Cassie Tam and her girlfriend Lori Redwood as they deal with the fallout from LV48. This book is part of a series and needs to be read in sequence. A Week in New Hopeland When Lori Redwood agrees to help out her girlfriend, PI Cassie Tam, by going undercover at a local shipping firm, she gets more than she bargained for. Her ‘boss’ Mr. Graves is a misogynist and a bully, and has been targeting one girl in particular. Cassie is known to him, and he tends to be cautious around Tech Shifters. Which means that Lori may be the best person for the job. Will Lori be able to help Cassie gather enough evidence for the police to act, or will she become the next target? Shadows of the Past PI Cassie Tam is not the only person who lives with regrets, and like most people, she just wants to get on with her life. But in New Hopeland, the past never remains buried. When she’s hired to track a stalker that’s been using some interesting tech to mask their identity on the city’s security cameras, Cassie ends up face-to-face with her darkest memory. Can Cassie find out who’s responsible before her past mistakes tear her – and her friends – apart?

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Summary: Book 2 in the Hammer Falls Series (should be read in order) Ever since Jin met his demon father, Ashmedai, and noticed how similar they are, he's been plagued by the idea he's bad. He can see it in the deceiving effects of his lust-demon eyes, the friendship he ruined with best friend Sam, and in the many, horribly obvious differences between himself and his noble part-angel boyfriend Nate. And now, even his fledgeling 'good' magic seems to have vanished - smothered and replaced by something with sinister, evil-feeling intentions... As animals turn up mutilated in the woods and Ashmedai's plans to avenge his banishment become clearer, Nate leaves for a place at the oppressive Seminary and Jin begins to spiral - doubting Nate, doubting himself, fighting his own impulses about love, sex, good and evil. But nothing is what he thinks: not the Seminary, not his magic, and certainly not Ashmedai's plans. Can Jin overcome his fears about what being 'good' enough means in time to save not just himself but all the other people implicated, before his father's schemes bear their terrible fruit? Sons of Heaven and Hell contains a prickly, velvet-loving half-demon, hot demon hunters, werebears, angst, messy love and explicit MM sex and steamy MMM polyamory scenes not suitable for younger readers.

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Summary: They’ve been friends since childhood. But can their friendship survive adult reality? Confirmed geeks and childhood friends, Lem and Devon are looking forward to reuniting at a convention. Despite their diverging lives and their fair share of secrets, their shared love of cosplay and science fiction brings them together in ways that nothing else could. But not all friendships are perfect. When their old schoolfriend Nerys joins them for the day, rifts soon begin to show as the three realise how far they’ve grown apart. Struggling with Nerys’s insensitivity and her misguided approach to non-binary gender expression, the group are determined to make the most of their time together and embrace their nerdy selves. But with tensions rising, can their friendship withstand the dramatic ways their lives have changed? A short, thought-provoking backdrop to the author’s White Hart series and her forthcoming Starship Teapot series, Stardust Wake provides an insightful glimpse at complex issues while brimming with passion for all things geek.

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Summary: In this Rainbow Award-winning space opera/military sci-fi series, Earth is a dead planet, dark for thousands of years; lost for so long no one even knows where the solar system is. Her last known colony, Albion, has grown to be regional galactic power in its own right. But its drive to expand and found colonies of its own has threatened an alien race, the Maess, against whom Albion is now fighting a last-ditch battle for survival in a war that’s dragged on for generations. Taking Shield charts the missions and adventures of Shield Captain Bennet, scion of a prominent military family. Bennet, also an analyst with the Military Strategy Unit, uncovers crucial data about the Maess to help with the war effort. Against the demands of his family's 'triple goddess' of Duty, Honour and Service, is set Bennet’s relationships with lovers and family—his difficult relationship with his long term partner, Joss;  his estrangement from his father, Caeden, the commander of Fleet's First Flotilla; and Fleet Lieutenant Flynn, who, over the course of the series, develops into Bennet’s main love interest. Over the Taking Shield arc, Bennet will see the extremes to which humanity’s enemies, and his own people, will go to win the war. Some days he isn’t able to tell friend from foe. Some days he doubts everything, including himself, as he strives to ensure Albion’s victory. And some days he isn’t sure, any longer, what victory looks like.

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Summary: **First Place Winner 2017 Rainbow Awards: Best Gay Sci-fi//Futuristic. ** **Third Place Winner 2017 Rainbow Awards: Best Gay Book.** Shield Captain Bennet arrives on the Gyrfalcon to take up his final year’s posting before returning to the Shield Regiment after his rotation out. On Gyrfalcon he faces up to the fallout from Makepeace—ethical, political and above all, personal. Will he be able to accept necessity: that knowing what the Maess are up to outweighs the humanitarian issues surrounding the prisoners he rescued from Makepeace? Can he ride out the political furore that follows the loss of the dreadnought Caliban? How will he cope with an entire year of serving under his father, Caeden? And worst of all, how in the name of every god in the Pantheon can he stand to see Flynn every single day, with the Fraternisation Regs standing between them and keeping them apart? It will be an interesting year. Bennet can hardly wait for it to be over. Of course, things never really do go to plan…

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Summary: Seventh of the Virian Chronicles Does a mother always know best? Valdis believed that she was doing the best for her son, Theo, when she brought him back from the brink of death. However, the consequences were far from what she had hoped or expected. As Valdis tries to groom her son to fulfill an ancient prophecy, with the help of her husband, Odo, she discovers that Theo has his own ideas about how he wishes to live his life. When his obsession with finding his biological father overtakes him, he turns against those who have tried to help him. Can he be redeemed? Is he truly the Nethiyaan mentioned in the prophecy? Will he turn out to be the saviour of the universe or will he unleash destruction on a vast scale?

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Summary: Second of the Vyrdigaan Prophecies, telling the back-story of Caratacuus Helvellyan. The Leesthern Enclave is a place of strict discipline, where adults and children spend most of their time segregated. Ten year old Caratacuus has never accepted the division. His frequent forays into the adults-only zones earn him tough punishments from the Elders and ridicule from his peers. A visiting sorcerer from another enclave provides Caratacuus with a tantalising glimpse into a different and more relaxed way of life. His decision to run away leads him on a voyage of self-discovery. Throughout his travels, he faces many challenges but he never wavers from his ultimate goal — to join the prestigious and experimental Donovan Institute. Follow him on his journey and share his adventures as he grows from a naïve dreamer into a worldly and accomplished man of action.

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Summary: Manifesto The Great rules Planet Hy Man, a Planet where meat is as toxic as nuclear waste. Faced with an uprising, Manifesto The Great turns to the only person he can trust----his mother; but she has days to live. With an army of malfunctioning Mae West robots and a committee as innovative as a sock puppet, Manifesto The Great loses control. And as his city falls under the hands of Fanny and her rebels, the grieving leader retreats to his cocktail bar. High on a cocktail of hormonal meat and hemp cocktails, Manifesto The Great returns to his committee for advice. But they have other plans, mainly to bat with the winning team, and from the looks of Manifesto The Great, he ain’t one of ‘em. Will he rise to command again or has he buried his balls along with his mother in a sea of cocktails and mad ramblings?

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Summary: He was the shameful cause of his sister Elena’s death and he stole state papers from England, yet Adrian Hart is feted by the best of society in Rome, and boldly dubs himself ‘Iago’. Determined to avenge Elena, his unrequited love, Lieutenant Andrew Sullivan asks the advice of poet and Shakespearian John Keats, and his artist friend Severn. Soon Percy and Mary Shelley join them, then Lord Byron and his servant Fletcher. But how can the seven of them work against this man, when they can’t even agree what he is? The atheist Shelley insists that Hart is an ordinary man, while Byron becomes convinced he’s the Devil incarnate, and Keats flirts with the idea that he’s Dionysius… As death and despair follow in Hart’s wake, Sullivan knows he must do something to stop Hart before even Sullivan himself succumbs – but what…?