UK SF Book News

Psycho Busters, The Novel - Book 1 by Yuya Aoki

About the Book: "With his family off to Hawaii for a week, fourteen-year-old Kakeru is looking forward to a little peace and quiet - until he discovers a strange, beautiful girl in his room. Her name is Ayano, and she's in big trouble. Gifted with extraordinary psychic powers, Ayano is on the run from a shadow organization that wants to exploit her talents for its own dark ends."

The Ninth Circle by Alex Bell

About the Book: "A man comes round on the floor of a shabby flat in the middle of Budapest. His head is glued to the floorboards with his own blood. There's a fortune in cash on the kitchen table. And he has no idea where, or who, he is..."

The Second Black Book of Horror ed. by Charles Black

About the Book: Charles Black's second anthology of short fiction, with contributions from Gary McMahon, David A. Sutton, David A. Riley, Steve Goodwin, Craig Herbertson, Mike Chinn, Daniel McGachey, D.F. Lewis, Eddy C. Bertin, Julia Lufford, John L. Probert, L.H. Maynard & M.P.N. Sims and Rog Pile.

Random Walk by Lawrence Block

About the Book: "In Rosburg, Oregon, a bartender named Guthrie Wagner responds to an inner prompting by quitting his job, walking out of town, and heading east, over the Cascades. In Fort Wayne, Indiana, a woman named Sara Duskin realizes she's losing her eyesight; her inner vision leads her to board a series of buses, taking her in turn to Chicago and Salt Lake City and Portland. In Littleton, Colorado, a real-estate investor named Mark Adlon lures a clerk into the rear section of a convenience store, knocks her out with a blow to the head, then waits for her to regain consciousness before strangling her."

Dark Wraith of Shannara by Terry Brooks

About the Book: "'The past is always with us, but sometimes we fail to recognise it for what it is.' These were Jair Ohmsford's final thoughts as he walked away from the carnage at Dun Fee Aran, having destroyed at last the book of dark magic known as the Ildatch. Following this great event, told in The Wishsong of Shannara, Jair discovers that he can draw on a form of magic that allows him to transform into other living creatures, both human and non-human. The magic is both powerful and seductive, for Jair can feel himself wanting to remain in each new form that he tries..."

The Tomorrow Seed by Andrew Butcher

About the Book: "They have escaped from alien captivity. If only that meant they were safe. Back on the streets of what they used to call home, Travis and his friends have to face the abandoned world the Scytharene have left behind. As they struggle to put their lives and relationships back together, they find they are not the only ones to have escaped the alien slave harvest..."

Iron Angel by Alan Campbell

About the Book: "Order has collapsed in Deepgate. The chained city is now in ruins and the Deadsands beyond are full of fleeing refugees. The Spine militia, unable to come to terms with the loss of their church, are trying to halt the exodus of citizens with brutal force. Rachel and the young angel Dill are dragged off to the Temple torture chambers... but strange things start to happen as a foul red mist rises from the abyss beneath the city."

Voice of the Gods by Trudi Canavan

About the Book: "In her new role as protector of the Siyee, Auraya investigates sightings of a landwalker stranger in their land. She meets a mysterious woman claiming to be a friend of Mirar's: a woman who makes an offer Auraya is unable to refuse, but which she must conceal or risk the wrath of the gods. In the south, Mirar enjoys acceptance and respect as he reclaims his place among his people, but that freedom will come at a cost..."

Omega by Christopher Evans

About the Book: "Omega: an apocalyptic rumour from the Eastern Front. Omega: something that will alter all the strategic calculations of the Earth's great military blocs. Omega: the code name for a weapon that may well bring doomsday with it. But if Omega is indeed the agent that will destroy the world, that world is not our own..."

Dalek I Loved You by Nick Griffiths

About the Book: "Dalek I Loved You is the hilarious and touching memoir of a love affair, of a life lived with the Doctor. It is also an evocative memoir of a 1970s childhood, and (it gets worse) of being a teenager and a student in the 1980s and (wait for it) a music journalist in the 1990s."

The Carhullan Army by Sarah Hall

About the Book: "Jackie and a group of fellow rebel women have escaped the Authority's oppressive regime, forming a militia in the far north of Cumbria. Sister, brought to breaking point by the restrictions imposed on her own life, decides to join them..."

Where Demons Dare by Kim Harrison

About the Book: "The latest stirring instalment of the urban fantasy-thriller series starring Rachel Morgan. A pacey and addictive novel of sexy bounty-hunting witches, cunning demons and vicious vampires. Having barely escaped being skewered by the criminal vampire overlord of Cinncinati, Rachel now has even bigger problems to contend with. The demon, Algaliarept, although banished back into the everafter has infected others of his kind with his interest in a witch who can channel demon magic. Rachel soon finds herself with not one but three hellions on her tail; and one of them is even crazier and more dangerous than all the fairy assassins, weres and vampires on the planet." N.B. Published as The Outlaw Demon Wails in the US.

The Luminous Depths by David Herter

About the Book: "In Brno, Czechoslovak Republic, 1931. Eight years before the Nazi invasion... At the Theater on the Ramparts, a performance of the world-famous robot play R.U.R. is in rehearsal, attended grudgingly by its author, Karel Capek. A former master of science fiction, Capek now devotes himself to the here-and-now, writing small works vital to his beloved Republic."

The Better Mousetrap by Tom Holt

About the Book: "It touches all our lives; our triumphs and tragedies, our proudest achievements, our most traumatic disasters. Alloyed of love and fear, death and fire and the inscrutable acts of the gods, insurance is indeed the force that binds the universe together. Hardly surprising, therefore, that Frank Carpenter, one of the foremost magical practitioners of our age, felt himself irresistibly drawn to it. Until, that is, he met Emily, a high-flying corporate heroine with an annoying habit of falling out of trees and getting killed. Repeatedly. It's not long before Frank and Jane find themselves face to face with the greatest enigma of our times: When is a door not a door? When it's a mousetrap."

Basil Copper: A Life in Books by Stephen Jones

About the Book: "Concluding three years' extensive research, multiple award-winning editor and writer Stephen Jones was given unprecedented and unrestricted access to the books and papers of renowned British macabre and crime writer Basil Copper. The result is Basil Copper: A Life in Books, a unique and in-depth study of the author and his works."

The Hundred Towered City by Garry Kilworth

About the Book: "What awaits Jack, Annie and Davey when they are transported back in time to the gothic city of Prague, to search for their missing parents? Trying to avoid capture by the secret police, they find themselves running through dark and dangerous cobbled streets and meet some very shady characters. Where are their parents and who has stolen the key to the time machine? Alchemists, mythical creatures and a man with a hook for a hand hold the answers they're looking for. Will our young heroes be in time to save their parents from eerie Karlstein Castle? And even if they do, how will they return to the present day without the key?"

Song of the Shiver Barrens by Glenda Larke

About the Book: "Ligea's son, Arrant, leaves Tyrans for Kardiastan to take his place as Mirager-heir, while Ligea prepares to halt an insurrection. But Arrant's skills as a Magoroth are dangerously inconsistent, and his father, Temellin, finds it difficult to communicate with this secretive young man he barely knows. Arrant's singular ability to communicate with his half-brother, Tarran - a part of the collective mind known as the Mirage Makers - leads them both towards the possibility of a tragic clash with the encroaching Ravage..."

Necronomicon: The Best Weird Tales of H.P. Lovecraft by H.P. Lovecraft (ed. Stephen Jones)

About the Book: "H.P. Lovecraft's tales of the tentacled Elder God Cthulhu and his pantheon of alien deities were initially written for the pulp magazines of the 1920s and '30s. These astonishing tales blend elements of horror, science fiction and cosmic terror that are as powerful today as they were when they were first published. This handsome leatherbound tome collects together the very best of Lovecraft's tales of terror, including the complete Cthulhu Mythos cycle, just the way they were originally published. It will introduce a whole new generation of readers to Lovecraft's fiction, as well as being a must-buy for those fans who want all his work in a single, definitive, highly attractive volume."

Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister by Gregory Maguire

About the Book: "We have all heard the story of Cinderella, the beautiful child cast out to slave amongst the ashes. But what of her stepsisters, the homely pair exiled into ignominy by the fame of their lovely sibling? What fate befell those untouched by beauty... and what curses accompanied Cinderella's looks? Set against the backdrop of seventeenth-century Holland, Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister tells the story of Iris, an unlikely heroine who is swept from the lowly streets of Haarlem to a strange world of wealth, artifice, and ambition."

Son of a Witch by Gregory Maguire

About the Book: "For everyone who fell under the WICKED spell...Back in the land of Oz, Gregory Maguire introduces us to Liir, an adolescent boy last seen hiding in the shadows of the castle after Dorothy did in the Witch. Bruised, comatose, and left for dead, Liir is tended to at the Cloister of Saint Glinda by a silent novice called Candle, who wills him back to life with her musical gifts. What dark force left Liir in this condition? Is he really Elphaba's son? He has her broom and her cape - but what of her powers? In an Oz that, since the Wizard's departure, is under new and dangerous management, can Liir keep his head down long enough to grow up?"

Empress by Karen Miller

About the Book: "When a scrawny, unwanted child - so lowly that she does not even have a name - is sold into slavery, a chain of events is set in motion that will have a profound impact on all the civilised world. Naming herself 'Heat' (after a slaver's observation that she is quite the hellcat), the girl is taken in chains to Mijak's largest city, but makes a bargain with a ruthless god and escapes her captors..."

The Prefect by Alastair Reynolds

About the Book: "Tom Dreyfus is a Prefect, a policeman of sorts, and one of the best. His force is Panolpy, and his beat is the multi-faceted utopian society of the Glitter Band, that vast swirl of space habitats orbiting the planet Yellowstone, the teeming hub of a human interstellar empire spanning many worlds. These days, his job is his life..."

To Hell and Back by Lilith Saintcrow

About the Book: "Dante Valentine has been through Hell. Literally. Her body shattered and her mind not far behind, she's dumped back into her own world to survive - or not - as a pawn in one of Lucifer's endless games. Unfortunately, he's just messed with the wrong Necromance. And this time she's mad enough to do something about it. This time, the Devil will pay."

The Electric Church by Jeff Somers

About the Book: "The story of the wily Avery Cates, being chased by the sinister Monks and the System Police is non-stop and action packed with lots of rollicking twists and turns. In the bleak and poverty stricken near-future, the population walks around lost and purpose-less. Everyone either seems to be a thief or a gunner. The fastest growing religion is The Electric Church, and their army of Monks and assassins slowly convert the populous. Unknown to them, this is actually a death sentence..."

The Situation by Jeff VanderMeer

About the Book: "In a city where the future has betrayed the past, a nameless employee struggles to hold onto his job at the Company, fighting off the predations of the merciless Scarskirt and his former friends: a transformed Mord and helpless Leer. In addition, he has to deal with a Manager he calls "Damager" who puts him in ever more difficult situations. Is there a way out? Will he find it in time? What awaits him in the city beyond?"

Kitty Goes to Washington by Carrie Vaughn

About the Book: "Celebrity werewolf and late-night radio host Kitty Norville prefers to be heard and not seen, but when she's invited to testify at a Senate hearing on behalf of the country's supernaturals, her face gets plastered all over national TV. Before long Kitty's inherited a brand-new set of friends and enemies, including the vampire mistress of the city, an uber-hot Brazilian were-jaguar, and a Bible-thumping senator who plans to expose Kitty as the monster he truly believes her to be..."

The Last Book by Zoran Zivkovic

About the Book: "A series of mysterious deaths in the Papyrus Bookstore brings literature-loving police inspector Dejan Lukic to investigate. Here he meets the attractive owner, Vera Gavrilovic, and learns that the only thing the victims have in common is that in the moments before their deaths they were reading an elusive and unidentified volume - the Last Book."