New Releases by Brian W. Aldiss

A collection of science fiction tales, including the story of a robot boy who wants nothing more than to be loved by his parents.

A 21st-Century Utopia Two of England''s most distinguished thinkers have created a bold and startling vision of a new society escaping the ashes of the old. In the not-so-distant future, Man will have begun to colonize our planetary neighbor, Mars. Entrenched corporate and national interests have footed the bill, but a few visionary people attempt to keep Mars free of the hidebound ideologies that have plagued the Earth and turned it into a polluted wasteland of war and hunger. The colony has barely begun to take root in the Martian soil when all communication with EUPACUS--as the industrialized nations of Earth are known--is cut off completely. Environmental and economic stresses have finally spun out of control, and civilization as we know it has collapsed. With no hope of escape or support from Earth, the Martians must overcome the dire obstacles that face them and forge a new alliance for survival. Led by the brave Tom Jefferies, the colonists struggle to build a new way of living based on the search for knowledge, the improvement of human conditions, and the elimination of the hatreds and delusions that lead to misery in the past. Included in an appendix is the complete text of the Charter for an Independent Mars, written by Dr. Laurence Lustgarten, a renowned expert on international law.

It was the first British novel to explore, frankly and with a gleeful honesty, the sexual awakening of a teenage boy. It was regarded as so outrageous that thirteen publishers initially refused to publish it. The Hand-Reared Boy no longer shocks, instead, it stands as the classic novel of teenage self-discovery and the realisation of a young boy of love, and the fact that other people are more than sexual objects.Depicting the preoccupations common to all young boys as they reach puberty, The Hand-Reared Boy is a delightfully funny account of burgeoning sexuality, marked by self-revelation, self-mockery and a complete absence of prurience. It was shortlisted for the Lost Booker Prize in 2010.

In this fascinating collection of essays, one of the world''s preeminent science fiction writers explores a wide range of science fiction and fantasy writers and writings. The contents and themes include a letter to Salvador Dali . . . Mary Shelley and Frankenstein . . . the Immanent Will and Olaf Stapledon . . . the work of Philip K. Dick . . . Theodore Hamilton Sturgeon . . . Orwell''s Nineteen Eighty-Four . . . James Blish . . . Culture: Is it Worth Losing Your Balls For? . . . Wells and the Leopard Lady . . . H.P. Lovecraft''s ''The Music of Erich Zann'' . . . Jekyll . . . the differences between United States and United Kingdom fantasy . . . Anna Kavan as ''Kafka''s Sister'' . . . Campbell''s Soup (Astounding Science Fiction under the editorship of John Wood Campbell) . . . science fiction''s relationship to science and literature in general.

Begins at the birth of science fiction, with Mary Shelley''s "Frankenstein," and studies the development of the genre to its present position in contemporary literature

The earth is recovering from the Acid Head War, in which hallucinogenic chemicals were the primary weapon. Many humans are now suffering from delusions and are unable to tell the real from the imaginary. When Colin Charteris tries to make sense of the drugged-out world, he is taken as the new Messiah. As he descends into paranoid visions, he begins to believe this himself, but when he realises that the New Order can only think in terms of old stereotypes, and that in consequence he will probably be crucified, he shakes free of the delusions.

Entre las luces y sombras de las calles de Malacia -- un enigmatico mundo paralelo en el que los hombres descienden de los dinosaurios y los cambios y novedades estan prohibidos-- marcha una apretada multitud: duques, mercaderes prosperos, familias arruinadas, actrices sacerdotes, cortesanos, mendicantes, soldados, y empresarios de teatro venidos a menos. Perian de Chirolo, actor y hombre de mundo, va de un lado a otro entre estas gentes, aspirando a la noble mano de Armida Hoytola, navegando en un globo aerostatico, matando feroces ancestros, y tropezandose con las intrigas y secretos mas oscuros. Mientras, el destino vengador, inexorable y subrepticio, anunciado por magos y astrologos y enredadas obras de teatro, lleva a Chirolo, y a Malacia, a los umbrales de una nueva era.