New Releases by Paul McAuley

“A diverse and thoughtful array of 16 stories written around the theme of endangered species—be they human or animal, mythical or alien.” —Publishers Weekly In this poignant yet uplifting anthology about extinction, science fiction stories draw you into compelling, adventurous, and even humorous tales that will make you think about the future of animals, humanity, and the world around us. You’ll find bugs and buffalo, humans and aliens, creatures that have never existed in our universe and genetically-engineered ones that shouldn’t. In “Seventy-Two Letters” by national bestselling author Ted Chiang—praised by Strange Horizons as “one of the finest representations of the SF subgenre of steampunk”—a discovery reveals that humanity has only a fixed number of generations to survive. A project is embarked upon that could save the species—or open it up to a most inhuman manipulation. A Joe Haldeman poem called “Endangered Species” encapsulates his concerns about war and its effect on the human race. And in “Listening to Brahms” by Suzy McKee Charnas, the last humans alive make first contact with an alien race of lizard-like creatures who appropriate Earth culture at their own peril. In Vanishing Acts, these tales and others “make the reader stop and think about endangered species—including humanity—which is, after all, the point” (Rambles.NET). “[A] splendid new original anthology.” —The Washington Post

2026: Something is growing in the Pacific Ocean. "The Slick" appears to be a strange, fungus-like organism, but its DNA is unlike anything else on the planet. Rumours start to fly. Was life discovered deep beneath the Martian icecaps on a recent Chinese space mission? If it was, no-one is confirming it, but could that same life now be spreading through the ocean and threatening Earth''s entire food chain? Brilliant scientist Dr. Mariella Anders is recruited to join an urgent NASA mission to Mars to see if she can uncover the truth of this organism, but this is no straightforward investigation. Corporate powers are committed to exploiting the secrets of the Slick for profit; radical eco-terrorists strike out against rampant genetic engineering; and a second Chinese mission to Mars at the same time has its goals shrouded in mystery. The secret of life on Earth and Mars might be found on the red planet, but who can Mariella trust with the truth once it''s found? And what price will she have to pay for it?

WHAT WILL BECOME OF US? In the deep future beyond the burn line of the Anthropocene and the extinction of humanity, the city states of an intelligent species of bear have fallen to a mind-wrecking plague. The bears'' former slaves, a peaceable, industrious and endlessly curious people, believe that they have inherited the bounty and beauty of their beloved Mother Earth. But are they alone? After the death of his master, a famous scholar, Pilgrim Saltmire vows to complete their research into sightings of so-called visitors and their sky craft. To discover if they are a mass delusion created by the stresses of an industrial revolution, or if they are real - a remnant population of bears which survived the plague, or another, unknown intelligent species. Risking his reputation and his life, Pilgrim''s search for the truth takes him from his comfortable home in the shadow of a great library to his tribe''s former home on the chilly coast of the far south, and the gathering of a dangerous cult in the high desert. Whether or not the visitors are real, one thing is certain. Pilgrim''s world and everything he thought he knew about his people''s history will be utterly changed. McAuley''s fabulous far future, impacted by the consequences of global warming, colonisation and historical injustices, explores and reflects our own challenges while telling a fast paced story of discovery and adventure.

The planet Elysium should be a paradise. Like Earth before the Age of Waste, it is both beautiful and bountiful, inhabited by peaceful aboriginals and human colonists. But in its chief city, Port of Plenty, the first colonists have kept the superior technology sent from Earth for themselves, governing the outlying settlements with an iron fist. As unrest grows, two unlikely allies, Richard Florey, an employee of the city''s university, and Miguel Lucas, a settler who has ''gone dingo'', are caught up in a revolution that could awaken the alien aboriginals and change the balance of power on Elysium forever . . .

''The underrated McAuley is in top form in this hard science fiction novel with heart.'' Washington Post Book World On a giant artificial world surrounding an artificial sun, one man - a lucidor, a keeper of the peace, a policeman - is on the hunt. His target was responsible for an atrocity, but is too valuable to the government to be truly punished. Instead he has been sent to the frontlines of the war, to use his unique talents on the enemy. So the lucidor has ignored orders, deserted from his job, left his home and thrown his life away, in order to finally claim justice. Separated by massive seas, the various maps dotted on the surface of this world rarely contact each other. But something has begun to infiltrate the edges of the lucidor''s map, something that genetically alters animals and plants and turns them into killers. Only the lucidor knows the depths to which his quarry will sink in order to survive, only the lucidor can capture him. The way is long and dangerous. The lucidor''s government has set hunters after him. He has no friends, no resources, no plan. But he does have a mission.

Widely believed to be Terry Gilliam''s best film, Brazil''s brilliantly imaginative vision of a retro-futuristic bureaucracy has had a lasting influence on genre cinema. Exploring its complex history and relationship with other dystopias, Paul McAuley explains why this satire on the unchecked power of the state is more relevant than ever.

A prescient and chilling climate change thriller set on the harsh landscape of Antarctica from one of the best science fiction writers of the present day The great geoengineering projects have failed. The world is still warming, sea levels are still rising, and the Antarctic Peninsula is home to Earth''s newest nation, with life quickened by ecopoets spreading across valleys and fjords exposed by the retreat of the ice. Austral Morales Ferrado, a child of the last generation of ecopoets, is a husky: an edited person adapted to the unforgiving climate of the far south, feared and despised by most of its population. She''s been a convict, a corrections officer in a labour camp, and consort to a criminal, and now, out of desperation, she has committed the kidnapping of the century. But before she can collect the ransom and make a new life elsewhere, she must find a place of safety amongst the peninsula''s forests and icy plateaus, and evade a criminal gang that has its own plans for the teenage girl she''s taken hostage. Blending the story of Austral''s flight with the fractured history of her family and its role in the colonisation of Antarctica, Austral is a vivid portrayal of a treacherous new world created by climate change, and shaped by the betrayals and mistakes of the past. Austral has been optioned for television by Circle of Confusion, the company who brought The Walking Dead and Locke and Key to the small screen. They''ve recruited award-winning screenwriter Elise McCredie (Stateless) and director Erik Skjoldbjærg (An Enemy of the People, Insomnia) to work on this exciting project. ''Paul McAuley''s balanced grasp of science and literature, always a rare attribute in the writer of prose fiction, is combined with the equally rare ability to look at today''s problems and know which are really problems, and what can be done about them.'' William Gibson Readers are captivated by Austral: ''Austral feels very timely, as it confronts questions about borders, climate change, geoengineering, biodiversity, racism, and xenophobia . . . An excellent climate change novel'' Goodreads reviewer, ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ''Devastating, humane, extraordinarily harsh and beautiful'' Goodreads reviewer, ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ''The world building is very nicely done, with a strong sense of place and landscape. And the tale is infused with thoughtful reflection on climate change, wilding and genetic modifications'' Goodreads reviewer, ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ''A gorgeous, haunting novel-brimming with fractal stories-within-stories-about a fugitive on the run through the backcountry of the new nation established on a greening Antarctica'' Goodreads reviewer, ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ''Genius . . . I love the intersection of gene editing and anarchy. Imagining a world drastically changed by global warming but still crumpling under the dire weight of capitalism'' Goodreads reviewer, ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

IN THE MOUTH OF THE WHALE: Humanity''s future rests on the shoulders of a Child from the past, and she must never know of the battles being fought for her . . . In the system of Fomalhaut, a war is being fought. The Quicks came long ago, refugees from the Solar System. The True arrived later, to find a declining civilisation and a system ripe for the taking. Then the Ghosts appeared, no longer human, unknowable, powerful and determined to drive out the Quick and the True. The battle continues, but the outcome is uncertain. Three lives will intersect, because there is something at the centre of their universe, something dangerous and growing and powerful. Something that is worth fighting for. And it will change everybody''s life. EVENING''S EMPIRES: In the far future, a young man stands on a barren asteroid. His ship has been stolen, his family kidnapped or worse, and all he has on his side is a semi-intelligent spacesuit. The only member of the crew to escape, Hari has barely been off his ship before. It was his birthplace, his home and his future. He''s going to get it back. Nobody is to be trusted.

THE QUIET WAR Who decides what it means to be human? Twenty-third century Earth has been ravaged by climate change, and is now dominated by a few powerful families, with millions of people in prison and millions more labouring to rebuild ruined ecosystems. Meanwhile on Jupiter and Saturn, live the Outers. They have built a wild variety of scientific utopias crammed with exuberant creations of the genetic arts. Now they want to colonise Earth and drive human evolution in a new direction. On Earth, some want to launch a pre-emptive strike against the Outers while others wish to exploit the talents of the gene wizards. It is clear that the fragile detente between the two branches of humanity is breaking down and they may be heading towards war . . . GARDENS OF THE SUN The Quiet War is over. A century of enlightenment, rational utopianism and exploration of new ways of being human has fallen dark. But victory is fragile, and riven by vicious internal politics. While seeking out and trying to anatomise the strange gardens abandoned in place by Avernus, the Outers'' greatest genius, the gene wizard Sri Hong-Owen is embroiled in the plots and counterplots of the family that employs her. The diplomat Loc Ifrahim soon discovers that profiting from victory isn''t as easy as he thought. And in Greater Brazil, the Outers'' democratic traditions have infected a population eager to escape the tyranny of the great families who rule them. After such a conflict only one thing is clear. No one can escape the consequences of war - especially the victors.

An unabridged collection spotlighting the “best of the best” science fiction stories published in 2016 by current and emerging masters of the genre, edited by Allan Kaster. In “The Art of Space Travel,” by Nina Allan, the staff of a hotel prepares for the crew of a one-way mission to Mars on the heels of earlier disasters. An artist and his wife search for fulfillment in a utopian world created by AIs in “They Have all One Breath” by Karl Bunker. In “Patience Lake,” by Matthew Claxton, an injured military cyborg helps defend a farm family that has helped him. In a top secret job, an all too conscious bus driver takes a non-cognizant alien and his human translator on a tour of the United States, in “Touring with the Alien” by Carolyn Ives Gilman. In “My Generations Shall Praise,” by Samantha Henderson, a woman on death row is persuaded to have her mind overwritten so that a wealthy relative can use her as a host body. People adapting to a melted Antarctica evolve new folklore, superstitions, and myths in “Elves of Antarctica” by Paul McAuley. In “Red in Tooth and Cog,” by Cat Rambo, a woman acquires a keen interest in the small domestic appliance AI ecosystem that evolves in a park after her phone is stolen. An ancient robot tells a human how it helped build the Great Ship, a planet-sized starship, from hyperfiber in “Parables of Infinity” by Robert Reed. In “Prodigal,” by Gord Sellar, an uplifted family dog questions the relationship between dogs and humans and then takes action. And finally, in a Bradburyesque tale, people go to Mars via cheap, one-person, one-way spacecrafts called jalopies in “Terminal” by Lavie Tidhar.

Something Happened Here, But We’re Not Quite Sure What It Was by Paul McAuley is a complex sf story about politics and xenophobia when human colonists on an Earth-like planet are faced with the possibility of reaching out to alien cultures, especially when a big organization that has previously done harm is in charge of the operation. At the Publisher''s request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Aufstand der Klone Die schrankenlose Anwendung der Gentechnik hat die Welt verändert: Sogenannte Puppen, aus menschlichen Chromosomen erzeugte Kunstgeschöpfe, dienen nicht nur als billige Arbeitskräfte, sondern auch als todgeweihte Gladiatoren in perversen Unterhaltungsshows. Doch während die Menschen selbst in ihren virtuellen Welten dahindämmern, übernehmen die „Feen“, illegal aus den Puppen hochgezüchtete und mit kalter Intelligenz ausgestattete Wesen, auf skrupellose Weise die Macht.

Ein mysteriöser Planet Dorthy Yoshida ist Astronomin – und sie ist telepathisch begabt. Sie erhält den Auftrag, das Geheimnis eines kleinen Planeten zu enträtseln, der einen roten Zwergstern umkreist. Die Welt scheint von einer intelligenten Lebensform gestaltet worden zu sein, aber sie ist nur von halbintelligenten Hirten bewohnt, die Herden von schneckenartigen Pflanzenfressern hüten, deren Nervensystem nur rudimentär entwickelt ist. Es ist schwer vorstellbar, dass eine Verbindung zu den Aliens besteht, die zu den unversöhnlichen Gegnern der Menschheit gehören und ihr bei jeder Gelegenheit erbitterte Raumschlachten liefern. Doch als Dorthy die Oberfläche des Planeten betritt, fühlt sie die intensive Gegenwart einer so überwältigenden Intelligenz, wie ihr noch nie eine begegnet ist ...

Eine Bedrohung aus der Tiefe des Alls Nach dem Schrecken eines interstellaren Krieges wird ein geheimnisvoller Stern entdeckt, der aus dem Inneren der Galaxis geradewegs auf unser Sonnensystem zukommt. Der labile Friede ist augenblicklich wieder in Gefahr; politische Gruppierungen und religiöse Eiferer versuchen die sich abzeichnende Katastrophe für ihre Zwecke zu nutzen. Doch wer hat diesen Stern vor einer halben Million Jahre auf die Reise geschickt? Welche Technik steckt dahinter? Und vor allem: weshalb? Eine Gruppe von herausragenden Wissenschaftlern fällt die Aufgabe zu, dieses Rätsel zu lösen, darunter Dorthy Yoshida, die telepathisch begabte Astronomin, Robot, ein revolutionärer Künstler, dessen Gehirn mit der komplexesten Hardware aufgerüstet ist, die die irdische Technologie je hervorgebracht hat, und Talbeck, ein „Goldener“, dessen Organismus so weit verändert wurde, dass er über eine fast unendliche Lebenserwartung verfügt.

Clarkesworld is a Hugo and World Fantasy Award-winning science fiction and fantasy magazine. Each month we bring you a mix of fiction (new and classic works), articles, interviews and art. Our Feburary 2016 issue (#113) contains: Original fiction by Paul McAuley ("The Fixer"), Benjanun Sriduangkaew ("That Which Stands Tends Toward Free Fall"), Nick Wolven ("In the Midst of Life"), and An Owomoyela and Rachel Swirsky ("Between Dragons and Their Wrath"). Reprints from Ted Kosmatka and Michael Poore ("Blood Dauber") and Kim Stanley Robinson ("Mercurial"). Non-fiction by Dan Koboldt (Six Quirks of the Human Genome), an interview with Lawrence Schoen, an Another Word column by Fran Wilde, and an editorial by Neil Clarke.

Monumental Edinburgh takes the reader on a tour of the city''s centre, focusing on monumental pieces which capture the city''s industrial & creative heritage. Colour images & fascinating tales, must for anyone interested in Edinburgh''s historic street art.

The aliens are here. And they want to help. The extraordinary new project from one of the country''s most acclaimed and consistently brilliant SF novelists of the last 30 years. The Jackaroo have given humanity fifteen worlds and the means to reach them. They''re a chance to start over, but they''re also littered with ruins and artifacts left by the Jackaroo''s previous clients. Miracles that could reverse the damage caused by war, climate change, and rising sea levels. Nightmares that could forever alter humanity - or even destroy it. Chloe Millar works in London, mapping changes caused by imported scraps of alien technology. When she stumbles across a pair of orphaned kids possessed by an ancient ghost, she must decide whether to help them or to hand them over to the authorities. Authorities who believe that their visions point towards a new kind of danger. And on one of the Jackaroo''s gift-worlds, the murder of a man who has just arrived from Earth leads policeman Vic Gayle to a war between rival gangs over possession of a remote excavation site. Something is coming through. Something linked to the visions of Chloe''s orphans, and Vic Gayle''s murder investigation. Something that will challenge the limits of the Jackaroo''s benevolence ...

Confluence - a long, narrow man-made world, half fertile river valley, half crater-strewn desert. It is a world at the end of its time, a place of savagery, bureaucracy and war, inhabited by countless flying micro-machines and ten thousand bloodlines ruled by devotion to absent gods. It is the home of a singular young man named Yama. An infant who was discovered in a bier on the river, he was raised by the prelate of Aeolis until it was learned that his ancestry was unique. Yama appeared to be the last remaining scion of the Builders, closest of all races to the worshipped architects of Confluence. Now, awed and fearful of his increasing ability to awaken the machines the Builders left behind, Yama searches for his identity and a history that is both his and his world''s.

Who would lay time to rest, or raise it up from its tomb? The Ancients of Days - humans returned from a long exile in the depths of time and space and history - brought heresy and doubt to the artificial world of Confluence, and ignited a terrible civil war, of all the varied creatures of Confluence''s ten thousand genetically manipulated bloodlines, only young Yama holds the power to end the conflict, for who ever controls him controls the myriad machines of the world. Though now a helpless captive being forged intoa weapon of horrific consequence, Yama must win the struggle to reclaim his soul, and complete his search for the true story of his origin - a story mapped eons before his birth.

On an artificial world created and seeded with ten thousand bloodlines by the long-vanished Preservers, young Yama''s ancestry is unique, for he appears to be the last remaining scion of the Builders, closest of all races to the worshipped architects of Confluence. And on a day near the end of the world, Yama must finally acknowledge the power he neither anticipated nor desires. In the dust of many crumbling bureaucracies, Yama searches for an identity and a history - awed and fearful of his ever-growing capacity to awaken the terrible machines of destruction that his world''s absent gods left slumbering. To the common folk - the unshaped and aboriginal - he is the fulfillment of age-old prophecies. To the functionaries of the Department of Indigenous Affairs, he is a weapon to be molded and used in the bloody civil war raging at the planet''s midpoint - a seemingly endless battle that pits those who revere the Preservers'' laws against the dangerous Heretics who would obliterate all antiquated values and codes of conduct. But there are still others who have taken notice of Yama as he pursues the hidden secrets of his past. Intelligent powers older than the Builders - as old, perhaps, as the Preservers themselves - are pursuing Yama in turn. And they will stop at nothing to control his present-and, as a result, the future of everything that lives-in anticipation of the ultimate triumph of the Ancients of Days.

Confluence - a long, narrow, artificial world, half fertile river valley, half crater-strewn desert. A world beyond the end of human history, served by countless machines, inhabited by 10,000 bloodlines who worship their absent creators, riven by a vast war against heretics. This is the home of Yama, found as an infant in a white boat on the world''s Great River, raised by an obscure bureaucrat in an obscure town in the middle of a ruined necropolis, destined to become a clerk - until the discovery of his singular ancestry. For Yama appears to be the last remaining scion of the Builders, closest of all races to the revered architects of Confluence, able to awaken and control the secret machineries of the world. Pursued by enemies who want to make use of his powers, Yama voyages down the length of the world to search for answers to the mysteries of his origin, and to discover if he is to be the saviour of his world, or its nemesis.

In the far future, a young man stands on a barren asteroid. His ship has been stolen, his family kidnapped or worse, and all he has on his side is a semi-intelligent spacesuit. The only member of the crew to escape, Hari has barely been off his ship before. It was his birthplace, his home and his future. He''s going to get it back. McAuley''s latest novel is set in the same far-flung future as his last few novels, but this time he takes on a much more personal story. This is a tale of revenge, of murder and morality, of growing up and discovering the world around you. Throughout the novel we follow Hari''s viewpoint, and as he unravels the mysteries that led to his stranding, we discover them alongside him. But throughout his journeys, Hari must always bear one thing in mind. Nobody is to be trusted.

Under the countless billions of stars in the universe, what forms will alien life take? How will they live? And what will happen when we meet them? From first encounters to life alongside aliens--and stories of the aliens'' own lives--here are many futures: violent and peaceful, star-spanning and personal.

An unabridged collection of the “best of the best” science fiction stories written in 2011 by current and emerging masters of the genre, edited by Allan Kaster. In “Dying Young,” by Peter M. Ball, cyborgs, clones and post-humans collide with a dragon bent on revenge in a post-apocalptic space western. “Martian Heart,” by John Barnes, chronicles a teenage couple taken to Mars as indentured servants in a “rags to riches” tale. In “Canterbury Hollow,” by Chris Lawson, two lovers on a planet orbiting a killer sun share their few remaining weeks together before they die. “The Choice,” by Paul McAuley, set in the author’s Jackaroo universe, follows two boys who set sail to investigate a beached alien vessel on the English coast. In “After the Apocalypse,” by Maureen McHugh, a mother and daughter traverse a ravaged U.S. in a tale that takes on McCarthy’s, The Road, from a female viewpoint. “Purple,” by Robert Reed, tells of a blind and maimed young man convalescing in an off-world menagerie of wayward alien species, prior to returning to Earth. In “Laika’s Ghost,” by Karl Schroeder, a Russian and an American search the steppes of the former U.S.S.R. for metastable weapons that terrorists could use to make nuclear bombs. “Bit Rot,” by Charles Stross, follows post-humans struggling to survive after their generation ship is struck by a Magnetar ray in this clever zombies-in-space tale. In “For I Have Laid Me Down on The Stone of Loneliness and I’ll Not Be Back Again,” by Michael Swanwick, Irishmen plot to strike back against alien occupiers by enlisting an Irish American tourist to their cause. Finally, Steve Rasnic Tem, tells of a young man awakened from suspended animation, on a future Earth, with the technological know-how of plant-like aliens in “At Play in the Fields.”

A novel of a savage future war, perfect for fans of Alastair Reynolds and Peter F. Hamilton. Humanity''s future rests on the shoulders of a Child from the past, and she must never know of the battles being fought for her ... In the system of Fomalhaut, a war is being fought. The Quicks came long ago, refugees from the Solar System. The True arrived later, to find a declining civilisation and a system ripe for the taking. Then the Ghosts appeared, no longer human, unknowable, powerful and determined to drive out the Quick and the True. The battle continues, but the outcome is uncertain. Three lives will intersect, because there is something at the centre of their universe, something dangerous and growing and powerful. Something that is worth fighting for. And it will change everybody''s life.

Arc’s unique mix of fact, opinion and fiction explores the possibilities for a species that can’t seem to stop tinkering with itself. P D Smith explores the city as pleasure palace. Holly Gramazio and Kyle Munkittrick each explore the friction points between civics and play, while science fiction writer Gord Sellar wonders why arguably the most forward-looking nation on earth shows no interest in futurology. Taking a longer view, Anne Galloway & Sumit Paul-Choudhury wonder whether we’ll ever be able to talk to the animals; Regina Peldszus suggests ways of surviving the tedium of deep space; and Sonja Vesterholt & Simon Ings trace Prometheus’s horrific aliens back to the utopian designs of long-forgotten Soviet filmmaker Pavel Klushantsev. In this issue’s stories - Paul McAuley’s The Man is apparently less than human, but embodies qualities his human companions seem to have forgotten. T.D. Edge, creates a polysentient world defined entirely by relationships. Jeff VanderMeer stretches human limits far beyond the ordinary. And Nick Harkaway’s mordant comedy Attenuation skewers our love of novelty and transformation.

Presents a collection of short fiction for the year 2012 featuring the work of such authors as Neil Gaiman, Robert Reed, and Jonathan Carroll.

Dorothy Yoshida is a telepath, and a really rather good one at that. She''s also a scientist, and when a small planet begins to manifest some unusual signs she is sent to investigate. The planet is more than it seems, and on further investigation the scientists begin to suspect it has been artificially altered. But despite their suspicions the only life they can detect is on the surface, none of which has advanced far above the level of animals. And despite the hopes of mankind to find something which will help them in a burgeoning war against other species, there seems to be nothing there to aid them. With Dorothy''s arrival, however, they are in for some surprising discoveries.

The 21st century. Europe is divided between the First World bourgeoisie, made rich by nanotechnology and the cheap versatile slave labour of genetically engineered Dolls and the Fourth World of refugees and homeless displaced by war and economic upheaval. In London, Alex Sharkey is trying to make his mark as a designer of psychoactive viruses, whilst staying one step ahead of the police and the Triad gangs. At the cost of three hours of his life, he finds an unlikely ally in a scary, super-smart little girl called Milena, but his troubles really start when he helps Milena quicken intelligence in a Doll, turning it into the first of the fairies. Milena isn''t sure if she''s mad or if she''s the only sane person left in the world; she only knows that she wants to escape to her own private Fairyland and live forever. Although Milena has created the fairies for her own ends, some of the Folk, as fey and dangerous as any in legend, have other ideas about her destiny ...

In the aftermath of an interstellar war an enigmatic star is discovered, travelling towards the Solar System from the galactic core. Its appearance adds a new and dangerous factor in the turbulent politics of the inhabited worlds as the rival factions - the power-holders of the ReUnited Nations, the rebels who secretly oppose their power, and the Religious Witnesses - all see advantages to be gained. But what awesome technology started the star on its journey half a million years ago - and why?