Walking on Glass

Description

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Surface Detail (Culture)

Description

It begins in the realm of the Real, where matter still matters.
It begins with a murder.And it will not end until the Culture has gone to war with death itself.

Lededje Y'breq is one of the Intagliated, her marked body bearing witness to a family shame, her life belonging to a man whose lust for power is without limit. Prepared to risk everything for her freedom, her release, when it comes, is at a price, and to put things right she will need the help of the Culture.

Benevolent, enlightened and almost infinitely resourceful thought it may be, the Culture can only do so much for any individual. With the assistance of one of its most powerful - and arguably deranged - warships, Lededje finds herself heading into a combat zone not even sure which side the Culture is really on. A war - brutal, far-reaching - is already raging within the digital realms that store the souls of the dead, and it's about to erupt into reality.

It started in the realm of the Real and that is where it will end. It will touch countless lives and affect entire civilizations, but at the center of it all is a young woman whose need for revenge masks another motive altogether.

SURFACE DETAIL is Iain M. Banks' new Culture novel, a breathtaking achievement from a writer whose body of work is without parallel in the modern history of science fiction.

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The Player of Games (Culture)

Description

The Culture - a human/machine symbiotic society - has thrown up many great Game Players, and one of the greatest is Gurgeh. Jernau Morat Gurgeh. The Player of Games. Master of every board, computer and strategy. Bored with success, Gurgeh travels to the Empire of Azad, cruel and incredibly wealthy, to try their fabulous game...a game so complex, so like life itself, that the winner becomes emperor. Mocked, blackmailed, almost murdered, Gurgeh accepts the game, and with it the challenge of his life - and very possibly his death.

Praise for Iain M. Banks:

"Poetic, humorous, baffling, terrifying, sexy -- the books of Iain M. Banks are all these things and more" -- NME

"An exquisitely riotous tour de force of the imagination which writes its own rules simply for the pleasure of breaking them." -- Time Out

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In The Player of Games, Iain M. Banks presents a distant future that could almost be called the end of history. Humanity has filled the galaxy, and thanks to ultra-high technology everyone has everything they want, no one gets sick, and no one dies. It's a playground society of sports, stellar cruises, parties, and festivals. Jernau Gurgeh, a famed master game player, is looking for something more and finds it when he's invited to a game tournament at a small alien empire. Abruptly Banks veers into different territory. The Empire of Azad is exotic, sensual, and vibrant. It has space battle cruisers, a glowing court--all the stuff of good old science fiction--which appears old-fashioned in contrast to Gurgeh's home. At first it's a relief, but further exploration reveals the empire to be depraved and terrifically unjust. Its defects are gross exaggerations of our own, yet they indict us all the same. Clearly Banks is interested in the idea of a future where everyone can be mature and happy. Yet it's interesting to note that in order to give us this compelling adventure story, he has to return to a more traditional setting. Thoughtful science fiction readers will appreciate the cultural comparisons, and fans of big ideas and action will also be rewarded. --Brooks Peck

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Consider Phlebas

Description

"Dazzlingly original." -- Daily Mail
"Gripping, touching and funny." -- TLS

The war raged across the galaxy. Billions had died, billions more were doomed. Moons, planets, the very stars themselves, faced destruction, cold-blooded, brutal, and worse, random. The Idirans fought for their Faith; the Culture for its moral right to exist. Principles were at stake. There could be no surrender.

Within the cosmic conflict, an individual crusade. Deep within a fabled labyrinth on a barren world, a Planet of the Dead proscribed to mortals, lay a fugitive Mind. Both the Culture and the Idirans sought it. It was the fate of Horza, the Changer, and his motley crew of unpredictable mercenaries, human and machine, actually to find it, and with it their own destruction.

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Convergent Space

Description

REVIEWS
‘You won't be able to put this book down, I know I couldn't and spent nights reading until I passed out with my kindle in hand. This is by far the best book I have read in a very long time.’
John (Wexford, USA)

‘I recommend this … to anyone interested in an authentic and imaginative plot. This is a great first novel and rates as high as any other...’
Mentalistacer (Lake Charles, USA)

‘Unique and interesting characters, fascinating alien races and plenty of twists and turns made Convergent Space a thoroughly enjoyable read.’
Warwick Reed (Tasmania, Australia)

‘I'm looking forward to reading the rest of the book.’
D.L. Atkinson (Yorkshire, UK)

‘I heartily enjoyed this book. It's space-opera at its best and it has a great twist in the tail…’
M Wolstenholme (Leeds, UK)

DESCRIPTION
Convergent Space is a dramatic sci-fi adventure / space opera.
It is the first book in a series, with the second book due out in 2012.
It's nearly 130,000 words. Great value for money.

THE STORY
Jump to a few hundred years from now…

Earth is a faded galactic power in a violent galaxy. Blamed for an event 200 years earlier that destroyed thousands of worlds and turned the galaxy upside-down, Earth has been shunned by galactic society ever since.

Now they have a chance to turn that around.

Meanwhile in the outer fringes of the galaxy, a powerful new force is emerging from the ashes. Ruthless and unstoppable, this colossal army is approaching the central planets with one aim – to cleanse the entire galaxy.

Rone Tintet is one of Earth’s immense army of space-faring investigators. She discovers an artefact that may reveal what really happened 200 years ago and resurrect Earth’s fortunes. She embarks on a journey that takes her half-way across the galaxy but will there be anything left when she returns?

In Convergent Space these two stories - one in the past, one happening right now - intertwine into a dramatic and unexpected finale.

TRY THE FREE SAMPLE OF CONVERGENT SPACE ON THIS PAGE

ONCE YOU START READING, YOU WON’T BE ABLE TO STOP!

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REVIEWS
‘You won't be able to put this book down, I know I couldn't and spent nights reading until I passed out with my kindle in hand. This is by far the best book I have read in a very long time.’
John (Wexford, USA)

‘I recommend this … to anyone interested in an authentic and imaginative plot. This is a great first novel and rates as high as any other...’
Mentalistacer (Lake Charles, USA)

‘Unique and interesting characters, fascinating alien races and plenty of twists and turns made Convergent Space a thoroughly enjoyable read.’
Warwick Reed (Tasmania, Australia)

‘I'm looking forward to reading the rest of the book.’
D.L. Atkinson (Yorkshire, UK)

‘I heartily enjoyed this book. It's space-opera at its best and it has a great twist in the tail…’
M Wolstenholme (Leeds, UK)

DESCRIPTION
Convergent Space is a dramatic sci-fi adventure / space opera.
It is the first book in a series, with the second book due out in 2012.
It's nearly 130,000 words. Great value for money.

THE STORY
Jump to a few hundred years from now…

Earth is a faded galactic power in a violent galaxy. Blamed for an event 200 years earlier that destroyed thousands of worlds and turned the galaxy upside-down, Earth has been shunned by galactic society ever since.

Now they have a chance to turn that around.

Meanwhile in the outer fringes of the galaxy, a powerful new force is emerging from the ashes. Ruthless and unstoppable, this colossal army is approaching the central planets with one aim – to cleanse the entire galaxy.

Rone Tintet is one of Earth’s immense army of space-faring investigators. She discovers an artefact that may reveal what really happened 200 years ago and resurrect Earth’s fortunes. She embarks on a journey that takes her half-way across the galaxy but will there be anything left when she returns?

In Convergent Space these two stories - one in the past, one happening right now - intertwine into a dramatic and unexpected finale.

TRY THE FREE SAMPLE OF CONVERGENT SPACE ON THIS PAGE

ONCE YOU START READING, YOU WON’T BE ABLE TO STOP!

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Use of Weapons (Culture)

Description

The man known as Cheradenine Zakalwe was one of Special Circumstances' foremost agents, changing the destiny of planets to suit the Culture through intrigue, dirty tricks and military action.

The woman known as Diziet Sma had plucked him from obscurity and pushed him towards his present eminence, but despite all their dealings she did not know him as well as she thought.

The drone known as Skaffen-Amtiskaw knew both of these people. It had once saved the woman's life by massacring her attackers in a particularly bloody manner. It believed the man to be a lost cause. But not even its machine could see the horrors in his past.

Ferociously intelligent, both witty and horrific, USE OF WEAPONS is a masterpiece of science fiction.

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