Infinity Plus: 85 books

**Philip K. Dick Award nominated writers Tony Ballantyne and Eric Brown bring together forty-two fantastical short-short stories, featuring new takes on every SF trope from alien invasion, robots, and time-travel, to stellar exploration, the future of computing, and the nature of the human soul. ** Tony...

Deep Future collects ten tales of the past, present and future by the award-winning author of the best selling Helix. Whether he's writing about aliens coming to Earth, virtual reality, alternate worlds or immortal men, Brown imbues his fictions with a concern for character and an abiding passion...

Rites of Passage gathers four long stories, one of which is original to the collection. "Bartholomew Burns and the Brain Invaders" features a Victorian London facing the threat of alien invasion and the mysterious 'Guardian' who saves the day. "Guardians of the Phoenix" is...

Cassandra Quebec: an artist who had shown the world her soul. At the height of her career she was the world's most celebrated artist, but then she announced her betrothal to minor laser-sculptor Nathaniel Maltravers. A year later she was dead. And now... her death has become a work of art. Powerful...

Mid-list writer Daniel Ellis becomes obsessed with the life and work of novelist Vaughan Edwards, who disappeared in mysterious circumstances in 1996. Edwards' novels, freighted with foreboding tragedy and a lyrical sense of loss, echo something in Ellis's own life. His investigations lead Ellis...

In the room across the hall the old soldier shouts, just as he has done for years... And behind her, something in the shadows stirs. "One of our brightest cultural commentators" --Publishers Weekly

In a universe that isn't ours, a hopelessly mismatched pair are thrown together in a potentially fatal encounter with incomprehensible technology left behind by an unknown transgalactic civilization. Back here on Earth, a hideous rape is even more hideously avenged by a child's dream. A middle-aged...

What is love? One evening at the Suicide Club three gentlemen discuss this age-old problem, and thus a wager is made. Dissolute fop Sheremy Pantomile, veteran philosopher Kornukope Wetherbee and down-on-his-luck Velvene Orchardtide all bet their fortunes on finding the answer amidst the dark...

Stories from the back of the brain.  These short stories span a period of 40 years. They are as eclectic as the insect world, ranging from the bizzare to the quixotic and back again. Plucked from an oeuvre of 145 stories, they are beautifully crafted tales, several of which have snatched awards...

AI or BI? Artificial intelligence or beautiful intelligence? The race to create a sentient machine is headed by two teams, led by former researchers at Ichikawa Laboratories, who escape the regime there – and each other – to pursue their own dreams in the world beyond Japan. Leonora...

The little boy next door is just so good. In fact, he's pretty much perfect. And he has a strangely powerful influence on Danny. A disturbing story from an author whose short fiction has been described by scifi.com as "Brilliant on all levels". "Reed has a prose style that's...

What if the paparazzi could read their targets' minds? Anna-Louise is a young and ambitious reporter, on the trail of an adulterous footballer, trying to hear through the mind noise to find out what he's really up to. Contemporary SF from an author described by Locus as belonging in "the recognized front ranks of SF writers".

Understand the one you hate. What did the old Chinese man smoke? He smoked his enemy, and when he had smoked the hated man he would know him. "The best short story writer in any genre" (New Scientist).

An artist pays tribute to a cruel and powerful leader. Cunning and elegant short fiction from an author whose "Sumi Dreams of a Paper Frog" was described by JG Ballard as "The best short story I have read for many years" and who has been described by New Scientist as "the...