Item category 1: Science Fiction

Thirty-five years have passed since the global attacks of eleven/eleven reduced the supply of fossil fuels to a trickle and curtailed economic activity for a century. As civilisation totters on the brink of disaster, an international coalition emerges out of the chaos and confusion. Hard lessons ...

The fifth novel of the galaxy-spanning 'Sun Eater' series merges space opera and epic fantasy, as Hadrian Marlowe continues down a path that can only end in fire.

War ranged across the galaxy. Billions had died, billions more were doomed. The Idirans fought for their faith, The Culture for its moral right to exist. There could be no surrender.

Set in the Culture universe, this is Iain M. Banks' latest novel, following the success of Feersum Endjinn. The Culture ships strive to retrieve an ancient, powerful artefact before it falls into the hands of their rivals.

It is the end for the Gzilt. They've made the decision to follow the well-trodden path to Sublime, elevating themselves to a new rich and complex existence. Amidst preparations, though, High Command is destroyed. Lieutenant Commander (reserve) Vyr Cossont appears to have been involved and she is ...

In the winter palace, the King's new physician has more enemies than she at first realises. In another palace across the mountains, the chief bodyguard of the Protector General also has his enemies.

When the Chelgrian Ziller, a composer of galactic renown, living in self-imposed exile, learns that an emissary from his home world is being sent to the Orbital, he fears that they want him to return.

There was nobody of her own kind within several thousand light years of where Djan Seriy Anaplian sat. However, news from her home world of Sursamen would still reach her. But would the news be good or bad?

Bored with success, Gurgeh - The Player of Games - travels to the Empire of Azad, cruel and incredibly wealthy, to try their fabulous game. This is a game so complex, so like life itself, that the winner becomes emperor.

The first ever collection of Iain M. Banks's short fiction, this volume includes the acclaimed novella, The State of the Art. The other stories in the collection range from science fiction to horror, dark-coated fantasy to morality tale. All bear the indefinable stamp of Iain Banks's staggering t...