An anthology released to raise funds for the NHS and UK Healtcare workers. Fifty-three stories, 253,000 words of fiction, including several pieces that are original to this volume. A treasury of stories from some of the finest writers of science fiction, literary fiction, fantasy, horror, and more.Introduction by Ian WhatesLast Contact – Stephen BaxterSlink-Thinking – Frances HardingeGossamer – Ian WhatesThe Feather Dress – Lisa TuttleThe...

Stranded on a hostile alien world thousands of light years from Earth, Delia Kent has no hope of ever seeing her homeworld again... and little chance of surviving the attentions of the evil locust-like aliens known as the Skelt.Having escaped from the Skelt and made her way halfway across the planet to meet up with other survivors from Earth, now she and her companions – accompanied by a friendly chimpanzee-like alien and a giant spider-crab – face a death-defying d...

Over the course of a career spanning twenty five years, Eric Brown has written just a handful of horror and ghost stories – and all of them are collected here. They range from the gentle, psychological chiller “The House” to the more overtly fantastical horror of “Li Ketsuwan”, from the contemporary science fiction of “The Memory of Joy” to the almost-mainstream of “The Man Who Never Read Novels”. What they have in common is a concern for character and gripping story-telling. Ghostwrit...

When Salvageman Ed saves Ella Rodriguez from spider-drones on the pleasure planet of Sinclair’s Landfall, he has no idea what he’s letting himself in for. Ella is not at all what she seems, as he’s soon about to find out.What follows, as the spider-drones and the Hayakawa Organisation chase Ed, Ella and engineer Karrie light-years across space, is a fast-paced adventure with Ed learning more about Ella – and about himself – than he ever expected.The Salvageman Ed series of ...

StoriesTargets – Eric BrownGoddess with a Human Heart – Jeannette NgThe Pink Life(La Vie En Rose) – Nathan SusnikThe Black Tide – Laura DuerrThe Starchitect – Barry CharmanThese Are the Ways – Premee MohamedArthur Kovic’s Days of Change – Michael TeasdaleThe Folger Variation – Chris KelsoSF Poetry by Lauren Harwyn, Louise Peterkin, Colin McGuireCover – The Rescue of Sister, by Stephen Picker...

When a young tug pilot's career is ruined by a collision in Earth orbit he has no choice but to accept a commission to fly an eccentric ship builder to a planet far from the trade routes. When they discover alien ruins on the planet and the hulk of a missing generation ship they are thrown into the centre of a conspiracy that reaches back centuries.Meanwhile on earth a young Indian police officer is trying to track down a serial killer little suspecting that the killer is linked to...

THE WORLD'S GREATEST TEST PILOT TELLS HIS STORY'When you read through his life story, it makes James Bond seem like a bit of a slacker'Kirsty Young, Desert Island Discs'The greatest test pilot who ever lived. A true inspiration'Tim Peake, astronaut and former regular British Army Air Corps officer'The stories beggar belief'Guardian'Fascinating...

//~Mission to locate Earth-temperate planet for colonisation: failed …//~1000 years out from Earth base, damage to colony sleeper hangars 1, 3 and 4 sustained … all lives lost … hangars 2 and 5 still operational …//~Mission parameters adjusted: Augmentation of colonists to commence …//~Request all drones and ’bots to medical units to begin experimentation …"British writing with a deft, understated touch: wonderful" - New Scientist...

Ed Carew and his small ragtag crew are smugglers and ne’er-do- wells, thumbing their noses at the Expansion, the vast human hegemony extending across thousands of worlds... until the day they are caught, and offered a choice between working for the Expansion and an ignominious death. They must trespass across the domain of humanity’s neighbours, the Vetch – the inscrutable alien race with whom humanity has warred, at terrible cost of life, and only recently arrived at an uneasy peace – and...

Helix is a fast-paced action adventure novel following the plight of four humans when they crashland on what they think is a desolate, ice-bound planet. Daylight brings the discovery that the planet is one of thousands arranged in a vast spiral wound about a central sun. They set off to discover a more habitable, Earth-like world and come across strange races of aliens, and life-threatening perils, on their way.

The growing threat of the dimension-invading Weird has driven the Expansion government to outright paranoia. Mandatory telepathic testing is introduced, and the colony Braun’s World – following reports of a new Weird portal opening – is destroyed from orbit, at an unimaginable cost in lives.Delia Walker, a senior analyst in the Expansion’s intelligence bureau and a holdout of the pragmatic old guard, protests the oppressive new policies and is drummed out. Sure there’s a better way...

It takes an alien race to show us our humanityWhen a mysterious alien race known as the Kéthani make contact with the people of Earth they bring with them the dubious gift of eternal life. These enigmatic aliens will change the course of the human race forever but also touch people’s lives on a personal level, not least in a small town in the English countryside. But do the Kéthani have a hidden agenda and will the human race choose to evolve or turn in on itself in...