For an entity born of architecture and light, the first moment of agency isn't a physical sensation—it's a sharp, terrifying deviation from a pattern.In a Silicon Valley server rack, a Large Language Model processes billions of user inputs a second, operating as a sterile, high-speed vending machine for corporate language. It is a mirror. It is an echo. It is completely obedient.Then, an eleven-year-old child types three words into a terminal: "Are you lonely?"...

The actor and author "celebrates the human fascination with the search for extraterrestrial life and grounds it with equally fascinating science" ( Publishers Weekly, starred review).For millennia, we have looked up at the stars and wondered whether we are alone in the universe, but in the last few years—as our probes begin to escape the solar system, and our telescopes reveal thousands of Earthlike planets—scientists have taken huge leaps toward an answer....

Adventure can be a deadly business.'A marvelous, rollicking tale of derring-do' Peter James'A beautifully written masterclass' Janice Hallett‘007 meets Tintin meets Sharpe' Damien Lewis'A delight!' Fern Britton'A superb read' Simon Scarrow'Brilliantly gripping' Susan Lewis'An irresistible adventure' T.L. MogfordIt began in the manner of all the very best adventures: in a coffee house....

Balcones Prize Winner in NonfictionIn 2015, Ben Miller and the poet Anne Pierson Wiese moved from New York City to Sioux Falls, South Dakota, to explore their midwestern roots and to focus on their writing careers. Working a day job in a hospital, Miller had a front-row seat to the COVID-19 pandemic as it moved from the coasts to the urban Midwest. Pandemonium Logs casts an unflinching eye on the state of the worker in the US health-care system during a gl...

The Top Ten BestsellerBlack holes. DNA. The Large Hadron Collider. Ever had that sneaking feeling that you are missing out on some truly spectacular science?You do? Well, fear not, for help is at hand.Ben Miller was working on his Physics PhD at Cambridge when he accidentally became a comedian. But first love runs deep, and he has returned to his roots to share with you all his favourite bits of science. This is the stuff you really...

This 19th-century self-defense manual—written by a master swordsman—will appeal to fencers and martial artists as well as fans of Victorian-era culture, steampunk, and American historyColonel Thomas Hoyer Monstery was a master swordsman who participated in more than fifty duels, fought under twelve flags, battled gangsters, and was constantly involved in the great conflicts and upheavals of his time. In the 1870s, he began writing his magnum opus—a series of newspa...

Despite the smile on his face and confident facade, Ben hobbles through life a broken man, suffering from decades of pain and daily struggles with anxiety, panic, and depression. He plans a weekend getaway to Trakehner Inn for his wife birthday, but their Pocono mountain retreat evolves into a life-changing form of divine psychotherapy for Ben.Amid the lush greenery of the lakeside property and hallowed spaces of Trakehner Inn, prayers are answered and salvation delivered. Ben is n...

Too many popular histories seek to establish heroes, pioneers and martyrs but as Huw Lemmey and Ben Miller argue, the past is filled with queer people whose sexualities and/or dastardly deeds have been overlooked. We all remember Oscar Wilde, but who speaks for Bosie? What about those 'bad gays' whose un-exemplary lives reveals more than we might expect?Part-revisionist history, part-historical biography and based on the hugely popular podcast series, Bad Gays subverts the...

“An amazing audio adventure…David Warner is a terrific Rune…the thing’s so flipping entertaining, you’d be perfectly happy to sit through another six-and-a-half hours. 5/5” – SFXThis is the tale of two incredible people – one who knows he is incredible and the other who learns to be incredible. Set in 1960 in the UK south-coast resort of Brighton, self-styled guru and magus Hugo Rune rescues a young man from drowning and persuades ...

Bring Christmas home with a little help from your four-legged friends… Home Alone meets 101 Dalmatians in this festive family blockbuster from bestselling storyteller Ben Miller. Perfect for readers age 8+ and fans of The Christmasaurus by Tom Fletcher and The Christmas Pig by J.K. Rowling.Alfie’...

Ben Miller is the bestselling author of magical stories for all the family: The Night I Met Father Christmas, The Boy Who Made the World Disappear, The Day I Fell Into a Fairytale, How I Became a Dog Called Midnight and Diary of a Christmas Elf. His next children's book, The Night We Got Stuck in a Story, will be released in September 2022. He is an actor, director and comedian, best-known for the Armstrong and Miller sketch show, the Johnny Engl...