science fiction

Into the Drowning Deep

New York Times bestselling author Mira Grant returns with a novel that takes us to a new world of ancient mysteries and mythological dangers come to life.

The ocean is home to many myths, but some are deadly. . .

Seven years ago, the Atargatis set off on a voyage to the Mariana Trench to film a mockumentary bringing to life ancient sea creatures of legend. It was lost at sea with all hands. Some have called it a hoax; others have called it a tragedy.

Now, a new crew has been assembled. This time they’re not out to entertain. Some seek the truth. Some seek to validate their life’s work. Some seek the greatest hunt of all. But for scientist Victoria Stewart, this is a voyage to uncover the fate of the sister she lost.

Whatever the truth may be, it will only be found below the waves. However, the secrets of the deep come with a price.

Into the Drowning Deep is an irresistible thriller with the “heady brew of fascinating science, visceral horror, and, of course, the hubris of mankind in the face of the awesome unknown” (Kirkus).

“The perfect eerie October read. The writing is so lush and beautiful, while the story is filled with action and fast paced.” —Meltotheany

”Engrossing and adrenaline-fueled.”―Shelf Awareness

“Entertained and enraptured from the first page to the last.” ―Bookriot

”Absolutely delivers ... Best-selling author Mira Grant is one of today's best authors of the genre, and Into the Drowning Deep takes its place among her best work.” ―Vulture

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Lagoon

An award-winning novelist of African-based science fiction, fantasy, and magical realism, Nnedi Okorafor is known for weaving African cultures into creative settings and memorable characters.

After word gets out on the Internet that aliens have landed in the waters outside of the world’s fifth most populous city, chaos ensues. Soon the military, religious leaders, thieves, and crackpots are trying to control the message on YouTube and on the streets. Meanwhile, the earth’s political superpowers are considering a preemptive nuclear launch to eradicate the intruders. All that stands between 17 million anarchic residents and death is an alien ambassador, a biologist, a rapper, a soldier, and a myth that may be the size of a giant spider, or a god revealed.

“Chaotic, enthralling, and moving fluidly from character voices to oral-style narration to gut-punchingly beautiful prose.” —NPR Books

“Lagoon is a wonderfully contemporary look at how people react when confronted with the unknown on a massive scale, with all the personal character changes and challenges one could hope for. I loved reading Lagoon and it’s definitely going on my reread circuit.” —Fantasy Faction

“Lagoon mixes a traditional trope of SF—first contact with visitors from the stars—with African magical realism to create a lyrical, poetic mash-up examining social deprivation, religious excess and the power of story on our lives.” —The Guardian

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Solaris

Psychologist Kris Kelvin arrives on a research station orbiting Solaris to study an extraterrestrial intelligence, which takes the form of a vast ocean. But his fellow scientists appear to be losing their grip on reality, plagued by physical manifestations of their repressed memories. When Kelvin’s long-dead girlfriend suddenly reappears, he is forced to confront the pain of his past while living a future that never was.

Is this sentient ocean a massive neural center seeing into the deepest recesses of human minds and then bringing their dreams to life? If so, why?

Long considered a classic, Solaris serves as a canvas for discussion of our mind’s limitations and the nature of cognition.

“A virtuoso storyteller… Stanisław Lem’s imagination is so powerful and pure that no matter what world he creates it is immediately convincing because of its concreteness and plentitude, the intimacy and authority with which it is occupied... read Lem for yourself. He is a major writer, and one of the deep spirits of our age.” —The NY Times

“A fantastic book.” —Steven Soderbergh, filmmaker

“[Lem’s] writing [has] a unique place on a Venn diagram in which the natural sciences, philosophy, and literature shade into one another with mutually intensifying vividness and fascination.” —The New Yorker

“A novel that makes you reevaluate the nature of intelligence itself.” —Anne McCaffrey, noted author

Note: The direct Polish-to-English translation by Bill Johnston is the one that is recommended. The Kilmartin-Cox translation which was translated into English from a French translation is generally considered second-rate. Even the author himself, who read English fluently, repeatedly voiced his disappointment about the Kilmartin-Cox translation.

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Fluke

A national bestseller

Whale researcher Nathan Quinn has a problem. It’s not a new problem; in fact, it’s been around for nearly 20 million years. And Nate’s spent most of his adult life working to solve it. You see, although everybody (well, almost everybody) knows that humpback whales sing (outside of human composition, the most complex songs on the planet) no one knows why. Nate, a Ph.D. in behavior biology, intends to discover the answer to this burning question—and soon.

Every winter he and Clay Demolocus, his partner in the Maui Whale Research Foundation, ply the warm waters between the islands of Maui and Lanai, recording the eerily beautiful songs of the humpbacks and returning to their lab for electronic analysis. The trouble is, Nate’s beginning to wonder if he hasn’t spent just a little too much time in the sun. Either that, or he’s losing his mind. Because today, as he was shooting an I.D. photo of a humpback tail fluke, Nate could’ve sworn he saw the words “bite me” scrawled across the whale’s tail. . .

By turns witty, irreverent, fascinating, puzzling, and surprising, Fluke is Moore at his outrageous best.

“Moore is endlessly inventive...This cetacean picaresque is no fluke—it is a sure winner.” —Publishers Weekly

“Where has this guy been hiding? (Answer: In plain sight, since he has a cult following.)…He writes laid back fables straight out of Margaritaville.” —The New York Times

“Wonderfully strange and fall-down funny as always, Moore delivers, with moxie and wit, a satisfying collage of science, magic, comedy, fantasy and Save-the-Whale propaganda. . . . Tempered with Seussian logic, the pure and innocent wonder of a child’s anything-is-possible imagination and the devilishly funny voice.” —San Diego Union-Tribune

“Moore's career has plainly been one of scaling new peaks; with [Fluke] he might just have outdone himself...If the ghost of Jules Verne had conspired with Rudy Rucker and Tom Robbins to produce a novel, Fluke might very well make them hang their heads in defeat...This novel is all ambergris, no blubber.” —Washington Post Book World

“A great time for the reader. A great idea, and a funny story… Go out and buy this book.” —USA Today

“An enchanting, audacious eco-fantasy . . . Jacques Cousteau by way of Douglas Adams, liberally spiced with dialogue that would make Elmore Leonard proud, and a whimsical sense of the absurd not seen since Tom Robbins’ early heyday.” —Toronto Globe and Mail

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