In this cerebral novel, the capstone to British author Stableford's (Inherit the Earth, etc.) much praised six-volume future history concerning the search for "emortality" (technologically assisted near-immortality), Madoc Tamlin, a 22nd-century shyster with a heart of gold, is defrosted after more than 1,000 years in suspended animation, only to discover that his awakening has been nothing more than a trial run for a more important revival. The posthuman emortals of the 35th century are preparing to bring back Adam Zimmerman, aka the Man Who Stole the World. Zimmerman, whose takeover of Earth actually saved the planet from environmental collapse in the 21st century, is the near-mythic founder of the movement that led to the emortal, posthuman culture that now inhabits our solar system. As Tamlin learns more about the society into which he has newly awakened, he discovers that it contains a number of rival factions, each of which espouses a different sort of emortality. Stableford does a fine job of pulling together an enormous number of loose threads. If his characters are sometimes flat, his presentation of the possible marvels of posthumanity is quite compelling, as is his thoughtful examination of the potential involved in near immortality. Readers who stick with this complex, intellectually challenging series to the end will find their tenacity well rewarded.

From Publishers Weekly Best known in the U.S. for his stylishly written horror novels and alternate histories, Stableford (The Hunger and Ecstasy of Vampires; The Carnival of Destruction), who began his career as an SF writer, returns to his roots with a complex, hard-SF tale of nanotechnology and life extension. Having barely survived the Plague Wars of the 21st century, humanity has supposedly entered a Utopian era, one in which the average life span is at least 150 years and immortality may be imminent. Damon Hart, posthumous son of Conrad Helier, the much venerated scientist who saved humanity from extinction during the plagues, wants nothing to do with his father's legacy and has cut himself off from his father's colleagues and their research. Then Damon's life is disrupted by the Eliminators, terrorists who begin to publish Net-based attacks on Helier, proclaiming that the scientist was in fact responsible for the plagues and was therefore an enemy of humankind. They also claim that Helier, supposedly 50 years dead, is still alive; eventually, they insist that Damon is Helier in disguise. Secrets and lies abound in a future where all evidence, even a dead body, can be falsified though the skillful application of computer- and nanotechnology; in time, Damon discovers that virtually nothing he has been told is true. This futuristic thriller, which contains provocative speculations about the effect of extreme life extension on society, isn't Stableford's best, but it's an enjoyable and challenging piece of work nonetheless. 

Eleven new tales of fantasy and horror based upon the classic originals by H. P. Lovecraft, Oscar Wilde, Hans Christian Andersen, Arthur Conan Doyle, Robert Louis Stevenson, Jules Verne, H. Rider Haggard, and Bram Stoker.

In an epic novel The Washington Post called "riveting," Brian Stableford brilliantly imagines a world ruled by a powerful aristocracy of vampires: long–lived, extraordinarily handsome humans who are immune to pain but must drink the blood of their common subjects. The story begins in seventeenth–century London and spans three hundred years moving from England to the heart of Africa, to Malta, and finally to the New World. Edmund Cordery, Mechanician to the court of Richard Coeur–de–Lion, believes that vampire beings must have a natural explanation. But when his discoveries make him dangerous in the eyes of his masters, Edmund entrusts his learned secrets to his son, Noell, who in turn becomes a fugitive. When he returns to Europe he faces the awesome might of Coeur–de–Lion and the infamous Vlad the Impaler. This classic has been translated into five languages and "turn[ed] the typical vampire story on its ear" when it was published, according...

In the longest of the four Cthulhu Mythos stories in this collection, "The Legacy of Erich Zann," the violin and the music that the ill-fated musician left behind become the target, some fifteen years later, for a mysterious searcher who will stop at nothing--including murder--to obtain them. Edgar Allan Poe's great detective, Auguste Dupin, who's endangered because of his connection to Zann, must not only figure out who--but why. In the original novella, "The Seeds from the Mountains of Madness," it turns out that the famous Captain Oates, whose body was never found after he left Scott's tent in the Antarctic, did not die after all--or, if he did, still retained his ability to function in the world. Sent back to England with a mission to fulfill, Oates seeks the help of an old school friend, a veteran of the Great War--who must also play detective, endeavoring to determine who or what has sent Oates back--and, of course, why! Also included are two short stories, "The Holocaust of Ecstasy" and "The Truth About Pickman." Riveting horror--gripping mystery--from a master storyteller.

"The Shoggoths attack: ""They had been so horrible before that I dare not say that they were any MORE horrible when they came again.... They were still unspeakable, still unthinkable--but whether I could speak or think of them or not, they were HERE."" Auguste Dupin is one of the few persons who can identify the rare Cthulhu Encryption etched in the flesh of a dying woman. The Comte de Saint-Germain owns a companion cryptogram that he believes is the key to finding a fabulous treasure buried by the pirate Levasseur. Harassed by Shoggoths and tracked by Saint-Germain, Dupin must find the key to the complex puzzle. Can the might of Cthulhu be held at bay? And even if he finds an answer, can he and his friends escape with their lives? A riveting horror novel set in H.P. Lovecraft's Cthuhlu Mythos!"

From acclaimed science fiction author Brian Stableford (Year Zero, Designer Genes: Tales from the Biotech Revolution) comes the first book in a staggering new trilogy featuring the most incredible backdrop of all - an entire planet. Asgard is a planet-sized artifact presently orbiting a star on the edge of the galaxy. It seems to consist of a series of concentric spheres, each of which was once host to several complex civilizations. Since its discovery by the Tetrax, scavengers from dozens of other species have accumulated in a hastily improvised city, busily scouring the outer layers for artifacts that might offer clues to the advanced technologies involved in the construction of Asgard. One of the few humans involved in this hectic search is Mike Rousseau. Michael must fend off predatory aliens, militant humans, and the rest of the races that are vying to be first into the hollow core of Asgard. But everything changes when he discovers that Asgard is still inhabited by another alien race - and who knows how they will react to the realization that there is an entire outside world above their heads?

A Standalone Young Adult novel in the same emortal SF "universe" but can be read in any sequence.300 years in the future, biotechnology has altered the shape and substance of what it means to be a man. Only the 250-year-old "Dragon Man" can give Sara an understanding of what "e-mortality" might mean--for herself and for the entire human world.

The final contact made by the Daedalus Mission begins badly, even before the ship makes a hard landing in the middle of nowhere. The situation of the colony doesn't seem to make any sense, and neither does the situation of the indigenous aliens—the Sets—that have helped the colony survive and thrive. Alex Alexander doesn't take long to work out a hypothesis that might explain the mystery—a hypothesis that the people on the ground have already worked out for themselves—and he's fortunate enough to fall in with a colonist who's obsessively determined to prove the hypothesis. Unfortunately, the quest seems likely to become so dangerous that both of them might die trying—and there's too much at stake not to take it to the very limit of possibility, no matter what the cost. The stunning conclusion (Book Six) of The Daedalus Mission series.

They call them the "rat-catchers." They're the crew of the spaceship Daedalus, which an economically destitute Earth has dispatched on a mission to re-establish contact with its far-flung, long-lost space colonies. Alex Alexander, ship's biologist, must help solve the mysteries of human and alien ecosystems that he encounters light-years from home. The planet Floria initially appears to be one of the few Earth colonies that's actually prospered since its initial settlement. But underneath the surface of the society, the "Planners" keep a strict, repressive rule over the Florians, while the police are apparently attempting to assert their own authority. But is either group actually what they seem? Daedalus Mission, Book One.

In a galactic culture that extends from quasi-Utopian worlds like new Rome to vermin-infested slums like Old Earth, the Star-Pilots are the great heroes of the day, and Grainger has become a legend in his own time, flying the revolutionary ship, Hooded Swan. The rain forest of Chao Phrya seems a more hospitable place than the Halcyon Drift or the underground world of Rhapsody, scenes of Grainger's previous adventures. But the colonists of the jungle planet are crazed and the indigenous population enigmatic; and Grainger must must undertake a mission that requires a lengthy journey on foot through the dense forest. His quest seems awkward, hazardous, and doomed to failure—and that's before the giant spiders make their appearance! Hooded Swan, Book 3.

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