Books

English MonstersJames Scudamore

Max Denyer is ten years old when his expatriate parents send him back to England to board at the school on the hill , an isolated institution staffed by misfits all of them eccentric, some of them violent. Fortified by the care and counsel of his beloved grandfather, who lives painfully close by, Max must reinvent himself to navigate the school s arbitrary rules and savage customs.

Given Helioplis, this is a given read. He has such a nuanced way of writing realitionships.

HeliopolisJames Scudamore

As a child Ludo is plucked out of the shantytown where he was born and transported to a world of languid, cosseted luxury. Now twenty-seven, he works high above the above the sprawling metropolis of São Paulo for a vacuous 'communications company'. But this is not his world, and this is not a simple rags-to-riches story: Ludo's destiny moves him around like a chess piece, showing him both extremities of opulent excess and abject poverty, taking him to the brink of madness and brutality.

I have read this and... it was so good. It was five years ago but this is at the top of my list now.

The Darkness Between the StarsPeter Cawdron

FIRST CONTACT is a series of stand-alone novels that explore humanity's first interaction with extraterrestrial life.

StarBridgeA.C Crispin

WE ARE NOT ALONE, AND WE’RE ABOUT TO MEET OUR NEIGHBORS. After more than a hundred years of space travel, a stray radio signal indicates the possibility that alien life might exist. The crew of the Désirée has no training in interstellar diplomacy and a minor dispute turns to disaster that could escalate into a full scale war.

HellsparkJanet Kagan

Murder, mystery, and interstellar intrigue! Lassti, a newly discovered planet, is the center of political intrigue. Recently the planet survey team’s physicist was found dead. Was he killed? If so, by who? One of his fellow surveyors?

I haven't started it but by the description, it's not for me. But you cannot judge the book by the cover.

Conqueror's PrideTimothy Zahn

A spectacular new path across the sky in an epic original novel of star-spanning action adventure, mystery and intrigue. A long era of peace and prosperity in the interstellar Commonwealth has suddenly come to an end. Four alien starships of unknown origin have attacked, without provocation, an eight-ship Peacemaker task force, utterly destroying it in six savage minutes. The authorities claim there were no survivors.

Out of the Silent PlanetC.S. Lewis

In the first novel of C.S. Lewis's classic science fiction trilogy, Dr Ransom, a Cambridge academic, is abducted and taken on a spaceship to the red planet of Malacandra, which he knows as Mars. His captors are plotting to plunder the planet's treasures and plan to offer Ransom as a sacrifice to the creatures who live there. Ransom discovers he has come from the 'silent planet' – Earth – whose tragic story is known throughout the universe…

A Wall is Also a RoadAnnalee Newitz

Explore a large and not-so-lonely universe in this science fiction adventure about what happens when the alien becomes familiar–and beloved.

StarfishPeter Watts

This book is a re-read. They live at the bottom of the ocean and meet other beings, while battling internal conflicts. Very very well written and is considered to be one of the best sci-fi-books.

Engine SummerJohn Crowley

I have no idea - but I will check it out.